preview-lightbox-permissions-beta-blog-post-featuredWe’ve been working on new permissions features to help teams get rid of time-sucking bottlenecks, and reduce the risk of overexposing sensitive information. Our beta program opens today!

We’re looking for a few teams (with 3 or more people) to try out these features and help us make them shine before our public launch next year.

Getting rid of risks and bottlenecks

As the types of companies who use Harvest have grown, we noticed that the lack of flexibility with Harvest’s permissions could lead to two problems.

First, the overexposure of information. We often saw Harvest customers who were over-privileged with the Administrator permission in order to gain access to a few specific things, like the ability to create a client. Because Admins can access everything in your account, this over-privilege could lead to costly mistakes if your teammates accidentally edited the wrong thing. Or it might mean you sacrificed using features like internal costs, that should only be seen by specific people. 

The flip side to this problem is the underexposure of info. Sometimes teams would prefer to go the opposite route: give teammates a lower-level permission in order to prevent them from accessing too much info. But this means some common needs—like fixing a typo—would get pushed up to the few people with access. That caused bottlenecks that delay invoicing, client communication, and project progress.

More flexible, granular control

With our beta permissions features, we’ve increased flexibility so you have more control over who can see and do what. 

First, there’s better support for team leads and managers.

  • You’ll be able to specify the specific teammates that a person should be able to report on and approve.
  • Previously, you could only specify which projects a person could access—which meant it was often impossible for team managers to access just their own teammates’ time. Now your teammates’ reports can be streamlined and tailored to what they need. 

Second, people with mid-level permissions can be opted in to access a few new things, so that the weight of managing your account is more democratized. This includes:

  • The ability to edit time and expenses for people or projects they manage
  • The ability to create clients and tasks
  • The ability to send estimates 

And finally, people with the Project Manager permissions, who have been granted access to invoices, will now be able to see invoices even after they’ve been sent. Previously they could only access drafts—not very helpful if you’re managing a client relationship.

We hope this means less risk of overexposing sensitive info, and fewer bottlenecks so your team can focus on more important things!

beta_helperWant to join the beta?

Sound enticing? The beta program opens today! We’re looking for a few teams to beta test these new features to help us make them shine.

If you’d like to join, hop on over to your Harvest account. Administrators will see a message at the top of every page. Just follow the prompts to join.

Joining the beta will be open for a limited time, and for a limited number of accounts. Note that you'll need at least 3 teammates to join (these beta features aren't very useful for littler teams).

If you have any questions head on over to our beta help docs, or send us a message. Hope to see you in the beta soon, and happy tracking!

A note from the Harvest team: The opt-in period to join the beta has now closed.