Access Scope
Assign access scopes to manage area of the organizations users have access to
Understanding Access Scopes
Access scopes control which people a user can access in Agentnoon.
If access groups define what someone can view or edit, access scopes define who those permissions apply to.
What access scopes are
An access scope is a set of filters that narrows a user’s access to a specific part of the organization.
You can use access scopes to give someone access to:
the entire company
one or more departments
one or more locations
one or more manager hierarchies
people who match selected custom field values (Business unit, Entity, etc)
This lets you give users the access they need without exposing the whole organization.
Why access scopes are useful
Access scopes are helpful when a user should only work with a specific part of the business.
Common examples:
an HR business partner who supports only Engineering
a regional leader who should only see one office or country
a people manager who should only access their reporting structure
a specialist who works with a defined employee segment
a user who should see a broad area, except for one excluded group
The main types of access scopes
Entire company
If no filters are selected in a scope, that scope behaves like an entire-company scope.
Use this when the user’s permissions should apply across the whole board.
Filtered scopes
These are the most common scopes. They include people based on filters such as:
Department
Location
Manager
Custom fields
Sensitive data
Manager-based scopes include the selected manager and their full reporting tree, so they work well when access should follow the org structure.
Hidden scopes
A hidden scope is used to exclude people.
This is not the same as hiding certain fields. A hidden scope removes matching people from the user’s accessible set entirely.
Use hidden scopes when someone should see a broad group, but one part of it must be excluded.
Layered scopes
A user can have more than one visible scope.
This is useful when access needs to come from more than one rule. For example, a user may need access to:
everyone in Engineering
plus everyone on Project Team Alpha
In that case, both visible scopes work together.
How filters work inside one scope
Each scope can combine fields using AND or OR.
Use AND for narrower access
With AND, a person must match every populated field in the scope.
Example:
Department = Sales
Manager = VP West
Combine fields with AND
This includes only people who are both:
in Sales
and in VP West’s reporting tree
Use OR for broader access
With OR, a person can match any populated field in the scope.
Example:
Department = Sales
Manager = VP West
Combine fields with OR
This includes people who are:
in Sales
or in VP West’s reporting tree
or both
That same pattern applies to:
multiple departments
multiple locations
multiple managers
multiple custom field values
multiple sensitive data values
So the rule is:
within one field, selected values behave like OR
across different fields, the scope uses AND or OR depending on the setting
How multiple scopes work together
When a user has multiple visible scopes, those scopes stack by adding access together.
That means if a person matches any visible scope, they are included.
Example:
Scope 1: Department = Engineering
Scope 2: Custom Field = Project Team Alpha
The user can access:
everyone in Engineering
plus everyone on Project Team Alpha
If a hidden scope also exists, it removes matching people from that result.
Example:
Visible scope: Department = Sales
Hidden scope: Manager = VP West
The user can access Sales, except for the VP West hierarchy.
What happens when scopes overlap
Sometimes the same person is included by more than one visible scope.
When that happens, Agentnoon treats scopes lower in the list as more specific for that person’s field-level permissions.
In plain language:
lower scopes in the UI take priority when the same person is covered by multiple visible scopes
This matters most when overlapping scopes use different field permissions.
Examples
Example 1: Department-based access
An HRBP supports Engineering only.
Use:
one visible scope for Department = Engineering
Example 2: Multi-location access
A leader should see London and Toronto.
Use:
one visible scope for Location = London, Toronto
Because values in the same field behave like OR, this includes either location.
Example 3: Narrow access with AND
A user should only see Sales employees under VP West.
Use:
Department = Sales
Manager = VP West
Combine fields with AND
Example 4: Broader access from multiple rules
A user should see:
everyone in Engineering
plus everyone on Project Team Alpha
Use:
two visible scopes or
one broader scope using OR
Example 5: Broad access with one exclusion
A user should see all of Sales except one leader’s organization.
Use:
visible scope: Department = Sales
hidden scope: Manager = that leader
Good to know
Admins always have full board access, regardless of the scopes listed for them.
Hidden scopes cannot be the only scopes a user has.
In scenarios, newly added positions and certain related employees can appear even if they would normally sit outside a user’s main-board scope.
If a project has its own filters, the user’s final access is the intersection of the project filter and their access scopes.
Summary
Access scopes answer one question: which people should this user be able to access?
Use them to give access to:
the whole company
selected departments, locations, or manager hierarchies
specific employee segments
layered combinations of those rules
Visible scopes add access. Hidden scopes remove access. And when visible scopes overlap, lower scopes in the list are treated as more specific.
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