Organization Hierarchies

Following schema demonstrates a hierarchical structure (Organization > Department > Project) with inherited permissions.

Each level has its own specific roles (admin/member, manager, lead) that grant certain permissions, while also inheriting permissions from the level above.

Before breaking down, lets provide the completed schema:

entity user {}

 entity organization { 
    relation admin @user 
    relation member @user 
    
    action view = admin or member 
    action edit = admin 
} 

entity department { 
    relation parent @organization 
    relation manager @user 
    
    action view = parent.view or manager 
    action edit = parent.edit or manager
} 

entity project { 
    relation parent @department 
    relation lead @user 
    
    action view = parent.view or lead 
    action edit = parent.edit or lead 
}

​

Breaking Down

​

User Entity:

entity user {}

This is a simple entity representing a user with no specific relations or actions defined.

Organization Entity:

entity organization {
    relation admin @user
    relation member @user
    
    action view = admin or member
    action edit = admin
}

Has two relations: admin and member, both referring to users

Defines two actions:

• view: can be performed by admins or members
• edit: can only be performed by admins

​

Department Entity:

entity department {
    relation parent @organization
    relation manager @user
    
    action view = parent.view or manager
    action edit = parent.edit or manager
}

Has two relations: parent (referring to an organization) and manager (referring to a user)

Defines two actions:

• view: can be performed by those who can view the parent organization or the department manager
• edit: can be performed by those who can edit the parent organization or the department manager

Project Entity:

entity project {
    relation parent @department
    relation lead @user
    
    action view = parent.view or lead
    action edit = parent.edit or lead
}

Has two relations: parent (referring to a department) and lead (referring to a user)

Defines two actions:

• view: can be performed by those who can view the parent department or the project lead
• edit: can be performed by those who can edit the parent department or the project lead

​

More Advance Example

See our Facebook Groups example to learn how to apply nested hierarchies in a real-world scenario.