Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Role-based access control (RBAC) is a security model in which permissions are attached to roles — such as data steward, analyst, or domain owner — and users gain access by being assigned roles, rather than receiving individual permissions one by one. Well-designed RBAC implements least privilege: each role carries only the access its duties require, and access changes when the role changes, not through ad-hoc grants that accumulate over years.

In a data catalog and governance platform, RBAC governs who can view metadata, who can see sensitive descriptions or sample data, who can edit glossary terms and classifications, and who can administer policies. Roles can be scoped to data domains, so the finance team stewards finance assets without touching HR metadata.

For a Saudi DMO, RBAC is both an NDMO control area and a practical operating necessity. The framework's data security expectations call for documented, auditable access management, and PDPL requires organizations to limit personal data access to those with a legitimate need — an obligation that is demonstrable only when access maps to defined roles. RBAC also encodes the governance operating model itself: the distinction between data owner, data steward, and data custodian becomes enforceable when each is a platform role with distinct permissions rather than a title in a policy document.