Google Workspace: Create permissions that separate creation and access

In Google Workspace, giving someone access to AppSheet is necessary for users to open a deployed AppSheet app. I was expecting that giving someone access to AppSheet within Workspace would give those users the ability to CREATE AppSheet apps. Then, those deployed apps could be shared with other Workspace USERS, even though they didn’t have access to CREATE apps. However, we learned that both CREATORS and USERS both have to have full access to AppSheet.

The current security model forces us to give too many people the ability to create custom applications. This is leading to “shadow IT” and application sprawl. We’ve even had someone develop an app that already existed within our ERP system and almost had an entire region using it. We would like to be able to identify people we trust to build corporate apps and make sure they are the only ones with access to AppSheet.

Status Open
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6 Comments
MultiTech
Participant V

Careful insight might point out that if an entire region is using a homebrew solution instead of the official, perhaps the official solution should be rethought.

IMHO I think this is one of the benefits of AppSheet and the whole no-code low-code situation; it empowers regular people to smooth out the kinks in the system that the system is incapable, or most often just unwilling, to fix.

I believe that allowing people the opportunity to “play” with AppSheet gives them an insight into how the platform works and what it’s capable of; and this act of play will create new connections on how the AppSheet platform can be used to solve other problems, ones that perhaps the developers are unaware of.

Instead of trying to restrict people from building their own solutions, perhaps a system could be put in place to easily connect those with the ideas to the builders you trust.

  • The result here would be that you’re builders would spend more time talking to the users then they do now, which could pull away from the progress that they could make building apps;
    • but the insight that they would gain from listening to the improvised solutions from the ‘boots on the ground’ users will be invaluable.

Again, all my opinion.

french_williams
Explorer

I completely understand the point of view. However, the AppSheet solution was created because of a lack of knowledge about the official solution, not because the homebrew was better. We do want to empower other areas to create their own apps, but we’d like to identify specific people within the departments and regions - not open it up to 1300 people to write their own apps.

Koichi_Tsuji
Participant V

It should be depending on your Google Workspace subscription plans, but this old topic may help ?

french_williams
Explorer

tsuji_koichi,

Thanks for the response. That control does exist in Google Workspace, but it’s just an on / off switch for AppSheet.

If you turn it on, people get access to create and access AppSheet apps.

What I would like is just a little more granular control to allow only approved people to create apps, while allowing everyone in the company to access them. We want to empower certain people to use the platform, but allowing everyone who needs to access the apps to also create apps would result in a mess that IT would eventually have to clean up later.

Thanks again,
French

Koichi_Tsuji
Participant V

I’m not sure the details but you would be able to control the access to Appsheet basis Google Group where you should have control in terms of allowing access to Appsheet or not basis your own grouping configs.

Status changed to: Open
Pratyusha
Community Manager
Community Manager