User Creation and Permissions in HubSpot vs. Salesforce

CRM user management is an essential function for any CRM administrator. In HubSpot, Salesforce, and other CRMs, CRM user management involves creating and editing users and their capabilities within the CRM. Teams using the HubSpot Salesforce integration must manage users and their permissions in both systems. Here’s an exploration of how CRM administrators can create and manage users in HubSpot and Salesforce, followed by a look at how to manage user permissions when using the native HubSpot Salesforce integration.

The Foundation of CRM User Management

CRM governance relies on proficient user management. User permissions control what teams can see and do in your CRM. Without proper direction, your CRM of choice, whether it be HubSpot, Salesforce, or any other platform, can quickly become a mismanaged mess.

User management entails creating, modifying, and overseeing user roles and permissions—in other words, determining who can do what within your CRM environment. Get it right, and you facilitate seamless collaboration, bolster data security, and enable the delivery of personalized customer experiences. The true magic happens when every user, from marketing mavens to sales superstars, can proficiently perform their tasks without overstepping boundaries or hitting unnecessary roadblocks—achieving this is the art and science of CRM user management.

HubSpot: Simplifying User Creation and Management

HubSpot uses a combination of Seats, Permission Sets, and Teams to control what a user can see and do in HubSpot. 

HubSpot Seats

HubSpot Seats determine what parts of your HubSpot account the user can access. HubSpot’s Seat-based model has several types of Seats that determine which HubSpot features you can access. These include:

• Core Seat: provides access to the features and tools in your purchased subscription services.
• Sales Hub Seat: provides access to Sales Hub and access to use features for Sales Hub Professional and Sales Hub Enterprise.
• Service Hub Seat: provides access to Service Hub and access to use advanced features for Professional and Enterprise subscription editions.
• View-Only Seat: provides access to view your subscription services without changing your account.
• Partner Seat: a free seat that gives eligible HubSpot Solutions Partner and provider employees access to all client account features.

HubSpot Permission Sets

After a Seat is assigned, Permission Sets give capabilities within their Seat. Permission Sets provide an easy way to extend and withhold access to functionality within HubSpot's Marketing, Sales, CRM, Admin, and Service feature sets (and more!). Permission Sets can be easily created and customized for each set of users. For example, you can make a different Permission Set for marketers, sales teams, and their respective management. Then, as you create similar users in the future, you will have a ready-made Permission Set to assign. Review HubSpot’s user permissions guide to get a deeper understanding of permissions in HubSpot.

HubSpot Teams

Finally, Teams organize users within the CRM. Teams can be nested to create a hierarchy of visibility. Teams can see records owned by members of their Team and teams falling below them. However, they cannot see records owned by members of Teams above them in the hierarchy. Teams can also be used in HubSpot Workflows to manage round-robin record assignments easily.

Salesforce: A Robust Approach to User Permissions

Salesforce uses a combination of Licenses, Profiles, Roles, and Organizational Sharing Rules to manage team actions and visibility within the CRM.

Salesforce Licenses

Salesforce Licences provide access to Salesforce functionality. While you can create Permission Sets (covered later) that can apply to multiple Licenses, you may only be able to access some of the features you have permission to use with the correct License. The types of Salesforce Licenses available to your team will depend on the type of Salesforce Clouds and editions you can access in your organization. We’ll focus on the Standard Salesforce Licenses available in most Salesforce editions. 

• Salesforce: provides full access to the CRM and AppExchange apps. 

• Knowledge Only User: provides exclusive access to the Salesforce Knowledge app.

• Identity Only: provides access to SSO logins via your Salesforce org without giving access to Salesforce CRM or apps.

• External Identity: provides access to the Salesforce Customer Identity. 

• Salesforce Integration: provides system-to-system integrations with API access to Salesforce.

• WDC Only User: provides access to WDC without giving access to Salesforce CRM or apps.

Salesforce Roles

Salesforce Roles determines which records a user can see in Salesforce. Roles work with an organizational hierarchy that allows the administrator to determine how specific roles relate to others within the organization. This is typically used to manage visibility for sales teams to prevent visibility into records owned by other teams or territories. 

Salesforce Profiles

Salesforce Profiles controls what users can do with the records they see in Salesforce. Profiles provide an easy way to define default settings for a specific group of users. If the Standard Profiles aren’t sufficient, Salesforce administrators can create custom Profiles for their organization.

Salesforce Permission Sets

Salesforce Permission Sets are used with Salesforce Profiles to manage what users can do in Salesforce. They add capabilities to the Salesforce Profile assigned to a user. Permission Sets cannot be used to reduce the permissions assigned to a user.

Managing User Permissions with the HubSpot Salesforce Integration

Teams using HubSpot and Salesforce will have two pools of users and permissions to manage. The permissions assigned to users in each system will likely differ, further complicating the situation. Here are the primary scenarios for configuring users in HubSpot and Salesforce when using the integration.

Permissions for Marketing Users in the HubSpot Salesforce Integration

Marketing users at organizations using HubSpot and Salesforce spend most of their time working in HubSpot. HubSpot is used for email marketing, marketing automation, subscription management, social scheduling, content creation, and more. Marketing users will need more permissions in HubSpot than they will in Salesforce,

HubSpot Configuration:

• Seat: Provide all marketing users with hands-on roles on the marketing team with a Core Seat
• Team: Most organizations can assign all marketing users to one team. If your marketing has sub-teams or divisions, consider using multiple teams to categorize your marketing users by function, location, or manager.
• Permissions: When creating the users, you can assign a role or user-based template created by HubSpot. Potential options include Content marketer and Marketing manager. If you have an existing user on the marketing team that you’d like to copy to this new user, select them from the list of existing users to copy all permissions to the new user. Whether using a new permission set or a template, review all the permissions available to ensure your team has enough access to complete their job and not enough to create potential issues. 

Salesforce Configuration:

• License: Provide all marketers needing to build reports, manage Campaigns, or access records in Salesforce with a Salesforce license. 
• Role: If your organization uses organizational sharing rules, provide the marketing team a role underneath their manager’s role in the organizational hierarchy.
• Profile: Depending on your marketing team’s responsibilities in Salesforce, assign either the Standard User or Marketing User profile. Ensure that the Marketing user checkbox is selected on the user’s profile.
• Permission Sets: If any capabilities are needed for a specific marketing user beyond the assigned Profile, create and assign a permission set with these permissions. 

Permissions for Sales Users in the HubSpot Salesforce Integration

Sales users at organizations using HubSpot and Salesforce spend most of their time working in Salesforce unless they also use HubSpot for its sales enablement features. Salesforce is primarily used to create, work, and close deals with potential and existing clients. Sales users will need more permissions in Salesforce than they will in HubSpot,

HubSpot Configuration:

• License: Provide all sales users, at minimum, with a view-only license. This will allow users to see data in the HubSpot Embed in Salesforce but will not allow them to create or edit anything in HubSpot.
• Team: Assign Sales users to teams based on their lead assignment or territory ownership in Salesforce. If controlling visibility to records in your database is important at your company, ensure your Teams and Permissions are provisioned carefully in HubSpot.
• Permissions: When creating the users, you can assign a role or user-based template created by HubSpot. Potential options include Sales manager and Sales rep. If you have an existing user on the sales team that you’d like to copy to this new user, select them from the list of existing users to copy all permissions to the new user. Whether using a new permission set or a template, review all the permissions available to ensure your team has enough access to complete their job and not enough to create potential issues. 

Salesforce Configuration:

• License: Provide all sales team members with access to the complete Salesforce CRM with a Salesforce license. 
• Role: If your organization uses organizational sharing rules, provide the sales team a role underneath their manager’s role in the organizational hierarchy. Take the territory assignment into consideration when building your hierarchy and roles.
• Profile: Most sales users can use the Standard User profile. If this profile provides too much access in Salesforce, create a custom profile to assign to sales users.
• Permission Sets: If any capabilities are needed for a specific sales user beyond the assigned Profile, create and assign a permission set with these permissions. 

Administering the HubSpot Salesforce Integration

User management is one small piece of administrating HubSpot and Salesforce when using the native HubSpot Salesforce integration. If you’re not confident in how your team uses the HubSpot Salesforce integration, enroll in the HubSpot Salesforce Integration Certification Course. This course will walk you through all aspects of the HubSpot Salesforce integration, from data compliance and integration settings to how to install and optimize the integration. Once completed, you will earn your certification in the HubSpot Salesforce integration to add to your resume and show off on your LinkedIn profile.