Connecting AI to your business tools: accounts, keys and permissions

Make a register before connecting another tool

An automation may keep working after the employee who connected it has left, or stop when that person's password or access changes. Start by recording the connections you already have rather than adding another undocumented integration. Use one row per connection: business purpose, tool, connected account or app identity, owner, permissions, data accessible, credential location, review date and revocation method. Record identifiers needed to manage the connection, without putting the actual password or token into the register.

Keep readingMap the systems a workflow touches

Understand whose authority the connection uses

A user-authorised app can act within a signed-in person's access, while an application identity may operate independently of a signed-in user. Microsoft Graph documents delegated and application permissions as distinct access models. They should not be treated as interchangeable. Check what your actual integration supports. A dedicated account is not automatically the right solution for every service; supported application authorisation may provide clearer scope and ownership. Avoid solving an integration problem by sharing an administrator's everyday login.

Set access around the job

The Australian cyber-security guidance recommends least privilege and separate attributable administrative accounts. Apply that principle to the workflow: identify the specific folders, mailboxes, records and actions required, then ask which supported controls can restrict access to them.

If the product cannot provide the intended boundary, record that limitation and reconsider the design rather than hiding it behind a reassuring prompt.

• A summary assistant: read approved source material, without unnecessary send or delete actions.
• A document classifier: access the intake location and designated output, without unrestricted company storage.
• A reporting workflow: read the required metrics, without advertising-budget or account-management permissions.
• A draft publisher: prepare reviewable content without assuming permission to make it public.

Review the consent screen and admin controls

Save the permissions being requested and compare them with the connection register. Ask why an apparently read-only task needs broad write access. Identify who can approve or expand permissions later. Google Workspace documents controls for third-party and internal app access. Availability and configuration depend on the organisation's account and administrator settings. Check the actual admin view and vendor documentation before promising a particular restriction to staff.

Run a revocation drill

Choose a safe test connection or coordinate a planned test with the workflow owner. Revoke the relevant authorisation, then confirm that the integration can no longer read or act. Check scheduled jobs, cached tokens and error messages, and document how the authorised connection would be restored. Revoking future access does not necessarily delete information previously copied into the vendor's systems. Keep deletion and retention questions in the data-handling review as well as the access register.

Keep readingKeep a handover register

Include connections in staff and supplier changes

When a person or agency leaves, review their integrations alongside their normal login access. Confirm who owns each workflow, where its credentials are managed and which alerts reach the current team. Review the register when scope changes or a new tool is added. The practical aim is an integration the business can explain, limit and stop, with evidence of what it actually accessed and changed.