Roles & Access

Block Data is available to Enterprise customers whose organization has been set up for this capability, usually as part of onboarding and your agreement with Carbon Arc.

How approvals and roles work depends on whether your account is compliance managed.

Related documentation

Requesting Access — End-user workflow after roles are assigned
Block Administrators — Approve requests on the Block Data Administrator tab
Compliance Administrators — Compliance-managed accounts only

Who can use Block Data?

Standard Enterprise accounts

If your account is not compliance managed, Block uses a straightforward approval path: your Block Administrator reviews the request, then Carbon Arc reviews and provisions access. There is no Legal & Compliance approval step on Block requests and no preapproved datasets workflow.

Access level	What you can do
Block User	Browse eligible datasets, view tearsheets and data dictionary, access sample data in the platform or by connecting your query engine, submit requests (UI or SDK)
Block Administrator	Everything a Block User can do, plus approve or deny requests at your organization's review step and handle cancellation requests
Client Administrator	Broader platform administration for your organization; assign Block User or Block Administrator access on the Team page

Roles you will not see on a standard account: Compliance Administrator and Super Administrator. Those roles exist only on compliance-managed accounts.

Compliance-managed Enterprise accounts

If your account is compliance managed, your organization uses the Compliance Portal to control which datasets the organization may access. Carbon Arc still enforces any provider-side restrictions that cannot be overridden in the portal.

Access level	What you can do
Block User	Same as standard accounts
Block Administrator	Same as standard accounts, plus Workflow Settings on the Block page (how Legal & Compliance participates in Block requests)
Compliance Administrator	Approve or deny Block requests at the Legal & Compliance step (when required), preapprove datasets, and download compliance tearsheets (including due diligence materials). Needs Block User access to open Block—not Block Administrator. Compliance Administrators cannot consume data elsewhere on the platform per Compliance Portal policy.
Client Administrator	Can view compliance settings; manages team access
Super Administrator	Available only on compliance-managed accounts. Inherits Client Administrator and Compliance Administrator capabilities, including Block Administrator and Compliance Administrator actions on Block

Not sure which type of account you have? Ask your Carbon Arc account team or your internal Client Administrator.

Approval and compliance overview

Standard Enterprise accounts

There is no client Legal & Compliance step on Block requests. After your Block Administrator approves, the request goes to Carbon Arc. Preapproved datasets do not apply.

Compliance-managed accounts

Your organization can configure how Legal & Compliance participates in Block requests (via Workflow Settings, managed by your Block Administrator):

Setting	What it means
Full compliance review	Legal & Compliance must approve each Block request (except preapproved datasets).
Notification only	Legal & Compliance is informed but does not need to approve.
No compliance review	Only your Block Administrator and Carbon Arc review Block requests.

Preapproved datasets apply only on compliance-managed accounts with a Compliance Administrator. Your Compliance Administrator can mark datasets as preapproved so that, when full compliance review is enabled, the Legal & Compliance approval step is skipped for those datasets. List preapprovals in the SDK via client.block.list_preapprovals(); add or remove preapprovals in the platform only.

For broader dataset access governance (toggles, day lag, provider restrictions), see the Compliance Portal—separate from Block request routing but relevant for compliance-managed accounts.

Managing team access on the Team page

Block Data uses two settings when adding or editing a user: Assign Role (primary role) and Block Access (Block permissions). Client Administrators (and Super Administrators on compliance-managed accounts) typically manage these assignments.

Standard accounts

Primary roles you will see:

Primary role	Typical use
User	Standard user; Block Access optional
Client Admin	Client administration; assign Block User or Block Administrator

Block Access (additive):

Block Access	Meaning
None	No access to Block
Block User	Browse datasets, submit requests
Block Administrator	Everything Block User can do, plus approve/deny on the Block Data Administrator dashboard

Person's job	Assign Role	Block Access
Analyst submitting requests	User	Block User
Owner approving Block requests	User or Client Admin	Block Administrator

Compliance Admin and Super Admin are not available on standard accounts.

Compliance-managed accounts

Primary roles:

Primary role	Typical use
User	Standard user
Client Admin	Client administration; can view compliance settings
Compliance Admin	Compliance Portal management, Block compliance approvals, preapprovals, documentation
Super Admin	Full client admin + compliance admin capabilities (including Block Administrator and Compliance Administrator actions on Block)

Block Access (additive):

Block Access	Meaning
None	No access to Block
Block User	Browse datasets, submit requests, use dashboard tabs allowed by primary role
Block Administrator	Everything Block User can do, plus Block Administrator tab approvals

Person's job	Assign Role	Block Access
Analyst submitting requests	User	Block User
Owner approving Block Admin step	User or Client Admin	Block Administrator
Legal & Compliance reviewer only	Compliance Admin	Block User (not Block Administrator)
Legal lead approving both Block and Compliance steps	Compliance Admin	Block Administrator (only if needed)
Full platform lead	Super Admin	Automatic Block and Compliance capabilities

Compliance reviewers: assign Block User only—not Block Administrator—unless they should also approve the Block Administrator step.

Groups

Groups can carry Block User or Block Administrator access. Users inherit the higher of personal and group Block Access. Avoid assigning Compliance-only users to groups with Block Administrator unless they should approve Block Administrator requests.

Compliance Administrators — Compliance review, preapprovals, and tearsheets
Troubleshooting & FAQs — "Is my account compliance managed?" and role-related FAQs