Chemical Manufacturing Company Protected Core Technology with SetFN Level Folders

Competitiveness became at risk when blend ratios and sales information leaked

Our company producing fabric softeners and detergents has core know-how accumulated over decades. Product-specific chemical component blend ratios, supplier information, contract conditions with major retailers, etc. This information is like the company's lifeline, requiring thorough security.

But fine-grained permission management was difficult with existing shared folder systems. We wanted research and development, production, and sales teams to access only the level of information they needed, but complex settings eventually led to opening most folders for most employees to see.

Critically, last year when a sales manager left the company, he took major retailer contacts and contract conditions with him. Only months later when we saw a competitor's similar products coming through the same retailers did we confirm the information leak. From then on, we thought we needed to completely change our security system.

Managing position-based access permissions precisely with SetFN level folders

We introduced SetFN's level folder feature to classify information by stages. Level 1 contained general product information and public materials, Level 2 had production processes and quality management data, Level 3 included core blend ratios and supplier information, and Level 4 contained major retailer contract conditions and sales strategies.

We set permissions so new employees could access only Level 1, team leaders up to Level 2, department heads up to Level 3, and only executives up to Level 4. Research and development teams could access blend information but not see retailer information, while sales teams had the opposite setting, accessing only information essential for their work.

Departing employee management was also systematized. All level folder access is immediately blocked for employees scheduled to leave, and necessary handovers are allowed only for limited time with supervisor presence. Logs remain of who accessed which files when, enabling tracking in case of emergencies.

Since data doesn't leave company servers, there's no risk of cloud hacking, and we can protect core technology and sales information by stages while maintaining smooth necessary collaboration. Now we don't have to worry about information leaks every time an employee leaves, giving us much peace of mind.