Navan Enterprise RBAC

Overview

Navan's enterprise tier provides granular role-based access control, configurable travel policies, and multi-tier approval workflows. The platform enforces in-policy vs out-of-policy bookings at the point of purchase — travelers see policy-compliant options highlighted and must justify out-of-policy selections through approval chains. This skill covers the admin role hierarchy, policy rule configuration, department-scoped access, and API-driven policy management.

Prerequisites

• Navan enterprise account with Global Admin or Travel Admin access
• OAuth 2.0 credentials with admin-scoped permissions (see navan-install-auth)
• Organizational hierarchy defined (departments, cost centers, reporting lines)
• Dedicated Customer Success Manager contact (included with enterprise tier)

Instructions

Step 1: Understand the Navan Role Hierarchy

Global Admin
├── Travel Admin         — Manage travel policies, view all bookings
├── Expense Admin        — Manage expense policies, approve/reject reports
├── Finance Admin        — View spend analytics, export financial reports
├── Department Manager   — Approve bookings/expenses for direct reports
├── Arranger            — Book travel on behalf of other employees
└── Traveler            — Book own travel within policy, submit expenses

Role	Book Travel	Approve	View All Bookings	Edit Policies	Manage Users
Global Admin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Travel Admin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Expense Admin	No	Yes	Expenses Only	Expense Only	No
Finance Admin	No	No	Yes (read-only)	No	No
Dept Manager	Yes	Own Dept	Own Dept	No	No
Arranger	Others	No	Arranged Only	No	No
Traveler	Self	No	Own Only	No	No

Step 2: Configure Travel Policy Rules via API

const accessToken = process.env.NAVAN_ACCESS_TOKEN!;

// Retrieve current travel policy
const policyRes = await fetch('https://api.navan.com/v1/travel-policies', {
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}` }
});
const policies = await policyRes.json();

// Create a department-specific policy
const newPolicy = await fetch('https://api.navan.com/v1/travel-policies', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Engineering Department Policy',
    department_ids: ['dept-eng-001'],
    rules: {
      flight: {
        max_price: 800,
        cabin_class: 'economy',
        advance_booking_days: 14,
        allow_premium_economy: true,
        allow_business_class: false
      },
      hotel: {
        max_nightly_rate: 250,
        max_star_rating: 4,
        preferred_chains: ['marriott', 'hilton', 'hyatt']
      },
      car_rental: {
        max_daily_rate: 75,
        max_class: 'intermediate',
        preferred_vendors: ['enterprise', 'national']
      },
      out_of_policy: {
        action: 'require_approval',        // 'block' | 'require_approval' | 'warn'
        require_justification: true,
        auto_escalate_above: 1500          // Auto-escalate to finance above this amount
      }
    }
  })
});

Step 3: Set Up Approval Workflows

// Configure multi-tier approval chain
const approvalWorkflow = await fetch('https://api.navan.com/v1/approval-workflows', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Standard Travel Approval',
    applies_to: ['booking', 'expense'],
    tiers: [
      {
        order: 1,
        approver_type: 'direct_manager',
        conditions: { min_amount: 0 },
        auto_approve_below: 200,
        timeout_hours: 48,
        timeout_action: 'escalate'
      },
      {
        order: 2,
        approver_type: 'department_head',
        conditions: { min_amount: 1000 },
        timeout_hours: 72,
        timeout_action: 'escalate'
      },
      {
        order: 3,
        approver_type: 'finance_admin',
        conditions: { min_amount: 5000 },
        timeout_hours: 24,
        timeout_action: 'notify_global_admin'
      }
    ],
    out_of_policy_override: {
      always_require_tier: 2,
      justification_required: true
    }
  })
});

Step 4: Assign Users to Departments and Roles

// Bulk role assignment for department onboarding
async function assignDepartmentRoles(
  departmentId: string,
  userEmails: string[],
  role: string
): Promise<void> {
  for (const email of userEmails) {
    const res = await fetch('https://api.navan.com/v1/users/role-assignment', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        email,
        role,
        department_id: departmentId,
        effective_date: new Date().toISOString()
      })
    });

    if (!res.ok) {
      console.error(`Failed to assign ${role} to ${email}: HTTP ${res.status}`);
    } else {
      console.log(`Assigned ${role} to ${email} in dept ${departmentId}`);
    }
  }
}

// Example: onboard engineering managers
await assignDepartmentRoles('dept-eng-001', [
  'manager1@company.com',
  'manager2@company.com'
], 'department_manager');

Step 5: Audit Role Assignments

# List all users with admin roles
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $NAVAN_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  'https://api.navan.com/v1/users?role=admin&limit=100' | python3 -m json.tool

# Get policy violations report
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $NAVAN_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  'https://api.navan.com/v1/reports/policy-violations?start_date=2026-01-01' \
  | python3 -m json.tool

Output

A fully configured RBAC system with department-scoped travel policies, multi-tier approval workflows, and role assignments for the organizational hierarchy. Travelers see policy-compliant options at booking time, out-of-policy requests route through the approval chain, and admins have audit visibility into policy violations.

Error Handling

Error	Code	Solution
Insufficient admin permissions	403	Requesting user needs Global Admin or Travel Admin role
Department not found	404	Verify department_id exists; create via admin dashboard first
Conflicting policy rules	409	Two policies targeting the same department; deactivate the old one first
Invalid approval chain	400	Ensure tier order is sequential and approver_type values are valid
User not found	404	Verify email matches an active Navan user; check SCIM sync status

Examples

Check a user's effective policy:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $NAVAN_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  'https://api.navan.com/v1/users/user@company.com/effective-policy' \
  | python3 -m json.tool

Export policy compliance summary:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $NAVAN_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  'https://api.navan.com/v1/reports/policy-compliance?period=monthly' \
  | python3 -m json.tool

Resources

• Navan Help Center — Admin role configuration and policy setup guides
• Navan Security — SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS compliance documentation
• Navan Integrations — SCIM and directory sync for automated role management

Next Steps

After configuring RBAC, see navan-security-basics for SSO/SAML enforcement and credential hardening, or navan-observability for monitoring policy compliance and booking patterns.