Security architecture for a process control platform executing applications

A security component within a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system comprising a set of user roles corresponding to different types of users within the information system, a set of security groups defining a set of security permissions with regard to a set of objects, wherein each security group includes an access definition relating the security permissions to at least one of the set of user roles, and a set of user accounts assigned to at least one of the defined roles thereby indirectly defining access rights with regard to the set of objects having restricted access within the system. The security permissions within the supervisory process control and manufacturing information system are assigned at an object attribute level.