A system and method for managing permissions of users for a column-oriented data structure, including: generating a column oriented data structure in response to receiving a request to generate the data structure from a first user device associated with a first user account, wherein the data structure comprises a plurality of columns, wherein each column is of single data type and is assigned metadata associated with the single data type; associating the first user account with a first set of permissions associated with the generated data structure; and, associating a second user account with a second set of permissions, wherein the first set of permissions comprises at least one additional permission with respect to the second set of permissions.