Ability to search for list items when granting read or write permission to users

Assigning read/write access to users is currently laborious, especially when the list is a composite list with several hierarchy levels and list items. For example, I built a workforce model where security was applied at a cost centre level, and the cost centre hierarchy had 7 levels and thousands of members. The ability to search for the cost centre that I wanted to assign to a particular user would have greatly sped up the process of setting up security.