SQL Login and User for Performance Tuning

I've run into an interesting dilemma: as a new staff member in a security conscious organisation, I can't really get any work done. There is, however, a lot of work a DBA can do in terms of analyzing SQL Server instances right from day one. There are lots of best practice recommendations that can be made that are application or db design agnostic. Alternately, it can be possible to investigate the database design without access to the underlying data itself. With that all in mind, I have put some scripts together that creates login/user permissions and roles that can give a SQL consultant useful, but security minded, access to a SQL instance.