Admin Roles in Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Congratulations if you have already successfully applied for your Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription!

If you are still in the process, learning about admin roles and capabilities through the admin center, can help you make the decision to adapt this subscription to your organization.

Perfect for midsize businesses and enterprises, the Microsoft 365 admin center lets you manage Microsoft Entra ID roles (formerly Azure AD). With this you can control and grant specific permissions, including cloud applications and corporate data for a more effective and secure workflow.

What is an Admin Role in Microsoft 365?

Every Microsoft 365 for Business subscription requires someone to manage it, the person who does this is called an admin. Here are some common tasks an admin can perform:

Managing User accounts, adding new users or assigning them a Microsoft 365 license
Resetting and managing user passwords
Setting up email addresses
Review and add security features
Managing billing and payment information

The person who signed up for your organization’s Microsoft 365 subscription becomes the global admin by default. The global admin may select other users from your organization and give them permission to become admins themselves.

These are Microsoft’s steps for setting up admins:

Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center and sign in
In the left navigation pane, select Users > Active users
Select the user account for the person who you want to make an administrator, the user’s details appear in the right dialog box

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Variety of Admin Roles

There are many different Microsoft 365 Admin roles you may adapt to your users at your organization, depending on your specific needs. Here are some of the most commonly used role assignments.

Admin Role	Characteristics
User administrator	The User admin role can add users and groups, assign licenses, manage users’ properties and manage service requests.
People administrator	The People administrator can update profile photos and people settings for all users, including administrators.
Password administrator	The Password admin role can reset passwords for non-administrators as well as Password Administrators.
Billing administrator	A Billing administrator role is for users who manage all aspects of billing, like making purchases, managing subscriptions and service requests and creating support tickets in the Azure portal.
License administrator	The License admin can assign and remove licenses from users and edit their usage location, as well as assign product licenses to groups for group-based licensing.
Groups administrator	A Groups administrator will manage all groups settings across admin centers, as well as create, edit, delete, and restore Microsoft 365 groups.

A Delegated Administration for Microsoft Partners

By adding an authorized Microsoft Partner as a delegated admin, you can also assign them admin roles. This will allow them to manage admin roles to users in your organization for setup and management of your online ecosystem.

A partner can assign these roles:

Admin Agent Privileges equivalent to a global admin, except for managing multi-factor authentication through the Partner Center
Helpdesk Agent Privileges equivalent to a helpdesk admin

Security for Assigning Roles

Since administrators have access to sensitive data and files, it’s important to keep security as a number one priority. Here we present some recommendations when assigning roles in Microsoft 365.

Have only 2 to 4 global admins
Assign the least permissive role to the rest of the admins
Require multi-factor authentication for admins
Rely and delegate administration to your preferred Microsoft Partner, such as Team Venti, when doing this you allow us to set up and manage your online organization smoothly, responsibly and securely

Understanding the different Microsoft 365 Admin roles is essential for managing your organization’s users, data, and services effectively and securely. By assigning the right roles to the right people, while following best practices for security, you can streamline operations while protecting sensitive information. Whether you’re handling administration internally or partnering with a trusted provider like Team Venti, the right setup ensures your Microsoft 365 environment supports your business goals with confidence and control.

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Contact us today to speak with one of our experts and discover how Team Venti can help you set up and manage your environment efficiently and securely.