ANS-0857 · ROLES, PERMISSIONS & SECURITY
What are the Key Differences Between NetSuite Administrator and Full Access Roles?
Understand the historical distinctions in permissions and access levels between the Administrator and the deprecated Full Access roles in NetSuite.
Short answer
The NetSuite Administrator role provides comprehensive system access, including critical company setup and feature management. The deprecated Full Access role historically had most administrative permissions but was restricted from specific company-level configurations, such as enabling features, managing company information, and certain script execution privileges.
Scenario
Users often seek to understand the precise differences in permissions between NetSuite's highest-level roles. Specifically, there is a need to clarify the capabilities and limitations of the standard Administrator role compared to the historically available Full Access role, particularly concerning critical system configurations and script management.
Solution
While the 'Full Access' role was deprecated in NetSuite 2019.1 and is no longer assignable to new users, understanding its historical limitations compared to the Administrator role can be valuable for legacy systems or permission audits. The Administrator role provides comprehensive access to all NetSuite functionalities. Historically, the 'Full Access' role granted extensive permissions but had specific restrictions not present for the Administrator role.
The 'Full Access' role historically lacked access to the following administrative functions:
Setup > Company > Company InformationSetup > Company > Enable FeaturesSetup > Company > Rename Records/TransactionsSetup > Company > Auto-Generated NumbersSetup > Company > General PreferencesSetup > Company > Printing, Fax & Email PreferencesSetup > Company > Convert Classes to DepartmentsSetup > Company > Convert Classes to LocationsSetup > Company > Delete All DataSetup > Company > Administrative NotificationsSetup > Company > Sandbox AccountsSetup > Accounting > ShippingRegarding script execution, there has been some discussion about the 'Full Access' role's ability to set scripts to "Run as Admin." While some users have reported limitations, others indicate that setting scripts to execute as Administrator is possible as long as it pertains to their specific deployment.
Other known historical limitations for the 'Full Access' role include the inability to view private saved searches or change record ownership.
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