How many admin users do you have?

[Beth_Massura]

We currently have 6 full admins out of ~130 users, which seems like a lot to me. I'm curious as to how other organizations manage admins and other roles. How many do you have? How do you decide what access each user should have?

[JD_Nelson · Accepted solution]

6 does seem like a lot - but it comes down to job responsibilities and training, which could fully justify it.

1. Are they all qualified to be an admin (some people require them to pass certain tests/qualifications); or
2. Did they need it for one particular reason that was unavoidable at the time, and maybe not needed anymore?
3. Are they in charge of different products? Sometimes you have a reporting need (MPI, RCE/A) that requires full view of all data and the ability to change/add fields, etc. that require admin access.

[Josh_Hill13 · Accepted solution]

Agreed.

6/130 is fairly normal, perhaps low depending on the organizational structure and duties. Other principles to consider:

• Always give a person the least amount of access they need to do their job effectively.
• Admins should have demonstrated MCE as well as the temperament and trust to have that level of access. Too easy to break things in Marketo.
• Fewest Admins possible: need at least 2 backups in an org your size; minimize security risks if a user is hacked.

Thoughts:

• Sub Admin Roles - some access, but not all
• Local Admins
• Workspace Admins

[Beth_Massura]

Thanks! By local admins do you mean geographically?

[Beth_Massura]

Thank you for the ideas! Have you used some sort of test/qualification in your organization, and if so, how did it go?

[Brooke_Bartos1]

Joe Reitz​ uses testing at his organization to determine qualification.

[ChristinaZuniga]

I have 5, sort of.

1. I run the system, building structure, managing MarTech Stack and responsible for the system's function

2. My Jr. Admin provides support and needs access to troubleshoot user issues and the MarTech Stack

3 & 4. My 2 SFDC Admins have access to deal with the sync

5. I created a limited admin access for IT to be able to remove users from the system when an employee leaves

JD has good points and I think it depends on your system set up and how you've divided up responsibilities. GDPR says we should only give access where needed, so I'm planning to downgrade 1-2 of my admins since I made a limited admin role that isn't full access for IT.

That

[Beth_Massura]

Thank you for the description! I hadn't thought about it from a GDPR standpoint so I brought this up with our GDPR committee.

[Jamye_Breidenba]

I have 2 full-access admins for 65 users worldwide.

- Myself, who owns our Marketo platform

- Our IT Sr. Manager for Commercial Systems (CRM, Commercial Stack tools, etc.)

Dependent on what the person's/group's responsibility is in the organization, I've created custom roles to access only what they need in the Admin window. Because we operate in a weird hybrid organizational structure, I also made it so our user roles can't make changes without involving at least one other person. This really helps to break down silos and communicate cross-functionally.