Manage administrator roles in Viva Engage

To perform administrative tasks and facilitate many of the premium features in Viva Engage, users need to be assigned specific roles. The table below describes each of the admin roles in Viva Engage and the business functions they enable.

Note

A Viva Engage license isn't required for an admin to configure Viva Engage (core or premium). Unlike Viva Engage users, Microsoft 365 Global administrators and Engage administrators are exempt from needing a Viva Engage Core or premium license to access the Engage website, the Engage Admin center, or legacy network admin center. Other Viva Engage admin roles can also administer premium features without being assigned a premium license.

Select a role in the table to learn more about it.

Admin role	Business function
Microsoft 365 Global Administrator	Manages all aspects of Microsoft 365 Entra and services that use Microsoft 365 Entra identities. This role controls admin role assignment and configuration in Viva Engage. As such, global admins have unlimited access to settings and most of its data, including subscription management.
Engage Administrator	Configures and manages all aspects of Viva Engage including tenant settings, core and premium features, and compliance. This role is also referred to as Yammer administrator in Microsoft Entra ID.
Verified Administrator	Configures the Viva Engage network. Performs tasks that have legal implications, such as managing security settings, monitoring keywords for appropriate use, managing data retention, and exporting data.
Network Administrator	Configures the Viva Engage network
Answers Administrator	Configures Answers in Viva Engage, manages topics, and enables badges
Corporate Communicator	Creates and manages official campaigns, defines leaders, and manages content across the organization
Community Administrator	Manages day-to-day activity (including usage) within a community to keep it engaged and productive

Who assigns roles and where?

Some admins have more permissions than others and can assign Viva Engage roles to users. The following table lists admins in order of their permissions, with those having the most permissions at the top.

Admin role	Can assign these roles	Assigned in
Microsoft 365 Global Administrator	Other global admins, Engage admins, Answers admins (Knowledge manager)	Microsoft Entra ID
Engage Administrator	Verified admins, Network admins, Corporate communicators	Microsoft Entra ID
Verified Administrator	Verified admins, Network admins, Corporate communicators	Yammer admin center / Viva Engage admin center
Network Administrator	Other network admins, Corporate Communicators	Yammer admin center / Viva Engage admin center
Community Administrator	Other community admins	Viva Engage community

Role hierarchy

Microsoft 365 Global Administrator

Function	Details
Permissions	Assign or remove the Microsoft 365 Global administrator role Manage other Microsoft 365 services View reports in Microsoft 365 usage analytics Set up and manage Viva Engage Manage feature access with usage policies in Microsoft 365 Configure Answers
Who can assign	A Microsoft 365 Global administrator
How to assign	See Assign admin roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center

Engage Administrator

Function	Details
Permissions	Configure Viva Engage and its features for the organization, including data management and compliance, network settings For Viva Engage core, assign the Corporate Communicator For Viva Engage premium, assign additional permissions and features: Identify leaders and their audiences Set up storylines Access analytics features and data collected for metrics Create and manage official campaigns Manage Answers Manage feature access with usage policies in Microsoft 365
Who can assign	A Microsoft 365 Global administrator
How to assign	Assign the Engage admin role in Microsoft Entra ID or Privileged Identity Management (PIM)

Verified Administrator

Function	Details
Permissions	Manage content policies, monitors keywords, data retention, security settings, and reading data in private communities Assign verified and network admin roles Identify leaders and their audiences Export data and perform integrations with other tools
Who can assign	Engage admin or verified admin
How to assign	In the Yammer admin center, select Admins. Find and select the user's name and select Make this user an admin. If the user is already an admin, find their name from the Current Admins list and select Grant Verified Admin.

Network Administrator

Function	Details
Permissions	Configure network settings, usage policy, and user profiles Manage internal users, outside guests, and unlisted groups Close and reopen conversations in communities and storylines on behalf of any user Identify leaders and their audiences View reports in the Microsoft 365 Usage Reporting dashboard
Who can assign	Engage admin or network admin
How to assign	In the Yammer admin center, select Admins. Find and select the user's name and select Make this user an admin. If the user is already an admin, find their name from the Current Admins list and select Grant Network Admin.

Answers Administrator

Function	Details
Permissions	Manage Answers in Viva Engage. (For details, see list of permissions.) Manage topics in Answers Manage badges View global insights
Who can assign	A Microsoft 365 Global administrator
How to assign	Assign a Knowledge Manager role in Microsoft Entra ID

Corporate Communicator

Function	Details
Permissions	Send announcements Identify leaders and their audiences Feature conversations Create and manage official campaigns: Publish draft campaigns to Active and viewable to the network Set Active campaigns to Ended Republish recurring campaigns from Ended to Active Delete campaigns created by mistake Update campaign assets (such as goal tracker, cover photo, hashtag theme colors, pinned posts, pinned resources and links View campaign analytics
Who can assign	Engage admin
How to assign	In the Viva Engage admin center, on the Setup and configuration tab, select Manage corporate communicators. Select Add user to search for a user by name or email ID. Assignees appear in the list of active corporate communicators in your organization.

Community Administrator

Function	Details
Permissions	Community admins only have permissions in their communities: Add and remove members and community admins. Manage conversations, including marking best answers, removing posts, and closing posts to replies. Manage settings, such as customizing the community appearance and changing the default post type. Send announcements.
Who can assign	Engage admins can assign community admins. Additionally, any Engage user who creates a community is automatically assigned the community admin role. Community admins can assign up to 100 other community admins. Note: Network admins and verified admins can prevent Engage users from creating communities. In this case, they must assign the initial community admin who performs all community admin tasks.
How to assign	On the community page, select Settings icon > Manage Members and Admins. Choose a user and select either Make Admin or Revoke Admin.