Admin roles and tasks in Microsoft Viva

Microsoft Viva uses role-based authentication to manage access to the Viva apps. Microsoft Viva uses a combination of Microsoft Entra administrator roles, Microsoft 365 workload roles, SharePoint site permissions, and product-specific roles to control administrative access. The required role and assignment method depend on the Viva app and the task being performed.

Viva apps can be accessed through Microsoft Teams, the web, SharePoint, or product-specific experiences. Administrative roles and permissions depend on the services and management environments used by each app.

In this article, we bring together information on the types and levels of admin roles for each Viva app.

Admin roles in Microsoft Viva

Roles spanning Microsoft Viva apps

The two roles that span Microsoft Viva apps are the Microsoft 365 global admin and the Microsoft Teams admin.

Microsoft 365 global admin

The Microsoft 365 global admin role spans the Viva suite. A Microsoft 365 global admin sets up Viva, manages licenses and settings, and can assign admin roles and other required roles for each app.

Important

Microsoft recommends that you use roles with the fewest permissions. Using lower permissioned accounts helps improve security for your organization. Global Administrator is a highly privileged role that should be limited to emergency scenarios when you can't use an existing role.

Learn more about admin roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Learn about Built-in Microsoft Entra roles.

Microsoft Teams admin

The Teams admin manages the Teams service and creates and manages Microsoft 365 Groups. Teams admins can access everything in the Microsoft Teams admin center and associated PowerShell controls.

For Viva, the Teams admin manages the deployment of Viva apps and some settings for the apps.

For more information, see Use Microsoft Teams administrator roles to manage Teams.

Admin and management roles for each app

Deciding who should be assigned roles will partly depend on how much access you want a person to have.

For example, you might want to give someone site owner permissions so they can create and manage your Viva Connections dashboard. This person would also be able to manage permissions for that site, edit the home page and other pages, delete pages and other site contents, and more.

To help you decide who should be assigned which roles, here are the overviews of roles for each app and what they do in Viva.

Jump to a section:

Viva Amplify
Viva Connections
Viva Engage
Viva Glint
Viva Goals
Viva Insights
Viva Learning
Viva Pulse

Viva Amplify

Users with the SharePoint Administrator role can configure Viva Amplify settings for their organization from the Viva Amplify admin experience. This role is required for managing settings, but it isn't required for users who only create campaigns and publications.

Role	What this role does in Viva
SharePoint admin	Users with this role have global permissions within Microsoft SharePoint, when the service is present, and the ability to create and manage all Microsoft 365 groups, manage support tickets, and monitor service health.
Microsoft 365 Groups admin	Users in this role can create/manage groups and its settings like naming and expiration policies. It's important to understand that assigning a user to this role gives them the ability to manage all groups in the organization across various workloads like Viva Amplify campaigns, Teams, SharePoint, Viva Engage in addition to Outlook. Also, the user is able to manage the various groups settings across various admin portals like Microsoft admin center, Azure portal, and workload specific ones like Teams and SharePoint admin centers.

Viva Connections

The SharePoint app in Teams, formerly Viva Connections, is configured through the Microsoft 365 admin center. A SharePoint Administrator can create and manage Connections experiences. A Teams Administrator or higher role is required to pin the app in the Teams admin center. A Connections experience can be standalone or associated with an existing intranet portal or SharePoint home site.

To learn about setup and administration for Connections, see Guide to setting up Viva Connections, in which required permissions are noted for each step. To learn about SharePoint roles and tasks see Introduction to roles, tasks, and timelines in SharePoint. To learn about Teams administration, see Manage teams in the Microsoft Teams admin center.

Viva Engage

Role	What this role does in Viva
Engage admin	Configures and manages all aspects of Viva Engage including tenant settings, core and premium features, badges enablement, and compliance. This role is also referred to as Yammer administrator in Microsoft Entra ID.
Answers Administrator	Configures Answers in Viva Engage and manages topics.
Corporate communicator	Creates and manages official campaigns, defines leaders, and manages content across the organization.

For more information about administrator roles and their business functions in Viva Engage, see Manage administrator roles in Viva Engage.

Viva Glint

A Microsoft 365 Global Administrator initially provisions Viva Glint and assigns the appropriate administrative roles. Viva Glint Tenant Administrators can manage Viva Glint settings in the Microsoft 365 admin center, while Viva Glint Service Administrators manage the Viva Glint application, including programs, surveys, reporting, and application data.

For more information, see Assign Viva Glint Service and Tenant Administrators.

Viva Goals

Viva Goals was retired on December 31, 2025, and is no longer available. For retirement details, see Viva Goals retirement and the Viva Goals retirement FAQ.

Viva Insights

In Viva Insights, you can assign multiple roles to one person. For example, one person can be both an Insights Administrator and an Insights Analyst. However, it's a best practice to assign the admin and analyst roles to different people to prevent any misuse of or external linking of organizational data with collaboration metrics.

Role	What this role does in Viva
Insights Administrator	Has access to administrative features in the Viva Insights web app, including organizational data, privacy settings, partitions, and manager settings.
Insights Analyst	Has access to advanced analysis in the Viva Insights web app, including custom queries, analysis results, Power BI templates, and organizational data quality information.
Manager	Can access eligible organization insights after an Insights Administrator enables access through Manager settings in the Viva Insights web app.

For more information on all the roles in Viva Insights see Roles in Viva Insights.

Viva Learning

Viva Learning is by default available in Microsoft Teams with some content already available. To set up learning content sources in Viva Learning and manage individual licensing, you'll need these permissions:

Role	What this role does in Viva
Knowledge admin Can create and manage content, like topics, acronyms, and learning resources. Can also create content centers, monitor service health, and create service requests	Manages the organization's learning content sources through the Microsoft 365 admin center. Users in this role have full access to all knowledge, learning and intelligent features settings in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
SharePoint admin Manages all aspects of SharePoint	Manages and stores custom learning content for your organization.
Teams admin Manage all aspects of Microsoft Teams	Can turn on or off the Viva Learning app at the organization level. Learn how to manage your apps in the Microsoft Teams admin center. Can create custom app permission policies to allow or block specific users from using Viva Learning.

The knowledge admin is a Microsoft Entra role in the Microsoft 365 admin center that can be assigned to anyone in the organization. This role manages the organization's learning content sources through the Microsoft 365 admin center. For more information, see Microsoft Entra built-in roles and Overview of Microsoft Learning.

For more information on the roles in Viva Learning, see Admin roles and permissions in Viva Learning.

Viva Pulse

Viva Pulse admins must have a license to one of the following: Viva Pulse Standalone, Viva Glint, Viva Insights Bundle, Viva Suite, or the Viva Pulse Admin-led trial. For more information, see Licensing requirements. The following roles and permissions are required to set up Viva Pulse.

Role	What this role does in Viva
Microsoft 365 Global Administrator	Assigns users to the Viva Pulse Administrator role and can manage Viva Pulse settings. The Global Administrator can also install and pin Viva Pulse in Microsoft Teams.
Viva Pulse Administrator	Manages in-app Viva Pulse settings.
Teams Administrator	Manages Teams app availability, installation, pinning, and applicable Teams app policies.