Understanding Super User (Super Admin) and Administrator roles and permissions

Understanding the distinction between the Super User (also referred to as the Super Admin) and an Administrator is important when managing administrative access within the application. Although both can perform administrative functions, they serve different purposes and are governed by different rules.

This article explains how the Super User is determined, how it differs from an Administrator, and the restrictions designed to protect the administrative ownership of the organization.

What is a Super User / Super Admin?

The Super User, also known as the Super Admin, is the employee at the highest level of the organization's reporting hierarchy.

Unlike an Administrator, this role is not assigned manually. The system automatically identifies the Super User based on the organizational structure.

Key points to remember:

• Every organization can have only one Super User.
• The Super User is determined by the reporting hierarchy, not by administrative permissions.
• The Super User represents the top of the organizational hierarchy within the application.
• Simply granting administrative permissions to another employee does not make them the Super User.

What is an Administrator?

An Administrator is a user who has been granted administrative permissions to manage one or more modules within the application.

Organizations can create multiple Administrators depending on operational requirements. Each Administrator may be assigned different permissions and access levels.

Administrator access can also be restricted based on organizational requirements, such as Modules, Locations, Legal Entities and Business Units.

This allows organizations to delegate administration without giving every administrator unrestricted access across the organization.

Super User vs Administrator

Feature	Super User	Administrator
Number of users allowed	Only one	Multiple
How the role is assigned	Automatically determined from the organization's reporting hierarchy	Granted manually by an authorized user
Administrative access	Has complete administrative access to all modules by default	Based on the permissions assigned
Location, Legal Entity and Business Unit access	Has access to all Locations, Legal Entities and Business Units by default	Can be restricted to specific Locations, Legal Entities or Business Units
Can edit own employee details	Yes	Yes
Can edit other Administrators' employee details	Yes	Yes, if granted the required permissions
Can grant or revoke Administrator access	Yes	Yes, if granted the required permissions
Can modify the Super User's employee details	Yes	No
Can delete the Super User	No	No
Can change who the Super User is	No. Only HRStop's support team can do this, after verification.	No

The most important distinction is that the Super User is identified by the reporting hierarchy, whereas an Administrator is identified by the permissions assigned to their user account.

Important points

• Every organization can have only one Super User.
• The Super User is identified automatically from the organization's reporting hierarchy and cannot be selected manually.
• Granting administrator permissions to another employee does not make them the Super User.
• Multiple Administrators can be created based on business requirements.
• Administrators can be given full administrative permissions or limited access depending on their responsibilities.
• Even if an Administrator has complete module permissions, they do not become the Super User.

Protecting the Super User

To safeguard ownership of the organization's account, certain actions are intentionally restricted.

• The Super User cannot be deleted.
• Administrators cannot modify the Super User's employee details.
• The reporting hierarchy cannot be changed in a way that changes the Super User.
• If the organization's reporting hierarchy changes due to restructuring or leadership changes, only the support team can update the Super User, after the necessary verification and authorization.

Common scenario

Your organization has two Directors who do not report to each other. Who becomes the Super User?

Since the Super User is determined from the reporting hierarchy, there must always be a single employee at the highest level.

If two Directors exist at the same level and neither reports to the other, a common practice is to create a Board of Directors employee profile above both Directors in the organizational hierarchy. This profile becomes the Super User, while both Directors can continue to function as Administrators with the required permissions.