Execute As Admin
On the workflow definition page, you can select the Execute As Admin property to direct NetSuite to execute workflow instances as a user with the administrator role. This administrator role privileges override the privileges for the user role that initiated the workflow instance.
![A portion of the workflow definition page with the Execute As Admin checkbox highlighted.](img/SuiteFlowWorkflow/ExecuteAsAdmin_2.png)
Some types of workflows may require administrator privileges. For example, you lay out a workflow that creates follow-up tasks after a sales order is saved and the workflow instance needs to read data from employee records. The workflow instance does not execute properly if the user that initiated the workflow instance does not have permission to access employee records.
Rules and Guidelines for Using Execute As Admin
Use Execute As Admin only when required. Otherwise, you may give unintended data access to users for whom this workflow initiates.
Use the following rules and guidelines with this property:
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If you enable Execute As Admin, any action that includes a record join must execute on a server trigger and not a client trigger. Any action that executes on a client trigger will not execute as expected. For more information about the difference between server and client triggers, see Workflow Triggers.
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Only users with the administrator role have access to Execute As Admin. This property is disabled for all other roles, including roles with the Workflow permission assigned with the full permission level. This is also true for Execute As Admin on the SuiteScript Deployment page.
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If you enable Execute As Admin, the Override Period Restrictions permission is not automatically enabled for the workflow. Instead, the logged in user's value for this permission is applied to the workflow, to determine whether the workflow can complete updates to Posting Period field values. This exception is intended to prevent users who do not have the Override Period Restrictions permission from executing workflows that post transactions in locked periods. In addition, other updates made by a workflow with Execute As Admin enabled, such as changes to the Approval Status field, may still lead to changes in Posting Period field values, even if the logged in user does not have the Override Period Restrictions permission.
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The Execute As Admin feature does not impact the Allow Non G/L Changes permission associated with editing period end journals. When you select the Allow Non G/L Changes box, users with the Allow Non G/L changes permission assigned to their role can make edits that do not affect the general ledger. If you enable Execute As Admin, the editing permissions of period end journals does not change.
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If you create a workflow that is initiated by users accessing records through the Employee Center, you will commonly need to enable Execute As Admin.
If you create a workflow that includes an Add Button action, when a user interacts with the button and the record is saved, the System Notes will list the role of the user as Administrator, regardless of the role the user is logged in as. This behavior is expected and is not related to the Execute As Admin property.