idea Swap user type/roles for administrators in ArcGIS Online Ideas

Swap user type/roles for administrators

JeffreySchmidt3000 — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:03:33 GMT

In software such as D2L, (frequently used in education) there is an option for teachers to view the website as a student. This can be very useful for a teacher to emulate what the student can see. The same holds true for administrators in AGOL and Portal. It would be a great benefit to be able to swap between roles/user types to see what the experience is like for different users. I would use it to assist staff that do not have the same permissions as I do.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

RobertBorchert — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 12:51:22 GMT

create a non administrator account to use to look at their work.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

Anonymous User — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:33:46 GMT

I agree that administrators should not have to create a dummy account just to see how other roles experience AGOL/Portal. Having the ability to change how you're viewing the site would allow us to troubleshoot user issues better.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

RobertBorchert — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:49:59 GMT

Who are you agreeing with?

Well then have another administrator change your user level when you need to review work. I think that would be more of a hassle. Each of the 5 GIS people at my company have Administrative roles and access to a non administrative role that we can adjust to the desired level at will to do exactly what you are looking for. I do this quite often.

I will have the non administrator open in one browser and the administrator open in another so I can make adjustments quickly and refresh the other browser.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

Anonymous User — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 14:07:01 GMT

@RobertBorchert I was agreeing with the original poster to voice my support for Esri adding this functionality to AGOL/Portal.

While what you're suggesting is a great workaround with how the system currently works, I don't think it is an optimal experience for administrators or organizations as a whole to have to maintain an account for this purpose.

This is especially true for my organization, where we only have two administrators, 100+ users, many customized roles to manage permissions, and not enough licenses to hold one up as a dummy account.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

JeffreySchmidt3000 — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 14:08:50 GMT

We have 10+ different roles and a user base of over 2500. It would simplify the process of quality control and as Lucas states, I agree with him that we should not need to create dummy/non admin accounts simply to review content, groups, galleries, sites, etc through the lens of a particular role. I am glad your workflow works for your company Robert, but this is an idea that would fit my company's needs.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

RobertBorchert — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 15:38:21 GMT

It is probably different for us. We are Enterprise GIS and hosting our own Portals. We only have 3 user types and 6 roles. One of which we created to single out non employees who we have given access to our GIS. But for those of you with only 2 administrators you would only need one extra account.

I am not disagreeing with the idea, just the excuses people have. I always test out the applications as the user role and type that it is intended for. However, I mis-wrote how we do it. We have one Administrator for each Portal and I have my own log in. We only have 850 employees and only 493 of them are registered with the GIS. We only have one customized role.

Is it a dummy account if it is smart to have one.?

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

LarryMasters — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 16:16:06 GMT

This would be nice. We are getting close to limiting out on our creator user type so I can't afford to waste one just for this. It is frustrating when you get something finished and tell everyone they are good to go, just to find out you have missed a permissions setting. Only negative to admin role,,,,,,everything works.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

KBERG_EGLE — Tue, 03 May 2022 16:28:00 GMT

This is a great idea. I currently have two accounts set up for myself as admin and as a user, but I am using up a seat for this and that is definitely not ideal.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

ChelseaRozek — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:38:38 GMT

Would definitely use this a lot. Currently have duplicate accounts for testing, but with the move to named user licensing, it would indeed be a "dummy" account if we're paying for two accounts and potentially two Pro licenses for the same Administrator. The testing I need to do is just having a subset of my full permissions for a while, so it's not asking for anything more than the Administrator account would already have. Having another administrator temporarily downgrade us is a hassle. I imagine you'd have to reassign all your items to another user if you went all the way down to Viewer too.

Re: Swap user type/roles for administrators

LindseyGreidanus — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 15:07:13 GMT