zaro

What is the Difference Between System Administrator and Environment Maker?

Published in Platform Administration Roles 4 mins read

The fundamental difference between a System Administrator and an Environment Maker lies in their scope of control and the types of permissions they possess within a platform, particularly in environments like Microsoft Power Apps. While a System Administrator has overarching control across the entire system and all its environments, an Environment Maker operates within the boundaries of a specific environment, focusing on development and content creation.

In essence, a System Administrator is akin to the landlord of the entire building, managing all apartments and common areas, whereas an Environment Maker is a tenant within a specific apartment, free to decorate and utilize their space within the landlord's rules.

Key Distinctions

Here's a breakdown of the primary differences between these two crucial roles:

Feature System Administrator Environment Maker
Scope of Control Full permissions to create and manage all environments across the entire system. Operates within a specific environment.
Core Function Global management, infrastructure setup, security oversight, environment creation. Application development, data interaction, content creation within an assigned environment.
Environment Creation Can create new environments. Cannot create new environments.
Environment Management Can manage, delete, and configure settings for any environment. Can only utilize and work within their assigned environment; limited management capabilities.
Permissions Highest level of privilege, often includes security role assignment, user management, and resource allocation at a system level. Can view all apps in that environment, create new apps, and work with Dataverse.
Security Roles Can assign users to any security role, including Environment Admin roles, across all environments. Typically limited to roles that allow app creation and data manipulation within their specific environment. Environment admins (a higher role within an environment) can create other security roles as needed within that specific environment.

Detailed Role Breakdown

System Administrator

A System Administrator holds the highest level of administrative privileges. Their responsibilities span the entire platform, giving them a bird's-eye view and control over all resources and configurations.

  • Global Oversight: A System Administrator is responsible for the overall health, security, and structure of the entire system. This includes managing licenses, setting up data loss prevention (DLP) policies, and monitoring usage across all environments.
  • Environment Lifecycle Management: This role has the ultimate authority to create, delete, back up, and restore environments. They decide where development, testing, and production activities will take place.
  • User and Security Management: System Administrators are empowered to manage all users and assign them to various security roles, including granting Environment Maker or even Environment Admin permissions to specific users for specific environments. They ensure that appropriate access controls are in place.

Environment Maker

An Environment Maker is a user who has been granted specific permissions to build and innovate within a particular environment. Their focus is on creating value by developing applications and working with data.

  • App Creation: The primary role of an Environment Maker is to create apps (e.g., canvas apps, model-driven apps) within the designated environment. They are the developers and creators.
  • Dataverse Interaction: Environment Makers have permissions to work with Dataverse, which includes creating tables, defining relationships, and managing data records within the environment's Dataverse instance. This allows them to build robust, data-driven applications.
  • Limited Scope: Unlike System Administrators, an Environment Maker's permissions are confined to the specific environment they are assigned to. They cannot create new environments or manage global settings. Their "other permissions" are typically related to building, sharing, and using resources within that single environment.

Practical Insights and Relationship

Understanding these roles is crucial for effective governance and development within platform environments.

  • Hierarchy: The System Administrator is at the top of the hierarchy, overseeing all environments. Environment Makers operate at a lower level, within environments that have been provisioned and managed by a System Administrator.
  • Delegation of Power: System Administrators often delegate environment-specific management tasks to Environment Admins, a role which has more control within an environment (e.g., creating security roles, managing environment settings), but not across the entire system like a System Admin. An Environment Maker typically does not have these environment-wide management capabilities.
  • Collaboration: While System Administrators set the stage, Environment Makers are the actors on that stage, bringing applications and solutions to life. A well-managed system leverages both roles efficiently: System Admins ensure the platform is secure and scalable, while Environment Makers build the solutions that drive business value.

For instance:

  • A System Administrator might create separate environments for Development, Testing, and Production to establish a healthy application lifecycle management (ALM) process.
  • They would then assign Environment Makers to the Development environment, enabling them to build and iterate on new applications.
  • The System Administrator would also manage the deployment pipelines between these environments, ensuring that only tested and approved applications make it to Production.