What Modify Same User Level does for level 9 admins

Most VICIdial permissions ask whether an account can touch a feature. Modify Same User Level is different: it governs whether your top-tier admins can touch each other. It only applies to level 9 users, and getting it right is the difference between a clean separation of duties and a single admin who can quietly rewrite every other admin on the box. This post explains exactly what it controls.

Level 9 in one line

Level 9 is the highest user level in VICIdial, the full administrator tier. A level 9 account can reach the parts of the admin screen lower levels never see. Because they already sit at the top, the only people they cannot automatically edit are their peers, other level 9 accounts. That is the gap Modify Same User Level decides.

What the setting controls

When Modify Same User Level is enabled, a level 9 user may modify their own settings and the settings of any other level 9 user. When it is disabled, that same admin can still run the system but cannot edit a peer level 9 account, and cannot edit their own. It is enabled by default, so out of the box every full admin can change every other full admin.

That default is fine for a single-operator system. The moment you have several administrators, or you host more than one team on one box, the default is too loose. Turning it off for most of your level 9 accounts means one admin cannot silently demote, lock out, or rewrite another.

There is also a quieter benefit. With the setting off, an admin cannot edit even their own account, which means they cannot accidentally widen their own access or change a setting they were never meant to touch. Changes to top-tier accounts then flow through one designated super-admin, which gives you a single, predictable place to review who has the keys. On a busy system that one habit prevents a surprising amount of drift in who can do what.

How the edit decision works

flowchart TD
  A[Level 9 admin opens a user record] --> B{Target is level 9}
  B -->|no| C[Edit allowed]
  B -->|yes| D{Modify Same User Level on}
  D -->|yes| E[Edit allowed]
  D -->|no| F[Edit blocked]

Notice the gate only fires when the target is also level 9. Editing lower-level managers, supervisors, or agents is unaffected, so a locked-down level 9 admin still manages the floor exactly as before.

A sensible pattern

• Keep one trusted super-admin with the setting enabled. That account is the only one that can create, edit, or reset other level 9 admins.
• Turn the setting off for every other level 9 account. They run their own area of the system but cannot reach into a peer's record.
• Combine this with User group boundaries so each admin's reach is also scoped to the right teams and campaigns.

This matters most on a Single tenant box that several departments share. A clean split of duties at level 9 stops one over-privileged Agent manager from becoming an accidental kill switch for the whole Campaign roster.

Where this fits

Modify Same User Level only makes sense once you understand the level ladder it sits on. Read our explainer on VICIdial user levels for that ladder, then see how the whole user model fits together in our guide to VICIdial users and multi-team groups.

Splitting admin duties cleanly is simpler on a managed server you control end to end. See our plans and pricing for dedicated VICIdial hosting.