Using a system or integration account is a best practice recommended by eXtendTech when Access Tokens or OAuth 2.0 M2M Client Credentials are required. This practice ensures that your integrations continue to function normally, even in the event of staff changes. This article provides an overview of the benefits and considerations of using a system or integration account.

If there are staff changes, any integrations linked to a system or integration account will not be impacted. They will continue to function normally. In contrast, if a personal user account is used for integrations, these integrations may break or need to be moved to another user in the event of staff changes.

Using a system or integration account can make record changes more clear. If a normal user is set as the integration user, it can be difficult to determine who truly made a change: the integration or the actual user. A separate integration user eliminates this confusion, making it clear that changes have been sourced from the integration user.

One potential downside of using a system or integration account is that it will require a separate NetSuite license if an existing system account or integration is not available.

The system or integration account can be shared with other system processes or integrations that are in the account. It does not need to be dedicated to a single application.