Stay compliant with user licensing requirements
This topic provides an overview of how customers can stay compliant with the user licensing requirements for Finance and Operations apps, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, and Dynamics 365 Commerce.
The licensing requirements for users are determined by the security roles that are assigned to those users. Security roles are built based on a hierarchy of:
- Sub-roles
- Duties
- Privileges
- Directly referenced securable objects
For more information, see Role-based security.
The licensing requirements for users are determined at the organization or tenant level. This topic is focused on the requirements for a single environment. If you have multiple environments, the requirements must be analyzed across all of them.
A licensing requirement is assigned to every securable object. Examples of licensing requirements include None, Team members, Activity, and Operations. The Operations licensing requirement indicates that a full user license is required. Some privileges are unique to a specific full user license and require a base or attach license for the full user license be assigned to the user. For more information, see the User license estimator report section later in this topic.
The rest of this topic describes the various tools that you can use to ensure that the actual licensing complies with the expected licensing requirements.
Roles for selected user FactBox on the Users page
You assign roles to users on the Users page (System administration > Users). You can view license requirements for each role in the Roles for selected user FactBox.
The maximum license requirement determines the actual licensing requirement for a user. If any license requirement is identified as Operations, you must use the User license estimator report to determine the full user licensing requirements.
Note
Starting with platform update for version 10.0.15, the required license types are extended to include application specific license types such as Commerce, Finance, and Supply Chain Management. This extension makes it possible to view the actual license requirements when you assign roles to users and when using the Roles for the selected user FactBox. More than one value can be displayed for the required license type.
View permissions page
During security configuration on the Configure security page (System administration > Security > Configure security), you can select any security object, a role, duty, or permissions, and then select View permissions to view all permissions that are currently included and their licensing requirements. The header of the View permissions page shows the required license level.
Note
Starting with platform update for version 10.0.15, the required license types are extended to include application specific license types such as Commerce, Finance, and Supply Chain Management. This extension makes it possible to identify the specific security objects that determine the actual license requirements while also configuring security. More than one value can be displayed for the required license type.
User license counts report
The User license counts report (System administration > Inquiries > License) is used to get a count of required licenses per license type (for example, Team members, Activity, and Operations).
The report also provides details about each user and the licensing requirements for each assigned role. Users are listed under the highest license type. If the license requirement is identified as Operations, you must use the User license estimator report to determine the specific full user licensing requirements.
The User counts history report shows total counts per date, but without any details.
Note
This report depends on the Named user license count reports processing batch job. To determine when the batch was last run, use the Batch job history page.
User license estimator report
If the previously mentioned tools have identified that any users require a license of the Operations type, you can use the User license estimator report (System administration > Inquiries > License reports) to get a count of specific licensing requirements for those users. The report includes only those users.
If no privileges that require a specific full user license have been assigned to a user, that user is shown, but no specific full user licenses are marked. That user will be compliant with any full user license that is assigned. In the example in the following illustration, the Database management administrator role is assigned to a user, and no other roles that require a license of the Operations type are assigned.
Based on the licensing guide, this user is compliant with any full user license.
Admin rights apply across the Finance, Supply Chain Management, and Commerce apps. For example, if you have a Finance license, you have the admin rights for Finance, Supply Chain Management, and Commerce.
This principle might apply to several roles that are provided by Microsoft and customizations, based on the included privileges. No specific license is indicated for these users on the User license estimator report.
Alternatively, if privileges that require a specific full user license have been assigned to a user, that license is indicated when you look at the licenses that are assigned to the user. In the example in the following illustration, the user must have a base license for Supply Chain Management.
If privileges that require more than one specific full user license have been assigned to a user, those licenses are indicated when you look at the licenses that are assigned to the user. In this case, the user must have a base license for one of the licenses and an attach license for all other full user licenses that are required. In the example in the following illustration, the user must have either a base license for Finance and an attach license for Supply Chain Management, or a base license for Supply Chain Management and an attach license for Finance.
The totals per specific full user license counts aren't divided into base licenses and attach licenses.
Note
The total count per specific full user license and evaluation of custom privileges are included starting in the release of the platform update for version 10.0.13. The report can't separate the base and attach license requirements. Therefore, it lists only the total full user licenses requirements.
Additional resources
For information about how to buy and license Finance and Operations apps, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide.
For information about how to assign licenses to users in the Microsoft 365 admin center, see Assign licenses to users.
Additional user licenses are required when multiple implementation projects exist for the same tenant. For more information, see Multiple LCS projects and production environments on one Azure AD tenant.