Create Users According to Licenses

This article describes how administrators create users and define who can sign in to Business Central, and which permissions are given to different user types according to the licenses.

When you create users in Business Central you can assign specific permissions to them through permission sets and organize users in user groups. User groups make it easier to manage permissions for multiple users at the same time. For more information, see Assign Permissions to Users and Groups.

For more information about the different types of licenses and how licensing works in Business Central, download the Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide.

Note

The process of managing users and licenses varies depending on whether Business Central is deployed online or on-premises. For Business Central online, you must add users from Microsoft 365. In on-premises deployments, you can create, edit, and delete users directly.

Managing Users and Licenses in Online Deployments

In the online version of Business Central, the number of users is defined by the subscription and added to your tenant in the Microsoft Partner Center, typically by your Microsoft partner. For more information, see Add a new customer and Create, suspend, or cancel customer subscriptions in the Microsoft Partner Center help.

To define who can sign in to Business Central, you must assign product licenses to users according to the roles that they will perform in Business Central. This can be done in the following ways:

For more information, see Administration of Business Central Online in the administration Help.

To add users or update user information and license assignments in Business Central

After you add users or change user information in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, you can quickly import the user information to Business Central. This includes license assignments.

  1. Sign in to Business Central using an administrator account.
  2. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Users, and then choose the related link.
  3. Choose Update Users from Microsoft 365.

If you are adding new users, the next step is to assign user groups and permissions. For more information, see Assign Permissions to Users and Groups. If you are updating user information, and the update includes a license change, the users will be assigned to the appropriate user group and their permission sets will be updated. For more information, see To manage permissions through user groups.

Note

All users must be assigned to the same license, either Essential or Premium. For more information, see the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Licensing Guide. The guide is available for download on the Business Central website.

For more information about synchronizing user information with Microsoft 365, see the Synchronization with Microsoft 365 section.

Note

If you use an external accountant to manage your books and financial reporting, you can invite them to your Business Central so they can work with you on your fiscal data. For more information, see Inviting Your External Accountant to Your Business Central.

To remove a user's access to the system

In online deployments, you can remove a user's access to Business Central. All references to the user are kept, but the user cannot sign in and active sessions for the user are stopped.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Users, and then choose the related link.
  2. Open the User Card page for the relevant user, and then, in the Status field, select Disabled.
  3. To give the user access again, set the Status field to Enabled.

You can also remove the license from a user in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. The user is then unable to sign in. For more information, see Remove licenses from users.

Synchronization with Microsoft 365

When you assign a license for Business Central to a user in Microsoft 365, there are two ways to create the user in Business Central.

In both cases, a number of settings are made automatically. These are listed in the second and third columns in the table below.

If you change user information in Microsoft 365 you can update Business Central to reflect the change. Depending on what you want to update, use one of the actions on the Users page. The actions are described in the last three columns in the table below.

Note

The actions described in the following table are accurate, however, the only one that you need is Update Users from Microsoft 365, which was added to simplify the process. The other actions will be removed in a future version of Business Central.

What happens when: First user, first sign-in Get Users from Microsoft 365 Update Users from Microsoft 365 Restore User Default User Groups Refresh User Groups Update user information from Microsoft 365
Scope: Current user New users in Microsoft 365 Multiple selected users Single selected user (except current) Multiple selected users Multiple selected users
Create the new user and assign SUPER permission set.

 X X
Update the user based on information in Microsoft 365: Status, Full Name, Contact Email, Authentication Email. X X X X X
Synchronize user plans (licenses) with licenses and roles assigned in Microsoft 365. X X X X X
Add the user to user groups according to the current user plans. Remove the SUPER permission set for all users other than the first user to sign in and administrators. At least one SUPER is required. X X X X

Removes manually assigned user groups and permissions.		 X

Update user group assignments.

The Device License

The Dynamics 365 Business Central Device license allows multiple users to simultaneously use a device that is covered by the license. For example, this might be a point of sales, shop floor, or warehouse device. When you have purchased a number of device licenses, up to that number of users assigned to the Dynamics 365 Business Central Device Users group can sign in at the same time. For more information, see the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Licensing Guide. The guide is available for download on the Business Central website.

Your company's Microsoft 365 administrator or Microsoft partner can create the Dynamics 365 Business Central Device Users group and add device users as members in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center or on the Azure Portal.

Device User Limitations

Users with the Device license cannot perform the following tasks in Business Central:

  • Set up jobs to run as scheduled tasks in the job queue. Device users are concurrent users and, therefore, we cannot ensure that the involved user is present in the system when a task is executed, which is required.

  • A device user cannot be the first user to sign in. A user of type Administrator, Full User, or External Accountant must be the first to sign in so they can set up Business Central. For more information, see Administration of Business Central Online in the administration Help.

To create a Dynamics 365 Business Central Device Users group

  1. In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, go to the Groups page.

  2. Choose the Add a group action.

  3. On the Choose a group type page, choose the Security option, and then choose the Add action.

  4. On the Basics page, enter Dynamics 365 Business Central Device Users as the name of the group.

    Note

    The name of the group must be spelled in English exactly as shown in step 4, even if you are using another language. If you have copied the name of the group from a document, such as a PDF, verify that the name does not contain extra spaces.

  5. Choose the Close button.

Note

You can also create a group of type Microsoft 365. For more information, see Compare Groups

To add members to the group

  1. In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, refresh the Groups page so your new group appears.
  2. Select the Dynamics 365 Business Central Device Users group, and then choose the View all and manage members action.
  3. Choose the Add members action.
  4. Select the users that you want to add, and then choose the Save button.
  5. Choose the Close button three times.

You can add as many users to the Dynamics 365 Business Central Device Users group as you need. However, the number of devices that users can sign in to simultaneously is defined by the number of purchased device licenses.

Note

You do not need to assign a Business Central license to users that are members of the Dynamics 365 Business Central Device Users group.

Managing Users and Licenses in On-premises Deployments

For on-premises deployments, the number of user licenses is specified in the license file (.flf). When an administrator or Microsoft partner uploads the license file, the administrator can specify which users can sign in to Business Central.

For on-premises deployments, the administrator creates, edits, and deletes users directly from the Users page.

To edit or delete a user in an on-premises deployment

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Users, and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the user that you want to edit, and then choose the Edit action.
  3. On the User Card page, change the information as necessary.
  4. To delete a user, select the user that you want to delete, and then choose the Delete action.
Note

For on-premises deployments an administrator can specify how to authenticate user credentials in the Business Central Server instance. When you create a user, you provide the credential type that you are using.

For more information, see the Authentication and Credential Types in the administration Help for Business Central.

See Also

Assign Permissions to Users and Groups
Manage Profiles
Change Which Features are Displayed
Customizing Business Central
Getting Ready for Doing Business
Administration
Add Users to Microsoft 365 for business
Security and Protection in Business Central (administration content)

Note

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