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Licensing in Dynamics 365 is complex, licensing in D365FO is even more difficult. I’ve written numerous articles in the past on licensing but one question I get quite often is ‘What License Do SysAdmins Need in D365FO?’
Let’s take a look at what the Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide says and if that matches what D365FO itself reports.
Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide
Microsoft puts out a semi-regular licensing guide that covers all of the Dynamics 365 products, this can be found on this page: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/dynamics365
The most recent version is the August 2024 version of this guide, if we start looking through it we see initially this topic appears to be fairly straight forward as it states:
But later on we get to this passage:
Which really would not make sense if SysAdmins really didn’t require a license, so the licensing guide somewhat contradicts itself on this topic.
Maybe D365FO will give us a clearer picture…
How Does D365FO Report This?
Within D365FO our first clue to an answer is during the role assignment process, Microsoft now lists what the license requirement is for each role on this form dialog. We can see in this case the license required is an ‘Operations’ license:
As a further test, we can assign this role to a user:
And then ensure that the ‘Named user license count reports processing’ batch job executes before looking at the User License Counts report (located at System Administration -> Inquiries -> License -> User License Counts), in this report we can also see that D365FO is reporting that assigning the ‘System Administrator’ role requires an ‘Operations’ level license:
Conclusion
In my opinion, the above demonstrates that a user assigned the SysAdmin role requires some sort of base license SKU to be applied (Finance, Supply Chain Management, or Commerce). This is because an ‘Operations’ license can no longer be assigned to a user, this license type equates to one of the license SKUs listed previously.
Could you make the argument that this user should not require any license based on the license guide from Microsoft? Potentially. But I am not sure it is worth that risk, let me know your thoughts on this and how you address this within your organization!
I think SysAdmin role requires Full Enterprise license, as it gives access to everything in the system. I can’t imagine, MS allows this role to be assigned to someone without consuming Enterprise license.
Baber,
That is my take as well, thanks for the feedback!
This is a great topic! I have often wondered this same question!!
I don’t think a sysadmin should require a licence as they work *on* the system, not *in* the system. I.e. the sysadmin should never be cutting POs, doing inventory adjustments, selling products, paying invoices, and generally carrying out the business of the company. So sysadmins are not really users as such. Just my take on it.
Matt,
While I agree in theory, I’ve seen way too many end users having their finance department personnel be SysAdmins because they couldn’t figure out what security they needed.
If there was a way to limit this so SysAdmins couldn’t perform transactions I would be 100% on board, but since they have the ability to do so that’s where my take on them requiring a license comes from.
I have a question. What happens when we simply disable a terminated user who no longer works for our company? If the user still maintains the role he or she used, does Microsoft bill him or her even if the user is no longer using his or her access?
Luis,
Great question, disabled users are not considered when performing a license analysis.