New license enforcement coming to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations apps

MSDW Insight: While technical license enforcement for Dynamics 365 F&O apps could come as an unpleasant surprise to some customers, it could also encourage more discipline around related competencies like security and compliance.

Microsoft is alerting the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations customer base that the company will begin enforcing license management for the ERP-focused applications later this year.

“Beginning August 30th, users will require an assigned license to access the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations applications. We are giving customers time to prepare with tools and training to support any action needed,” stated Microsoft VP Georg Glantschnig in a new blog post.

He added that customers that already assign their licenses will not need to take any action and will not experience any disruptions.

For the rest of the D365 F&O customer base, the change in policy requires that all application users have a valid license by the deadline. A warning message in the D365 app will apparently begin warning users of the August 30 deadline if a license is not detected for them. 

Microsoft FastTrack-recognized architect Yogesh Kasat recently wrote about D365 F&O licensing and noted differences between the two primary ways the applications are licensed: CSP or EA/SCE. 

For CSP, there has been no true-up process, Kasat told us. “Microsoft usually audits usage occasionally and works with customers to right size licensing. This change will enforce right sizing licensing upfront,” he explained.

On the enterprise side, Kasat has seen frequent surprises during true-up due to higher usage and failure to optimize user role associations. "One of the challenges historically was getting visibility into license usage," he said. "There were not very good reports available. These changes come with better reporting and solves license usage visibility issues."

(Yogesh’s firm, Real Dynamics, is a California-based consultancy and they are also working with United Way of Greater LA to raise funds for their Wildfire Response Fund. -Editor)

Microsoft MVP and Caf2Code VP Justin Carter told MSDW that he welcomes the change, at least in part because the lack of licensing enforcement has made related challenges harder to manage with clients. 

"Licensing in FinOps is so tightly driven by security roles and configurations," he said. "It's easy for a customer to over consume, or under consume, and it's been tough to be proactive with that without this type of update that just came out."