Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing

Find out the latest about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing October 2018 Updates.

Microsoft have released new licensing guidelines for Dynamics 365 in October 2018 including changes to:

  • Team Member licenses
  • Marketing app pricing
  • Customer Service license offerings
  • Portal allowance.

All these changes will be in effect for new users of the affected apps from 1st October 2018. For some updates, there are grace periods for existing users.

Team Members

One of the most notable changes is to the Team Member license type. For those who are unsure, a Dynamics 365 Team Member license is a named, limited functionality user type intended for use in certain basic Dynamics 365 use scenarios; across all the apps.

The intended use cases for this license type have been simplified to the following:

Access
  • Dynamics 365 Mobile Client Application
  • Dynamics 365 for iPad and Windows
  • Dynamics 365 for Outlook
  • Dynamics 365 Web application
Read
  • All Dynamics 365 application data
  • Custom entity data
Approve
  • Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Plan functionality: Time, Expense, Invoices
Portal/API Access Only: Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD)
  • Employee self-service: cases
Entities: Create, Read, Update, and Delete
  • Maximum of 15 custom entities
  • Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Plan functionality: Time and Expense
  • Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Plan functionality: Requisitions
  • Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Plan functionality: Quality Control
  • Contacts
  • Activities and Notes
  • Personal views; Saved Views
  • Shared Azure
  • Announcements
Entities: Actions
  • Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Plan functionality: Manage Budgets
  • Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Plan functionality: Manage personal info
  • Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Plan functionality: Manage direct reports and candidates
  • Chat with support team (as chat client for self-service, requires 3rd party solution)
  • Use Yammer collaboration requires a Yammer Enterprise license (acquired separately)
  • Add or remove a Connection (stakeholder, sales team) for an Account or Contact
  • Associate a Marketing List with an Account or Contact
  • Post & follow activity feeds
  • Use a queue item
  • Start dialog
  • Perform mail merge
  • Submit Time & Expense for Project Service Automation
  • Update Project Tasks for Project Service Automation
  • Update Own Resource Competencies for Project Service Automation
  • Apply for Open Project Position for Project Service
  • Use Project Finder Mobile Application
General System Use: Actions
  • Use relationships and connections between records
  • Search and Advanced find search
  • Export data to Microsoft Excel
Additional Services and Software
  • Dynamics 365 – Gamification Fan and Spectator
  • Microsoft Project Online Essentials

Note the restriction of CRUD access to custom entities is now 15 per application as opposed to unlimited. Create, Update, and Deletion rights to Accounts have been revoked. Portal access has also been removed. Managing/publishing of knowledge base articles know requires a full Customer Service license.

Marketing App Amendments

Upon product release, Dynamics 365 for Marketing was priced tiered by number of contacts in the database. The change to the pricing here is simple – the pricing is now based upon number of contacts in your database that you market to. So, if you have a database with 1,000,000 contacts and you market to 100,000 of them, you pay for 100,000 contacts.

Once counted, you can only REDUCE your number of marketable contacts if you delete them or if they permanently become non-marketable. Contacts are additive and may not be replaced month to month.

There are then additional contact packs to be purchased if your number of marketable contacts increases:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing

Additional to the pricing change, Dynamics 365 for Marketing now supports 33 new languages, and it is now available in every market geography that Dynamics 365 for Sales is supported in. You can check if your country and language is supported.

Customer Service Professional

Following Dynamics 365 for Sales [Enterprise] and Dynamics 365 for Sales [Professional] licenses announced earlier this year, October 2018 brings the Dynamics 365 for Customer Service [Professional] license.

Similar to the two Sales app licenses, the Dynamics 365 for Customer Service [Enterprise] and Dynamics 365 for Customer Service [Professional] licenses cannot be rolled out together in one instance.

The Customer Service Professional license is for customers with less complex service scenarios, only requiring core support functionality.

The difference in functionality can be seen here:

Function Professional Enterprise
Unlimited named users Yes Yes
Case management Yes Yes
Knowledge management Yes Yes
Social customer care Yes Yes
Mobile Yes Yes
Portal Add on only Yes
Customisation Limited – max 15 Yes
Feedback and surveys (VoC) No Yes
Unified Service Desk No Yes
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service embedded intelligence No Yes
Service Gamification No Yes
Leads (creation only) Yes Yes
PowerApps P2 Add on only Yes

Changes to Portal allowance

As of 1st October 2018, access to a free Portal for a tenant requires the purchase of a minimum of 10 Full User licenses of Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Plan, Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Business Applications (Sales, Customer Service, Field Service or Project Service Automation) or a combination. Team Member licenses do not contribute to this minimum. If you purchase less than 5 users and wish to have a Portal, you may purchase the Portal add on.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing – Existing Customers

For existing customers with Team Member users, your permissions will not change immediately. If you purchased your Team Member license before 1st October 2018, then you can renew under the original agreement until 30th June 2020.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing – New Customers

If you have purchased Team Member licenses after 1st October 2018 then this described licensing agreement applies to you. Additionally, if you have purchased licenses after 1st October 2018 then you will need 10 full users in order to qualify for one free portal.

Details taken from the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide (October 2018).

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