Microsoft Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 simplifies the licensing of business applications. The primary licensing method is by named user subscription. The Dynamics 365 user subscriptions classify users into two types. One user type is a “full user” and the other is a "light user."

Full users are the users whose work requires use of the feature-rich business app’s functionality. Examples of full users are sales people, customer service representatives, finance employees, controllers, and supply chain managers. Such users have also been referred to in the past as “pro users” or “power users.” In the Dynamics 365 license model, full users are licensed with either a Dynamics 365 Plan or Dynamics 365 application subscription.

Often, a large number of users in an organization are considered light users. Light users may consume data or reports from line-of-business systems and complete light tasks like time/expense entry and human resources record updates. In the Dynamics 365 model, light users are licensed with the Dynamics 365 for Team Members subscription.

Plan subscriptions are new with Dynamics 365. With one single-user subscription, a Plan subscription is the most cost-effective option to provide ultimate flexibility, giving the user access to any Dynamics 365 functionality they need to get their job done. Such a user might be, for example, a controller who manages customer credit limits based on sales pipeline information. Plan subscriptions grant users the rights to use functionality across any of the respective Plan apps as well as the rights to use Microsoft PowerApps, the mobile application platform service.

Application subscriptions are named user subscriptions that license a user for only one individual application. For example, such a user might be a sales person who is licensed only for the Sales application. This is largely how business apps have traditionally been licensed. Application subscriptions also include use rights to PowerApps for mobile app creation and use against Dynamics 365 data.

The Dynamics 365 for Team Members subscription is a named user subscription that includes rights to execute basic processes across Dynamics 365 apps (where applicable), share knowledge, and provide embedded business intelligence. One Team Members subscription enables a light user to read from any of the Dynamics 365 applications. As a result, as more Dynamics 365 applications are adopted across an organization, any user previously licensed with a Team Members subscription would be licensed already to access those additional applications.