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Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
Answered

Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

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Posted on by 50

Can anyone explain clear and simple what licence is needed to create power apps to work with Business Central.

I have read a lot of forum threads with the same question and I have tried to read a lod of pages on docs.microsoft.com, but I still have absolutely no clue.

I am in the process of evaluation if my company should switch to Busness Central and I read a lot of teasers like :

"Power Apps is the platform to customize and extend applications in Dynamics 365, such as Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service, in context of the use rights.

Dynamics 365 Applications can be customized using Power Apps and Power Automate capabilities."

...so of course I'm interesting in knowing if we can create Power Apps and Power Automate with i.e. business Central Essentials licences.

To me this seems like a simple question that could be answered with a simple "Yes, you can create power apps with Business Central Essentials licence" or "No, this will require additional licences".

I have the same question (0)
  • TMNielsen Profile Picture
    50 on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    Thank you Shinichi, for finally giving an understandable answer.

    From your explanation I agree that the simple answer is no - and of course the q/a is not as simple as I like it to be

  • Verified answer
    S.Kawamura Profile Picture
    1,530 on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    Hi,

    One month ago, my customer asked me a similar question and I did some research.

    My answer is "No, this will require additional licenses". Technically speaking, "Yes, but you can only do very limited things."

    For example, Check the capacity of your tenant in Power Platform Admin Center. Your capacity is 0GB if you only have  BC license. In this case, you will not be able to create a new Dataverse environment and you will have to use the Default environment.

    Default Environment has many restrictions and is not recommended as a production environment. Please see the following article for the reason.
    Solved: Can I use the Default CDS environment as a Product... - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)
    Environments overview - Power Platform | Microsoft Docs

    Also, when I tried to create a Dataverse table in the Default Environment, it required the Dynamics365 Administrator Role. Normal users cannot create tables.

    It might be possible to create an application that only do CRUD BC tables without creating Dataverse tables, within the limitations of the Default Environment. However, there may be many other restrictions and you may not be able to achieve what you want.

    My recommendation to MY CUSOMER was to buy Power Apps per User Plan. If you have a small number of apps you want to create and a large number of users, you can buy a Power Apps Per User Plan for the number of developers to develop apps, and then buy a Power Apps Per App license for the number of apps you have developed to make them available to users.

    Since the latest licensing terms and conditions change from time to time, and your requirements are not accurately communicated in this forum, it would be best to consult with a partner or Microsoft sales representative who is familiar with Power Platform licensing.

    I hope this is helpful to you and happy new year.

    S.Kawamura

  • Suggested answer
    JAngle Profile Picture
    113 on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    B8B27940_2D00_2024_2D00_4FA7_2D00_9919_2D00_A35AEF22D18A.png
    The licensing guide is ok but I tend to refer to the above which was from a dynamics community conference by a former MS employee. As the image shows it is often a collection of licensing that results in your true set of capabilities.

  • Suggested answer
    Inge M. Bruvik Profile Picture
    1,035 Moderator on at
    RE: Business central and Power Apps licensing - again again

    Dynamics 365 Business Central Applications include the “PowerApps for Dynamics 365 Applications” license. Dynamics 365 Business Central users can use PowerApps to access Dynamics 365 within the bounds of their Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials or Premium license.

    pastedimage1640858312107v1.png

    Link to Power Platform licensing guide https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=2085130&clcid=0x409

    I hope this makes it a little clearer for you.

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