Hello all,
I'm writing to seek clarification on the new license assignment policy for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, which was recently announced and updated (most recently on May 23, 2025).
The announcement states that beginning November 1, 2025, all users will require an assigned license in the Microsoft 365 admin center to access F&O applications. This is a significant and welcome shift towards centralized license management.
However, the announcement does not seem to address the specific scenario of external users, particularly implementation partners. Historically, partner consultants added to a customer's project in LCS could access the F&O environments without consuming a paid User Subscription License (USL) from the customer's license pool.
With the new policy, it's clear that these partner users (typically guest users in the customer's Microsoft Entra ID) will also need a license assigned to them to gain access. My question is about the nature of this required license.
Could you please clarify the following:
1. Will customers need to assign one of their paid USLs (e.g., Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain Management, etc.) to each external consultant from their implementation partner?
2. Or, will Microsoft be introducing a new, zero-cost license type specifically for this purpose (e.g., an "Implementation Partner License" or "External Consultant Access License") that customers can assign to their partners?
This is a critical point for planning and budgeting, as requiring paid licenses for an entire implementation team would represent a significant new cost for customers during the project lifecycle.
Thanks.
