Understanding the Dynamics 365 Teams Member Licence Restrictions

know the limitations, know your options

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The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity. Douglas Horton

The story of Team Member licence

The Team member licence has had a roller coaster ride with Dynamics 365. As soon as Microsoft released the generous first Team Member licence they realised they had made a mistake because it let users too do much.

This lead to a stampede of users buying team member licences and with no enforcement it was happy days and business saved themselves money on licences.

Microsoft quickly plugged the dam and updated the Teams Member licence to be more restrictive (but not enforced technically yet). This caused a lot of complaining because Microsoft had given a child an ice cream with their right hand and took it back instantly with the left hand.

Dynamics 365 now technically enforces the Team Member licence limitations, which will have caused lots of users to have to upgrade their licences to full licences'.

Just like when a developer gives an estimate, it’s never forgotten (unless it goes down) and there are still people out there who think the Teams Member licence is cheap and great. It’s cheap and so limited few can use it.

Team licences are not the only choice

The licencing choices are not full licence or teams, there are other options that can meet your needs.

1. Create an internal portal
2. Create a canvas app

The key is to split down the team licence users into smaller groups and you can create smaller options.

Not all problems need a Dynamics 365 solution, see if Power Apps can offer a solution, licences are much cheaper.

Team member highlights

If there is any document more ambiguous than a Microsoft licencing guide I am yet to find it. Microsoft are master at creating ambiguous wording so even Microsoft employees can’t give a definitive answer. Interpretation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide is a…