Dynamics 365 F&O: licenses will soon determine who can work and who cannot

Starting in 2026, Microsoft will implement this control step by step, at the time your contract is renewed. For many organizations, this is the moment to take a closer look at their setup.

What exactly is changing?

Microsoft will now manage licenses for Dynamics 365 F&O in one central location, namely in the Microsoft 365 admin portal. This means that Microsoft will automatically check whether everyone has the correct license at important moments, such as when your contract is renewed. This control will be implemented step by step, allowing organizations to prepare. However, once your organization is up for review and a license is incorrect, a user may temporarily lose access to the system until this is corrected.

Why this deserves your attention now

In practice, we see that license issues often do not arise from purchasing too few licenses, but from roles and rights that have historically developed. And that makes this topic urgent: Microsoft emphasizes that organizations must prepare by understanding license requirements and optimizing roles/entitlements.

If you only address this when warnings become visible, you risk:

• Unexpected licensing costs due to over-licensing (roles/rights too broad)

• Disruption of processes when access is lost due to missing/incorrect license assignment

• Compliance and audit questions that need to be resolved last minute

What Microsoft recommends and what you can do now

1. Map out who is working in Dynamics 365 F&O
2. Check if rights and licenses match
3. Eliminate unnecessary rights
4. Manage licenses centrally and clearly

How Axelio can help you

To quickly provide concrete insight into risks and optimization opportunities, we offer the Axelio License Scan. We start with authorizations (roles and rights) and translate the outcomes into license impact and clear next steps, without a thick IT report, but with understandable insights.