Assign permissions to users and groups

Article
05/07/2024

Note

Security groups are new to the online and on-premises versions of Business Central in 2023 release wave 1. They make it easier for administrators to manage user permissions by allowing them to group users by department, job function, and so on. Administrators assign the permissions to the group that its members need to do their jobs.

Security groups are similar to the user groups that are currently available. However, user groups are only relevant for Business Central. Security groups are based on groups in Microsoft 365 admin centre or Azure portal. That benefits administrators because they can use their security groups with other Dynamics 365 apps. For example, if salespeople use Business Centraland SharePoint, administrators don't have to recreate the group and its members.

To learn more about security groups, go to Control Access to Business Central Using Security Groups.

The Business Central security system controls which objects a user can access within each database or environment, in combination with the user's licence. For each user you can specify whether they're able to read, modify, or enter data in database objects. For more information, see Data Security in the developer and administration content for Business Central.

Before you assign permissions to users and user groups, you must define who can sign in by creating users according to their licence. For more information, see Create Users According to Licences.

In Business Central, there are two levels of permissions to database objects:

Overall permissions according to the licence, also referred to as the entitlement.

The licences include default permission sets. Starting in 2022 release wave 1, admins can customise these default permissions for the relevant licence types. For more information, see Configure permissions based on licences.
Detailed permissions that you assign in Business Central.

This article describes how to define, use, and apply permissions in Business Central to change the default configuration.

You might see other users in the Users list apart from those from your own company. When a delegated admin from a reselling partner company logs into a Business Central environment on behalf of their customer, they are automatically created as a user inside Business Central. This way, the actions performed by a delegated admin are logged in Business Central, such as posting documents, and associated with their user ID.

With granular delegated admin privileges (GDAP), the user is shown in the Users list and can be assigned any permissions. They are not shown with name and other personal information but with their company name and a unique ID. Both internal and external admins can see these users in the Users list, and they have full transparency into what these users do through the change log, for example. But they can't see the actual name of these users. GDAP users are listed with user names in the following format: User123456@partnerdomain.com. They might have a user name that reflects the partner's company name, and the email address is not the person's actual email address. This way, the GDAP user accounts do not reveal personal information. If you need to find out who the person behind such a pseudonym is, you'll have to reach out to the company that this user works or worked for.

For more information, see Delegated administrator access to Business Central Online.

Business Central online includes default user groups that are assigned to users automatically based on their licence. You can change the default configuration by modifying or adding security groups, permission sets, and permissions. The following table outlines key scenarios for modifying the default permissions.

To	See
To make it easier to manage permissions for multiple users, you can organise them in security groups and then assign or change one permission set for many users in one action.	Manage permissions through user groups
To manage permission sets for specific users	Assign permission sets to users
To learn how to define a permission set	Create a permission set
To view or troubleshoot a user's permissions	Get an overview of a user's permissions
To learn about record-level security	Security filters limit a user's access to specific records in a table

Note

An broader way to define which features users have access to is by setting the Experience field on the Company Information page. For more information, see Change Which Features are Displayed.

You can also define the features that are available to users in the user interface and how they interact with them through pages. You do this through profiles that you assign to different types of users according to their job role or department. For more information, see Manage Profiles and Customising Business Central.

Create a permission set

Note

In 2022 release wave 2 we made it easier to add permissions to permission sets. Rather than adding permissions individually, you can add entire permission sets. If needed, you can then exclude individual permissions in them. For more information, see To add other permission sets. To make that possible, we replaced the Permission Set page with a new one. The key differences are the new Permission Sets and Results panes, and the Included permissions FactBox. To continue using the replaced Permissions page, on the Permission Sets page, choose the Permissions (legacy) action.

Maintenance is also easier. When you add a system permission, your user-defined permission set will be automatically updated with any changes that Microsoft makes to those permissions.

Choose the icon, enter Permission Sets, and then choose the related link.
Choose the New action.
On the new line, fill in the fields as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description.
Choose the Permissions action.
On the Permission Set page, in the Type field, include or exclude permissions to the object as follows:

To include the permission, choose Include, and then choose level of access to give in the Read Permission, Insert Permission, Modify Permission, Delete Permission, and Execute Permission fields. The following table describes the options.

Option	Description	Ranking
Blank	The user can't perform the action on the object.	Lowest
Yes	The user can perform the action on the object.	Highest
Indirect	The user can perform the action on the object, but only through another related object that the user has full access to. For more information, see Example - Indirect Permission in this article, and Permissions Property in Developer and IT-Pro Help.	Second highest

To exclude the permission, or one or more access levels, choose Exclude, and then choose the level of access to give. The following table describes the options.

Option	Description
Blank	Use the access level based on the hierarchy of permissions in the set.
Exclude	Remove the specific access level for the object.
Reduce to indirect	Change the access level to Indirect if any permission sets give Direct access to the object. For example, choose this option if the permission set gives Direct access to G/L entries but you don't want users to have full access to the entries.

Note

If a permission is in a permission set that is included, and is also in a permission set that is excluded, the permission will be excluded.

Use the Object Type and Object ID fields to specify the object you're giving access to.

Tip

New lines show default values. For example, the Object Type field contains Table Data, and the Object ID field contains 0. The default values are just placeholders, and aren't used. You must choose a type of object and an object in the Object ID field before you can create another new line.

Optional: If you're defining permissions for a Table Data object type, in the Security Filter field you can filter the data that a user can access in fields on the selected table. For example, you might want to let a user access only records that contain information about a particular customer. For more information, see Security filters limit a user's access to specific records in a table and Using Security Filters.
Optional: On the Permission Sets pane, add one or more other permission sets. For more information, see To add other permission sets.

Important

Use caution when assigning Insert Permission or Modify Permission to the 9001 User Group Member or 9003 User Group Permission Set table. Any users assigned to the permission set could potentially assign themselves to other user groups, which in turn might give them unintended permissions.

Example - Indirect Permission

You can assign Indirect permission to allow a user to use an object, but only through another object. For example, a user has permission to run codeunit 80, Sales-Post. The Sales-Post codeunit performs many tasks, including modifying table 37, Sales Line. When the user posts a sales document using the Sales-Post codeunit, Business Central checks whether the user has permission to modify the Sales Line table. If not, the codeunit can't complete its tasks, and the user receives an error message. If so, the codeunit runs successfully.

However, the user doesn't need to have full access to the Sales Line table to run the codeunit. If the user has Indirect permission for the Sales Line table, the Sales-Post codeunit runs successfully. When a user has Indirect permission, they can only modify the Sales Line table by running the Sales-Post codeunit or another object that has permission to modify the Sales Line table. The user can only modify the Sales Line table when doing so from supported application areas. The user can't run the feature inadvertently or maliciously by other methods.

To add other permission sets

Expand a permission set by adding other permission sets to it. Afterward, you can include or exclude specific permissions, or entire permission sets, in each set you add. This includes permissions in the Extension and System type permission sets, which otherwise isn't allowed. Exclusions apply only to the permission set you're expanding. The original set isn't affected.

On the Permission Set page, add a permission set on the Permission Sets pane. The Result pane lists all added permission sets. To explore the permissions that are included in a set you've added, choose the set on the Result pane and the Included permissions FactBox will show the permissions.

On the Result pane, use the Inclusion Status field to identify the permission sets in which you've excluded permissions or permission sets. If something's been excluded, the status will be Partial.

For an overall view of permissions in the permission set, choose the View all permissions action. The Expanded Permissions page shows all permissions that were already assigned to the permission set and the permissions in the added permission sets.

To fully exclude all permissions from a permission set, on the Result pane, select the line, choose Show more options, and then choose Exclude. When you exclude a permission set, a line is created on the Permission Sets pane of the type Excluded. If you've excluded a permission set, but want to include it again, delete the line on the Permission Sets pane.

To fully or partially exclude a specific permission in a set you've added, under Permissions, create a line for the object. The access level fields, Insert Permission, Modify Permission, and so on, will all contain Exclude. To allow a certain access level, choose the appropriate option.

Excluding a permission set excludes all of the permissions in the set. Business Central calculates permissions as follows:

Calculate the full list of included permissions
Calculate the full list of excluded permissions
Remove excluded permissions from the list of included permissions (removing an indirect permission is the same as Reduce to Indirect)

Copy a permission set

Create a new permission set by copying another. The new set will include all of the permissions and permission sets from the set you copied. How the permissions and permission sets are arranged in the new permission set differs, depending on your choice in the Copy operation field. The following table describes the options.

Option	Description
Copy by reference	The original permission set and all of the permission sets that were added to it are listed on the Results pane.
Flat permission copy	All permissions from all permission sets are included in a flat list on the Permissions pane. Permissions are not organised by permission set.
Clone	Create an exact copy of the original permission set.

On the Permission Sets page, select the line for a permission set that you want to copy, and then choose the Copy Permission Set action.
On the Copy Permission Set page, specify the name of the new permission set.
In the Copy operation field, specify how to arrange permission in the new permission set.
Optional: If you're adding a System permission set, you might want to be notified if the name or content of the original permission set changes in a future version. This lets you consider whether to update your user-defined permission set. To receive a notification, turn on the Notify on Changed Permission Set toggle.

Note

The notification requires that the Original System permission set changed notification is enabled on the My Notifications page.

Create or modify permissions by recording your actions

Choose the icon, enter Permission Sets, and then choose the related link.

Alternatively, on the Users page, choose the Permission Sets action.
On the Permission Sets page, choose the New Action.
On a new line, fill in the fields as necessary.
Choose the Permissions action.
On the Permissions page, choose the Record Permissions action, and then choose the Start action.
Recording must be done either by using the Open this page in a new windows (pop-out) feature to have the Permissions recording window side-by-side, or by working within the same tab.
A recording process now starts and captures all of your actions in the user interface.
Go to the various pages and activities in Business Central that you want users with this permission set to access. You must carry out the tasks that you want to record permissions for.
When you want to finish the recording, return to the Permissions page, and then choose the Stop action.
Choose the Yes button to add the recorded permissions to the new permission set.
For each object in the recorded list, specify whether users are able to insert, modify, or delete records in the recorded tables.

To export and import a permission set

To quickly set up permissions, you can import permission sets that you exported from another Business Central tenant.

In multi-tenant environments, a permission set will be imported into a specific tenant. In other words, the scope of the import is Tenant.

In tenant 1, on the Permission Sets page, select the line or lines for the permission sets to export, and then choose the Export Permission Sets action.

An XML file is created in the download folder on your machine. By default, the name is Export Permission Sets.xml.
In tenant 2, on the Permission Sets page, select the Import Permission Sets action.
On the Import Permission Sets dialogue page, consider if you want to merge existing permission sets with any new permission sets in the XML file.

If you select the Update existing permissions checkbox, existing permission sets that match names in the XML file will be merged with the imported permission sets.

If you don't select the Update existing permissions checkbox, permission sets that match names in the XML file will be skipped during import. In that case, you'll be notified about permission sets that are skipped.
From the Import dialogue page, find and select the XML file to be imported, and then choose the Open action.

The permission sets are imported.

Remove obsolete permissions from all permission sets

On the Permission Sets page, choose the Remove Obsolete Permissions action.

Set up time constraints for users

Administrators can define periods of time during which specified users are able to post. Administrators can also specify if the system logs how much time users are signed in. Similarly, administrators can assign responsibility centres to users. For more information, see Work with Responsibility Centres.

Choose the icon, enter User Setup, and then choose the related link.
On the User Setup page opens, choose the New action.
In the User ID field, enter the ID of a user, or choose the field to see all current Windows users in the system.
Fill in the fields as necessary.

Control access to specific companies

When you have multiple companies in Business Central, managing permissions across companies requires extra consideration. You might not want users to have identical access rights to all companies. Instead, you may need to grant users' permissions based on their company affiliations. To support this scenario, when you assign permission sets to individual users or security groups, you have the option to select a specific company to which the permission set applies. The company isn't explicitly specified within the permission set, but rather when the permission set is assigned to the user or security group.

If you don't specify the company when assigning a permission set, the permission set then applies to all companies. If you want a permission set to apply to more than one company, but not all companies, add the permission set specifically for each company separately.

Learn how at Assign permission sets to users or Assign permissions to a security group.

Manage permissions through user groups

User groups help you manage permission sets across the company. Business Central online includes default user groups that are assigned to users automatically based on their licence. You can add users manually to a user group, and you can create new user groups as copies of existing ones.

You start by creating a user group. Then you assign permission sets to the group to define which object users of the group can access. When you add user to the group, the permission sets defined for the group will apply to the user.

Permission sets assigned to a user through a user group stay synchronised. A change to the user group permissions is automatically propagated to the users. If you remove a user from a user group, the involved permissions are automatically revoked.

To add users to a user group

The following procedure explains how to create user groups manually. To create user groups automatically, see To copy a user group and all its permission sets.

Choose the icon, enter User Groups, and then choose the related link.
1. Alternatively, on the Users page, choose the User Groups action.
On the User Group page, choose the User Group Members action.
On the User Group Members page, choose the Add Users action.

To copy a user group and all its permission sets

To quickly define a new user group, you can copy all permission sets from an existing user group to your new user group.

Note

The user group members are not copied to the new user group. You must add them manually afterwards. For more information, see the To add users to a user group section.

Choose the icon, enter User Groups, and then choose the related link.
Select the user group that you want to copy, and then choose the Copy User Group action.
In the New User Group Code field, enter a name for the group, and then choose the OK button.

The new user group is added to the User Groups page. Proceed to add users. For more information, see the To add users to a user group section.

Important

You'll get a validation error if you're trying to assign a user group to the user that refers to a permission set which was defined in an uninstalled extension. It's because the App ID of the extension is validated whenever it's referenced. To assign that user group to a user, you can either re-install the extension, remove the reference of the uninstalled extension from the permission set, or remove that permission set from the user group.

To assign permission sets to user groups

Choose the icon, enter User Groups, and then choose the related link.
Select the user group that you want to assign permission to.

Any permission sets that are already assigned to the user are displayed in the Permission Sets FactBox.
Choose the User Permission Sets action to open the User Permission Sets page.
On the User Permission Sets page, on a new line, fill in the fields as necessary.

To assign a permission set on the Permission Set by User Group page

The following procedure explains how to assign permission sets to a user group on the Permission Set by User Group page.

Choose the icon, enter Users, and then choose the related link.
On the Users page, select the relevant user, and then choose the Permission Set by User Group action.
On the Permission Set by User Group page, select the [user group name] field on a line for the relevant permission set to assign the set to the user group.
Select the All User Groups checkbox to assign the permission set to all user groups.

You can also assign permissions sets directly to a user.

Assign permission sets to users

A permission set is a collection of permissions for specific database objects. All users must be assigned one or more permission sets before they can access Business Central.

A Business Central solution contains predefined permission sets that are added by Microsoft or by your solution provider. You can also add new permission sets tailored to meet the needs of your organisation. For more information, see the Create a permission set section.

Note

If you do not want to restrict a user's access more than already defined by the licence, you can assign a special permission set called SUPER to the user. This permission set ensures that the user can access all objects specified in the licence.

A user with the Essential licence and the SUPER permission set has access to more functionality than users with the Team Member licence and the SUPER permission set.

You can assign permissions sets to users in two ways:

From the User Card page by selecting permission sets to assign to the user.
From the Permission Set by User page by selecting users that a permission set is assigned to.

To assign a permission set on a user card

Choose the icon, enter Users, and then choose the related link.
Select the user that you want to assign permission to.

Any permission sets that are already assigned to the user are displayed in the Permission Sets FactBox.
Choose the Edit action to open the User Card page.
On the User Permission Sets FastTab, on a new line, fill in the fields as necessary. For more information, see Create or edit a permission set.

If you want the permission set to apply to a specific company, set the Company field to that company. If you want the permission set to apply to all companies, leave the Company field blank. Learn more.

To assign a permission set on the Permission Set by User page

This method makes it easier for you to assign different permission sets to multiple users.

Choose the icon, enter Users, and then choose the related link.
On the Users page, choose the Permission Set by User action.
If you want the permission sets to apply only to a specific company, set the Company name field to that company. If you want the permission set to apply to all companies, leave the Company name field blank. Learn more.
On the Permission Set by User page, select the [user name] checkbox on a line for the relevant permission set to assign the set to the user.

Select the All Users checkbox to assign the permission set to all users.

Get an overview of a user's permissions

You can view other users' effective permissions only if you're assigned to the SECURITY or SUPER permissions.

The Effective Permissions page offers additional information about the source of each permission. For example, whether the source is a security group, or a permission is inherited. The page also contains a column where administrators can review the security filters that are applied. To learn more about security filters, go to Security filters limit a user's access to specific records in a table.

Choose the icon, enter Users, and then choose the related link.
Open the card of the relevant user.
Choose the Effective Permissions action.

The Permissions part lists all the database objects that the user has access to. You can't edit this section.

The By Permission Set part shows the assigned permission sets through which the permissions are granted to the user, the source and type of the permission set, and to which extent the different access types are permitted.

For each row that you select in the Permissions section, the By Permission Set section shows which permission set or sets that the permission is granted through. In this section, you can edit the value in each of the five access type fields, Read Permission, Insert Permission, Modify Permission, Delete Permission, Execute Permission.

Note

Only permission sets of type User-Defined can be edited.

Rows of source Entitlement originate from the subscription licence. The permission values of the entitlement overrule values in other permission sets if they have a higher ranking. A value in a non-entitlement permission set that has a higher ranking than the related value in the entitlement will be surrounded by brackets to indicate that it is not effective as it is overruled by the entitlement.

For an explanation of ranking, see Create a permission set.
To edit a permission set, in the By Permission Set part, on the line for a relevant permission set of type User-Defined, choose one of the five access type fields and select a different value.
To edit individual permissions within the permission set, choose the value in the Permission Set field to open the Permissions page.

Note

When you edit a permission set, the changes will also apply to other users that have the permission set assigned.

Security filters limit a user's access to specific records in a table

For record-level security in Business Central, use security filters to limit a user's access to data in a table. You create security filters on table data. A security filter describes a set of records in a table that a user has permission to access. You can specify, for example, that a user can only read the records that contain information about a particular customer. In this way, the user can't access the records that contain information about other customers. For more information, see Using Security Filters in the administration content.

View permission changes telemetry

You can set up Business Central to send changes that are done to permission to an Application Insights resource in Microsoft Azure. Then, using Azure Monitor, you create reports and set up alerts on the gathered data. For more information, see the following articles in the Business Central Developer and admin help:

Share via

Assign permissions to users and groups

Create a permission set

Example - Indirect Permission

To add other permission sets

Copy a permission set

Create or modify permissions by recording your actions

To export and import a permission set

Remove obsolete permissions from all permission sets

Set up time constraints for users

Control access to specific companies

Manage permissions through user groups

To add users to a user group

To copy a user group and all its permission sets

To assign permission sets to user groups

To assign a permission set on the Permission Set by User Group page

Assign permission sets to users

To assign a permission set on a user card

To assign a permission set on the Permission Set by User page

Get an overview of a user's permissions

Security filters limit a user's access to specific records in a table

View permission changes telemetry

Delegated admin users

See Also

Additional resources