User Security in Business Central

Article
02/15/2022

Business Central provides a security system that allows administrators to manage user access to the objects and data in the Business Central database. Because the Business Central database is on SQL Server or Azure SQL Database, the Business Central security system and either the SQL Server SQL Server or Azure SQL Database security system work together to help ensure that only authorized users can gain access to the Business Central database.

User permissions in the application

For users to access the application, they must be have a valid user account in the application. Then, they must be granted permissions to the various areas of the application, based on their role. The management of user accounts and permissions is done from the Business Central client. For more information, see the following articles in the Business Central application help:

User authentication

Before users can sign-in to the application, they must be authenticated as valid user in the system. Business Central supports several authentication methods. You configure the authentication method on the server-tiers of Business Central.

For more information, see Authentication and Credential Types.

Limiting user access beyond the permission level

Business Central provides options for limiting and monitoring user access to the database.

Limiting access to specific database entries

You can specify that each individual user or group can only access specific entries in the database. For example, you can limit access to the entries that relate to a specific department or project. This level of access control is known as record level security.

Time-limited passwords

Passwords in Business Central do not have time limits, but you can put time limits on user IDs.

If you have the required permissions, then you can delete a user ID from the system or cancel all permissions. If deleting a user ID is too drastic a step to take, then you can specify a limited time period during which a particular user ID is allowed to post in the system. You set up this limitation in the User Setup page in the client.

Customizing password requirements

Codeunit 9801, Identity Management, contains a method called ValidateKeyStrength that you can modify to customize the requirements for user passwords. You can, for example, change the minimum length required (the default is eight characters) or specify whether uppercase, lowercase, or numeric characters are required.

Registering user time

You can specify that you want Business Central to register the amount of time that each user works with a company in the database. To register user time, use the User Setup page in the client. To see the time use that has been registered, search for the Time Registers page.

Default and fixed printer selections

You can specify which printer that each individual user can use. In the client, search for the Printer Selections page.