Microsoft Licensing Enforcement Starts November 1st: Are You Ready?

July 22, 2025

By: Tiffany Hindman

Microsoft Is Enforcing User Licensing in Dynamics 365 F&SCM

Microsoft is revamping the process for validating user licenses in Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management (F&SCM). Historically, licensing has been honor-based: users were granted access by security role, and it was up to organizations to ensure those users had the appropriate license. That’s about to change.

From Trust to Enforcement

Beginning later this year, Microsoft will start systematically validating licenses based on the security roles assigned to each user. Rather than relying on manual tracking, the system will now enforce license compliance using built-in logic that compares a user’s access to their assigned license.

This shift comes with two key enforcement deadlines:

  • September 15, 2025: Users will begin receiving warnings if their access exceeds what their assigned license allows.
  • November 1, 2025: Users without the correct license will be blocked from accessing the system entirely.

Going forward, licenses must be assigned to users through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This centralized approach will help ensure consistency and improve governance across environments.

Tools to Help You Prepare

Microsoft recognizes that understanding which license a user needs—especially in complex environments—hasn’t always been straightforward. To assist with the transition, they’re rolling out new tools that simplify license management and help businesses optimize their spending.

1. License Management in the Power Platform Admin Center

This tool provides visibility into overall licensing usage and helps prevent over-licensing by centralizing license assignments and analytics across Microsoft services.

2. In-App License Usage Summary in D365 (Preview)

Included in version .44 (currently in preview), D365 now features a built-in report that maps user security roles to the licenses required—with complete transparency.

  • It shows the exact reason a license is needed by breaking down roles, duties, and privileges.
  • This lets businesses identify opportunities to reduce costs by building custom roles that qualify for lower-tier licenses.

Even though the feature is in preview, it’s worth activating now to begin assessing your current security configurations.

To access this feature, two features must be enabled (in this order):

  1. User security governance
  2. (Preview) User security governance license usage summary report

Once enabled, the report can be found at:
System Administration → Security → Security governance → License usage summary

What You Should Do Now

  • Audit your current users and understand the security roles they’ve been assigned.
  • Enable the preview license usage report to get visibility into potential license conflicts.
  • Start assigning licenses via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, if you haven’t already.
  • Review your role design—there may be significant savings available by redesigning security to fit lower-cost licenses.

This is a big shift, but it’s also an opportunity: with better tools and clearer guidance, license management in D365 can become more efficient, accurate, and cost-effective.

Need Help Navigating the Changes?

Understanding how security roles map to licensing requirements isn’t always straightforward—and that’s where we come in.

At Strabo Partners, we help companies get clarity around their D365 security structure, build efficient custom roles, provide training, and align your security strategy with Microsoft’s new licensing model.

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👉 Email our team directly

Whether you're preparing for the September warnings or the November cutoff, we’re here to make sure you’re ready.

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