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Managing Users

This page explains how users are added to Business Central, what license types are available, and how to manage user accounts day-to-day.

How users get into Business Central

Business Central SaaS uses Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) for authentication. Users don't create accounts in Business Central directly — they sign in with their Microsoft 365 / organizational account.

The flow is:

  1. A user account exists in your organization's Entra ID (usually created when the employee joins)
  2. The user is assigned a Business Central license in Microsoft 365 Admin Center
  3. The user is added to the environment security group (see Managing Permissions and Security Groups)
  4. When the user first signs into Business Central, their user record is created automatically

Note

You can also manually add users in Business Central via Users page → Update Users from Microsoft 365, which synchronizes all licensed users from Entra ID.

License types

Business Central has three license types. The license determines the maximum level of access a user can have — permission sets can further restrict, but never exceed, what the license allows.

License What it includes Typical users
Essentials Full access to core business functionality: finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, project management, warehousing, HR Accountants, purchasers, warehouse workers, project managers
Premium Everything in Essentials + manufacturing + service management Production planners, service technicians
Team Member Limited read access + specific write operations (time sheets, expenses, approvals, simple data entry) Employees who only need to submit time sheets, approve requests, or view reports

Team Member limitations

Team Member is significantly restricted. Users cannot create or edit sales/purchase documents, post journals, or manage master data. Don't assign it to users who need to perform core business processes — they will get permission errors even with broad permission sets assigned.

Adding a user

  1. Assign the user a Business Central license in Microsoft 365 Admin Center → Users → Active users → select user → Licenses and apps
  2. Add the user to the appropriate environment security group (see Step 1 in Permissions guide)
  3. Add the user to the appropriate role-based security groups (see Step 2 in Permissions guide)
  4. The user signs into Business Central — their account is created automatically with the right permissions

Synchronizing users

If you've added licenses to multiple users and want them to appear in Business Central before they sign in:

  1. In Business Central, search for Users
  2. Click Update Users from Microsoft 365
  3. All licensed users are imported with their basic information

Disabling a user

When an employee leaves or should no longer access Business Central:

  1. Remove them from the environment security group in Entra ID — this immediately prevents sign-in
  2. Optionally, disable the user's state in Business Central: go to Users → select the user → set State to Disabled
  3. Remove or reassign their Business Central license in Microsoft 365 Admin Center if it should be freed up

Note

Don't delete users from Business Central. Disabling them preserves the audit trail and historical data associations. Deleted users cause orphaned records.

User personalization and profiles

Profiles (Role Centers)

Each user sees a Role Center (home page) that matches their role. Business Central comes with built-in profiles like:

  • Business Manager — executive overview
  • Accountant — financial overview
  • Sales Order Processor — sales workflow
  • Warehouse Employee — warehouse operations

You can assign a default profile to users:

  1. Search for Profiles (Roles) in Business Central
  2. Find the appropriate profile
  3. Set it as default, or assign it to specific users via User Personalization page

User personalization

Users can personalize their pages (rearrange fields, hide columns, etc.). As an administrator, you can:

  • View a user's personalizations: search for User Personalization → select user
  • Clear all personalizations: useful when a user's layout is broken or when you want to reset to defaults
  • Copy personalizations from one user to others: useful for standardizing layouts

Next steps

Once users are set up, configure their permissions:

Further reading