Forum Discussion
Business Central Licensing: External Users - Customer Portal
We have a prospect for a Business Central implementation that will need a customer portal. They have a portal on their current platform with a large number of users - around 6,500. The new customer portal will be developed as a custom web application so none of the Business Central clients are being used. All good here...the end customer users qualify as External users from a licensing standpoint.
My question/concern...for Business Central SAAS, how are these External users created? On Prem I can create a user with NavUserPassword authentication and mark them as License Type = External, but that's not possible in the cloud. Please don't tell me each of the 6,500 users (and any new users going forward) would need to be created by logging into the admin centre and going through the process to invite an external user, then pulling them into BC. That's just not a feasible option from a logistical standpoint.
Hi robepimatic
the only other option that I'm able to think of is Quickstart: Add a guest user with PowerShell - Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn
If that doesn't work, perhaps someone else here in the community has other suggestions, or you can utilize a support plan option for 1:1 solution assistance.
If this (or someone else's) reply answers your question, please Accept as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly. Otherwise, please let me know if you need further assistance on this topic.
Regards,Microsoft CSP Licensing Concierge
LicensingConcierge1Microsoft
- That's correct. On prem this is a piece of cake. We can even create users through code which is part of the requirement here. i.e. any given customer might have dozens of people that need access to the portal. Set up the first user for the customer who will be their administrator. That person can then create all of the additional users using a custom function built within Business Central.
- LicensingConcierge1
Hi robepimatic
You mentioned that you have 6,500 external users. Please review the current Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises Licensing Guide to ensure that these are in fact external users.
If I understand correctly, you can create a user group instead of designating each "external user" individually - Define Granular Permissions - Business Central | Microsoft Learn
Other helpful resources:
Administration of Business Central Online - Business Central | Microsoft Learn
Create Users According to Licenses - Business Central | Microsoft Learn
If this (or someone else's) reply answers your question, please Accept as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly. Otherwise, please let me know if you need further assistance on this topic.
Regards,Microsoft CSP Licensing Concierge
