What are security roles in Dynamics 365?

A security role determines what a user can view, create, modify, and delete—down to individual tables and fields.

The license opens the door; the role opens the rooms

This confuses many people. The license provides access to the system; the security role determines what you see once you are inside. A user without a role enters an empty system, and this is the most common support issue after a rollout.

Start with the standard roles

Dynamics 365 comes with roles for salespeople, sales managers, caseworkers, and more. They cover most needs. Only create custom roles when the standard roles demonstrably fall short—custom roles must be maintained with every upgrade.

The most common mistake

One custom role per person. After two years, you'll have forty roles that no one understands, and no one dares change anything for fear of what it might affect. Create roles for functions, not individuals.

Test as a regular user

Administrators can see everything. Just because something looks right to you doesn’t mean it is. Ask a regular user to check, or test with an account that has the relevant role.