Limited Users? Light Users? Self Service Users? SMH?

I had a bit of a whirlwind trip up to Fargo this week for Reimagine 2016.  It was a quick trip, mostly due to client commitments and our inaugural BKD Women’s Empowerment Summit later this week in Indy.  But while I was up at the mothership, I had the privilege of presenting a session on delineating the functionality  of Limited Users and Self Services in the Perpetual Licensing Model.  There definitely seemed to be a fair amount of hesitation in the room, in terms of everyone feeling confident about the licensing types (Beyond the full license) and accompanying functionality. 

I realize that this seems like a sales topic, but in my completely anecdotal experience—the majority of opportunities to sell Limited and Self Service licenses come up during or after implementation (not during the original sales cycle).  So consultants should be aware of these differences.  And clients should understand too, so they can avoid over-buying full licenses (which is very common) when a Limited or Self Service user would be more appropriate (and cost less).

So here are a few high points…

First, let’s throw out old terminology.  Light users, Business Portal Users, Employee Users, HRM Self Service Users—all old terms from Business Ready and Module Based Licensing. The three terms we have today in Perpetual Licensing – Full, Limited, Self Service.  And you want to think of them in that order…

Full is what we are used to, full is input and output and access to all of the functionality in GP.   This is concurrent licensing in a traditional (non-subscription) licensing environment.

Limited is a step down, focused primarily on output only.  Inquiries, SmartLists, and Reports.  This license type can also do limited input via the self service functionality (see self service user below, the limited user license includes this functionality).  This is also a concurrent user license (a point of confusion for many) in a traditional licensing environment.

Self Service is the most limited of the types, with access only granted to the input/output functions of the self service areas: Payroll/HR (Benefits, Direct Deposit, Skills and Training, Employee Profile, W4 Withholding, Benefit Self Service), Project Time and Expense, and Purchase Requisitions.   These licenses are NAMED licenses.

Limited and Self Service users are set up in the same windows as a full user in Dynamics GP.  And Dynamics GP comes with predefined security roles for each (Limited roles and ESS roles for Employee Self Service).  For more info on the security roles, check out this KB article and blog post from Pam M.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3029738

http://community.dynamics.com/gp/b/gpteamblog/archive/2014/12/17/what-are-the-self-serve-and-limited-users

Pricing flows accordingly, with full users being the most and self service being the least.

For transitions from prior licensing models, things flow pretty obviously with a few exceptions.  Most BP licensing (employee  users, HRM self service, etc) will flow to self service  users.  And the previously named Light user flows to Limited user (with the exception of customers who bought Light User- Limited Upgrade and Light User- Starter Pack licenses under prior licensing models).


Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a director with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.