Grant users access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online as a Microsoft Online service

Applies To: CRM Online

[This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases.]

To have users up and running in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, you complete some administrative tasks in the Office 365 admin center—which you generally do only once—followed by administrative tasks in CRM Online.

CRM Online is an online service subscription. When you signed up for this service, you received a set of licenses with your subscription, one license for each user. You can purchase additional licenses if you need them.

As described in step one that follows, in the Office 365 admin center, register your users so that they are recognized in the Microsoft Online Services environment, assign a license to each user, and then assign administrative roles to the users you choose to fill those roles. More information: Assigning admin roles

In CRM Online, populate the service with your organization’s data, including users and their security roles, business units, and any existing CRM data that you want to import from other applications or services. If your organization uses business units, assign users to the appropriate business unit, and then assign a security role to each user. CRM Online includes predefined security roles that aggregate a set of user permissions to simplify user security management. An organization can define additional roles or edit predefined security roles to meet its unique security needs. For more information about security roles in CRM Online, see Control data access.

Differences between the Microsoft Online services environment administrative roles and CRM Online security roles

Administrative roles are available to assign to users in the Office 365 admin portal. The administrative roles cover a set of rights and permissions related to managing the service subscription, such as adding users and assigning licenses. The global administrator role has rights to control every aspect of the subscription and to add subscriptions to other online services. The password administrator role has rights to reset a user’s password, create service requests, and monitor the service.

Security roles are assigned within CRM Online and cover rights and permissions-related aspects, for example, permission to update records or to publish customizations.

The roles are similar in that both types contain aggregated sets of permissions that allow access to some items and not to others, and that allow some actions to be taken but not others. The roles are different in that the first one applies to the management of the subscription but not to the service itself, and the second applies only within the service.

Using roles is a powerful way to group a set of rights that are common to a job title or business unit. This way, the administrator can grant a whole set of permissions to users simply by assigning a user or group of users to a given role.

Step One: Provision users, and assign licenses and administrative roles in the Office 365 admin center

Your organization’s subscription to CRM Online provides access to the Office 365 admin center through a global administrator account. The global administrator manages every aspect of the subscription and may add subscriptions to other Microsoft Online Services.

As the global administrator for your organization, one of your first tasks is to create users in the Office 365 admin center. This registers users in the system and enables users to be licensed to use services available within the online service environment. You decide which service you want your users to have by assigning a license for that service to a user. For instructions about creating users in the Microsoft Online Services environment, see Create or edit users in Office 365. For instructions about assigning a license to a user, see Assign or remove licenses, or view a list of unlicensed users.

During your planning phase, you might have identified a set of key administrative roles that you want to fill. More information: Plan for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online deployment and administration. Because the administrative roles provide coverage for administrative tasks when the global administrator is not available, it’s a best practice to assign these roles to users, including assigning the global administrator role to a second user. More information: Assigning admin roles and Permissions in Office 365.

The online service sends an invitation to each user

After you set up a user in the Office 365 admin center, that user receives an email invitation with a link and a password for the Microsoft Online Services environment. The credentials in the invitation provide access to the portal and to documentation. However, the users who receive these invitations can’t access CRM Online until you complete step two in this process.

Step Two: Assign security roles in CRM Online

Sign in to CRM Online and add business units (if your organization needs more than one business unit), and assign security roles and business units to users. The users you registered with the online service in step one are automatically added to CRM Online. After you assign at least one security role to a user, that user can click the link in the email invitation, enter credentials, and begin using CRM Online. More information: Manage users and Set up a CRM organization.

You might have CRM data located in other systems. In your planning phase, you considered how you’ll import this data. Before you invite users into CRM Online, ensure that you have completed the data migration process. More information: Import data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Import data (all record types).

See Also

Concepts

Get started administering Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Plan for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online deployment and administration
Manage subscriptions, licenses, and user accounts
Import data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Other Resources

Import data (all record types)

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