At a Glance

Dynamics 365 Business Central licensing includes Essentials, Premium, and Team Member options. Essentials supports finance, sales, and inventory management; Premium adds manufacturing and service modules, while Team Member offers limited access. The best choice depends on your operational needs, industry focus, budget, and future upgrade plans.

Choosing The Right Business Central License

When you’re choosing an ERP for your UK SME, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is among the top choices as a powerful, cloud-based system. But your decision-making doesn’t end there. Selecting the right Business Central license type is another of the key decisions for your business to make.

Dynamics Business Central licensing is available as Essentials, Premium, and Team Member, with each option offering a different set of features and modules. Your aim is to find the best fit for your business today while still leaving room for your future needs.

Brookland Solutions is a long-standing Microsoft partner specialising in Dynamics 365 products. We’ve created this Dynamics 365 Business Central licensing guide to help you understand all your options, so you can confidently choose the right plan for your business.

Business Central Essentials vs Business Central Premium – The Key Differences

So, what’s the difference between Business Central Essentials and Business Central Premium? This is one question that SMEs ask us often.

Understanding the key differences between these two Business Central license types will help you make the right choice. Below, we’ve discussed both options and their features, making it easy for you to compare.

Business Central Essentials License

The Business Central Essentials license includes all the core features most SMEs need to improve and organise their operations.

The functionalities it covers include:

  • Financial management: General ledger, payables/receivables, cash flow, fixed assets
  • Project management: Job creation, budgets, resource tracking
  • HR management: KPIs, payroll, attendance and leave, employee information
  • Supply chain: vendor management, invoicing, and purchase orders
  • Warehousing: stock control, bins, serial and lot tracking
  • Customer management: quotes, orders, invoicing, customer management

Business Central Premium License

The Business Central Premium license allows your business access to an enhanced business solution. It offers all the features under the Business Central Essentials license, along with two additional components designed for more specialised industries:

  • Manufacturing: Scheduling, forecasting, bills of materials (BOM), capacity planning, production orders, and machine/work centres.
  • Service Management: Service contracts, service orders, field service tracking, dispatch board, service quotes, and repair management. 

Business Central Team Member License

Besides the two key licensing types, Business Central offers a third license: the Business Central Team Member license. This is intended for users who need limited access to Business Central functionalities. You will need either an Essentials or a Premium license before adding the Team Member license.

When compared to Essentials and Premium, the Business Central Team Member license is a cost-effective option for users who don’t need full access but still need to interact with the system. That means it comes with a number of limitations. 

This license grants team members the right to:

  • Read data within the system
  • Update existing data and entries, including customer, vendor, or item records
  • Approve or reject tasks in assigned workflows
  • Create, edit, and delete sales or purchase quotes
  • Create, edit, and delete personal information
  • Edit job time sheets for approvals
  • Run all reports through Power BI

So now you’ve seen what each plan includes, how do you decide which one fits?

Choosing the Right Business Central Licensing Type for Your Business

How to know which Dynamics 365 Business Central licensing option is best suited to your business? The right choice ultimately depends on your business operations, industry, and future paths.

Here are two key factors to consider before deciding:

1. Business Needs

If you manufacture goods or provide services, repair, or fulfil maintenance contracts, the Business Central Premium license is the better option with its specialised manufacturing and service management modules. You’ll gain better visibility and access for managing a complex set of operations.

The Business Central Essentials license is the better choice if your business focuses on financials, sales, inventory, or warehousing. You can still modernise and automate your core business processes within your budget.

2. Upgrades

Business Central offers subscription plans that are highly flexible and customisable. If you choose Essentials today, you always have the choice to upgrade to Premium as your business’ needs evolve.

Get Expert Dynamics Business Central Licensing Guidance from Brookland Solutions

When you’re choosing from the various Business Central license types, don’t just compare their features. Your licensing choice goes a long way towards strengthening your business’ operations and fortifying your strategy.

If you’re still finding it difficult to make a choice, we recommend contacting us at Brookland Solutions. We have over twenty years of experience in providing UK SMEs with Microsoft ERP solutions, from implementation to ongoing support. We’ve helped dozens of businesses evaluate their needs, choose the right Business Central license type, and implement it effortlessly.

Choosing between an essential, premium, or team member license can be tricky, but you don’t have to decide alone. Brookland Solutions is a licensed, longstanding Microsoft Partner that can help your SME compare costs, benefits, and implement the right Microsoft ERP solution.

Why choose us? Here are a few things that we offer:

  • Quick start up, within weeks
  • Comprehensive industry experience, from manufacturing to arts and entertainment
  • Deep expertise in Microsoft ERP products, from NAV to Business Central
  • A proven track record of guiding businesses to make the right licensing choice
  • Business-specific customisations
  • Availability of extensions and add-on solutions
  • Training and support at every step

Ready to make a decision? Or still have questions? Contact our team today for a quick consultation.