Dynamics 365 License Compliance Enforcement Delayed to at Least Jan. 2026

Microsoft has delayed plans to lock the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations front door from Aug. 2025 to beginning on Jan. 15, 2026.

Customers should use the extra time to run the new compliance reports and ensure users are properly licensed. Admins also should continue to clean up security role assignments to avoid overlicensing users to control costs. Microsoft also switched to a strategy of gradually enforcing compliance based on the customer’s contract renewal or anniversary date. This means most customers should be under the new compliance controls by Jan. 15, 2027.

The details of the proposed compliance change, as discussed in the Directions report “Dynamics 365 Compliance Change: Avoid the Aug. 2025 Lock Out,” will require customers to license all Finance and Operations users  through the Microsoft 365 admin module. The new licensing requirement is intended to resolve a longstanding source of compliance problems: assigning a license and granting rights are two separate events, so giving someone a Dynamics 365 license does not regulate what the person can do in the service.