Environment & Security Setup in Dynamics 365 Project Operations

In any enterprise application like Dynamics 365 Project Operations, setting up a secure and structured environment is the foundation of a successful implementation. Before diving into projects, resource planning, or billing, it’s critical to configure the environment, establish legal entities, assign the right user roles, and implement appropriate security controls.

This article explains how to configure these foundational elements in D365 PO.

1. Legal Entity Configuration

A Legal Entity in D365 represents an organization that can enter into legal contracts and is used to segregate financial, operational, and statutory data.

Steps to Configure:

• 1.Navigate to Organization Administration > Organizations > Legal entities.
• 2.Create a new legal entity by filling in:
  • -Name
  • -Legal name
  • -Country/Region
  • -Language and time zone
  • -Organization number
• 3.Set up address, contact info, and tax registration numbers.
• 4.Configure financial dimensions, number sequences, and ledger accounts to enable financial operations.

Why It Matters:

Each project in D365 PO must be linked to a legal entity for:

• -Financial tracking
• -Tax compliance
• -Intercompany transactions

 2. User Setup

D365 users are authenticated via Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). Once synced, users must be provisioned in the application.

How to Set Up:

• -Go to System Administration > Users > Users.
• -Click New and select the user from AAD.
• -Assign a default company (Legal Entity) for login.
• -Define user-specific options like time zone, language, and workspace preferences.

3. Security Roles & Duties

Security in D365 PO is role-based, meaning users get access based on the role(s) assigned to them. Each security role contains duties, which contain privileges.

Common Roles in D365 PO:

 Assigning Roles:

• -Go to System Administration > Users > User roles.
• -Select a user and assign multiple roles as needed.
• -Use Segregation of Duties check to avoid conflict of interest.

 4. Security Settings & Access Controls

Security ensures users can access only what they are authorized to.

Key Configurations:

• -Security Configuration workspace allows customization of roles, duties, privileges.
• -Field-level security: Restrict access to specific data fields.
• -Record-level security: Use security policies to limit access to certain records (e.g., restrict to a department or project team).
• -Data security: Enable Data entities and Data projects for controlled data imports/exports.

Advanced Features:

• -Task Recorder to track user actions for auditing.
• -Audit trail and User log to monitor critical changes.
• -Role-based workspace access for tailored UX.

I Hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com.