Everything you always wanted to know about Dynamics NAV (2023)

Dynamics NAV is one of the most popular mid-market ERP products available to businesses today.

If you're considering implementing Dynamics in your business or just want to learn more about Microsoft's SMB offering, we've answered some of the most common questions people ask about Dynamics NAV as part of our Dynamics FAQ series. .

Remember, it's only an easy question if you already know the answer.

Dynamics NAV: the basics

What is Dynamics NAV?

Dynamics NAV is commercial software created by Microsoft. It is about aenterprise resource management—or ERP—a program that helps companies manage the back-end operations that keep them running day-to-day.

Dynamics NAV covers areas such as business intelligence, warehouse management, financial management, retail and e-commerce, inventory management, project management, service management, human resources, manufacturing and distribution. While it doesn't have all the features of a full CRM, it also has some sales and marketing features.

Dynamics NAV is part of the Microsoft Dynamics suite, which contains ERP and CRM software (which Microsoft now calls "applications").

Originally released in 2003, the Dynamics suite consisted of five products: Dynamics NAV, Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL, all ERP software; and Dynamics CRM, Microsoft's customer relationship management software.

What is Dynamics 365 Business Central and how is it related to Dynamics NAV?

In November 2016, Microsoft rebranded its Dynamics suite, integrating all of its CRM and ERP products into a single comprehensive product; Dynamic 365.

Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL remain separate products, but the other software has been renamed and merged into Dynamics 365. Dynamics AX has become Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Dynamics CRM has become Dynamics 365 for Sales, and Dynamics NAV has been rebranded as Dynamics 365 Business Center.

Some of the app's functionality has been split into smaller modular software so that companies can choose the features they want. In total, there are 9 main apps in Dynamics 365, with several smaller child apps available.

Today, Dynamics NAV still exists alongside Business Central; Business Central is the cloud-based version of the software, and Dynamics NAV usually refers to the on-premises version, although Dynamics NAV can be deployed in a private cloud.

This will change later in 2018 when both versions are renamed to Business Central and the NAV name is officially retired.

What does Dynamics NAV/Business Central offer?

Dynamics NAV provides small and medium-sized businesses with a centralized platform to run their processes. Having all operations managed on a single platform helps organizations gain a better overview of their business, providing a "single source of truth" and eliminating departmental silos that can prevent important data from being communicated efficiently.

NAV can help improve productivity by allowing users to reduce time spent on administrative tasks. Having all business data in one place makes it faster to find the information users need, and NAV can also automate processes to completely take repetitive work out of users' hands.

The main financial features of the software allow companies to efficiently manage their cash flows and accounting, process accounts receivable, monitor fixed assets and can be used to operate multiple businesses from the same interface.

Popular with manufacturing companies, NAV can help industry professionals better plan their orders and deliveries, manage production rollouts and forecast demand. When it comes to supply chain management, NAV includes functionality for scheduling and purchasing, inventory and warehouse management, and pick, pack and ship.

There are also project management features that allow users to plan budgets and capacities, cost resources and automate invoices, in addition to basic HR management features like employee records and absence tracking.

Who uses Dynamics NAV and why?

NAV is especially popular with companies in the manufacturing, distribution and service sectors because of its extensive production control capabilities. Its relative simplicity and easy-to-use interface is also a huge draw for organizations, as is the ease with which it can be expanded by adding new users.

Dynamics NAV is also very flexible and can be adapted tospecific industry or business needs. Along with its cost-effectiveness and scalability, NAV has proven to be extremely popular in the business community over the past two decades and is often a natural next step for growing companies that have majored in accounting software like Quickbooks. NAV is also capable of handling multiple currencies and is available in over 40 languages.

Its native integration with Microsoft Office and other commonly used business tools such as SharePoint and Outlook makes it easier for companies to further centralize their tasks and collaborate with other departments and other companies more easily.

The software also naturally integrates with another popular Microsoft product; BI power. Microsoft's powerful cutting-edge business intelligence platform, Power BI, can help NAV users get more out of their business data, helping visualize key insights and offering AI-powered guidance on next steps and areas for improvement .

How can you help businesses grow?

Companies cannot expand their operations unless they can properly assess the way they are currently operating. Dynamics NAV allows companies to improve visibility internally and gain a complete view of their processes so they can see exactly where they can do better.

At the most basic level, using an intelligent ERP like NAV improves the accuracy of records, ensuring that all users have access to the right information the first time, which not only saves time, but improves the quality of engagement. customers, helping to drive customer satisfaction and build long-term loyalty.
Having a single repository of operational data allows companies to have a clear and complete view of things like production costs and expenses, so budgets can be evaluated and re-evaluated regularly to keep expenses as low as possible.

It also helps companies become more efficient by automating certain processes and making those that cannot be automated faster, meaning employees can spend more time on the things that will help them move forward.

Real-time analytics allow companies to identify trends in their data so they can quickly respond to changes in the market and generate forecasts that ensure they are always ready to meet demand.

Dynamics NAV/Dynamics 365 Business Central versus outros aplicativos Dynamics

What is the difference between Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics NAV?

Business Central features all the functionality of its previous iteration and, like NAV, is divided into two tiers, with users being able to start with basic features and add additional features such as manufacturing and service management if needed.

The functionality of the two is very similar, with Business Central featuring some necessary security settings to ensure your security in the cloud. It also has some features that NAV does not.

Business Center has a new, modern and easy-to-use interface through which pages can be customized via drag and drop. It also supports GDPR compliance; a factor of enormous importance for companies based in or trading in the EU. Improved Excel integration in Business Central allows you to edit spreadsheets from within the application.

Another key difference between NAV and Business Central is that while NAV can be customized through development, Business Central can be extended through the use of third-party plug-ins or extensions that can be quickly installed and removed as needed. necessary.

As with all cloud-based Dynamics 365 products, Business Central is updated much more frequently than older Dynamics products, for which updates are released annually; With Business Central, fixes occur every eight weeks and new features twice a year.

What is the difference between Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations?

Many customers considering a Dynamics ERP will have to choose between Dynamics NAV and the suite's other flagship ERP, Dynamics AX.

While both software cover the same core areas, Dynamics AX, now known as Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, has much deeper functionality than NAV/BC and as such is generally preferred by much larger companies.

Built for Fortune 1000 companies, Dynamics AX/F&O tends to compete with solutions like SAP and Oracle and tends to attract multinational manufacturers with hundreds of users and operations spread across multiple global locations.

Due to its complexity and the scope of the businesses that use it, implementing Dynamics AX/F&O typically takes much longer, but the payoff is a powerful, feature-rich ERP.

Dynamics AX/F&O has several high-end features that Dynamics NAV does not, including master data management and the ability to manage a complex organizational structure and the use of a variety of financial standards in the same solution.

It also features more industry-specific functionality for areas such as manufacturing, distribution, retail, and the public sector; although NAV/BC is scalable, it is more of a one size fits all software when used out of the box.

Dynamics NAV: technical aspects

What releases are currently available?

The latest available version of Dynamics NAV is NAV 2018; this will also be the last version to carry the NAV name.

In November 2016, the Dynamics suite, which was previously made up of separate products including Dynamics CRM, Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV, was rebranded as a single product; Dynamics 365. Within Dynamics 365 there are 9 main applications, some CRM and some ERP.

In early 2018, Microsoft released a cloud version of NAV called Dynamics 365 Business Central. The on-premises versions are still known as Dynamics NAV, but will also be updated and renamed Dynamics 365 Business Central in late 2018. From this point on, both on-premises and cloud versions of NAV will be known as Dynamics NAV. 365 Business Center. and will share a codebase.

The NAV name will be retired entirely, although users who have not updated their software to the latest version will still see the Dynamics NAV name.

There are still several older versions (NAV 2013, NAV 2015 and NAV 217) that are still supported by Microsoft and are still used by many companies.

What are the system requirements for Dynamics NAV/Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Dynamics 365 Business Central is a SaaS product and does not need to be installed on the user's device(s), which means there are fewer system requirements. This makes a cloud-based option particularly attractive for smaller companies that would otherwise have to pay the extensive cost of hardware and maintenance.

To run Dynamics 365 Business Central in the cloud, all customers need an up-to-date version of Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Apple Safari, running an operating system not earlier than Windows 7 for PC or 10.10. for Apple devices.

Business Central has no hardware requirements as the software itself is not installed on local computers but on the host's own servers; although, of course, the more memory a device has, the faster and more reliably it can run web browsers.

Local NAV implementations have more complex requirements. Microsoft recommends that your hardware (and software) meet the following requirements to run the most up-to-date version of Dynamics NAV efficiently on-premises:

Supported operating systems

Dynamics NAV: pricing, licensing and implementation

How is Dynamics NAV licensed?

Dynamics NAV is available exclusively through Microsoft Dynamics Certified Partners. These resellers will provide the solution and help with planning, implementation, customization, and support throughout the product's lifecycle.

Licenses are available in two plans: the starter pack and the extended pack.

The starter pack gives three users full access to NAV's core financial, distribution and professional services modules for a fixed price.

If users of the starter pack need additional functionality, they can purchase the extended pack as an add-on, giving users the opportunity to utilize the software's manufacturing and storage capabilities.

How much does Dynamics NAV cost?

Because NAV is licensed exclusively through resellers and NAV seats are often bundled with the reseller's own services such as support, hosting and development, pricing is not an exact science.

However, approximately, customers would expect to pay:

NAV customers can choose to purchase their Microsoft Dynamics NAV licenses in advance or pay a monthly "per user, per month" fee to their partner or service provider.

How is Dynamics Business Central licensed?

Like NAV, Business Central is not available directly from Microsoft and must be purchased directly from an official Microsoft partner or reseller. It cannot be purchased as part of a larger Dynamics 365 plan, but it integrates with other Dynamics 365 apps if purchased separately.

Customers purchase licenses from the reseller and these individual licenses give a named user access to the software. So instead of buying the software outright and having unlimited access to it, customers buy access on a per-user basis.

Business Central has three license options to choose from. Depending on the levels of access and functionality each user requires and the features required, companies can select an Essential, Premium or Team Member license. Staff member licenses are Business Central's equivalent of NAV Limited User, which means that users will have read-only access and will not be able to use the full functionality of the application.

Reseller partners may choose to provide Business Central as part of packages they create together with their own software plug-ins or additional services.

How much does BusinessCentral cost?

Since Business Central can only be purchased through a reseller and not as part of a Dynamics 3645 plan, pricing is easier. Users simply choose the type of license they need and the number of each required. Business Central licenses are priced monthly.

What is the difference between Business Central: Essential and Business Central: Premium?

Like its predecessor Dynamics NAV, Business Central comes in two editions; a major edition that features most of the application's features, and an optional extended version that contains additional modules.

The Business Central: Essential license grants users access to most Business Central features. This includes financial management, relationship management, supply chain management, basic human resources and project management.

Dynamics 365 Business Central – Premium licenses are slightly more expensive and include everything available to Essential license holders, plus access to work order management and manufacturing features.

How is Dynamics 365 Business Central/Dynamics NAV implemented?

Business Central is a SaaS product; software that is not installed on the user's own device and is instead accessed through a web browser by logging into the software. SaaS software is hosted in the cloud, meaning it is installed on the provider's own servers and is accessed remotely over the internet. Unlike other Dynamics 365 applications, which can be accessed from Microsoft's public cloud, Business Central can only be hosted from a private cloud, on an Azure managed service provided by Microsoft partners.

Choosing a SaaS ERP eliminates the need for hardware and internal data storage and means users don't have to manually install or update software as everything is managed by the provider.

As data is stored on the provider's hardware, users may need to pay to "rent" additional space for their data when using a SaaS product.

If customers want to deploy their NAV product locally and host the software and data in-house on their own hardware, they can choose to purchase Dynamics NAV 2018 (known as Dynamics 365 Business Central On-Premise as of late 2018).

What are the feature differences between a cloud deployment of Dynamics 365 Business Central and an on-premises deployment?

Users using the Dynamics 365 SaaS model can access extensive and ever-evolving business intelligence tools. The cloud not only stores and processes your data, it also learns from it. Microsoft has invested heavily in machine learning over the past few years, and cloud users are starting to reap the benefits. Dynamics 365 offers a real-time 360-degree view of performance and can help visualize business data through intuitive and customizable reports and dashboards.

With a financially backed 99.9% uptime guarantee, users can also rest assured knowing that Microsoft has their back if any form of disaster recovery is needed. In the event that services are disrupted, Dynamics 365 includes some of the most robust disaster recovery capabilities in the business application market. Designed to help organizations recover from planned and unexpected outages, Microsoft's recovery protocols include maintaining a mirrored, synchronized copy of an organization's data on a second server, allowing users to continue operations with minimal disruption.

This recovery procedure is performed through Network Load Balancing, which evenly channels traffic across multiple servers and redistributes the load if a server becomes compromised. Backup servers can also be used to ensure that operations continue if the primary server fails. Dynamics 365 offers SQL replication, where a copy of your database is hosted on an alternate server that can be brought online in the event of a disaster.

Data backup should be second nature to every business, but it's one of those tasks that often falls off the agenda. Deploying in the cloud gives users peace of mind as not only does it eliminate the need to secure their own servers, but it automatically backs up data so that no information goes unnoticed.

Cloud users can scale and scale their Dynamics 365 solution up or down at any time. With on-premises software, facilitating business growth often means investing in new servers and processors to keep up with increased demand. With cloud-based software, customers pay for the ability to use the software, not the computing power or space to run it, so adding or removing users, or even applications, is as simple as issuing a service request.

The Dynamics NAV ecosystem

What are the roles in Dynamics NAV/Dynamics 365 Business Central?

There are two main categories of common Dynamics NAV functionality; those who work on deployments, installing and configuring the software before it is deployed, and those who work on running and maintaining the software on a day-to-day basis.

During a Dynamics NAV implementation, you are likely to encounter the following functions:

Dynamics NAV Business Analyst/Solution Architect

A solution architect's job is to review user plans, assess requirements, and help customers determine what the new solution should look like and what it has to offer.

Functional Consultant / Application Consultant Dynamics NAV

The functional consultant will have a strong understanding of the Dynamics NAV platform and how its features can be configured to meet user needs. They will take all previously resolved prerequisites, compare them to the functionality of the solution, and create a practical action plan. They may also write documentation for the project, such as solution design plans, functional requirements documents, customization specifications, test plans, and user guides.

Dynamics NAV Technical Consultant

A good Dynamics NAV technical consultant will have technical and functional knowledge of the application and will know the development languages ​​used for that particular product inside out. They will collaborate with solution architects and functional consultants to determine what adjustments need to be made to a Dynamics solution, customize the system, and develop new ways to meet those needs.

After implementation, companies can hire for the following system maintenance and support roles:

Dynamics NAV Developer

A NAV developer will work to customize the solution to help it better meet changing business needs. Developers should have a variety of skills such as C/AL, .NET, C# and SQL Server. Your tasks will likely include developing plugins and workflows, customizing forms, views, business rules, reports and dashboards.

Dynamic NAV Trainer

An ERP solution is only as good as the people using it, so companies often hire trainers to update users and help them get the most out of their software.

Dynamics NAV systems accountant

Dynamics NAV has a wide range of accounting features, and some larger companies using NAV will hire an accountant with product knowledge to manage their finances. Systems accountants are expected to have extensive product experience and be qualified accountants with knowledge of regulatory accounts, chart of accounts and financial process mapping.

What certifications are available?

Sob a Microsoftnew certification structureThose looking to become certified in Microsoft Dynamics will do so by following the Business Solutions certification path.

The new certifications are focused on Dynamics 365 products, so there is no longer a specific certification option for NAV. As Business Central was only released in early 2018, there are no certifications or exams focused on Business Central at this time; if Dynamics professionals want to get certified, they'll have to focus on Microsoft's other ERP product, Dynamics AX/Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, at least for now.

However, as AX/F&O is a more complex and far-reaching product, it may be advisable for NAV/BC professionals to focus on gaining experience with the NAV/BC platform rather than following the certification path, until new exams are added to incorporate NAV/BC Knowledge.

However, if professionals want to expand their knowledge base by learning about other Dynamics products, they can take the Business Solutions course, which covers Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and CRM applications. This course involves first obtaining the MCSA certification . : Microsoft Dynamics 365 and then reach MSCE top tier: Business Applications

Participants must pass two exams to earn an MCSA, one focused on Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations and one of two focused on SQL databases, and another exam to earn an MSCE. There are a number of exam options available at the MSCE level, and participants can choose the exam that best fits their experience and career path.

Three of these exam options cover aspects of Dynamics 365 CRM capabilities and three cover ERP, with exams focused on Dynamics 365 for Retail, Financial Management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, and Distribution and Trade in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance. and Operations.

Each exam costs $165 USD per attempt, so getting an MSCA would cost $330 and an MSCE another $165. This cost is for a single attempt and re-attempts must be paid again.

Dynamics NAV/Dynamics 365 Business Central Market Information

Dynamics NAV is the most popular ERP product in Microsoft's Dynamics suite, with over 125,000 companies and over 2,000,000 users using the software worldwide. Most NAV users are SMBs, typically with less than 100 concurrent users.

Dynamics NAV also has a large worldwide dealer channel with 2,000 dealers (compared to 800 for Dynamics AX).

In the past two years,Microsoft Dynamics superado a Oracleto reach #2 in terms of ERP market share, with SAP leading the way.

While Business Central only launched in early 2018, Microsoft hopes that having a dedicated SaaS ERP aimed squarely at small and medium-sized businesses will help the company pave the way for greater market share.

Revenue for the Dynamics suite as a whole has increased significantly since the launch of Dynamics 365; 3Q18 revenue from software collectionrose 17%,with a 65% increase in Dynamics 365 subscription revenue. AnalystChristopher Eberle de Instinetestimates that this strong increase in revenue will continue, predicting that Dynamics 365 revenue will grow from $1.6 billion in 2017 to $4.5 billion in 2020.

See the latest salaries for Dynamics NAV professionals.

Dynamics NAV: updates and implementation

How long does it take to implement Dynamics NAV/Dynamics 365 Business Central?

How long it will take to implement Dynamics NAV depends on an almost endless collection of business-specific factors. How many apps are you deploying? How big is the customer's business? How many users do you have? Is it an update or a completely new solution? Is there a lot of legacy data to migrate? How much development work is required for the solution to meet users' needs?

Companies that don't require a lot of customization work or have minimal legacy data to migrate to the new system may find they can be up and running within a few months.

A large enterprise with many users and a lot of development can expect a deployment to take anywhere from six months to a year, although it is not uncommon for deployments to take much longer.

Organizations that are implementing the extended package, which includes manufacturing modules, will find that their implementation takes longer due to the additional configuration required.

Deploying Dynamics 365 Business Central will be significantly faster than on-premises deployment because it does not need to be installed on individual devices, although despite the "clicks, not code" nature of Dynamics 365, data and processes may still need to be migrated. configured, to ensure that the new application meets the business requirements.

Can you upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central from a previous version of Dynamics NAV?

Dynamics NAV users who want to upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central can do so but they must first upgrade to the latest edition of Dynamics NAV which is NAV 2018. Only then can they connect to Business Central.

NAV users who choose to upgrade to the cloud and move to Business Central before June 30, 2020 will receive a 40% discount on their new Dynamics 365 licenses. Dynamics 365 price Business Central licenses if they want to continue using NAV/BC.

Customers currently using Dynamics NAV 2018 will continue to receive updates as usual through Fall 2018. At that point, Dynamics NAV will change its name to Dynamics 365 Business Central. This rebranding will affect both on-premises and cloud versions of Dynamics NAV 2018, so whichever deployment option customers are currently using, they will see the same name, features and interface across the board once it's released.

Microsoft will continue to update and support Dynamics NAV/Business Central on-premises, so users who don't use the cloud don't have to switch to the SaaS version if they feel it's not the best solution for their needs, even with the high investment Microsoft in business, the software will focus on SaaS offerings, which means local customers will be left behind in terms of upgrades and new features.

How often is Dynamics NAV/Business Central updated?

Dynamics 365 cloud-based instances are regularly updated. Service updates, which introduce new features, are released every three months. Update rollups, which address any bugs or issues in the app, are released more frequently, usually every eight weeks. Update rollups are automatically deployed to cloud customers.

Local Dynamics NAV customers receive one service update per year.

Auxiliary Dynamic Services

What is Microsoft AppSource and what does it mean for Dynamics 365 users?

If users need to integrate their Dynamics 365 system with any other program or service, or want to find a way to add additional features that are not native to the solution, there is AppSource.

AppSource is Microsoft's online store for third-party plugins and integrations. Microsoft cloud service users can visit AppSource to buy apps that help their software do more. If users want to connect MailChimp to Dynamics 365, for example, add maps, enable speech-to-text features, there is an app for that.

Currently, there are over 500 apps and plugins available to Dynamics 365 users, with more being added every day. These apps can be added to Dynamics 365 in an instant, with no coding or customization required. With AppSource, Dynamics 365 cloud users have nearly limitless opportunities to modify and extend the functionality of their solution, without having to involve developers or ISVs.

What is Common Data Service for Apps and how does it affect Dynamics developers?

Common Data Service for Apps is a backend platform that allows users to quickly integrate programs, build new custom apps, and create automated workflows. It does this by providing a secure, centralized repository for data management templates, allowing data from any source to be used by other applications.

CDS for Applications provides a digital space in which data from previously disparate applications can be stored and standardized, which means that information can be unified across multiple programs. It is this service that allows applications to "communicate" and share information, even if those applications record and process data differently, eliminating incompatibility issues and breaking down silos.

CDS makes it easier for developers to set up new tools, and administrators and so-called citizen developers with no coding experience can use it to create workflows and integrations without the need for custom development.

While it helps a lot to simplify integration, CDS is not a replacement for the xRM development platform. This certainly doesn't make CRM developers obsolete, but it frees them from building the same integrations over and over again, allowing them to focus on developing and updating more sophisticated high-level integrations that CDS can't handle.

What is the common data service for analytics?

The Common Data Service for Analytics is a new service aimed at helping companies collect, digest and use the data they generate and manage every day. The service will make it easier for organizations to gain insights from data found in their applications and other sources, giving them a centralized, comprehensive picture of their business to analyze.

Like CDS for Apps, CDS for Analytics will provide users with a connection pool of standardized data pulled from multiple sources to leverage and allow Power BI to more easily connect and share data with third-party applications.

These analytics solutions will be configured to read and report these standardized batches of data to provide comprehensive and consistent analysis. Power BI Sales Insights, for example, will merge sales data and provide consistent, comparable insights, such as which leads and opportunities are at risk and where salespeople could better spend their time, regardless of where the data was originally pulled. analyzing.

Power BI Insights for Sales and Power BI Insights for Service, the first apps to use CDS for Analytics, are now available. More custom Power BI Insights apps for areas like marketing, operations, finance, and talent are scheduled to launch soon.

What is Microsoft PowerApps?

Powered by Dynamics 365 Common Data Service for Apps, PowerApps enables organizations to build their own responsive business apps at the click of a button.

Employee engagement surveys, cost estimators, budget trackers, to-do lists, booking apps; all of which can be created for web and mobile without requiring coding knowledge or developer input.

PowerApps' drag-and-drop interface allows anyone to build and run feature-rich professional apps without writing a single line of code. Applications can easily integrate with Office 365 and Dynamics 365 to collect and use business data to help engage customers.

What is Microsoft Flow?

Microsoft Flow, a sister service to PowerApps, uses the same Common Data Service for apps to help users create automated workflows that take care of repetitive administrative tasks.

There are already thousands of out-of-the-box workflows (digital sequences that trigger predefined actions when certain activities occur) for users to take advantage of, from creating CRM leads when someone tweets a certain word or phrase, to tracking emails from Outlook into an Excel spreadsheet, to send an email to a group when a data alert is triggered in their analyses.

These workflows can be used to connect your Microsoft services with third-party apps and programs, without the need for complex custom integrations.

Where is Dynamics 365 data stored and who can access it?

All of Microsoft's cloud products, including cloud-based implementations of Dynamics 365, are hosted on the company's own cloud platform, Azure. Azure is operated from Microsoft datacenters located around the world; The data center in which an organization's data is physically stored will depend on where the organization is located and the product it is using.

While Microsoft essentially acts as the custodian of users' cloud data, the customer will remain the sole owner and steward of that data.

Microsoft was the first cloud provider to adhere to ISO 27018, a code of practice that ensures:

Microsoft cloud services are also subject to ISO 27001 scrutiny, which contains hundreds of guidelines for how a CSP should manage its infrastructure to keep its customers' data secure. Microsoft is regularly audited by the ISO to confirm its ongoing compliance with its rules and regulations.

When necessary, Microsoft personnel or its subcontractors may also access user data. Under the terms and conditions of the customer's subscription to Microsoft's commercial services, users can access and extract their data at any time, for any reason, without needing to notify or involve Microsoft. If users cancel their subscription, their data will be retained for 90 days to allow for export. After this period expires, Microsoft will delete the data, including any cached or backup copies.