Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Experience Analyst : Create and manage teams

In Dynamics 365 Sales, a team is a group of users who work together to share records, collaborate on opportunities, and manage customer interactions more effectively. Teams allow organizations to simplify security management by assigning security roles, business units, and access rights at the group level rather than individually for each user. This helps ensure that all members of a team can access and work on the same set of records, such as leads, opportunities, or accounts, according to the team’s assigned privileges. Teams can be owner teams (which own records and have security roles assigned directly) or access teams (temporary groups created to grant specific access to records without transferring ownership). By leveraging teams, organizations can foster collaboration, streamline record sharing, and maintain data security within the sales process.

What is a Team?

A team in Dynamics 365 is a group of users who collaborate on business records such as leads, opportunities, accounts, and cases. Instead of assigning security roles and permissions user by user, you can assign them at the team level, making it easier to manage access, ownership, and collaboration.

Types of Teams

1. Owner Teams

• Can own records in the system.
• Have security roles assigned directly.
• Useful when a group is responsible for managing customer records.
• Example: A “North Region Sales Team” that owns opportunities in that region.

2. Access Teams

• Do not own records, but allow access to specific records.
• Membership is usually temporary and can be defined by an Access Team Template.
• Useful for ad-hoc collaboration where you don’t want to transfer record ownership.
• Example: A temporary “Deal Review Team” that collaborates on a high-value opportunity.

Creating a Team

1. Go to Power Platform Admin Center or the Dynamics 365 Settings area.

2. Navigate to Security → Teams.

3. Select New.

4. Fill in details such as:

• Name of the team.
• Business Unit (a team must belong to one business unit).
• Team Type (Owner or Access).
• Administrator (who manages the team).

5. Save the team record.

Managing a Team

1. Add Members

• Open the team record.
• Under Members, add the users who should be part of the team.

2. Assign Security Roles (Owner Teams only)

• Navigate to the team’s Security Roles section.
• Assign roles to define what data and actions the team has access to.

3. Use Access Team Templates (Access Teams)

• Define which entities (e.g., Opportunities, Cases) will allow Access Teams.
• Configure what privileges (Read, Write, Append, etc.) team members will have.

4. Record Assignment / Sharing

• For Owner Teams → Assign records directly to the team.
• For Access Teams → Add team members to records via sub-grids or templates.

Benefits of Using Teams

• Centralized Security – Easier to manage permissions at a group level.
• Collaboration – Multiple users can work on the same record.
• Flexibility – Use permanent Owner Teams or temporary Access Teams depending on business need.
• Improved Data Security – Ensures only the right group has the right level of access.

In short, Owner Teams are best for structured ownership and long-term record management, while Access Teams are great for temporary or ad-hoc collaboration without changing ownership.