Nowadays it’s a given that with any ERP system that your business uses requires a built-in security system that not only helps to keep your database secure but also helps to ensure that the data contained isn’t accessed by anyone that is unauthorised. Better still, your system should have the flexibility & capability to set permissions based on the level of access required by certain users.
To help you on your journey of protecting your system, we’ve pulled together 21 ways that will give you a firm understanding on how the security features within Dynamics 365 Business Central work and the actions that you can take to safeguard it from hackers or cyber criminals.
Make changes to your Business Central setup
1) Make sure that is a simple approval system when it comes to making journal entries, orders & payments.
2) Separate responsibilities to ensure that only a limited number of employees are given Super User permissions to be able to create a Vendor record, raise an order, receipt it and pay the Vendor themselves.
3) If you can, keep your master records separate from your transactions.
4) Regularly keeping an eye on bank reconciliations is crucial for your business. Ensure that every single reconciliation (bank, vendor, customer) is reviewed and/or approved by your line manager.
5) Make sure that the capability to export & edit in Excel is only allowed for users who have a firm grasp of GDPR and the risks of industrial espionage.
Ways to improve your system settings
1) Make sure multi-factor authentication is in place to help protect access to the application as well as your critical business data.
2) Don’t just rely on system permission sets. The important thing to take into account here is the fact that you are unable to edit these and they do not address any segregation of duties that may exist within your business. In this situation, the best thing to do here is to create new ones by building User-defined permission sets which will give you editable copies of the system permission sets or new ones that have been built from the ground up.
3) You are able to import permission sets into or export from Business Central. Therefore, if you have another Business Central tenant, you can simply export them out and back into another one.
4) You can build or modify permission sets through the Record Permission function in your Business Central solution.
5) Creating user groups in Dynamics 365 Business Central will provide you with the capability to be able to manage permission sets for certain groups of users operating in your business. In addition to this, permission sets given to certain user groups will stay synchronised. The good thing about this is the fact that when you make any changes then these will automatically be updated for the users of that group.
6) Make sure that the built-in change log is switched on to capture any changes that have been made to a user’s permissions.
Ways to manage risk in your business
1) Ensure that you create and make use of workflow approval processes. This is vital as it will somewhat force users to review what they are approving before it goes out rather than just assuming its correct.
2) Most people do this anyway but before any security settings are changed in the live system please make sure that you test them first in a Sandbox environment.
3) Ensure that you regularly review users and the levels of access that they have to the live system.
4) Ensure that you regularly check your system for users that are inactive and thus should be removed from your system completely.
Make changes to your processes
1) Ensure that you have clear processes in place to be able to handle both requests and adding other users to the system. It is also important to include all the info you need about the user permissions required and have a sound approvals process.
2) Have a streamlined process to be able to quickly and efficiently add backup user access as and when it is needed in the business.
3) Have an emergency plan in place for access and have a clearly defined process for removing this access afterwards.
4) Make sure that users have the right type and level of training. As you will not want to see an erroneous journal which could be very costly and reduce the accuracy of your critical business data.
Next Steps?
1) If you are looking to find out how secure your Business Central system is then we are currently offering a FREE Dynamics Health Check to identify any improvements that you could action immediately to improve the performance of it.
2) If you are reading this and thinking of making the move over to Business Central then please get in touch with our team of experts today to discuss your specific needs.
