E-Commerce B2B Licensing

E-Commerce B2B is an ISV solution for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and consists of two separate software packages - the Storefront instance(s), and a Dynamics NAV Add-on module. Upon licensing E-Commerce B2B, you are licensed both packages. While the Storefront instance(s) are provisioned independently of Dynamics NAV, they can only be used with the Add-on module installed in your Dynamics NAV database.

Upon concluding the licensing agreement, you select your desired licensing model - SaaS (subscription invoiced monthly) or Perpetual (one-time investment). Once your production instance is provisioned, you get exclusive access to your E-Commerce B2B Storefront, which is a web application, and you can also download the Add-on Module for Dynamics NAV.

The Add-on module for Dynamics NAV must be included in your Dynamics NAV license using the Microsoft licencing tools. This does not involve any additional licensing cost - your Dynamics NAV partner should only add the module and provide you with the updated license file.

If you are closely cooperating with your Dynamics NAV reselling partner for Dynamics NAV licensing and support, having E-Commerce B2B licensed via your partner is the recommended way of licensing the solution.

The Dynamics partner should take care of all the steps required to license the solution, and you can also let your partner manage the Storefront(s) for you. This way you maintain the single ERP vendor approach to the whole of your Dynamics NAV implementation, which is recommended whenever possible in order to ensure efficient support.

In this scenario, your partner will resell you the software and services from Select Solutions, using the same principles as applied to Microsoft Dynamics.

As an end-customer, you can also license the solution directly.

You will however need the E-Commerce B2B Add-on module included in your Dynamics NAV license and your Dynamics NAV license file re-generated with the new module, which can only be done by your Dynamics NAV partner(s) registered with Microsoft Corp.

If your partner is also a reselling partner for Select Solutions E-Commerce B2B, your partner can include the module seamlessly. While if they are not, you should follow the procedure of Using PINs to include the Add-on module in your Dynamics NAV license.

According to the Software License Terms for Dynamics NAV, E-Commerce B2B Storefront, which is re-using the data from Dynamics NAV to great extent, is considered indirect access to Dynamics NAV. The terms also discuss Multiplexing, which is what E-Commerce B2B can technically be considered, as it provides indirect access to (some of) your ERP data via its own interface and access mechanisms, not those of Dynamics NAV Clients.

Both when accessing Dynamics NAV indirectly, and for multiplexing scenarios, there is a requirement to appropriately license the user access to Dynamics NAV by purchasing the respective Access licenses - CALs or SALs.

The Software License Terms also distinguishes between external users (your customers) and “you” (see definition), the latter including not only your employees, but also the employees of your affiliates, and your contractors.

Simply put, your customers do not have to separately license the use/access by purchasing Dynamics NAV CALs/SALs, while “you” have.

As the practical implication - “you” can only use E-Commerce B2B Storefront if “your” user has a license for Dynamics NAV:

• SAL (subscription model) - can use the Storefront without additional restrictions, as SALs are provided per named users (logins), and the user is not limited to concurrent connections, devices, or channels of accessing the data.
• CAL (perpetual model) - can use the Storefront provided that the total number of licensed Concurrent CALs is not at any time exceeded by direct Dynamics NAV users and Storefront users together. As E-Commerce B2B cannot technically control the number of total concurrent connections and deny access on exceeding the limit, it is your responsibility to ensure the number of licensed concurrent CALs cover “your” use of both Dynamics NAV and Storefront. We reccomend that upon licensing E-Commerce B2B you determine the number or “your” users that will be using the Storefront, and license additional concurrent CALs using the same ratio that is used for concurrent/total calculation of your Dynamics NAV users.

At the time being, you can license “your” E-Commerce B2B users using Limited User CALs or SALs, as E-Commerce B2B can comply with the “max. 3 table write” rule - as the result of (identified) user actions on the Storefront, E-Commerce B2B will by default only indirectly write to Web Order, Lines, and Event Log tables in Dynamics NAV. If, however, you configure E-Commerce B2B to automatically generate Sales Quotes/Orders, or use Role Center Notifications, the 3 table limit is exceeded and “your” users must use the Full User CALs or SALs.

Please contact us or your Dynamics NAV reselling partner for details and recommendations for your anticipated scenario.