Insights / Ownership

Changing your Dynamics 365 partner: what to secure first

Why the first week matters

A partner that has gone quiet usually still holds access to your tenant, and sometimes the only copy of what was built. Nothing bad has to happen for that to hurt you: an expired password on an integration account, a license renewal billed through the partner, or a broken sync nobody knows how to restart can stop the business while you are still interviewing replacements. The first week is about making sure your company, not the old partner, can run and change the system.

What to secure in week one

1. The admin role. Confirm that a person at your company holds the global admin role in Microsoft 365 and the system administrator role in each Dynamics 365 environment. If only the partner's accounts have it, fix that first.
2. The partner's access. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, the Partner relationships page lists every partner with admin rights to your tenant; remove the old partner's roles there.^[1] Then disable the named accounts their staff used inside your tenant.
3. Keys and passwords. Rotate every integration password, app secret and service account the partner knew, and store the new ones somewhere your company controls, such as your own Azure Key Vault.
4. The source. Ask for the solution files, scripts, flows and integration code. Export every Dynamics 365 solution from your environments yourself, today, so you have a copy whatever the answer is.
5. The documentation. Whatever exists: designs, data maps, integration notes, open tickets. Partial is fine; it saves the next team days.
6. The licenses. Find out whether your subscriptions are billed by Microsoft directly or through the partner as a reseller (CSP). If it is the partner, moving them needs the new partner to request a transfer and the current partner to approve it, so start while the old partner still answers.^[2]

This is the same list we recommend holding from day one of any project; own your solution explains why.

What the new partner should give you in writing

• That they work in your tenant, with named accounts you can remove, and commit everything to a repository your company owns.
• A plain-language account of what they found, before they change anything.
• A fixed price for the first step, with a defined end, and estimates for what comes after.
• The name of the person who will actually do the work.

The 12 questions to ask before hiring a CRM partner cover the rest.

Keep, fix or rebuild?

Rarely rebuild. Most systems left behind by a partner have a working core and a set of known problems: an integration that fails silently, automation nobody understands, data that drifted. Rebuilding throws away the part that works and starts the same risk again. What you need first is a short, evidence-based look at what is there, ranked by what it costs you.

That is what a CRM rescue assessment is for: two weeks inside the system, findings ranked by cost, and a priced fix for each one. Simple cases never need it; the free first pass quotes the fix directly.

Questions people ask

How do I remove an old partner's admin access to Dynamics 365?

In the Microsoft 365 admin center, open the Partner relationships page, select the partner and remove its admin roles (GDAP). Also disable or delete any named user accounts the partner's staff used in your tenant, and rotate the passwords and keys they knew.

Can I move my Dynamics 365 licenses to a new partner?

If you buy licenses through a partner (CSP), the new partner starts a transfer and the current partner has to approve it. Start early, while the old partner still answers. Licenses billed directly to your company by Microsoft do not need to move.

What if my Dynamics 365 partner went out of business?

Secure the tenant first: confirm someone at your company holds the global admin role, remove the partner's access, and collect whatever source and documentation exists. Then ask Microsoft support about the license subscriptions, and have the next partner assess what was built before changing anything.

Should the new partner rebuild the system?

Usually not. Most stalled systems have a working core. A short assessment shows what to keep, what to fix and what to retire, with a cost for each, before anyone rebuilds.