Summary

Introduce a controlled security simulation capability in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations that allows authorized administrators to test system functionality using another user's security context without requiring changes to security roles or removal of administrator access.

Current Challenge

System Administrators frequently need to troubleshoot user access issues, validate security role assignments, and perform UAT testing from an end-user perspective.

Currently, administrators typically need to:

• Remove or disable their own elevated access.
• Request another administrator to restore access after testing.
• Temporarily modify security roles or user assignments.

This creates dependency on other administrators, increases turnaround time, and adds unnecessary security administration overhead.

Suggested Improvement

Introduce a Security Simulation Mode that allows authorized administrators to temporarily simulate another user's access level for testing purposes.

The functionality should allow an administrator to:

• Select an existing user to simulate.
• Launch D365 using the selected user's security context.
• Validate menus, forms, workflows, and business processes as that user.
• Exit simulation mode and return to the administrator session.

Security Controls

To ensure compliance and prevent misuse:

• Available only to approved administrators with appropriate privileges.
• Require a reason/comment before starting a simulation session.
• Maintain a complete audit trail including:
• Administrator performing the simulation.
• User context being simulated.
• Date/time and duration.
• Actions performed during simulation.
• Prevent any changes to the simulated user's roles or permissions.
• Optionally require approval or integration with privileged access management solutions.

Business Benefits

This capability would:

• Reduce dependency on multiple administrators during troubleshooting.
• Speed up security role validation and issue resolution.
• Improve accuracy of UAT and regression testing.
• Reduce unnecessary role changes performed only for testing purposes.
• Provide a secure and auditable approach for administrators to validate user experiences.

Example Scenario

A user reports that they cannot access a specific expense management function. Instead of requesting role changes or asking another administrator to remove elevated access, an authorised administrator can enter Security Simulation Mode, test the process using the user's access level, identify the issue, and exit the session without changing any security configuration.