User Templates automate the creation and management of user-related data in Business Central.
Instead of manually creating records every time you add a new user, templates do it for you.
When you hire a new sales employee:
- Normally: Assign them permissions, then manually create them in the "Sales Person" table
- With Templates: Assign them to the "Sales Employee" Organization role → Template automatically creates their sales person record
- Automation: No manual data entry
- Consistency: Everyone gets set up the same way
- Scalability: Adding 100 users is as easy as 1 user
- Compliance: Automatic approval limits and settings
- User Templates (Master + Authorization): Create/update records in Business Central tables
- Approval Templates: Set sales/purchase approval limits
- Free Fields: Add custom fields to store extra user/role data
Sets generic (default) values for all users.
- Example: "When creating a sales person record, always set Language = 'EN'"
- Applies automatically if an Authorization Template for the same table is used
Sets specific values for certain users.
- Example: "Sales person record with Name = [User Name], Commission % = 5%"
- Linked to Organization Roles
- When a user gets the Organization role, the template automatically creates/updates their record
Sets approval limits (not for creating records, but for controlling permissions).
- Example: "A Sales Manager can approve sales up to €100,000"
- Linked to Organization Roles or assigned directly to users (for overrides)
Custom fields you create to store extra user/Organization role data.
- Example: "Employee Hire Date", "Department Code", "Cost Center"
- Can be used in templates to fill Business Central records
When you hire a new sales representative you want to:
- Give them the "Sales Rep" Organization role (done with Authorization Box)
- Automatically create them in the Sales Person table with preset values
Solution:
- Create Authorization Template for Sales Person table
- Set fields: Name = [User Name], Email = [User Email], Commission = 5%
- Link template to "Sales Rep" Organization role
- When user gets Organization role → Record created automatically
You have different approval limits:
- "Sales Rep" can approve up to €10,000
- "Sales Manager" can approve up to €100,000
Solution:
- Create two Approval Templates with different limits
- Link to respective Organization roles
- When user gets Organization role → Approval limit automatically applied
You need to track extra info like employee hire date or sales team code.
Solution:
- Create Free Fields on the User card
- Store data there (hire date, sales team, etc.)
- Use Free Fields in templates to populate Business Central records
| I want to ... |
Go to |
| Create records automatically when a user gets a role |
Quickstart |
| Set different approval limits per organization role |
Detailed setup |
| Store extra data per user |
Detailed setup |
| Run extra actions before or after a template |
Advanced |
| Check what a template has done |
Advanced |
- Quickstart: create your first template and test it.
- Detailed setup: value sources, approval limits and free fields.
- Advanced: pre and post actions, overwrite settings and monitoring.
For a more visual presentation, find following videos on our YouTube channel :
What are User Templates
Free Fields for Custom Data
Terms are explained in the Glossary. For general problems see Troubleshooting.
Last reviewed: October 2026.