Microsoft 365 administration : Exploring Groups from Microsoft 365 admin center– study material for – Exam MS-102: Microsoft 365 Administrator

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Greetings for the day!!!

On Knowledge-Junction we will keep exploring Microsoft 365 administration.

Today we will discuss about Microsoft 365 groups.

Take away from this article

• What is Microsoft 365 group?
• Permissions needed to create Microsoft 365 groups?
• Licensing requirements
• How to create Microsoft 365 groups from Microsoft 365 admin center?
• Best practices to follow while creating and managing the groups

What is Microsoft 365 Group ?

• Microsoft 365 group is an object in Microsoft Entra ID.
• It contains a list of members.
• It also has a coupling to related workloads, including a SharePoint team site, shared Exchange mailbox, Planner, and OneNote notebook.
• Microsoft 365 Group includes a group email and shared workspaces, making it ideal for collaboration.
• A Microsoft 365 group consists of the following objects:
  • a shared Outlook Inbox
  • a shared calendar
  • a SharePoint Teams Site
  • a SharePoint document library
  • Planner
  • Power BI
  • Yammer (if you created the group from Yammer)
  • a Team (if you created the group from Teams)
  • a roadmap (if you have Project for the web
• Users can create Microsoft 365 groups in Outlook.
• Other apps create them behind the scenes when users create Teams, SharePoint team sites, Planner plans, and Viva Engage groups.
• Microsoft 365 Groups is the cross-application membership service in Microsoft 365.

Permissions needed to create Microsoft 365 groups?

• By default, all users of the tenant are allowed to create Microsoft 365 groups.
• Microsoft 365 global admins can create groups via the Microsoft 365 admin center, Planner, Exchange, and SharePoint. But they can not create from other locations such as Teams.

Licensing requirements

• To manage who creates groups, the following people need Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2 licenses or Microsoft Entra Basic EDU licenses assigned to them:
  • The admin who configures these group creation settings
  • The members of the group who are allowed to create groups

How to create Microsoft 365 groups from Microsoft 365 admin center?

• Navigate to Microsoft 365 admin center
• Navigate to Microsoft 365 admin center either through office 365 portal or from direct link – https://admin.microsoft.com/
• From office portal – navigate to URL – https://portal.office.com
  • We have detailed article for navigating to Microsoft 365 admin center – Microsoft 365 – Navigating to Microsoft 365 admin center
• As we navigate to Microsoft 365 admin center, we will be on the Home page as shown in image below

• From left blade, expand the section “Teams & groups“
• Click on “Active Teams & groups“

• Click on “Active teams & groups“
• We will be redirected to “Active teams and groups” page https://admin.microsoft.com/?login_hint=prasham%40knowledgejunction1.onmicrosoft.com&source=applauncher#/groups

• On “Active teams and groups” page, we have an link “+ Add a Microsoft 365 group” to create a Microsoft 365 group.
• As we click on “+ Add a Microsoft 365 group“, create group wizard will appear
• First step is – “Set up the basics”
  • Here we need to enter the “Name” and “Description” for the group as shown in image below.

• On “Set up the basics” step, as we enter “Name” and “Description“, at the bottom click on “Next” button.
• As we click on “Next” button, we will moved the next step – “Assign owners” as in image below.
• On “Assign owners” we have a link “+ Assign owners“

• On click of “Assign owners“, right pane will appear to add the owners for the group.

• After adding owners we have next step to add Members
• On “Add members” step we have a link “+ Add members“

• Next step will be for Groups settings – “Edit settings“
• Here we will define whether Group will be “Private” or Public“

• Last step “Finish” , for reviewing the settings which we set throughout the Group creation steps.

• Click on “Create group” button on “Finish” step, as shown in above image.
• As Group created successfully, we will have message as shown in image below.

Best practices to follow while creating and managing the groups

• Keep group naming conventions simple but clear.
• Create policies and procedures for ongoing group maintenance.
• Keep a consistent and well-defined account provisioning process.
• Assign at least two owners to a group so that one can help out in the other’s absence.

Thanks for reading!!!

HAVE A FANTASTIC TIME AHEAD !!! LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL 🙂