Microsoft 365 Automation

M365 Manager Plus automation module helps to automate all the Microsoft 365 management tasks. It lets you create automation, and automation policies.

  • Automation: Schedule management tasks and automation policies to be run at specified intervals.
  • Automation policy: An automation policy is a chain of tasks which when triggered carries out all the tasks without human intervention.

Steps to Create New Automation

  1. Go to the Automation tab.
  2. Select the Automation option in the left pane.
  3. Click on Create New Automation.
  4. Select your Microsoft 365 Tenant, and the Task or Policy to be automated.
  5. Provide the required inputs in the Task Input section.
  6. Select the source of data for the task/policy to be automated.
    • If it is a report, use the + option to select the appropriate report.
    • If it is a CSV File, provide the Location of CSV in the format, \\server_name\share_name\folder. Select the Select only the appended objects from the file, to ignore the old values in the CSV file since the last time the task was run.
  7. Select the Frequency at which the task/policy must be run.
  8. Click on Advanced Configuration to enable notification.
  9. Check the Enable Admin Notification option to notify admins once the scheduled tasks/policies are run.
  10. Select the Notification Template to be used while sending out the notifications, and click on Save.
  11. Click on Save to run the task at the specified intervals or Save & Run to run the task/policy immediately, and then at the specified interval.

Steps to Edit Automation

  1. Go to the Automation tab.
  2. Select the Automation option in the left pane.
  3. You will now see the list of automation policies you have ever created.
  4. Click on the option found under the Actions column corresponding to the automation you want to edit.
  5. Perform the changes, and click on Update.

Steps to Create New Automation Policy

  1. Go to the Automation tab.
  2. Select the Automation Policy option in the left pane.
  3. Click on Create New Automation Policy.
  4. Select the Microsoft 365 Tenant, and provide a name and optional description for the policy to be created. Eg: User account provisioning - This policy creates new user accounts, and licenses to them.
  5. Click on the Click here to add task option found on the screen to add your first task.
  6. Adding a task will be similar to creating an automation. Once done click on Save.
  7. You can now see the task you created added to the screen with an Add option in the form of a flow chart.
  8. Using the Add option you can add,
    • Task - Use this option helps to add a new management task.
    • Time Delay - If you don't want the next task to be carried out immediately, use this options to configure a time delay for carrying out the next task.
    • Condition - If you want to carry out different course of action based on the status of a task, use this option to insert conditions (Success, failure, or Default).

    create-automation-policy

  9. Refer the image above. Using the Add option that extends to each condition, you can keep on adding tasks based on your requirements.

    new-automation-policy

  10. Once you have added all the tasks, click on the Create New Automation Policy option found at the top right corner to save.

Steps to Edit Automation Policy

  1. Go to the Automation tab.
  2. Select the Automation Policy option in the left pane.
  3. You will now see the list of automation policies you have ever created.
  4. Click on the option found under the Actions column corresponding to the policy you want to edit.
  5. In the flow chart that appears, hover on the segment (task, condition, or time delay) to be modified.
  6. You will see the and icons.
  7. Click on to remove the segment, of the icon to modify the segment.
  8. edit-automation-policy

  9. Once all the changes are made, click on Modify.

Steps to Delete Automation Policy

  • Go to the Automation tab.
  • Select the Automation Policy option in the left pane.
  • You will now see the list of automation policies you have ever created.
  • Click on the option found under the Actions column corresponding to the policy you want to delete.
  • Select Yes in the pop-up that appears.
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