SharePoint Advanced Management: Helping with Copilot Readiness & Oversharing

Welcome back to our blog! Today, we're diving into the world of SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) and how it integrates with Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance your SharePoint experience. Whether you're looking to improve access management, secure sensitive data, or prepare for Copilot deployment, SAM offers a suite of tools to help you achieve your goals.

What is SharePoint Advanced Management?

SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) is an add-on for Microsoft 365 that provides advanced access policies and content lifecycle management to secure SharePoint sites. It's particularly useful for organizations preparing for Microsoft 365 Copilot, as it offers greater visibility and transparency into site activities and oversharing.

Key Features of SAM

1. Site-level Access Restriction: This feature enables administrators to temporarily limit search access to specific SharePoint sites while they review and audit site permissions. Its an effective tool for managing highly sensitive sites during Copilot deployment. For more detailed information, you can refer to the official documentation here. 
2. Licensing and Entitlements: SAM is planned to be included in Microsoft 365 Copilot starting in late January 2025 and will last several months. Because of the phased roll out, we are making SharePoint Advanced Management trial available to existing Microsoft 365 Copilot EA/EAS tenants for 90 days This means that organizations with Copilot licensing will have access to all SAM features without needing additional licenses when rollout is complete.
3. Site Lifecycle Management: SAM allows administrators to create policies to automate the governance of sites (site ownership, Site content freshness, Site attestation and permissions) so that your SharePoint sites remain healthy and well-maintained. Healthy and well maintained content also directly impact on the quality of Copilot responses. For example, administrators can set policies to notify site owners of inactive sites and take actions such as archiving or restricting access.
4. Conditional Access Policies: Administrators can enforce access controls based on specific conditions, such as location or device compliance, to ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive sites and data.
5. Oversharing Baseline Report and Permissioned User Report: Leveraging the Oversharing Baseline Report and Permissioned User Report, along with Site Access Review, are capabilities within SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM). These tools help customers assess and mitigate oversharing by identifying sites with potentially overshared or sensitive content. The Oversharing Baseline Report uses permissions to establish a baseline and track key contributors to potential oversharing, while the Permissioned User Report provides insights into users with access to specific content. Site Access Reviews enable IT administrators to delegate the review process to site owners, ensuring that oversharing issues are addressed effectively

Preparing for Copilot with SAM

One of the primary benefits of SAM is its ability to help organizations prepare for Microsoft 365 Copilot. By providing tools to manage site access, audit activities, and enforce compliance, SAM ensures that your SharePoint environment is optimized for Copilot deployment. 

In Summary

SharePoint Advanced Management is a powerful tool for organizations looking to enhance their SharePoint experience and prepare for Microsoft 365 Copilot. With features like restricted search, advanced access policies, and site lifecycle management, SAM provides the tools and transparency needed to secure your SharePoint sites and ensure compliance. If you're interested in learning more about SAM and how it can benefit your organization, reach out to your Microsoft team for more information.

Update: 2.13.25

SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) is planned to be included in Microsoft 365 Copilot starting in late January 2025 and will last several months. Because of the phased roll out, we are making SharePoint Advanced Management trial available to existing Microsoft 365 Copilot EA/EAS tenants for 90 days. 

Details:

• Tenant eligibility: To be eligible for this offer, tenants must own Microsoft 365 Copilot through an EA or EAS agreement.
• Trial offer: A 90-day SharePoint Advanced Management trial for the number of Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses in the tenant.

Action:

If your tenant meets the eligibility requirement, please work with your Microsoft Account Team to activate the trial in your production tenant. This will provide a 30-day, 25-seat trial; the tenant may also activate the standard trial via the Microsoft Admin Center.

To request additional seats and time, make sure to have your account team submit the required additional trial seats and extension.

Update: 2.28.25

Revised information is key features section for clarity and accuracy