Microsoft Entra In a Nutshell 

Times have changed. Organizations of every size need to plan, manage, and secure their organization’s resources. Security is the veil that protects you from bad actors that can deter your nonprofits mission. Having a plan of action is necessary, now more than ever. Microsoft Entra can be your first step to developing a plan of action. Think of Microsoft Entra Admin Center as your unified control center where you can safeguard your organization and build the best defense. This guide is a part of a series of blogs covering Microsoft Entra Admin Center. To get familiar with managing your organizational resources. This walkthrough will focus on Identity. You will learn how to find your Microsoft Tenant information and perform your first bulk operation.

Microsoft Entra Admin Center 

• Identity: The Identity tab is where you manage user accounts and their details. Manage Users, Groups, Devices, Applications, Protection, Identity Governance, External Identities, User Experiences, Hybrid Management, and Monitoring & health.
• Protection: The Protection tab helps keep your organization's accounts safe. It includes tools to detect and fix security risks, and you can set up multifactor authentication to add an extra layer of security. Manage Identity Protection, Conditional Access, Authentication methods, Password reset, Custom security attributes, and Risky activities, 
• Identity Governance: The Identity Governance tab helps you control who has access to what. It includes tools to manage user access throughout their time at the company, review access regularly, and ensure compliance with security policies. Manage Dashboard, Entitlement management, Access reviews, Privileged Identity Management, and Lifecycle workflows.
• Verified ID: The Verified ID tab is for managing digital credentials. You can set up and issue verifiable credentials and manage them if they need to be revoked. Configure Organization settings, register Decentralized ID and Manage Credentials
• Permissions Management: The Permissions Management tab gives you a clear view of all the permissions assigned to users. It helps you find and fix unnecessary permissions to ensure users only have access to what they need. 
• Global Secure Access: The Global Secure Access tab is where you manage secure access to the internet and private networks. It includes tools to set up secure connections for remote users and ensure they have the right level of access. Secure your internet, Manage Applications, Connect, Secure, Monitor and Settings.
• Learn & Support: Contact support related to any issues you may have concerned about governance, identity, monitoring and securing your organization. 

Signing Into Microsoft Entra Admin Center 

Before logging into the Microsoft Entra Admin Center, ensure you have your Administrator credentials and have appropriate access. Below is a walkthrough of navigating the Microsoft Entra Admin Center. We will look at the Identity tab. 

1. Navigate to https://entra.microsoft.com.  
2. You will be greeted by the “Home” menu. There is a lot of useful information for administrators including guides, documentation, recommendations, blogs, announcements, and more information about Microsoft Entra's product line. 
3. In the left-hand menu, select the “Identity” then click on “Overview.” 
4. The Overview tab shows your Microsoft Tenant information under, “Basic information” which includes Tenant ID, Primary domain, License, Users, Group, Applications, and Devices. 

Auditing Users & Bulk Operations 

Nonprofits have unique considerations when it comes to onboarding members. You may have specific hiring quarters, volunteers, and interns working with organizations at any given time. Thus, you may have only a few people or sometimes hundreds you need to have properly onboarded. Microsoft Entra has tools within the admin center to perform bulk operations. This can save you time, especially when you may be dealing with Single Sign On (SSO) issues. You can add bulk create, invite, and delete users. Please keep in mind that there is a 1-hour threshold of operation. If the Bulk operation fails, you can check the “Bulk operations results.” 

1. Navigate to Microsoft Entra Admin Center.  
2. In the left-hand menu, select “Identity”, then click “Users.” 
3. In “All users” click the third tab “Bulk operations.” 
4. You can click three of the options from the dropdown, “Bulk create", "Bulk invite", and "Bulk delete.” 
5. To create or invite users you need to download the csv template by clicking on the blue “Download” button. 
6. Enter the information inside the csv file then reupload the document, then click the “Submit” button. 
7. It may take some time to upload the user accounts based on how many you are adding. 
8. Lastly, you can also create a support ticket by clicking on “New support request” for more support if you are having issues. 

 In Conclusion 

The Microsoft Entra Admin Center provides a comprehensive suite of tools to manage identities and perform bulk operations efficiently. With features like bulk creation, invitation, and deletion of users, it caters to the unique needs of nonprofits, ensuring smooth onboarding processes. The admin center is designed to save time and streamline user management, even when dealing with large volumes of accounts or SSO issues. By following the outlined steps, administrators can effectively navigate and utilize the Microsoft Entra Admin Center to maintain organized and secure user information. 

Hyperlinks

• What is Microsoft Entra? - Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn 
• Microsoft Entra Single Sign-On (SSO) | Microsoft Security 
• Zero Trust Strategy & Architecture | Microsoft Security 
• Tenant management for Microsoft 365 for enterprise | Microsoft Learn