Managing Microsoft Groups in Office 365 to Avoid Potential Group Sprawl

[Mike Gannotti]

Microsoft Groups are core to many Office 365 services. When you create a Microsoft Team it creates a Group. When you instantiate and instance of Planner you guessed it, you get a group. Groups provide core services and access for services such as Planner and Teams. In instances where organizations have enabled employee self service for the creation of Teams, Planner, etc. (and I highly recommend they do!) IT administration can sometimes become concerned around the management and policy settings that need to be put in to place to avoid potential sprawl. Thankfully though Microsoft has put in to place all the tools needed to deal with groups from creation to management to expiration.

If you and your organization are looking to get a handle creation, management, and expiration of Groups the following resources will not only explain how to do so but will also provide the actual scripts and more.

• Learn about Office 365 Groups - Covers what are Groups. Further covers content on the creation, use, management, features and licensing involved. Access “Learn about Office 365 Groups” here.
• Manage who can create Office 365 Groups - This article explains how to disable the ability to create groups in all Office 365 services that use groups.  Manage who can create Office 365 Groups
• Manage Office 365 Groups with PowerShell - This resource covers: Common management tasks for Office 365 Groups; Creating classifications in Groups; How to hide Groups from the GAL; and much more including scripts. Access "Manage Office 365 Groups with PowerShell" here.
• Office 365 Groups naming policy - Learn how to enforce consistent naming for Office 365 Groups created by users in your organization. Access "Office 365 Groups naming policy" here.
• Office 365 Group Expiration Policy - Learn how to set up Office 365 Group expirations via policy within your organization. Access "Office 365 Group Expiration Policy" here.
• Yammer and Office 365 Groups - Learn how Office 365 Groups are critical to a full rich Yammer experience and requirements and configuration. Access "Yammer and Office 365 Groups" here.
• Guest access in Office 365 Groups - Learn how guest access works in Office 365 Groups. Access "Guest access in Office 365 Groups" here.
• Plan for governance in Office 365 Groups - Learn how to determine your requirements for governance and how to meet them based on your organizational profile. Access "Plan for governance in Office 365 Groups" here.

Hope you find these resources useful.

Thanks for visiting – Michael Gannotti

[Howard Fulks]

Would love to see a mention of Power BI workspace creation and its implications (or not) for O365 groups.