Deploy Office 365

Question

We are going to deploy Office 365 to our client computers. Is there any special to pay attention to? What's the best practice?

Answer 1

Focus on the following:

1. Office Customization Tool (OCT)

• Best Practice: Use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to configure your Office deployment settings. This allows you to customize the Office apps, language packs, and installation options (e.g., exclude specific Office apps or set update channels).
• Pay attention to options like:
  • Installation type (32-bit vs. 64-bit).
    • Setting the Office update channel (e.g., Current, Monthly, or Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel).

2. Office 365 ProPlus Application in Configuration Manager

• Best Practice: Leverage Configuration Manager’s built-in Office 365 ProPlus deployment wizard. It simplifies downloading the source files, creating deployment packages, and distributing them to distribution points.
• You can create the application directly by navigating to Office 365 Client Management in SCCM, which streamlines the deployment process.

3. Content Distribution

• Important Consideration: Ensure proper distribution of Office 365 content to all relevant distribution points to avoid bandwidth issues during installation. Since Office 365 can be large (especially if you’re deploying multiple language packs), ensure the content is pre-staged at all necessary locations.
• Best Practice: Use BranchCache or Peer Cache to optimize network traffic and reduce the load on the distribution point when deploying Office to multiple clients in the same location.

4. Scheduling and User Experience

• Best Practice: Use phased deployments to gradually roll out Office 365 to different groups of users. This minimizes the risk of large-scale deployment failures.
• You can also define maintenance windows to ensure installations happen during non-peak hours to avoid disrupting end users.
• For user experience:
  • Choose whether the installation is silent or if users will be notified.
    • Configure the deadline behavior and consider the user’s device activity.

5. Office Updates Management

• Best Practice: Configure Office Updates in Configuration Manager, ensuring that Office 365 updates are managed through SCCM’s Software Update Point (SUP) and not directly via the cloud. This gives you better control over when and how updates are applied to clients.
• Define the update channel that suits your organization (e.g., Monthly Channel for the latest features or Semi-Annual Channel for stability).

6. Language Packs

• Important Consideration: Pay attention to language requirements if your users need multiple languages. Use the Office Customization Tool to configure the correct language packs or consider Language Accessory Packs if you need to add additional languages after deployment.

7. Licensing and Activation

• Best Practice: Ensure you’re using the appropriate licensing model. Office 365 usually relies on user-based licensing tied to the user’s Microsoft 365 account, but you need to verify that users can sign in with the correct credentials.
• For shared computers, consider enabling Shared Computer Activation (SCA), which allows multiple users to sign in to Office 365 on a single machine.

8. Compatibility with Existing Office Versions

• Important Consideration: If users already have an older version of Office installed (e.g., Office 2016 or Office 2019), you should define whether the previous version will be uninstalled during the deployment of Office 365.
• The Office Customization Tool can be used to define this behavior to prevent conflicts.

9. Application Preferences and Security Settings

• Best Practice: Customize security and privacy settings to align with your organization’s security policies. This can include settings like disabling macros, setting privacy options, and configuring OneDrive or SharePoint integration.
• Use Group Policy or the Office administrative templates for fine-grained control of Office behavior after deployment.

10. Testing

• Best Practice: Before deploying Office 365 broadly, conduct pilot deployments to a small group of users or test machines to ensure that everything works as expected. This allows you to identify and address any issues before wider rollout.

---

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Answer 2

Hi,

Thanks for posting in Microsoft MECM Q&A forum.

Are you using Configuration Manager to deploy Office 365 Apps? If yes, it is like other software deployments and doesn't require any special customization. Launch the configuration manager console, click Software Library > Overview > Office 365 Client Management. Click Office 365 Installer in the console. This will bring up Microsoft Office 365 client installation wizard.

Here are some detailed guides for your reference:

Deploy Microsoft 365 Apps with Microsoft Configuration Manager (current branch)

Easy Steps to Deploy Office 365 ProPlus using SCCM

Thanks for your time. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Simon

---

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.