1. Creating your Office 365 tenant. It is important that you name your tenant appropriately as the tenant name (e.g. the part before ".onmicrosoft.com") cannot be changed currently and is shown to users in the URL of services that are built on top of SharePoint Online (e.g. OneDrive for Business).
2. Establishing your identity management and single sign on strategy for Office 365. For most customers, this includes setting up directory synchronization. There are a variety of onboarding guides and resources here to help with preparing for directory synchronization (e.g. IDFix), setting up AAD Connect, and planning for how authentication will occur for Office 365 (most customers use Azure Active Directory directly or federated identities via Active Directory Federation Services - ADFS).
3. License assignment is a key step in the process. This is how we drive which users can access which features and services in Office 365. Historically customers achieved this manually (e.g. via the Office 365 admin center) or automated via PowerShell. Most customers are now taking advantage of group based license assignment to ease the admin burden.
4. Networking considerations are important. Ensuring we have enough bandwidth/capacity as the traffic is often shifted from the local/wide area network with on-premises servers to accessing remote services via the Internet. We also need to make sure we are allowing the needed traffic to flow to Office 365 by reviewing the various ports, protocols, and online locations that need to be accessed. Microsoft has pulled together a number of online tools and calculators to make this effort easier.
5. Make sure you review the client requirements for accessing Office 365. This includes supported operating systems; web browsers; and versions of the Office clients. If you're not already using Office 365 ProPlus, start planning now for the support changes coming in 2020 to make sure your organization is ready. Also plan for the upcoming changes to Office and Windows servicing support.
6. Security is an important consideration as we move to the cloud. In October 2017, I presented a session entitled "Securing, Governing, and Protecting Your Office 365 Investments" which covered some of the key considerations (see slide 5 of the presentation embedded within this post). Most companies at a minimum want to make sure they have a similar set of security policies in place when they move to Office 365 as they have today. However, many customers find there are opportunities to improve their security posture (e.g. data loss prevention, advanced threat protection, conditional access) while also improving the user experience and increasing adoption (e.g. not requiring a VPN connection to access content).

1. Historically many customers have started with migrating mailboxes to Exchange Online. Since I typically work with large global enterprise customers, an Exchange hybrid configuration is often leveraged for both the mailbox migration and coexistence (e.g. for sharing calendar free/busy information between users online and those still on-premises).
2. Customers often look to enabling SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business to meet needs for sharing files and satisfying external collaboration needs. For example, an Extranet scenario with customers, partners, and suppliers. I have the privilege of presenting on the topic of hybrid SharePoint strategies with Bill Baer at the SharePoint Conference in May 2018.
3. While email and file sharing are 2 of the most common initial scenarios for Office 365, I encourage customers to look for other opportunities to leverage Office 365 for high value, low effort use cases that can support the rollout and adoption of Office 365. For example, a Microsoft Team with Planner integration used by the group rolling out Office 365. Microsoft Stream for sharing videos recorded for training and communications related to the rollout. Yammer for cross company knowledge sharing and answering common questions by the community during the rollout. Microsoft Forms can be leveraged to create quick surveys and polls before, during, and after the migration to Office 365.

• The Office 365 team has summarized and pulled together some great articles and training to help with preparing for Office 365 for enterprise organizations.
• Microsoft FastTrack Center (FTC) resources can help guide customers through setting up the core foundation and migrating users to Office 365 at no additional charge. In addition to the FTC, Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and partners are also available to assist with more complex migrations and change management efforts.

1. Creating the vision
2. Assessing the financial costs and benefits
3. The changing role of IT
4. Driving the business forward

1. In my role at the Microsoft Technology Center, we often deliver Strategy Briefings and Architecture Design Sessions to help customers envision the "art of the possible" through a series of targeted presentations, demonstrations, whiteboard sessions, and discussions that map back to the customer's industry, challenges, and unique needs. We then work with customers to prioritize their rollout schedule and develop an actionable plan for moving forward.
2. The Microsoft FastTrack Center has produced a set of resources to help customers further refine, document, and communicate their vision.
3. Customers often like to hear from other customers and see examples of how others have succeeded and lessons they have learned along the way. We often facilitate customer conversations through a variety of forums and channels to help customers connect. Many of these stories have been documented and published.

1. Microsoft worked with Forrester to assess the potential Total Economic Impact of moving to Office 365.
2. The Value Discovery Workshop and Customer Immersion Experience resources help provide a more customized view for a customer and considerations related to their industry and key personas.
3. Key questions at this phase include thinking about:
   • Possible vendor rationalization and tool/platform consolidation by moving to the cloud. Can we eliminate/replace some of these other point solutions to lower our overall total cost of ownership, simplify management, and improve the overall user experience?
   • Avoidance of purchasing additional software/services that may be planned but not yet implemented. Are these new capabilities already included in the targeted platform?
   • Ongoing maintenance and support costs and deferral including hardware, software, patching, updates, upgrades, etc.
   • Resource needs for migration, training, and ongoing support.

1. The Microsoft Ignite conference had many sessions led by Microsoft customers, partners, and employees that touched on may of these topics to help with planning before, during, and after the migration. These sessions were recorded and are available on demand for all to access.
2. Microsoft Virtual Academy includes a variety of online training sessions targeted at various roles in IT.
3. LinkedIn Learning offers additional training for Office 365 administrators and IT professionals.
4. Microsoft Hands-on labs provides the ability to gain hands on experience in a self-paced lab environment.
5. In addition to the targeted per customer engagements at the MTC noted above, we also run a number of hands on workshops for customers and partners to attend. Many of those are regularly updated and listed here across the MTC locations in the United States.
6. Change management in an "evergreen" cloud environment is very different than managing updates to on-premises servers. While there are a number of resources to help in this area, the Office 365 public roadmap is a key site to leverage.
7. Connect with your peers online via the Microsoft Tech Community and in person at Office 365 user groups and community events like SharePoint Saturday.

1. Building the vision and business case
2. Implementing the plumbing and supporting infrastructure
3. Realizing digital transformation by reinventing business processes

1. Developing the vision and strategy - creating the blue print for the future and breaking it down into actionable phases with multiple iterations. I'm a big fan of thinking about how we can help organizations crawl, walk, and run. What are they key business goals and outcomes we are trying to achieve?
2. Understanding the total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) targets we are seeking. How do we justify the move to the cloud? How do we measure success in financial terms? Is there an opportunity to rationalize some of our IT spend by consolidating tools/vendors? Can we avoid cost by reallocating money and resources targeted for other efforts and technology spend?
3. How do we optimize our IT resources? This isn't necessarily about reducing headcount but thinking about how we can reallocate resources to focus more on higher value business functions and less on plumbing and infrastructure that do not differentiate most organizations and impact the bottom line for the business. How do we move from IT being a cost center to a true enabler and partner of the business?
4. What is the organizational impact of the change that we are driving - both for IT (e.g. how our teams are organized and their day to day functions) and the business users that ultimately use our solutions?
5. How will we drive sustained long term adoption? I often think about this in terms of the formula: A = V > C ... for something to be adopted in general the Adoption occurs when the user sees a Value that is greater than the Change we are asking them to make. Always thinking about "What's In It for Me" (WIIFM) from an end user perspective.

1. Establishing their Office 365 tenant and thinking about the services we want to enable for the minimal viable product (MVP).
2. Getting identities ready including any cleanup/remediation needed, directory synchronization, federation, and preparing for single sign on.
3. Assessing the potential impact to the network in terms of bandwidth requirements, ports, protocols, firewall/proxy changes, etc.
4. Making sure that our clients are ready. Ensuring supported versions of operating systems, browsers, and Office clients are considered. Thinking about which platforms we want to support - Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and browser based experiences.
5. Setting up the appropriate hybrid infrastructure and services. For example, if we already have Exchange, SharePoint, and/or Skype for Business on premises consider our plans and needs in the short and long term based on how quickly we want to move to the cloud and what customizations exist on premises currently.
6. Considering security and compliance requirements. Thinking about how we at a minimum replicate our current security posture and controls while looking for opportunities to improve the user experience. Looking for the changes and opportunities offered by a move to the cloud across various dimensions including: identity; location; device; application/service; content; and auditing/visibility. Understand administrative role based access controls available and ensure for just in time and just enough access. While initially this may start with protecting Office 365, think about how we can extend these capabilities to other 3rd party platforms and services as well.
7. Migrating our initial users and services to the cloud. For many customers this starts with a "lift and shift" concept where they are migrating mail, files, archives, and other collaboration services and functions from on premises, or other cloud services that may be used by "shadow IT", to the Microsoft cloud. This is an area where we spend a lot of time to make sure we're mapping back to our long term vision and laying the right foundation. Microsoft 365 offers various options and newer experiences that did not exist on premises. We need to consider if we need to refactor and change things during the migration. I often use the home moving analogy ... when moving from 1 location to another we often discard things no longer needed while optimizing the layout and usage of our new location. Same deal with the cloud and how we think about tool selection, information architecture, and governance.
8. Look for opportunities to find high value, low effort, "quick win" experiences that solve business and IT challenges. For example, many customers have been rapidly embracing OneDrive for Business, Stream, Yammer, and Forms to meet needs around replacing personal drives; sharing video content; cross organization knowledge sharing; and building quick surveys, quizzes, and polls.
9. Planning for ongoing change management in an evergreen cloud service including minor and major changes as well as new service offerings.

1. Once customers move into/past the first 2 phases, we can really help them accelerate their transformation. I've had the pleasure to work closely with some of our largest enterprise customers that are based in the New England area. Customers such as Thermo Fisher, Liberty Mutual, and Shire who are moving forward beyond just putting files and emails in the cloud.
2. This is also a great opportunity to continue to look at how we can optimize and change the way people work and collaborate. For example, how do we leverage Office 365 Groups, Teams, and Modern SharePoint Team and Collaboration sites to change how we work together and share information and news? If we started with only internal collaboration, should we consider enabling external guest sharing to meet the needs for securely collaborating with our customers, partners, and suppliers outside of our organization?
3. How do we optimize and improve business processes? For many organizations, that means enabling and supporting business developed solutions that can integrate and connect with not just Office 365 but also other cloud services and on premises systems. Enabling technologies such as PowerApps, Flow, and Power BI are helping customers meet needs for building a variety of solutions without custom development.
4. How do we really change the game? At the MTC we spend a large percentage of our time helping organizations leverage and integrate emerging technologies such as bots, artificial intelligence, the Microsoft Graph, LinkedIn, IoT, and cognitive services into the Office 365 services that their users spend significant time working in.

1. Governing SharePoint/OneDrive/Groups
2. Controlling external sharing
3. Restricting access to approved devices and users
4. Preventing accidental information leakage
5. Reporting on and auditing user activity
6. Managing employee termination and content retention
7. Lessons learned (summarized on slide 20)

• Screenshots from the various scenario demonstrations
• PowerShell script samples presented
• Office 365 groups
• Office 365 groups expiration
• AD FS client access policies
• Restricting SharePoint Online external sharing for specific domains
• SharePoint Online limited access policies
• Updated SharePoint Online PowerShell management shell
• SharePoint Online site collection limited access policies
• Microsoft Intune - Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management
• Office 365 Data Loss Prevention
• Azure Information Protection
• Content Search for Sensitive Information Types
• Search Unified Audit Log
• Office 365 admin Power BI usage/adoption content pack
• Office 365 Cloud App Security
• Office 365 Secure Score

1. Just In Time and Just Enough Access
2. Phishing and Zero Day Attacks
3. Limited Access
4. Visibility

• Configuring Microsoft Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM)
• Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
• Limited Access Policies for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business
• Office 365 Audit Log Searches
• Office 365 Threat Intelligence
• Office 365 Cloud App Security
• Office 365 Secure Score

1. Office 365 Admin Primer: Brief discussion around Office 365 architecture; identity management; service health; managing updates in the service; & the Security & Compliance Center.
2. SharePoint Online Admin 101: Quick orientation & review of managing SharePoint Online via the admin experience & PowerShell.
3. Solutions to Common Scenarios & Questions: This will be the bulk of the session where we will go through 5 of the most common topics that I regularly review with large customers in my role as a Collaboration Solution Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center. These scenarios include thoroughly answering & demonstrating how to:
   • Control external sharing
   • Restrict access to approved devices & users
   • Prevent accidental information leakage
   • Report on & audit user activity
   • Manage employee termination & content retention

1. Controlling Access to Office 365 & Protecting Content on Devices
2. OneDrive for Business user profile deletion process
3. SharePoint Online PowerShell commands including Set-SPOTenant, Set-SPOTenantSyncClientRestriction
4. Microsoft IT examples for monitoring & protecting sensitive data in Office 365
5. Office 365 management API
6. Controlling external sharing settings (e.g. for non-owners)
7. Conditional access
8. Per app MFA & network location policies
9. Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) client access policies
10. New SharePoint Online capabilities & quotas
11. SharePoint Online limit & boundary updates
12. Office 365 hybrid scenarios
13. Office 365 development & SharePoint patterns & practices
14. Microsoft Trust Center
15. Office 365 Service Descriptions
16. Fast Track
17. Microsoft Tech Community

1. Session recording
2. Slides (with backup screenshots)
3. PowerShell scripts from my main Ignite session & MTC theater session

The Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs) are collaborative environments that provide access to innovative technologies and world-class expertise, enabling Microsoft’s customers and partners to envision, design, and deploy solutions to meet their exact needs.

In my new role at the MTC I will continue to work closely with Microsoft’s enterprise customers, services, and partners to architect solutions that leverage Office 365 and related technologies including SharePoint, Office, Yammer, Skype for Business, OneDrive for Business, and Exchange. My primary responsibilities will be leading Strategy Briefings, Architecture Design Sessions, Workshops, and Proof of Concept engagements at the Boston MTC.

I will also be able to go broader and deeper into other Microsoft technologies including the Enterprise Mobility Suite (primarily Azure Active Directory, Intune, and Azure Rights Management), Dynamics CRM, Azure, PowerApps and Power BI.

I am very excited to be joining and contributing to the Worldwide MTC community and look forward to blogging here more, continuing to speak at various external events, and contributing content via the MTC Studios.

Happy New Year to all.

This blog post will cover the following topics related to Office 365 Video:

1. Customer use cases & examples
2. How my team at Microsoft uses Office 365 Video
3. Office 365 Video key capabilities
4. Resources to learn more about Office 365 Video

Customer Use Cases & Examples

Office 365 Video is sometimes referred to as a sort of “YouTube for the enterprise.” O365 Video offers a rich user experience which is simple for end users to upload, manage, share, and view video content within their organization. Since O365 Video is a corporate solution, it is integrated with your existing user account and security policies so you can easily control and manage access as well as delegate different permission levels within your organization.

Some examples of how customers are using O365 Video include:

1. Enabling executives to centrally communicate their messages via a dedicated space to provide video on demand. One example would be for a regular video communication to employees from the CEO.
2. Having a channel for employees to obtain the latest training materials and be kept up to date on new product features and announcements.
3. Sharing competitive analysis.
4. Allowing mobile employees to quickly create and publish a video from their mobile devices. For example, a field engineer capturing and sharing a video while at a customer location.

How My Team Uses Office 365 Video

As a company, Microsoft uses Office 365 Video to share a variety of different videos – both corporate videos and ad hoc content created and shared by individuals in the field such as myself and my team.

My team uses O365 Video on a regular basis to share meeting recordings. Examples include:

1. Bi-weekly cross team meetings that are organized to help share Office 365 lessons learned and best practices across the Northeast.
2. Recordings from monthly Office 365 “customer connection” events.
3. Ad hoc meetings and demonstrations on topics such as innovation management and competitive insights.

Leveraging Office 365 Video enables us to record and quickly share content that can then be consumed by others on demand. In general, here is the process that we typically follow for the content that my team shares on O365 Video:

1. Record the meeting via Skype for Business (formerly Lync)
2. Upload the recording to Office 365 Video in the channel that we created for our team
3. Discuss the video in Yammer in our group leveraging the built in Yammer integration with O365 Video

Office 365 Video Key Capabilities

Now that you have a good handle on some possible use cases for Office 365 Video, let’s dive deeper on the out of the box administrative and user experience for O365 Video.

The Office 365 Video Home Page is the main landing page for your video portal. Administrators of O365 Video can select which videos get spotlighted. Popular videos are prominently displayed based on usage data. Specific Channels can also be spotlighted to be promoted on the home page. O365 Video will only show channels and videos to users that they are entitled to view – if the user cannot access the video or channel, the contents will be “security trimmed” and hidden from the user.

Permissions are easy to set and manage. Video admins have the ability to customize the home page and change security settings across O365 Video. You can also designate which users can create new Channels within O365 Video. For example, you could have different Channels for different departments (e.g. Sales, Marketing, HR) to upload and share their content.

Having the ability to Spotlight videos enables O365 Video administrators to choose which videos and channels get promoted on the O365 Video home page.

The all Channels page provides a view into the Channels that are currently available for a user to access.

If the user has the ability to create new Channels, the New Channel feature allows the user to provide a name for the Channel and select the color for the Channel.

Once the new Channel has been created, the user can upload videos to the channel and manage the settings for the Channel.

In addition to being able to change the Channel name and color, you can add additional owners and editors for a Channel. You can also specify who is allowed to view the videos that are uploaded to the Channel.

Users with the Owner or Editor permissions for the Channel can upload new videos to the Channel. There are also mobile experiences available for capturing, sharing, and viewing videos from your phone, tablet, or other devices.

Office 365 Video takes care of processing the video so it can be played back and accessed from a variety of different devices.

Users with the appropriate permissions can edit the video title and description. O365 Video also recommends related video content to users and provides the ability for users to easily share and discuss videos with others.

The Share option creates an email message template which you can modify and send to others within your organization.

If your organization is using Yammer, then you can leverage the Yammer integration with O365 Video to have a discussion with others about the video and to provide your feedback, comments, and insights.

Popular videos within a Channel are automatically promoted and spotlighted on the Channel home page.

A Channel owner or editor can also select which videos get spotlighted on the home page of the Channel.

Here is what users see when viewing the Channel with spotlighted and popular videos being shown.

If your organization is also leveraging Delve within Office 365, Office 365 Video content is also surfaced and suggested to users based on their security and privacy settings. This Delve integration enables video content to be easily discovered and shared across your organization.

Resources

Here are some resources to help you learn more about Office 365 Video:

1. The Introducing Office 365 Video and Office 365 Video begins worldwide rollout and gets mobile blog posts.
2. Microsoft Ignite Conference session recordings including: Intelligent, Ready-to-Go NextGen Portals in Office 365 and Office 365 Video and Custom Solutions Built on Azure Media Services.
3. Join the discussion on the Office 365 Video group on the Office 365 Network on Yammer.

Below is a rough outline and some of the resources that I will be referring to as part of my “SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business Management and Control” session and demonstrations at the Microsoft Ignite Conference on Wednesday afternoon, May 6, 2015.

My session will be mostly all live demo and will include a detailed review of the items below plus many more features that are not publicly released yet.

Also, this session will not cover any of the material that I presented at the last SharePoint Conference and TechEd 2014. Please check out those session recordings on Channel 9 if you want to see topics that I covered previously related to general SharePoint Online administration capabilities.

Want to provide feedback or ask questions before or after the session at Ignite? Please leave a comment below or connect with me on Twitter or Yammer.

See you at Ignite!

Rough Session Outline

1. Office 365 admin updates: Office 365 admin app, service level admin roles, Message Center, First Release, and Compliance Center
2. Protecting content: retention policies, eDiscovery, data loss prevention, content and device protection
3. Auditing & reporting: SharePoint Online audit reports, PowerShell commands, Customer Lockbox, Office 365 management activity API
4. SharePoint Online admin updates: external sharing warnings, general improvements, managing the Office Graph and Delve, managing Office 365 Video

Resources Being Referred to and Shown During My Ignite Session Include

1. SharePoint Online admin role
2. Office 365 Compliance Center
3. SharePoint Online & OneDrive for Business document deletion policies
4. Searching all SharePoint Online & OneDrive for Business sites via eDiscovery
5. Assigning eDiscovery permissions for OneDrive for Business sites
6. SharePoint Online & OneDrive for Business Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
7. Office 365 Mobile Device Management
8. Restricting OneDrive for Business Sync Client
9. Customer Lockbox for Office 365
10. Office 365 Management Activity API
11. External Sharing in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business

Ignite Session Related Resources

1. My “SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business Management and Control” session recording on Channel 9
2. Slides from my session
3. PowerShell script samples from my main Ignite session and my Theater session