Auto-claim policies for Power Apps licenses

Article
02/08/2024

As an administrator, you traditionally assign licenses to users manually. Auto-claim for Power Apps licenses enables administrators to easily establish policies within the Microsoft 365 admin center, much like they can for other Microsoft products and services. Once a policy is configured, any user in the organization who requires an individual Power Apps license is automatically granted one under the following circumstances:

If a user lacks a standalone Power Apps license and launches an app that demands a premium license, the system automatically assigns a Power Apps per user license to that user.
If a user without a standalone Power Apps license launches an app within a Managed Environment, the user is automatically granted a Power Apps per user license.

You can create and manage these auto-claim policies in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Create an auto-claim policy for Power Apps licenses

Use the following information to establish an auto-claim policy for Power Apps.

For more information on managing auto-claim policies in the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Manage auto-claim policies in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Who can create and manage auto-claim policies?

To create and manage auto-claim policies, you must have global admin privileges. For more information, go to About admin roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Turn on the auto-claim policy feature

Before you can create an auto-claim policy, you must first turn on the feature in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
In the Navigation menu, select Billing > Licenses.
Select the Auto-claim policy tab.
Click the Turn on setting button.

After you turn on the feature, you can create an auto-claim policy.

Create an auto-claim policy for Power Apps

The auto-claim policy tab displays the policies that you created. You can view the policy's name, the associated app, the assigned product, the available licenses, and the policy's status.

To create a new policy, complete the following steps.

In the Microsoft 365 admin center, click Billing > Licenses.
Click the Auto-claim policy tab.
Click Add a policy.
On the Name this auto-claim policy page, enter a name for the policy and click Next.
On the Set an auto-claim app and product page, select Power Apps Per User Plan in the dropdown list.
On the Select apps page, select or clear the checkboxes for the apps to include or exclude with the license. Click Next.
On the Review and finish page, verify the new policy information, make any necessary changes, and click Create policy.

Auto-claim policy enabled by default

To simplify license management for administrators, in tenants with Managed Environments, auto-claim policies don't require manual activation by admins. Auto-claim policies are automatically created. Starting in December 2023, a license auto-claim policy for Power Apps per-user licenses, titled Auto-Created Policy for Power Apps, is generated in the Microsoft 365 admin center for tenants with Managed Environments. Under this policy, if a user without a Power Apps per user license launches an app in a Managed Environment, the user automatically receives a Power Apps per user license if one is available in your tenant.

By default, this policy is applied when users open Power Apps in Managed Environments; however, administrators can choose to extend this policy to cover Power Apps opened in standard environments, as well through a setting in the Power Platform admin center.

Starting February 2024, tenants that have a new Power Apps premium license will automatically have the auto-created policy for Power Apps set up in Microsoft 365 admin center. The auto-created policy ensures that any user that doesn't have a license and launches a Power Apps that requires a premium license, will automatically be granted a Power Apps premium license from the tenant's available licenses. This process facilitates smoother access and makes managing licenses more straightforward. By default, this policy is applied across all environments.

Can administrators update the policy?

Yes, administrators can manage the policy in the Microsoft 365 admin center just like any other auto-claim policy. Administrators can disable the policy, delete it, and view reports on which users were assigned licenses.

In the Power Platform admin center, administrators can decide whether the policy should apply to Managed Environments only or all environments.

In the Power Platform admin center, go to Settings and click the Auto-claim policies option.
In the Auto-claim policies pane, select whether the policy should be applicable to All Environments or Only Managed Environments.

Support for group-based license assignment

Auto-claim policies support individual license assignment, which means that licenses are assigned to individual users. If your organization already has an existing process for license assignment, administrators can still make use of the auto-claim policy while maintaining their current workflow.

Administrators can review the list of users to whom licenses were assigned through the auto-claim policy in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Then, they can make changes, as needed, such as unassigning auto-claim-assigned licenses and moving users to designated groups to use Microsoft Entra group-based licensing. For more information about group based licensing, go to Group-based licensing additional scenarios.

Here are some commands that can assist in unassigning licenses and adding users to the required Microsoft Entra group.

##
#Install and import AzureAD PowerShell module prior to running these commands
##
##You may be able to get a list of users, that have been auto-assigned a 
##license directly, via Microsoft Admin Center. Follow instructions at 
##https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/commerce/licenses/manage-auto-claim-policies?view=o365-worldwide#view-an-auto-claim-policy-report
##
##Once you have a list of users, you can use the following commands to remove 
##the direct license assignment and add the user to a licensed group, or 
##you may tweak the script to iterate through a list of users and 
##perform this in bulk
##
##Please note that adding a user to a licensed group may not result in an 
##immediate license assignment. Refer to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/users/licensing-group-advanced for more information
#############################################>

$Credential = Get-Credential

# Connect to Azure AD
Connect-AzureAD -Credential $Credential

#The user that will get a group based license
$LicensedUser = Get-AzureADUser -SearchString "<UPN, display name or object ID of the user for which you want to assign a license>"

#The group that has the license assigned
$LicensedGroup = Get-AzureADGroup -SearchString "<Object ID or name of the group that has a relevant license assigned>"

#SKU part number of the sku that needs to be unassigned (Power Apps Premium)
$SkuPartName = "POWERAPPS_PER_USER"

#Get the SkuID of the license that needs to be unassigned from the user
$LicenseSku = Get-AzureADSubscribedSku | Where-Object {$_.SkuPartNumber -eq $SkuPartName}

#Create the AssignedLicenses Object, used for removing direct license assignment from the user
$LicensesToRemove = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.Open.AzureAD.Model.AssignedLicenses
$LicensesToRemove.RemoveLicenses = $LicenseSku.SkuId

#Remove directly assigned license from the user
#Note that this command will result in an error if the user does not have the relevant license assigned directly
Set-AzureADUserLicense -ObjectId $LicensedUser.ObjectId -AssignedLicenses $LicensesToRemove

#Add user to a licensed group
Add-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId $LicensedGroup.ObjectId -RefObjectId $LicensedUser.ObjectId