Office 365 Groups are collaboration tools that bring together conversations, files, notes, and calendar events into one shared place. The document discusses how Office 365 Groups work, how to administer them, and demos of their functionality. It also covers new features like external guest access and upcoming developments like group classification and usage guidelines.

1. Office 365 Groups
From the ground up
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2. Drew Madelung
Email : dmadelung@concurrency.com
Twitter : @dmadelung
Website: drewmadelung.com
Senior SharePoint and Office 365 consultant.

3. What are Office 365 Groups?
How do I work with them?
How do they work technically?
How can I administer?
Demos, Demos & more Demos
What’s new & What’s Next?
Office 365 Groups
From the ground up
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4. There are over 70 million active Office 365
commercial users.
Reference

5. Collaboration is evolving…
Collaboration has evolved

6. The real world of collaboration

7. Office 365 Groups

8. SELF-SERVICE
PUBLIC BY DEFAULT
SHARING TO NON-MEMBERS
CONTEXT & HISTORY
SINGLE DEFINITION
SIMPLE TO MANAGE
Office 365 Groups

9. Azure
Active Directory
Apps
Office 365 Groups building blocks

10. Projects
Popular Group Scenarios
Organization Interest

11. All new Team Sites will get an Office 365 Group and
all new Office 365 Groups will get a Team Site.
Moving forward…
“Groups, Graph, and Governance” – Jeff Teper
Existing Office 365 Groups will get a full
SharePoint Team Site.

12. Office 365 Groups things to know
Eligible to use the NGSC for sync as of Sept release
Anyone can create a group and available in the Global Address List by default
A group can’t have more than 10 owners and a user can’t create more than 250 groups
Currently not supported in Outlook 2016 on the Mac
Groups with more than 1000 members are supported but will decrease performance
When a group owner leaves, all content is saved but new admin must be set at high level
Office 365 Groups can be used as security groups in SharePoint (but not O365 Video)
Group site collections exist under “/sites” managed path but cannot be seen via SP Admin Center

13. How do I access Office 365 Groups?

14. Outlook on the web OneDrive for Business Outlook 2016
PowerBI Dynamics CRM Outlook Groups app

15. Demo!

16. What’s behind the scenes

17. One group system across Office 365
One identity
Federated resources
Loose coupling
SharePoint
Documents
OneNote
Additional workloads
Workload
scenarios
Exchange
Conversations
Calendar
Identity
Resource URLs
Owners
Members
AAD

18. Office 365 Admin Center
Management Options – User Interface
Office 365 Admin App
Azure AD Admin Portal
Exchange Admin Console
Outlook Groups App
Clients – (Outlook, Planner, PowerBI)

19. Management Options – Scripting
Powershell
Manipulating groups Manipulating group membership
Owners | Members | Subscribers
$creds = Get-Credential
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange –ConnectionUri `
https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $creds -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $Session
Establish a remote session to Exchange Online

20. Useful Scripts for Groups to Get Started
Create group
New-UnifiedGroup –DisplayName “Legal” –Alias “Legal” –EmailAddresses legal@domain.com
Rename group
Set-UnifiedGroup -Identity “Legal” -Alias “Legal” -DisplayName “New Legal” -PrimarySmtpAddress legal@domain.com
View all subscribers, members or owners for a group
Get-UnifiedGroupLinks -Identity “Legal” -LinkType Subscribers
Show detailed info for all groups
Get-UnifiedGroup |
select Id,Alias, AccessType, Language,Notes, PrimarySmtpAddress, `
HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled, WhenCreated, WhenChanged, `
@{Expression={([array](Get-UnifiedGroupLinks -Identity $_.Id -LinkType Members)).Count }; `
Label='Members'}, `
@{Expression={([array](Get-UnifiedGroupLinks -Identity $_.Id -LinkType Owners)).Count }; `
Label='Owners'} |
Format-Table Alias, Members, Owners

21. Managing Group Creation
The old way but still can be used for OWA and Outlook 2016
Use an OWA Mailbox Policy to disable group creation for ALL users or a SUBSET of users
 This does NOT disable group creation EXCEPT when trying to create through Outlook/Exchange
 Creating groups in other clients/admin areas (PowerBI, Planner, etc…) would NOT disable
Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity test.comOwaMailboxPolicy-Default -GroupCreationEnabled $false

22. Managing Group Creation through Azure AD
The new way uses Azure AD
 No longer dependency on Exchange so it passes throughout Office 365
 If OWA policy exists and AAD policy is enabled, OWA policy will be ignored
 You can do 2 things:
 Disable the default ability of everyone to create a new Office 365 Group
 Point to an AAD group (Office 365 Group or Distribution Group) that contains a list of people who are
allowed to create groups
 This group cannot have a group in it, must be individual users
 Users with higher tenant roles already have access (company admin, mailbox admin, etc…)
 Prerequisites
 Azure AD Version 1.1.117.0 or later (currently preview)

23. Managing Group Creation through Azure AD
Steps to setup
1. Retrieve the Object ID for the group that contains the authorized users
 Use Azure AD portal to get Object ID
 Get-MsolGroup cmdlet to discover GUID via PowerShell
2. Use PowerShell to update the Azure AD policy
 Pass the GUID of your authorized user group to GroupCreationAllowedGroupId
Connect-MsolService
$template = Get-MsolAllSettingTemplate | where-object {$_.displayname -eq “Group.Unified”}
$setting = $template.CreateSettingsObject()
$setting[“EnableGroupCreation”] = “false”
$setting[“GroupCreationAllowedGroupId”] = “7edd1d0b-557d-43e6-b583-4f3e0198c167”
New-MsolSettings –SettingsObject $setting
3. Confirm using PowerShell and test creating a group
Get-MsolAllSettings | ForEach Values

24. Group Guest Access
You can now grant external users access to Office
365 Groups
 Does not comply with tenant
blacklist/whitelist
 Enabled by default
 Overall Group guest access is managed at
the tenant level
 Guests cannot view IRM protected files
 Guests needs to access via browser
 Guests cannot:
 Be an owner
 View the GAL
 View Group members or contact cards
 Access Planner
 Be blocked by specific user
Feature Guest user allowed?
Create a group No
Add/remove group members No
Delete a group No
Join a group Yes, by invitation
Start a conversation Yes
Reply to a conversation Yes
Search for a conversation Yes
@mention a person in the group No
Pin/Favorite a group No
Delete a conversation Yes
"Like" messages No
Manage meetings No
View group calendar No
Modify calendar events No
Add a group calendar to a personal calendar No
View and edit group files Yes, if enabled by tenant admin
Access the group OneNote notebook Yes, via link from group member
Browse groups No

25. Group Guest Access
Group owners can invite external
people to be guest users
Group members can request an
invitation for an external person

26. Group Guest Access Admin Controls
Guest addition to organization
• Allow invitation to guests users in the organization
• Office 365 Portal – Settings & Privacy > Sharing
Guest addition to groups
• Allow adding of guests to any group within the
organization.
• Office 365 Portal – Services & Add-Ins > Office 365 groups
• Allow adding of guests to a specific group in the
organization (only available in Power Shell)
Guest access to group resources
• Allow guests to access to any Office 365 group resources
• Office 365 Portal – Services & Add-Ins > Office 365 groups

27. Group Guest Access Powershell
Steps to block for tenant
1. Ensure that sharing is allowed in the SharePoint Admin Center / O365 Admin Center
2. Use PowerShell to update the Azure AD policy (if settings object exists)
$template = Get-MsolAllSettingTemplate | where-object {$_.displayname -eq “Group.Unified”}
$settings = Get-MsolSettings -SettingId $settings.ObjectId
$Value = $GroupSettings.GetSettingsValue()
$Value["AllowToAddGuests"] = "False"
$Value["AllowGuestsToAccessGroups"] = "True"
Set-MsolSettings -SettingId $settings.ObjectId -SettingsValue $Value
3. Set AllowGuestsToAccessGroups to False to instantly disable all external users from
accessing groups

28. Group Guest Access Powershell
Steps to block external access for a specific group
1. Ensure that sharing is allowed in the SharePoint Admin Center / O365 Admin Center
2. Use PowerShell to update the Azure AD policy for the group (if no group settings exist)
$group = Get-MsolGroup -All | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -eq “GROUP DISPLAY NAME”}
$groupsettings = Get-MsolAllSettings -TargetObjectId $group.ObjectId
$template = Get-MsolSettingTemplate -TemplateId 08d542b9-071f-4e16-94b0-74abb372e3d9
$setting = $template.CreateSettingsObject()
$settingsnew = New-MsolSettings -SettingsObject $setting -TargetObjectId $group.ObjectId
$settings = Get-MsolAllSettings -TargetObjectId $group.ObjectId
$value = $GroupSettings.GetSettingsValue()
$value["AllowToAddGuests"] = "False"
Set-MsolSettings -SettingId $settings.ObjectId -SettingsValue $value -TargetObjectId $group.ObjectId
3. Run a check to see if it worked
(Get-MsolAllSettings -TargetObjectId $group.ObjectId).GetSettingsValue() | foreach values

29. Configuring multi-domain support
Example
 Main domain is contoso.com
 Default accepted domain is service.contoso.com (where groups get created by default)
 You have a sub-domain called students.contoso.com and groups.contoso.com
Configured with Exchange Address Policy (EAP) via Exchange Powershell
Option 1:
All Office 365 Groups built under groups.contoso.com domain
New-EmailAddressPolicy -Name Groups -IncludeUnifiedGroupRecipients `
-EnabledEmailAddressTemplates "SMTP:@groups.contoso.com" -Priority 1

30. Configuring multi-domain support - Continued
Option 2:
Control what sub-domains Office 365 groups are created in by attribute
 Set users which have their Department attribute set to Students to create groups by default in the
students.contoso.com domain
New-EmailAddressPolicy -Name StudentsGroups -IncludeUnifiedGroupRecipients -EnabledEmailAddressTemplates `
"SMTP:@students.contoso.com” ManagedByFilter {Department -eq 'Students'} -Priority 1
 All other users will create groups in the groups.contoso.com domain
New-EmailAddressPolicy -Name OtherGroups -IncludeUnifiedGroupRecipients -EnabledEmailAddressTemplates `
"SMTP:@groups.contoso.com” -Priority 2
 Only admins can perform this
 Use the –RecipientFilter for available properties to filter on (company, city, office, etc…)
 If you remove domain you need to update EAPs
 Max limit of 100 EAPs per organization

31. • Office 365 Groups are created & managed in Azure Active Directory (AAD)
• Azure AD Connect enables synchronization of Groups with your on-premises Active Directory into
DLs with:
• Target Address - the service address of the Groups object
• Recipient Type Details - specifies that the Group is not mastered in the on-premises directory
• AAD Premium is required
• Exchange 2013 CU9 required (individual mailboxes are on-premises) or Exchange 2016
• Still lots of issues as primarily in preview
• Can also be configured to write back as a mail enabled security group
Office 365 Groups Hybrid Support
Resources:
• Configure Office 365 Groups with on-premises Exchange Hybrid
• Integrating your on-premises identities with Azure Active Directory
• Office 365 Groups write back
• How to write back an Office Group in Azure AD to a Mail Enabled Security Group

32. What about governance?

33. Security and Compliance
eDiscovery through Exchange and SharePoint
Data loss prevention
Preservation policies
Audit log and Content search

34. Management tidbits
 Establish governance plan for groups
 Establish AAD group creation policies
 Monitor SharePoint Online Storage to ensure group sites not overtaking total storage
 Establish a process to have groups admin support easily available for users
 Run reports to try to track groups sprawl
 Use UsageGuidelinesUrl and ClassificationList
 Migrate multiple distribution lists to Office 365 groups – Link – (also via GUI)

35. Technical Options
Set access type (private or public)
Add quota setting for Group Sites
Set-UnifiedGroup -Identity "Legal" -AccessType Private
Set-SPOSite –Identity https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/<groupname> -StorageQuota 3000 -StorageQuotaWarningLevel 2000
*Before using the Set-SPOSite command, your site collection storage management must be set to Manual and not use pooled storage
View all subscribers, members or owners of a group
Get-UnifiedGroupLinks -Identity $groupAlias -LinkType Subscribers
$groupAlias = “TestView”
Available LinkTypes: Members | Owners | Subscribers

36. 1. Pass the groupalias to the Get-Recipient cmdlet to get the recipient details.
2. Pass the group to the Add-RecipientPermission cmdlet with the useralias
Technical Options…continued
Allow users to send as the Office 365 Group
Set naming policy via Exchange
$groupsRecipientDetails = Get-Recipient -RecipientTypeDetails groupmailbox -Identity $groupAlias
Add-RecipientPermission -Identity $groupsRecipientDetails.Name -Trustee $userAlias -AccessRights SendAs
$groupAlias = “TestSendAs”
$userAlias = “User”
Audit reports
This is set via EAC and it applies to Distribution Groups, dynamic distribution groups AND Office 365 Groups
*use carefully
View reports of who created, joined and shared Groups via Azure AD Portal

37. Technical Options…continued
Remove groups email from GAL (global address list)
Accept/Reject certain users from sending emails to groups
Set-UnifiedGroup –Identity $groupAlias –HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $true
$groupAlias = “TestGAL”
–RejectMessagesFromSendersOrMembers or -AcceptMessagesOnlyFromSendersOrMembers
Set-UnifiedGroup –Identity $groupAlias –RejectMesssagesFromSendersOrMembers dmadelung@concurrency.com
$groupAlias = “TestHide”
Hide group members unless you are a member of the private group
$groupAlias = “TestSend”
Set-unifiedgroup –Identity $groupAlias –HiddenGroupMembershipEnabled:$true

38. Technical Options…continued
Find out which groups do not have owners
1. Get all groups into $groups then go through each looking at the ManagedBy property
$groups = Get-UnifiedGroup
ForEach ($G in $Groups) {
If ($G.ManagedBy -Ne $Null)
{
$GoodGroups = $GoodGroups + 1
}
Else
{
Write-Host "Warning! The" $G.DisplayName "has no owners"
$BadGroups = $BadGroups + 1
}
}
Write-Host $GoodGroups "groups are OK but" $BadGroups "groups lack owners"

39. Demo!

40.  External access
 Groups SharePoint sites expanding (rolling out)
 Group classification
 Group usage guidelines URL
 Groups iPad app
 Privacy type conversion
 Dynamic membership (requires Azure AD premium)
 eDiscovery and Litigation available
 Ability to change privacy type of created Group
 Azure AD creation restriction
 Upgrade a DL to a Group via GUI
As of 10/5/2016
What’s new in Office 365 Groups

41. What’s upcoming?
Launched
Rolling out
In Development
As of 10/5/2016
http://fasttrack.microsoft.com/roadmap

42. • xxxx
Help Contribute &
Stay Informed!
O365 Groups UserVoice
https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/286611-office-365-groups
Microsoft Tech Community
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com
Office 365 Roadmap
https://fasttrack.microsoft.com/roadmap
Office Blogs
https://blogs.office.com/
Office 365 Admin Center – Message Center
https://portal.office.com/AdminPortal
Office 365 for IT Pros
http://exchangeserverpro.com/ebooks/office-365-for-it-pros

43. Questions?
Email: dmadelung@concurrency.com
Twitter: @dmadelung
Website: drewmadelung.com
Scripts: http://bit.ly/DrewO365GroupScripts
Slides: http://bit.ly/DrewO365GroupsSlides

44. Office 365 Groups
From the ground up
Collab365 Global Conference