Microsoft Announces SharePoint Advanced Management at Ignite

At the recent Ignite 2024 conference, Microsoft made an exciting announcement that SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) will now be included with your M365 licensing at no additional cost. This move is set to revolutionize how organizations manage their SharePoint and OneDrive environments, especially in preparation for the deployment and adoption of Copilot.

Watch the video or read the full blog to learn more!

What is SharePoint Advanced Management?

Microsoft describes SharePoint Advanced Management as “an essential add-on for Microsoft 365 that equips IT administrators with a powerful suite of tools to bolster content governance throughout the Microsoft Copilot deployment journey”.

Why This Change?

Microsoft’s decision to include SharePoint Advanced Management for free comes in response to customer feedback. Many users felt burdened by the additional costs associated with maintaining data security for Copilot and other services. By integrating SAM into the existing M365 licensing, Microsoft aims to increase Copilot adoption and provide users with essential management tools without extra financial strain.

10 Key Features of SharePoint Advanced Management

SharePoint Advanced Management offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to enhance data security, manage content, and streamline administrative tasks. Here are some of the standout features:

1. Restricted Content Discovery

This feature allows administrators to blacklist specific SharePoint sites, preventing Copilot from summarizing data from those locations. It’s a long-term solution for managing sensitive or outdated content.

2. Access Controls

SAM includes several access control policies, such as the Block Download Policy and Conditional Access Policies for OneDrive and SharePoint. These tools help administrators quickly lock down access to specific resources, ensuring data security.

Block Download Policy: This policy allows administrators to prevent users from downloading files from a document library. Users can view the content within the browser but cannot download, print, or otherwise extract the content.
Conditional Access Policies: This feature allows administrators to apply conditional access policies to specific OneDrive accounts or SharePoint sites. It provides granular control, such as requiring MFA for sensitive sites or restricting access based on geographic location.

3. Default Sensitivity Labels for Libraries

Administrators can set default sensitivity labels for document libraries, ensuring that all files within a library have a baseline level of protection.

4. Restricted Access Control (RAC) Policies

RAC Policies allow administrators to override site-level sharing settings, ensuring that only authorized users can access specific SharePoint or OneDrive sites.

5. Data Access Governance

SharePoint Advanced Management provides a range of reports to help organizations monitor data sharing and compliance. These reports include insights into Sharing Links, Sensitivity Labels, and Content Shared with broad groups:

Sharing Links Reports: This report helps administrators understand how many sharing links have been created on a site. High numbers of sharing links could indicate potential oversharing, which can be addressed to maintain data security
Sensitivity Labels Applied to Files Reports: This report tracks when sensitivity labels are applied to files, helping administrators stay aware of where sensitive data is located and ensuring it is properly protected.
Content Shared with Everyone Except External Users (EEEU) Reports: This report identifies content shared with the “Everyone Except External Users” group, ensuring that only the right people within the organization have access to specific content. This is particularly important for organizations leveraging Copilot.

6. Site Lifecycle Management

SharePoint Advanced Management offers tools to manage inactive sites, including policies to archive or mark sites as read-only. This helps control content sprawl and maintain an organized environment.

7. Inactive Sites Policy

This policy identifies sites that have not been used or modified within a specified period. Administrators can choose to archive these sites or mark them as read-only, helping to manage content sprawl

8. Site Ownership Policy

This policy ensures that all SharePoint sites have the correct number of site owners. It sends notifications to find new site owners or admins automatically when the number of site owners falls below a certain threshold.

9. Change History

Administrators can track recent actions and changes made by all administrators, providing visibility into the SharePoint environment and aiding in troubleshooting.

10. AI Insights

Integrated AI insights analyze data from reports, highlighting patterns and potential issues. This feature helps administrators make informed decisions based on the data.

What You Need to Do Next to Take Advantage of SharePoint Advanced Management

To take full advantage of SharePoint Advanced Management, ensure that all users in your organization have the necessary M365 licenses. Next, start reviewing the features available in SAM to determine which ones will provide the most immediate value to your organization.

Additional Resources:

Microsoft’s inclusion of SharePoint Advanced Management in M365 licensing marks a significant step forward in enhancing data security and management capabilities. With these powerful tools at your disposal, you can confidently prepare for Copilot deployment and maintain a secure, well-managed SharePoint environment.

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