🌐 Blog Series: Identity and Automation in Microsoft 365 and Entra ID

In an era where IT departments are increasingly pressured to do more with less, automation and good identity management are essential. Microsoft 365 and Entra ID offer a range of tools and features that can make administration both smarter and more efficient – ​​if you know how to use them correctly.

In this light-hearted blog series, I’ll explore how you can use identity as a key to automation and control. We’ll look at how you can use built-in features in Microsoft 365 and Entra ID to reduce manual work, improve security, and provide a better user experience.

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First stop: Microsoft 365 Groups

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🧩 Part 1: What is a Microsoft 365 Group?

A Microsoft 365 group is more than just a list of users in a container. It is an identity in Entra ID that gives members access to a common collection of resources in Microsoft 365 – such as a shared inbox in Outlook, a calendar, a document library in SharePoint, a OneNote notebook, and a Teams space. Note that you can also apply sensitivity labels to M365 groups.

Here are some of the services that can be connected to an M365 group:

• Outlook: Shared Inbox and Calendar

• Viva Engage: Community

• SharePoint: Document Library

• Planner: Task Management

• OneNote: Shared Notebook

• Teams: Collaboration Space (if the group is connected to a team)

• Power BI: Shared Workspace (optional)

• Microsoft Loop (Via Teams)

How are M365 groups different from security and deployment groups?

Function	Microsoft 365-group	Security group	Distribution group
Access to resources**	✅	❌	❌
Email distribution	✅	❌	✅
Can be used in access control	✅	✅	❌
Collaboration tools (Teams, SharePoint)	✅	❌	❌
Lifecycle and policy management	✅	Begrenset	Begrenset

**Examples of resources:

Resource	What it means in practice
SharePoint document library	All members have access to a common area for storing and sharing files.
Outlook groups inbox and calendar	Members can send and receive email on behalf of the group, and use a shared calendar.
Teams	If the group is connected to a team, members will have access to channels, chat, meetings, and files in Teams.
Planner	Members can collaborate on tasks and projects in Microsoft Planner.
OneNote	The group gets a shared digital notebook for ideas, minutes, and documentation.
Loop	The group gets a shared Loop workspace.

Below is a standard Microsoft 365 group, here you see that the group has an associated mailbox, a Sharepoint area and a Team.

By listing the groups in Powershell, you can also see where the group was created from and which services the group is linked to. Note that Unified Groups originate from Exchange and you must use the EXO module.

• Team: Indicates that the Microsoft 365 group is connected to a Microsoft Teams team.

• SCD: System Created Directory, and is often used in automated or system-generated groups - In the example above, the groups are created via a Power Automate flow.

• SCD.MicrosoftTasks indicates that the group is connected to Microsoft Tasks (Planner or To Do).

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When should you use a Microsoft 365 Group?

Use M365 Groups when:

• You want to give a group of users access to shared resources

• You need a team in Microsoft Teams

• You want to automate lifecycle and membership (e.g. with dynamic groups)

• You want a single group that works across services

  
  

It is recommended to avoid M365 groups if you only need a simple email list (use distribution group) or only access control (use security group). - So one can ask if email list is the way to communicate in 2025, maybe it should be a joint team or a community in Engage? 😅💡

🚀 Next step

In the next post, we'll look at dynamic groups and automated membership – how you can use Entra ID to ensure that the right people are always in the right groups, completely automatically.

Bjørnar&AI