SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

The Office 2016 January 2018 updates and cumulative updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/2mtR6fv

Project 2016 January 2018 update:
http://bit.ly/2DcP4uu

SharePoint Server 2016 / Project Server 2016 January 2018 update: 
http://bit.ly/2mrb0HP & http://bit.ly/2DczJKk

The Office 2013 January 2018 updates and cumulative updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/2mtR6fv

Project Server 2013 January 2018 CU Server Roll up package:
http://bit.ly/2msRwCJ

Project Server 2013 January 2018 update:
http://bit.ly/2DcFvvO

Project 2013 January 2018 update:
http://bit.ly/2mtR9bb

Also worth noting, if you haven’t done so already, install Service Pack 1 http://bit.ly/1uorn2C first if installing the January 2018 CU for 2013.

As always, fully test these updates on a replica test environment before deploying to production.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Following on from my first post discussing including HTML formatting for Project Online Power BI Reports, in this post we will look at a summary of options to get the correct data into Power BI then walkthrough one of those options. In part 3, the final part, we will look at one of the other options to get the data.

For those of you that missed part 1, see the post here: https://pwmather.wordpress.com/2018/01/01/projectonline-powerbi-report-include-html-formatting-ppm-pmot-powerquery-odata-rest-part-1/

As per the first post, it is very simple to have the data rendered in Power BI to include the HTML formatting, the slightly more tricky part is to get the Project Online data into Power BI with the HTML included.

First, a bit of background on where in Project Online you can access the enterprise project multiline custom fields with the HTML included. As per the first post, you need to access the REST API ({PWAURL}/_api/ProjectServer) to get the data with the HTML included as the OData Reporting API ({PWAURL}/_api/ProjectData) has had the HTML removed. Using the REST API we can view the endpoints at the root:

This is the REST API to programmatically interact with the Project Online data, you can create, read, update and delete data using this API depending on your access. For this reporting post we only need to read data, carryout the steps with an account that has access to all projects in the PWA instance like an Admin account.

The endpoint we need is /Projects:

This will detail all of the projects the logged on user has access to – it is recommended to carry out these steps with an account that has access to all projects in the PWA instance otherwise you might / will see errors in later steps. For each project detailed you will see a few key project level properties including things like Name, Description, Created Date, ID to name a few. It is also possible to navigate from there using the Project ID to get more details for that project. For example you can get the project tasks using the following URL: ProjectServer/Projects(‘{ProjectGUID}’)/Tasks or get the project team using this URL: ProjectServer/Projects(‘{ProjectGUID}’)/ProjectResources. To get the enterprise project level multiline custom fields we need to use the following URL: ProjectServer/Projects(‘{ProjectGUID}’)/IncludeCustomFields. Accessing this URL for the specified Project GUID (replace the placeholder with an actual project GUID) you will see more properties for that project including the multiline custom fields we need:

Notice the HTML in the custom field outlined in red in the image above. You would need to do this call for all projects but using the correct Project GUIDs. Also worth pointing out, in this API the custom fields are referenced using the internal names, for example Custom_x005f_4d0daaaba6ade21193f900155d153dd4 rather than the display names. You can use the custom fields endpoint to map the internal names to the display names: /ProjectServer/CustomFields.

So that covers the background on how you access the multiline custom field data that includes the HTML using the REST API, next we look at how to do this from Power BI. What makes it slightly more tricky than just using the normal OData Reporting API is that you have to make a call dynamically for each project GUID if you are using the REST API directly. In this series of posts we will look at calling this API dynamically straight from Power BI (covered later on in this post) but that has a limitation and also another method to get this data from one call / endpoint but that requires a bit of custom code / a 3rd party tool but does remove the limitation / issue. I will cover off the latter option in the 3rd blog post including a code sample / snippet.

Moving on to Power BI and getting this data dynamically and explaining the limitation. This process with follow the same approach I documented a while back to report on project site data using the the SharePoint list REST API: https://pwmather.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/want-to-query-cross-project-site-sharepoint-lists-in-projectonline-projectserver-powerbi-powerquery-bi-office365-excel-ppm/ As per the post above, this will require a custom function and a custom column to call the function. The limitation of this approach is that it works fine in the Power BI Desktop client but the data will not currently refresh in the Power BI App service. There might be workarounds to this limitation but that is beyond the scope of this blog post.

Firstly get a REST URL for one project that includes custom fields, for example I have used this: https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/pwa/_api/ProjectServer/Projects(‘ad641588-f34b-e511-89e3-00059a3c7a00‘)/IncludeCustomFields?$Select=Id,Name,Custom_x005f_4d0daaaba6ade21193f900155d153dd4 – replace the parts highlighted in yellow with details from your PWA instance. In this example I have included just one of my multiline custom fields but include as many multiline fields as required, just separate them using a comma. As mentioned before, use the /CustomFields endpoint to identify the correct custom fields to include in the select statement. You can see below, the example multiline field I have used is called “Status Summary”

Now add this URL as a data source in Power BI using the Get Data > OData feed option. That will open the Query Editor and show the record:

Update the Query Name to something like projectHTMLCFsFunction as this query will be turned into a function. In the Query Editor, on the View tab access the Advanced Editor and you will see your query:

The full query will be similar to this:

let
    Source = OData.Feed("https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/pwa/_api/ProjectServer/Projects(‘ad641588-f34b-e511-89e3-00059a3c7a00’)/IncludeCustomFields?$Select=Id,Name,Custom_x005f_4d0daaaba6ade21193f900155d153dd4")
in
    Source

This needs to be modified to turn this into a parameterised function like below, parts highlighted in yellow are added / edited:

let loadHTMLCFs = (GUID as text) =>
    let
        Source = OData.Feed("https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/pwa/_api/ProjectServer/Projects(‘"&GUID&"‘)/IncludeCustomFields?$Select=Id,Name,Custom_x005f_4d0daaaba6ade21193f900155d153dd4")
    in
        Source
in  loadHTMLCFs

A screen shot below to show the completed query in the Query Editor as the formatting is clearer, bits added / edited are outlined in red:

Click Done in the Query Editor and you will see the following:

No need to do anything with the parameter or buttons. Now we need to add another data source in for the other data feeds required in the report, for the purpose of this blog I will just add in the minimum required and that is the default OData Reporting API /Projects endpoint to get the other project fields into the report. In the Query Editor on the Home tab click New Source > OData feed and add in the OData Reporting API URL: https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/pwa/_api/ProjectData then select the tables required. For this blog post I have just selected Projects. Using the Query Editor, remove unwanted columns, rename columns etc. You will need to keep at least ProjectId and ProjectType, they are required. For the purpose of the blog post I have just selected ProjectId, ProjectType, ProjectName and ProjectOwnerName. Using ProjectType, filter out ProjectType 7 as this is the Timesheet Project record. Keeping this in the dataset will cause errors later on.

Once you have edited the query as required a new custom column needs to be added to invoke the function created earlier. Click the Add Column tab then click Custom Column. Give the column a name such as GetProjectHTMLCFs then enter the following: projectHTMLCFsFunction([ProjectId]) as seen below:

projectHTMLCFsFunction is the name of the function we created earlier and we are passing in the ProjectId. When clicking OK, this might take a while depending on how many projects you have as this will invoke the function for each project and call the REST API, passing in the ProjectId for that row and bring back the records. Once completed you will see the records as below in the new custom column:

Now the column needs to be expanded, click the double arrow in the custom column heading and expand the multiline custom fields, in this example I just have one:

Click OK and the data will refresh / load then display the data for the multiline columns:

Notice we have the HTML in the data! Rename the columns for the correct display names then when completed, click Close & Apply. The changes will now be applied to the Power BI Report and load the data. Add in the HTML Viewer custom visual as detailed in blog post 1 then add the data on the the report canvas as you would normally. Ensure that the multiline custom fields use the HTML Viewer custom visual:

An example with a normal table visual and the HTML Viewer visual:

That’s it, design your Project Status reports to now include the HTML formatting your users have added. Just remember though, this will only refresh in the Power BI Desktop client. It can be published to the Power BI App service but the data will be static and will not update, you would need to open the report in the Power BI Desktop client, refresh it then publish it back into the Power BI service.

Next up in part 3 we will look at a slightly different approach to get the data in Power BI that does enable the report / data to refresh in the Power BI App service.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

My first post for 2018, Happy New Year to all! This post is the first of 2 or 3 posts covering HTML formatting in your Power BI reports from Project Online multiline project level custom fields as seen below – screenshot from mock up / demo data:

For those of you that are familiar with the Project Online Reporting API, Microsoft made a change back in May 2016 to remove the HTML from the OData API ({PWAURL}/_api/ProjectData): http://bit.ly/24hh9nb. This was due to requests from customers so that Excel / Power BI reports could contain cleansed data without having to remove the HTML from the strings yourself. As mentioned in the blog post above, the HTML strings for multiline project custom fields are still available from the REST API ({PWAURL}/_api/ProjectServer).

Back in November 2017 a new custom Power BI visual was released to render HTML: http://bit.ly/2CskInt, this now means that you can include the nicely formatted text from Project Online multiline project level custom fields in your Power BI reports. A couple of screen shots below show what your project custom field multiline data probably looks like today in your reports and what it could look like. Ignore the very basic dull looking report, this is purely just to demo the HTML rendering.

Without the HTML formatting from the OData API – it is just a block of text:

With the HTML formatting – it is nicely formatted and readable:

This matches the text on the Project Detail Page (PDP) in the Project Web App for that example demo project:

To be able to include the HTML formatting there are two parts:

• Get the data that includes the HTML
• Add the HTML Viewer custom visual to your Power BI Desktop client

The latter being very simple from the Power BI Desktop client by either clicking the ellipsis in the Visualizations pane:

Or using the button on the Home ribbon:

Then search for the HTML viewer and add it:

In the next 1 or 2 posts I will cover some different options for getting access to the data that includes the HTML.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Recently it was announced that it would be possible to rollup some of the data in the time phased feeds for Project Online, the support documentation can be found here: http://bit.ly/2yQUZQp

Currently today in Project Online, the time phased data is stored in the Reporting schema at the day level. For some organisations, this is too granular and they end up having to aggregate the data for reports to weekly / monthly etc. For those customers, having the data at the day level isn’t convenient as storage / performance improvements can be gained from having the data stored at source pre-aggregated. With this change, that will now be possible.

I believe this feature will start rolling out in the next week or two but let’s have a quick look at the options. From the PWA Settings menu you will see a new option under Enterprise Data for Reporting as seen below:

This shows the following page:

As this new feature has been rolled out to an existing PWA site, this defaults to Daily but new PWA sites created once this feature is rolled out to the tenant will have this setting set to Never.

Let’s look at the impact on the data using my simple project plan that has a task with a duration of 5 days:

Using the TaskTimephasedDataSet you can see the data below for Task 2:

As expected, there are 5 days displaying work. I will now change the setting to Weekly:

For this change to take effect I will need to publish all of my projects but for the purpose of this blog post I will just publish my test project. Refreshing my Excel data, you can see I have two rows as the task spans two weeks:

The hours are aggregated on the first day of the week as defined by the PWA site regional settings:

Now I will increase the task duration to 50 days to span a few months and set the reporting to monthly then publish my test project. Updated project:

Updated to Monthly:

Updated Excel report:

As you can see the hours are now aggregated on the first day of the month. You can also base this on the fiscal periods defined in PWA.

The feeds that are impacted by this change are:

• AssignmentBaselineTimephasedDataSet
• AssignmentTimephasedDataSet
• TaskBaselineTimephasedDataSet
• TaskTimephasedDataSet

Once available in your tenant, set the time phased data reporting setting as defined by your reporting requirements and publish all of the projects. I would recommend you did this on a non-production PWA instance first as you might need to update you reports, apps etc. that consume date from those four feeds. Also remember to set this up for new PWA instances created once this feature is live as they will be set to Never.

Keep an eye out for this feature reaching your tenant soon.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

The Office 2016 November 2017 updates and cumulative updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/2mwJoEv

Project 2016 November 2017 update:
http://bit.ly/2z84ZZP

SharePoint Server 2016 / Project Server 2016 November 2017 update: 
http://bit.ly/2mwJps3 & http://bit.ly/2z6B8RP

The Office 2013 November 2017 updates and cumulative updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/2mwJoEv

Project Server 2013 November 2017 CU Server Roll up package:
http://bit.ly/2mwJpZ5

Project Server 2013 November 2017 update:
http://bit.ly/2z8527X

Project 2013 November 2017 update:
http://bit.ly/2mvIlox

Also worth noting, if you haven’t done so already, install Service Pack 1 http://bit.ly/1uorn2C first if installing the November 2017 CU for 2013.

As always, fully test these updates on a replica test environment before deploying to production.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Back in January this year I published my first Power BI report pack for Project Online, the post can be found here: http://bit.ly/2ivjxct I have now published the second version of my report pack for Project Online. This version can be download from the link below:

http://bit.ly/2iiH1zX

This report pack consists of 8 reports for Project Online, these reports can be seen below:

Portfolio Report page:

Issues Report page:

Risks Report page:

Project Report page:

Resource Demand Report page:

Resource Report page:

Timesheet Summary Report page:

Timesheet Detail Report page:

These reports only use default intrinsic fields so it should work for all Project Online deployments.

Once downloaded, the report pack data sources will need to be updated to point to your target Project Online PWA instance. To do this you will need the Power BI desktop tool which is a free download here: http://bit.ly/2gRjCoQ

Open the downloaded PWMatherProjectOnlinePowerBIReportPackv2.pbit template file in Power BI Desktop and follow the steps below to point the data sources to your Project Online PWA instance:

• In the parameter window that opens, enter the full Project Online PWA URL
• Click Load
• The data will now start to load and you will be prompted to connect
• On the OData feed window, click Organizational account and click Sign in and enter credentials as required
• Click Connect
• On the Privacy levels window set the privacy as required
• Click Save
• The data will load – this may take a few minutes depending on the dataset size in Project Online
• Access the Project Report page and select a project from the project filter
• Save the report

This file can either be emailed around to colleagues with details on how to update the credentials to their own or what would be better is to publish the report to your Power BI workspace can create an organisational content pack that others can add to their Power BI workspace. If the Power BI organisational content pack is the chosen option, you might want to create a Dashboard first. See a previous blog post on this: http://bit.ly/2l2u5kS

Enjoy, I hope you like it

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Agile is now available in Microsoft Project! This is available on the following build version or later: 8625.2055 Click-to-Run. This build version is available on the Insider – formerly Insider Fast or Monthly Channel (Targeted) – formerly Insider Slow. This post is an intro to the new features. On the New menu you will see three new projects as highlighted below:

The three new project types are:

• Scrum Project
• Kanban Project
• Waterfall Project

Firstly, “Waterfall Project” is the traditional type of project that is the same as using “Blank Project”. When creating either of these you will notice some new views in Project:

These views are available regardless of the project type selected. I can insert the new Board Status and Sprint fields in to the default Gantt Chart view:

Switching views, I can then see these test tasks on the associated board views:

Both of these provide the ability to add new tasks as well as drag and drop capabilities to move tasks to different columns / statuses. On the board view you can add / update the columns / buckets, once updated here the Board Status column in the table views will have the updated values. Regardless of the view, you can use the Format tab option on the Task Boards Tools ribbon to change the columns:

More on these in when we look at the new project types.

Creating a Scrum Project or a Kanban Project gives you some other functionality. Starting with a Scrum Project (purely because it is first in the list) we can see the new project below:

The Scrum Project defaults to open with the Sprint Planning Board as the active view. On the ribbon you will also notice there is an Agile Tools Scrum tab as well as the previously seen Task Board Tools Format tab.

The Planning button enables you to switch between the two Sprint Planning views:

The Sprint button enables you to switch between the two Current Sprint views:

The All button enables you to switch to the Agile Tasks view which is a filtered tabular view that only shows tasks that are tagged as Agile = Yes.

Adjust allows you to manage the sprints. This creates three automatically for you:

By default the sprints are generated using the project finish date but you can change to manage this via a custom date if needed:

The Agile button enables you to change your project to a different Agile methodology:

Switching between Scrum / Kanban / None just changes the options you have on the ribbon. Changing to None will remove all the Agile options ribbon but you can use the Project tab to change your project back to an Agile methodology:

Tasks can be moved to different sprints or status using the board view with drag and drop or just the familiar drop down menus on the table views.

Switching to Kanban, the options change to enable you to switch backlog views:

When creating a new Kanban project, the default view is the Backlog Board.

The All button enables you to switch to the Agile Tasks view which is a filtered tabular view that only shows tasks that are tagged as Agile = Yes. Then you have the same Agile button too.

There are also new default Agile reports:

Here is the Agile – Task Status report as an example:

This new feature is a client side feature only, this capability is not available in PWA. All of the new fields in Project such as Agile, Sprint and Board Status are in Project only.

If you are looking to use an Agile methodology to manage your projects in Microsoft Project, take a look at this new feature as it allows you to manage a single project using a combination of methodologies if you wish.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

The Office 2016 October 2017 updates and cumulative updates are now available – post a bit later than normal, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/2zmnsO4

Project 2016 October 2017 update:
http://bit.ly/2zAllXK

SharePoint Server 2016 / Project Server 2016 October 2017 update: 
http://bit.ly/2zkZmmW & http://bit.ly/2zAlmeg

The Office 2013 October 2017 updates and cumulative updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/2zmnsO4

Project Server 2013 October 2017 CU Server Roll up package:
http://bit.ly/2zlsREV

Project Server 2013 October 2017 update:
http://bit.ly/2zBlQRE

Project 2013 October 2017 update:
http://bit.ly/2zmnupa

Also worth noting, if you haven’t done so already, install Service Pack 1 http://bit.ly/1uorn2C first if installing the October 2017 CU for 2013.

As always, fully test these updates on a replica test environment before deploying to production.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Following on from my previous blog post regarding the updated Project Online Power BI content pack from Microsoft -  see below if you missed it:

http://bit.ly/2fpUUvh

That was shortly removed from the Power BI service and hasn’t been updated there yet but the template file has since been made available to download from GitHub:

http://bit.ly/2ilT3w5

You can now have the default reports provided here and extend to your own requirements for example a quick change would be to change the currency symbol used if you are not using US dollars:

Make the changes as required then publish to your own organisation.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

******************** This is a guest blog post by Lee Mather ********************

Day Two

After recharging the batteries, we had another early start for day and had as many sessions packed in as possible. I will try to provide a summary of key takeaways for each session. Please let me know if you would like any further detail as I’m happy to discuss.

Session 1: Overview: Modern Windows 10 and Office ProPlus management with Enterprise Mobility + Security

This session focused on moving to a modern management for Windows and went into more detail than the session I attended on day 1. The main highlights were:

· Simplify deployment and device management with Intune and Windows Autopilot. Microsoft’s vision is for laptops and PCs to be as easy to setup as mobile phones. Microsoft 365 powered devices will benefit from the following

o Intelligent Security

o Easy deployment

o Always up to date

o Proactive insights with Windows Analytics

· A couple of slides which highlight the difference between traditional IT and modern IT

· There are a few paths to transition to modern management which has been expanded by the introduction of co-management. Co-management should be released by the end of the 2017 calendar year

Session 2: Simplify hybrid cloud protection with Microsoft Azure Security Centre

The second session of the day focused on hybrid cloud protection with Microsoft Azure Security Centre. As I mentioned this in the summary of day one, I will only highlight the features.

· Hybrid Cloud Support – This allows a unified security centre for Azure workloads as well as workloads running on-premises and in other clouds. Additional information can be found here http://bit.ly/2fT0ie3

· Just In Time Access – This allows administrators to lock down ports such as RDP and to allow access when required. Additional information can be found here http://bit.ly/2y2WgWH

· Adaptive Application Controls – This allows you to define a set of applications which can run on your VMs which helps in the fight against malware. Additional information can be found here http://bit.ly/2fVIjnb

· Azure Security Centre will soon include Windows Defender ATP detections. Additional information can be found here http://bit.ly/2fT0ie3

· An interactive threat intelligence map has been added to the Azure Security Centre for visualisations. Additional information can be found here http://bit.ly/2y2DU8g

· An investigation dashboard is currently in preview which will correlate all relevant data with any involved entities. You will be able to navigate between entities by clicking through the graph and providing information. Additional information is available here http://bit.ly/2fUzmdS

Session 3: What’s new with Microsoft Exchange Online Public Folders

This was a 30-minute session to highlight some of the new features in Exchange Online Public folders. The main takeaway for me was the migration of public folders to Office 365 Groups. This migration approach is supported for Exchange 2010, 2013, 2016 and Exchange Online. Additional information can be found here http://bit.ly/2y2wbqJ

Session 4: Office 365 Security and Compliance Overview

The session focused on the following key areas of Office 365 security:

· Threat Protection

· Information Protection

· Security Management

· Compliance Management

The main takeaways and areas of interest for this session were:

· ATP has expanded to SharePoint, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams

· Safe Links will now show the original URL when a user hovers over the link

· Safe Links will now apply to internal and external email

· Safe Attachments now have a preview feature enabled to allow a user to view a document online whilst it’s being scanned. Scanning time has also been greatly reduced over the last year

· SharePoint malware will be reported in the Threat Management portal

· New updates being rolled out to Office 365 Threat Intelligence

o Threat Tracker

o Threat Explorer

o Remediation capabilities

o Attack Simulator – Admins will have the ability to simulate different threat scenarios to gain an understanding of how users behave in the event of a real attack

· Single interface for creating protection labels is on the way

· New reporting capabilities being rolled out to the Office 365 Security and Compliance Centre

· New Compliance Manager should be in Public preview later this year. Additional information can be found here http://bit.ly/2fVIm2l

Additional information can be found here: http://bit.ly/2y2AimT

Session 5: Learn about the Microsoft global network and best practices for optimizing Office 365 connectivity

This was a great session that looked at the Microsoft network and as the title suggests, provided best practise tips. The main takeaways for the sessions were as follows:

· Avoid proxy servers when connecting to Office 365

· Review Office 365 IPs regularly and update firewalls if required

· Ensure your traffic is routing to the Microsoft network in as few hops as possible

· Network performance requirements for Skype for Business and how to test your network using the Skype for Business tool – http://bit.ly/2fVPzj0

· Skype for Business is the most sensitive to network performance and requires additional ports for best user experience

· Some interesting facts regarding the Microsoft network

Session 6: Yammer’s roadmap for enhanced integration, security and compliance

This was a breakout session that only last 45 minutes. The main takeaways were:

· Local data residency preview Q4 2017

o Existing customer H2 2018

· GDPR compliance by Q1 2018

· Yammer will soon be added to eDiscovery in the Office 365 Security and Compliance Centre

· DLP policy tips will be rolling out to Yammer in 2018

· SharePoint Group integration

That concluded another busy day at Ignite!