Making Bulk Changes in Microsoft Teams with Confidence

In Microsoft 365 and Teams there’s the regular day-to-day activity that the IT team and Helpdesk need to deal with, as users join and leave, and new service requests are raised. Many customers use the Microsoft Teams Administration Portal to action these changes; this works for the ones and twos, but becomes unworkable for bulk activities – those that might originate from:

• A new department being created
• A service migration from an older platform – such as a Cisco PBX
• Wholesale changes on items such as policies and defaults (perhaps regulatory)
• A move to a new Microsoft tenant

Either way, these large scale bulk activities often lead into the dark world of PowerShell or elevated Microsoft access permissions, with a need to draw on Microsoft technical resources, but there are better options available. Such as an approach that VOSS recommends, using bulk loading templates to make changes that are:

• Accurate and standardized (based on automation)
• Secure (without needing broader access rights to Microsoft Teams)
• Designed for project teams, without the need for deep Microsoft knowledge
• Tracked (with an audit log)

Using automation ensures accuracy and standardization

VOSS bulk loaders streamline the change process, minimizing errors and simplifying workflows. These loaders can be pre-configured as Excel workbook templates, allowing project teams to efficiently execute bulk changes. This approach ensures quick, repeatable actions without requiring in-depth knowledge of PowerShell or the intricate configuration settings within Microsoft Teams.

Each VOSS bulk loader can be populated with an input sheet to capture key information (perhaps the names of individuals to be onboarded, or call queues to be configured), along with supplementary sheets to manage each individual setup step: in the case of a call queue, this may involve licensing a resource account, adding a telephone number, and then adding members to the queue.

Configuration templates further simplify and standardize the setup process. These templates can be created in advance to handle a wide range of complex parameters. For instance, during user onboarding, a template can automatically apply a predefined set of policies, ensuring consistency and efficiency throughout the process.

Individual rows in the bulk loader can be excluded, enabling selective changes, such as modifying a single line item during initial testing. VOSS bulk loaders can be executed immediately or scheduled for a specific time and date, making them ideal for implementing changes during off-peak hours.

Secure – no need for broader access rights to Microsoft Teams

VOSS bulk loaders are managed by members of the project team. Each team member is provided with a suitable VOSS role, with pre-defined privileges that allow them to perform a certain set of changes (for example user onboarding), to a certain part of the organization (perhaps a set of sites). This mitigates the need to provide broad and elevated “Teams Administrator” access across the Microsoft tenant as a whole, to numerous project engineers that come and go.

Actual changes to Microsoft Teams are performed by the VOSS application, which is registered as a secure application onto the Microsoft tenant using digital ‘certificate’ authentication – this is recommended by Microsoft as opposed to basic service accounts and authentication with passwords.