Microsoft

Take Advantage of Microsoft Flow Timers

Timers are helpful as a reminder to trigger us to do other actions. For example, if you set a timer when cooking pasta to make sure it’s al dente, you turn off the heat when the timer rings. It’s very much the same when it comes to Microsoft Flow; the timer can be very handy. Microsoft Flow has a whole series of timers that are built into it or things you can use to trigger the next action.   In old-school technology, we have used in SharePoint to trigger types of time-based events through “information management policy” or “scheduled workflow.” These are the traditional approaches, and they get the job done. Some examples: Information Management Policy - You set duration, a start period and start date for when you want a certain document to wait for the next action to trigger. Scheduled workflow - Set a specific time to trigger ...

2023-02-16T16:01:33+00:00

Microsoft Teams Shortcuts

How often do you use shortcut commands such as Ctrl + C or Ctrl + V? Mostly likely a lot, or more than you can count. The truth is learning how to use to shortcut commands help us as users to familiarize with the system and use it. Same goes for Microsoft Teams! If you are struggling to find documents, things, or functions in Teams check our these shortcut commands. You may find they make it easier to embrace Microsoft Teams. Navigation- Alt +1 = Activity Alt + 2 = Chat Alt + 3 = Teams Alt + 4 = Meetings Communication- Ctrl + Shift +D = Decline Call Ctrl + Shift +S = Accept Call Other examples- Alt + E = Go to Search Alt + N = New Chat The command bar is another great tool in Teams that allows you to do some shortcut functions without typing ...

2023-02-16T16:01:33+00:00

Azure Information Protection

How do you ensure your organization's confidential documents are accessible by approved eyes only? Fear not. Azure Active Information Protection can be your trusted friend to ensure that the sensitive data is well protected when appropriate groups or policies are set up and implemented. Specifically, Azure Information Protection, which is data loss prevention (DLP) for documents can be utilized to secure your confidential data. This blog provides a high-level overview of the DLP solution for Microsoft Azure. There are some different ways to start leveraging the platform and protecting your sensitive documents. Labels Place appropriate labels on your documents - you can have these labels applied by the users as they're editing documents Using client application and plugins into the office applications to apply labels when editing documents Customize your labels to control access to the documents by department or personnel. Create visual marking on the documents, such as header, ...

2023-02-16T16:01:33+00:00

Azure Active Directory Identity Management

Microsoft Office 365 is widely used in many organizations. If you are an administrator for your Office 365, you are likely to be familiar with the Admin Center to look at user accounts and monitor activities. But do you know all the account activities were pulled in from Azure Active Directory in the cloud and are only displayed in the admin center?  If you've got Dynamics, Exchange, SharePoint, or any of the Microsoft software that is in the Cloud, it's going to be using Azure Active Directory as its Identity Manager in the back end. There are a couple different approaches to manage identity in Azure Active Directory. Identity Sharing- As an admin, you may be familiar with creating Active Directory trust to different organizations, so you can authenticate across organizations or different servers across organizations. However, you don't have that ability with Azure Active Directory. In Azure AD, it's called ...

2023-02-16T16:01:34+00:00

Multi-Factor Authentication Conditional Access Configuration

Multi-Factor Authentication Conditional Access and Policies Configuration Multi-factor authentication (MFA) creates an extra step to verify user identity who wants to gain access to your server or database. MFA provides greater security with that layered authentication approach. When hosting MFA on-premises, you can lock down the server or cloud applications that are tied in with Microsoft ADFS (Active Directory Federation Services) in the environment that you have deployed. In this blog, we will be discussing a couple of different ways to manage the cloud version MFA, including setting up conditional access for your MFA. MFA Management Console Go to your Groups and select MFA authentication You should see a list of your users with an indication if they have already enabled MFA Enable MFA for your administrators or selected users By enabling MFA, your users or admins will be prompted to set up their second form of authentication device when ...

2023-02-16T16:01:34+00:00

The Yammer Hammer

Focus the Yammer’s purpose to communication, by removing file management features. I always keep my keys in the same place, on a hook at home, my backpack at work or my right coat pocket. With my daughter now driving, my car is taken out on a random basis, and my keys are often NOT found where I expect. However, with a few minutes of search, they are usually found. The issue is not the multiple drivers, it’s that there are multiple good places to store the keys at home. The Kitchen counter, the table by the front door, my daughter’s purse and our key rack at the back door. The same is true with Office 365 and file management. There are lots of good places to store files including SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Groups and even Yammer. To reduce confusion, the number of options should be limited. So how do we ...

2023-02-16T16:01:39+00:00

SharePoint Migration and History

I have a client who asked me “Will I lose historical content approval information if it is disabled, migrate in some files and then enabled it?” Specifically, can I... Migrate in new files to a library with the SharePoint Content Approval and publishing workflow configured. Don’t trigger the publishing workflow. There would be so many new approvals Default new files to the status of Approved Don’t lose historical versions and approval status. A simple test example was needed to try this out. Create a Document Library: I created a new Document Library with the following: SharePoint Version: SharePoint Online  App: Document library   Experience: Classic   Library Settings > Version Control > Content Approval: (Yes)  Library Settings > Version Control > Version Settings > Major and Minor Drafts:  (Yes)  Library Settings > Workflows > Approval – SharePoint 2010  > Triggered on:  Start this workflow to approve publishing a major version of an item. (Yes)  Create Historical Data: Uploaded three test files  They all start ...

2023-02-16T16:01:40+00:00

Building a Successful SharePoint ECM/ERM System in the Real World

If you listen to what is often said about SharePoint in enterprise records management (ERM), you might conclude that it is a mile wide and an inch deep.  In other words, the conventional wisdom seems to be that SharePoint has a broad set of capabilities in theory, but in practice lacks the depth of its competitors such as Documentum, OpenText, and Laserfiche.   But this comparison isn’t really fair, for three reasons:   SharePoint “out of the box” costs a fraction of what these other products do.  SharePoint’s competitors are often an amalgamation or “marketing bundle” of a variety of different products that have been purchased or licensed by the OEM, and often indifferently integrated with each other.  The implementation of “enterprise-class” ECM systems usually includes a consulting engagement, whereas SharePoint is often “thrown in” without the same level of forethought.   In reality, the reasons that ECM projects fail, whether on SharePoint or something else, ...

2023-02-16T16:01:40+00:00

You almost became the next Equifax. Did you even know? (Part 1 of 2)

While Equifax made global headlines with their cyber breach, IBM’s research has shown that small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are the targets of 62% of all cyber attacks. That equates to 4,000 SMBs daily¹ – or in more context, nearly 1 in 4 (24.33%) of U.S. SMBs (excluding nonemployers) annually. While an attack on your organization may not create global headlines, the impact to your organization and its’ employees could be devastating. If it extends to your customers’ information and records, it could negatively impact them and shatter your reputation. How devestating? I’ll share a real-world example. …

2023-02-16T16:01:42+00:00