M365 Changelog: Group Policy Assignment Support for Additional Policies in Teams Powershell Module

MC557818 – Microsoft is now extending group policy assignment support to additional policy types via Teams PowerShell Module (TPM). Admins can create new groups in Microsoft 365 admin center or can use existing groups to assign custom policies for various policy types in Teams PowerShell Module.

As your organization expands, your requirements become increasingly nuanced and multifaceted. A “one size fits all” approach is no longer tenable. Therefore, this capability will enable your organization to have different custom policies for various policy types assigned to user groups for specific needs. You will not have to rely on global (org-wide default) policies or direct policy assignments via manual user selections.

When this will happen:

This new update will be available for policies mentioned in subsequent section by late May 2023 for all Microsoft Teams commercial licenses.

How this will affect your organization:

The group policy assignment feature lets you assign custom policies to groups that were created in the Microsoft 365 Admin center. The Teams PowerShell Module (TPM) supports M365 groups, distribution lists, mail-enabled security groups, and security groups for group policy assignment. Apart from core policies such as meeting policies, calling policies, and messaging policies, group policy assignment support is now extended to the below policy types in TPM:

• Application Access Policy
• Call Hold Policy
• Carrier Emergency Call Routing Policy
• Cortana Policy
• Dial Out Policy
• Education Assignments App Policy
• Emergency Calling Policy
• Enhanced Encryption Policy
• Events Policy
• External Access Policy
• Feedback Policy
• Files Policy
• IPPhone Policy
• Media Logging Policy
• Meeting Branding Policy
• Meeting Template Permission Policy
• Mobility Policy
• Notification And Feeds Policy
• Room Video Tele Conferencing Policy
• Synthetic Automated Call Policy
• Teams Branch Survivability Policy
• Template Permission Policy
• VDI Policy
• Video Interop Service Policy
• Voice Routing Policy
• Voicemail Policy

Admins will first have to manage groups in the Microsoft 365 Admin center, and then go to the Teams PowerShell Module to perform the group policy assignment for various policy types.

What you need to do to prepare:

Follow below steps to be prepared:

1. Review how the policy assignment for users and groups works.
2. Review how policy takes effect for users due to precedence rules.
3. You can then review groups that you have created in Microsoft 365 admin center or create new groups.
4. Based on your organization’s needs, you can assign custom policies for these policy types to user groups via Microsoft Teams PowerShell Module.
5. To remove a pre-existing custom direct policy assignment, use GRANT to assign null policy to make way for group policy assignments to take effect (due to precedence rules mentioned in #2).