User management is key when it comes to fostering the productivity, collaboration and security of your employees. Currently, many companies are focusing on technological transformations for Microsoft Development firm. However, ensuring that this basic but crucial IT task is done efficiently is the key to ensuring stability while aiming for growth.
Therefore, it is important to familiarize yourself with the tools that can help you. Although it is possible to use third-party management solutions , it is a good idea to learn to use the native tools provided by Microsoft as you explore your Microsoft environment.
Dynamic groups
Microsoft 365 Dynamic Groups aims to reduce the cost of administrative tasks for IT teams. To do this, they provide a powerful user management system in which creating rules is the only requirement to automate adding and removing users from your company’s groups.
With on-demand membership, users are automatically added to dynamic groups based on user or device attributes.
This is made possible by creating complex attribute-based rules in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). These rules divide users into different groups based on properties such as department, business unit, site, or roles specified in their user account. Any update to a user profile is automatically detected so that group memberships can be easily changed.
How to create a dynamic group
To create and manage dynamic groups, your company must have enough P1 licenses to meet or exceed the number of users in these groups.
Although licenses should not be directly assigned, only Microsoft 365 P1 and above licenses such as E3, E5, MF1, and MF3 include this premium Azure AD feature.
Rules Builder
Azure AD provides a graphical rule builder in the Azure portal. It allows you to easily create and update your rules. This builder can support building up to five expressions. A text box is available if you want to create more.
Although this rule builder helps to create rules from a few simple expressions, it cannot replicate every rule. However, it allows you to enter your query string in the text editor and the text box can be used if the rule builder does not support the rule you want to create.
For detailed information on Azure Active Directory dynamic group membership rules, read the official Microsoft documentation.
How to create a group membership rule
To create dynamic groups, you must be a global admin, Intune admin, or user admin in your Azure AD organization.
- Log in to the Azure AD admin center .
- Click Groups . Select All groups and then New group
Create a new group by entering a name and description on the Group page. Choose a user or device membership type and then select Add dynamic query .
Once your rules are created, click Save . Next, select Create while on the new group page to officially create the group.
A notification will appear in the Azure portal if your rule is invalid. This notification will include details of why it could not be processed and how you can fix it.
Integration of dynamic groups
There are several ways to create a Microsoft 365 dynamic group. If your company already has Microsoft 365 groups or security groups, you can turn these into dynamic groups to better manage memberships.
You can do this by either creating a new group in Azure AD and adding your dynamic membership rule to it, or modifying your group settings by integrating your new membership rules with your existing groups.
Important note: Changing an existing static group to make it a dynamic group will result in the deletion of all its members. They will only be reinstated there once they have the corresponding dynamic attributes.
Microsoft 365 Groups
The purpose of Microsoft 365 Groups is to enable a group of people working together to access shared Microsoft 365 resources. This means you can create dynamic membership rules based on user profiles.
As mentioned earlier, all existing members of a Microsoft 365 group will be removed, along with their access to apps and resources. This access will only be restored once they are returned to the group, provided they have the necessary attributes.
Security groups
Dynamic membership rules for security groups and Microsoft 365 groups work very similarly. Main difference: with security groups, you can choose to create rules for devices or users (but you cannot define a rule containing both devices and users).
Also, creating device groups only works by referencing device attributes (OS versions, Intune property labels, device profile names) and not device owners.
Again, this will cause members to be re-evaluated based on their attributes. Members can be added or removed according to the conditions defined for the group.
Microsoft Teams Dynamic Groups
The Microsoft Teams tool also supports dynamic memberships .
Because dynamic rules define Teams team members, owners don’t have the ability to add or remove users.
General user management options for the Teams team are hidden. Examples include adding members, changing member roles, submitting and approving membership requests, and exiting the Teams team.
Microsoft 365 Dynamic Distribution Groups
Exchange Online also supports dynamic membership rules for email distribution groups. Instead of users and devices, membership is calculated each time a message is sent to the group.
And There you go !
Dynamic Groups is just one of Microsoft’s solutions for automating and improving the efficiency of your business processes. Third-party integration tools such as those from are also available to assist you in various areas of IT and administration.