Mastering Microsoft 365 core services and identity administration

This five-day course provides IT professionals with essential technical knowledge to confidently manage and support Microsoft 365 environments.

Delegates learn how to manage the Microsoft 365 tenancy, and build skills across Microsoft 365 core services including Entra ID, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Purview Compliance.

Each learner receives a 30-day enterprise tenancy to complete guided labs, practising key administrative tasks in the core Microsoft 365 services.

The course covers the foundational elements of Microsoft 365, from licensing and setup of the tenancy, through to advanced configuration, ensuring participants are well-prepared to manage and troubleshoot essential aspects of the Microsoft 365 environment.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Administer the Microsoft 365 tenancy and its core services using both graphical tools and PowerShell.
• Create and manage users, groups, and licenses in both cloud-only and hybrid identity models. This includes synchronisation of accounts from Active Directory to Entra ID.
• Configure the deployment, updating and monitoring of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.
• Administer Exchange Online using the Exchange admin center and PowerShell, and assign appropriate Exchange administrator roles. Manage Exchange recipients, including mailboxes, mail users and mail contacts. Configure mail flow and Exchange Online security features.
• Administer Teams using admin centers and PowerShell, and assign appropriate Teams administrator roles. Create and manage different types of Teams and channels, and configure guest access to them. Manage meetings in Teams.
• Administer SharePoint using the SharePoint admin center and PowerShell. Understand, create and configure different types of SharePoint sites, as well as hubs. Control access to sites, including by external users. Design navigation for the SharePoint environment.
• Use Microsoft Purview for data loss prevention, content search, retention, and audit logging
• Monitor Microsoft 365 service health and troubleshoot common issues using admin tools

Before attending this course, learners should have:

• A working knowledge of core IT concepts including DNS, networking, user identities, and accounts

Note: This course requires Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for lab access. Please install the Microsoft Authenticator app before attending. Additional guidance is available on QA’s MFA information page: https://www.qa.com/resources/faqs/mfa-requirements/

Target audience

This course is intended for:

• IT professionals who will need to manage Microsoft 365 and its key services
• IT professionals who are already managing Microsoft 365 but need to broaden and deepen their knowledge
• Technical support staff who need to support Microsoft 365 users and troubleshoot problems

Microsoft 365 core concepts

• Overview of Microsoft 365 features and services, including Entra ID, Microsoft 365 Apps, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, and Purview
• Understanding Microsoft 365 vs Office 365
• Microsoft 365 subscriptions and licensing
• Using administrative tools, including admin centers and PowerShell
• Assigning administrative roles
• Privileged identity management
• Access reviews
• Adding and configuring custom domains
• Configuring the network to support Microsoft 365

Entra ID users and groups

• Identity models: cloud-only and hybrid identities
• Creating and managing user accounts in the cloud
• Creating and managing the five types of groups available in Microsoft 365
• Deleting and restoring users and groups
• Securing user accounts using multi-factor authentication, password policies and conditional access policies

Implementing directory synchronisation

• Understanding the different options for authentication in a hybrid identities scenario: Password hash synchronisation, Pass-through authentication and Federation
• Planning, installing, configuring and monitoring directory synchronisation tools: Entra Connect and Entra Cloud Sync
• Using staging servers to provide resilience for Entra Connect
• Monitoring and troubleshooting directory synchronisation

Microsoft 365 apps

• Overview of Office for the web, desktop, mobile apps and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
• User-initiated deployment of Microsoft 365 Apps
• Centralised deployments of Microsoft 365 Apps,, using the Office deployment tool and the Office customisation tool
• Choosing a suitable update channel
• Managing policies using Apps Admin Center
• Monitoring app health and inventory

Exchange Online

• Using Exchange Online admin center and PowerShell
• Assigning Exchange administrative roles
• Creating and managing user mailboxes, shared mailboxes, resource mailboxes, mail users and mail contacts
• Deleting and restoring mailboxes
• Creating and managing groups, group naming policies and room distribution lists
• Managing address lists and address book policies
• Configuring mail flow rules and using message tracing
• Controlling email auto-forwarding
• Introduction to Exchange Online Protection and Preset security policies

Microsoft Teams

• Overview of Teams features and licensing
• Administering Teams, including assigning Teams administrative roles
• Understanding and creating the different types of teams and channels
• Team templates
• Understanding the storage of content in Teams
• Controlling team creation and expiration
• Archiving and deleting teams
• Configuring policies, policy packages and settings in Teams
• Managing Teams meetings
• Understanding and configuring external access and guest access
• Understanding Teams Premium

SharePoint sites and navigation

• Administering SharePoint using the SharePoint admin center, SharePoint PowerShell and PnP PowerShell
• Understanding and configuring team sites (with and without groups)
• Understanding and configuring communication sites
• Deleting and restoring sites
• Deleting and restoring content in sites
• Configuring hub sites
• Best practices when planning sites
• Options for navigation in SharePoint

SharePoint permissions and sharing

• Using SharePoint permissions to control access to communication sites, and other sites without Microsoft 365 groups
• Using SharePoint permissions and Microsoft 365 group membership to control access to team sites with associated Microsoft 365 groups
• Built-in and custom permission levels
• Permission inheritance
• Using SharePoint groups to assign permissions
• Allowing access requests
• Configuring the sharing of sites and site content with external users
• File request management

Microsoft 365 Purview

• Introduction to Purview compliance features and the Purview portal
• Creating, managing and monitoring data loss prevention policies based on templates, and custom data loss prevention policies
• Adding document fingerprints
• Retaining or deleting data using retention policies, including the use of adaptive scopes
• Searching for data in Microsoft 365 using Content search and eDiscovery
• Enabling auditing, and searching audit logs
• Configuring alerts
• Compliance Manager and the Compliance score

Monitoring and support

• Using Microsoft 365 troubleshooting tools and support resources

Exams and assessments

There are no formal exams included in this course. Delegates complete structured labs to reinforce technical skills and applied learning.

Hands-on learning

This course includes:

• A dedicated Microsoft 365 Enterprise tenancy for each participant
• Hands-on labs using real-world scenarios. More than two dozen lab exercises can be completed during and/or after the class, covering all the main features taught in the course.
• Instructor demonstrations