Service Fabric Community Q&A call 50

[Guest Blog] Ability lies within your vulnerability

by Contributed | Nov 12, 2020 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

David Brown, an Accessibility and Inclusion leader at Phoenix Software, a Microsoft Partner based in the UK, shares his personal journey with Dyslexia and how he leverages Microsoft 365 tools for accessibility.

By pushing the button and opening the door to issues like race, accessibility, sexuality and religion, we are given opportunities that we may never have been presented with. I don’t think I could have ever imagined that Microsoft would be asking me to write a blog.  

Picture of a disabled access door button

As someone with dyslexia, I’m passionate about inclusion. I spent most of my childhood undiagnosed, struggling to read and write until the age of 14 when I finally started to get the support I needed. That, however, ended abruptly when I left education and started in the workplace. I’d often try to hide my dyslexia and, until just a few years ago, I’d ask my partner and friends to proofread my emails to avoid embarrassment and therefore hide my accessibility needs. 

Fast forward to today, I’m sitting on my sofa using Microsoft Dictate in Word Online, not even pausing to consider spelling and punctuation.  

Those diagnosed with dyslexia are often great thinkers, and weirdly, great communicators, but unfortunately in my case that went untapped until I found the tools that I needed to unlock my potential.  

Now, I’m not saying that I’ve ‘made it’, but the moment I stopped hiding my vulnerability and my disability, I found opportunities you wouldn’t believe. I now lead the Modern Workplace and Accessibility practice at Phoenix Software and every day I get the opportunity to help the UK Public Sector become more inclusive by utilizing these skills and Microsoft’s amazing accessibility features. I’m also the Director of Accessibility & Inclusion for York Pride, ensuring it becomes a more inclusive event for our community.

Inclusive and Accessible Design 

Push the disabled access door button…it opens wider than you could imagine! 

Have you ever walked into a hotel and pressed the disabled access door button either for your own need or simply as your huge suitcase won’t fit through the dreaded revolving door? You don’t need to have a physical disability to see how poorly designed revolving doors are – they’re inaccessible by design. 

The power of inclusive design is something we can all benefit from, whether it be a dropped curb, tactile paving, voice-activated technology, or clear and concise print design. 

Accessible tech excites me. Cortana, Microsoft 365’s (M365) learning tools, robotic synthetics dictation and live captioning (to name a few), but what really excites me is the impact that accessible design brings.

Coincidentally, Microsoft has just rolled out a fantastic new feature for its M365 productivity suite which helps streamline something I have always struggled with – transcribing.  

The feature, called Transcribe in Word, gives you the ability to open the Word app on your desktop, and in the near future on your smartphone, and begin transcribing anything being said by multiple people in the room with you or on Microsoft Teams. You can also quickly grab portions of a transcribed conversation and drag them into your document. 

To access this new feature, just click the Dictate button in the toolbar and select the Transcribe option. 

Delivering accessibility and inclusion to transform education and impact lives in the community

One of the best examples customer engagements I’ve had the privilege of supporting is City College Peterborough. The college prides itself on the important role it plays in the Peterborough community, where it works with organizations of all shapes and sizes, and people from all backgrounds, to achieve their goals.

Utilizing Microsoft Teams has meant that the College now has one platform upon which they’ve built their internal communication strategy. All staff have access and can use this to hold learner files, enabling them to do their job more efficiently and effectively. They are also able to better support their learners including those in need of additional support.  An example of one such student is Ziah.

Ziah’s journey started in the Schools for Independence Group and, following a Cerebral Palsy diagnosis, he needed a frame to walk as well as other aids. The college have seen him excel and noted great improvements year on year. Thanks to the support of the college and having the right tools such as the Surface Go and Microsoft Teams, Ziah is fully independent and ready to leave the college. He is currently on work placement, and the college knows that the use of Microsoft Teams and the Surface Go is the best thing to help him excel now and in the future.

Learn more and watch Ziah’s story in our City College Peterborough Case Study

So why am I writing this?

Well, I want to talk to you about the opportunities that accessibility can bring to you and your organization. 

For much of my life I’ve hidden my accessibility needs, certainly in the corporate world it has been deemed unprofessional to discuss things that don’t fit the norm. Working within the tech industry, certainly a few years ago, I was convinced, with justification, that my career progression would be limited. Thankfully things have changed, and although there is progress to be made, by questioning, listening and adapting we all have greater opportunities than ever before. 

Only recently have I been honest with my employer about my Dyslexia, and only after discovering the amazing tools available, built-in to the software I already used, have I gained opportunities I could never have imagined. I have been asked to speak at events like Microsoft Inspire, Future Decoded, GAAD and more. I’ve built a profitable practice for Phoenix delivering hundreds of Accessibility workshops to Public Sector Organizations and I’ve recently been appointed the Accessibility & Inclusion Director for York Pride. However, more importantly, I’ve helped thousands of individuals, like me, benefit from the capabilities of inclusive technologies. 

Organizations can benefit from the implementation of a diverse workforce and generate new revenue streams by engaging with more people. Take, for example, something as simple as Accessibility Checker in M365

Using this ensures that the content you create is accessible to everyone, and might mean you reach a customer/individual that you may otherwise have missed. 

Rather than an organization pushing out a blanket statement, organizations should be doing what  employees and customers want to see to back up statement. Do you provide training? Do you provide a platform for your staff to discuss and support these statements? Open discussion of these issues is in itself education. 

This approach has benefitted Phoenix and our customers via Microsoft Accessibility Fundamentals https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/accessibility-fundamentals/ .

Hundreds of our staff and customers have completed this free online certification designed to educate organizations and individuals on the tools Microsoft offer to support with accessibility.

I talk about accessibility everyday due to my passions, but seeing a huge part of our business complete this accreditation without instruction has been inspiring. It’s led to employees being comfortable talking about their own hidden disabilities and encouraged everyone to think more inclusively. Hopefully you will too. 

Take care, be kind and thank you for taking the time to think about inclusion. 

Additional Resources

• Accessibility Fundamentals: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/accessibility-fundamentals/


• Microsoft Accessibility features: aka.ms/accessibilitysway

• Accessibility checker in Office: https://aka.ms/officeaccessibility


• Accessibility Insights: https://aka.ms/accessibilityinsights

• List of accessibility testing tools: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/accessibility/test

Secure your GitHub deployment using Microsoft Cloud App Security

by Contributed | Nov 12, 2020 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Welcome to newest post in our series on how to protect your API Connected Apps using Microsoft Cloud App Security (Microsoft CAS).

As our first App, we’ll discuss easy steps to protect and gain more visibility and control on GitHub. We’ll publish other Blogs on Salesforce, Box and AWS in the coming weeks. If there is an App you would like to be covered in future blogs, let us know in the comments.

Why connect GitHub?

Connecting GitHub to MCAS will get you the following benefits:

Connect GitHub to Microsoft Cloud App Security

To get these benefits you will need to connect Microsoft Cloud App Security to your enterprise GitHub instance.

We have already documented the steps to connect MCAS to GitHub in the step-by-step guide here.

Or if you prefer, check our video below.

Quick config – Quick Value!

To ease  your MCAS configuration protecting your GitHub environment, we have added a few built-in templates for Activity Policies, that will simplify your tasks.

These built-in templates are available out of the box, and they can be used to create policies after you have connected MCAS to GitHub.

You can see the use of these templates in action in our video:

We recommended that you enable all these templates in your environment (by default they have no impact on end-users at all). Once the policies are created, they can be adjusted and filtered if the alerts become too chatty or too quiet.

GitHub Template list:

Below is an example of the configuration of one of our templates:

 Of course, after creating a policy from one of these templates, you can edit them to add any additional filters to tailor them to your specific needs.

Create your own policy and use advanced configuration.

The templates we discussed here are all activity policies. They can allow you to quickly configure very common use cases.

However, for any advanced, or less common scenario, activity policies can be configured manually, using the Activity types presented by MCAS from the GitHub API (a real-life example is presented below).

Here are a few best practices when configuring these:

• Single or repeated activity?
  
  
  
  • That would depend fully on your needs, but cases where several repositories are shared in a short period of time could be a good indicator of data loss.
  
  
  
  


• Activity filters: filters are the most important part of the Activity policy as they allow to device what kind of event must be captured.
  
  
  
  •  App: always start with selecting the App you are creating the policy for (here, GitHub). This will limit the number of entries when trying to apply a filter on the Activity Type.
  
  
  • Activity Type: this is often the most important filter. The list of activities caught by MCAS for each app can be very broad. For GitHub, it can be a sharing activity, or adding users to a repository. Based on your needs, review them, and select the appropriate filter. When in doubt, a good way to validate the behavior of a specific activity is to use the Activity Log in MCAS and filter on the type of Activities being evaluated. Another, more advanced option to get a better grasp on each of the activity is to view the GitHub API reference.
  
  
  •  Other filters can bring additional value, whether it is for GitHub or other apps, and they should be reviewed as needed.
  
  
  
  

Now let’s review a more concrete example, with a real-life use case:

Allowing Deletion or Transfer of Repository was enabled. 

Following the same principle as some of the templates defined above, this policy will trigger when an admin changes the GitHub tenant’s setting allowing a repository to be deleted. This does not mean that the action has happened, but rather that it was allowed and there may have been a malicious or erroneous configuration. 

To configure that, apply the following filters in your Activity Policy:

You can add additional filters, such as location, usernames, etc. to personalize the policy.

Real time control

The policies and controls we have discussed above are all relying on GitHub’s APIs to query activities and information about the current user context.  While this allows monitoring activities very specific to GitHub, it is an out of band connection (cloud to cloud, users are never aware of this connection) and as such, data is received by MCAS in Near Real Time.

For use-cases where real time controls are required, we can leverage another component of MCAS: Conditional Access App Control.

This feature allows MCAS to act as a reverse proxy in the cloud, and allows for a real time control of several activities, for GitHub or any other Cloud App:

• Control file downloads


• Control file Uploads (including malware detection)


• Control or prevent Cut/Copy/Paste/Print

Some of the most common scenario used with Conditional access app Control with GitHub are:

• Block download of code files to unmanaged devices


• Prevent upload of code containing malware.


• Prevent copying data from an unmanaged device.

More info on how to use Conditional Access App control is available here:

• Protect apps with Microsoft Cloud App Security Conditional Access App Control


• Deploy Conditional Access App Control for featured apps (including GitHub)


• Configure Session policies

You can also learn about how to deploy Conditional Access App Control in the videos here:

• Configuring real-time monitoring and Control with Microsoft Cloud App Security


• Configuring a policy to block uploads in real-time with Microsoft Cloud App Security

Share your use case!

Now that you know all you need to get started with protecting GitHub using Microsoft Cloud App Security, please share with us your thoughts and your use cases. We would love to hear your feedback on our GitHub integration.

(By@Gershon Levitz, Idan Basre and @Yoann Mallet) 

Organize School and Class Information with Microsoft Lists

by Contributed | Nov 12, 2020 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We know the world of education is becoming increasingly more complex. With hybrid and remote learning, there is more information to track than ever. Fortunately, new technology can help teachers, students, and administrators get organized. Gone are the days of juggling information between paper planners, computer files, and group chats – Microsoft 365 has you covered.

Introducing Microsoft Lists
Microsoft Lists helps you optimize your productivity and save time by managing your information closely, critical for modernizing your classroom. Lists provide a simple, smart, and flexible way to organize information, and is included in your Microsoft 365 subscription. Use Lists as a standalone Microsoft 365 application or add Lists to your Microsoft Teams channel to collaborate with full functionality (Microsoft Lists is now a default option within Microsoft Teams for Education). For teachers, students, and administrators alike, lets walk through some key Lists features and use cases.

Organize and track information in one central hub
Lists provides an easy to use interface to manage a variety of information. There are numerous ready-made templates available in the app that give a starting point for your list creation. Teachers can use the Work item tracker template to track lesson plans, which comes with columns to note progress, priority, and due dates. Students can use the template to create a study plan or project outline. Other templates like Asset manager, Event itinerary, or Recruitment tracker can be helpful for administrators from a school planning perspective. Asides from creating a list from one of the templates, you can create a list from scratch or import data from Excel into a new list. Choose to start one right from the Lists app, Microsoft Teams, or your SharePoint site.

Each item in your list can be as complex or as simple as you make it. Attach files and due dates to list items so everyone is on track and can access everything in one place. Lists are also customizable, with built-in settings to edit layouts – no coding required. Filters, views, and color formatting make it easy to add personal flair to your or your classroom’s lists.

Plus, access and edit your lists on the go with the Lists mobile app, now in preview for iOS. Fill out this form to get early access to the Lists Mobile App (iOS).

Foster classroom collaboration and sharing
If you’re using Lists with your classroom, it’s a great way to encourage students and teachers to work together. Share a list from a SharePoint site or class Teams channel to give everyone live access to view and edit. Anyone can leave comments on list items, @mention others to draw attention, and open a chat window alongside your list. Students can work remotely on a shared list with their group and keep track of project responsibilities among members. Teachers can create a list in their class Teams channel to organize classroom resources and assignments, providing instant access to students and filterable views so they can find exactly what they are looking for.

Lists also lets you add rules and notifications to items, triggering reminders to specified class members with upcoming due dates. For example, students working on a group project can set up email notifications to each assigned member when an item deadline is coming up.

Unlock your school or classroom’s full potential
Microsoft Lists handles project management and organization so you and your students can focus on what’s really important: growth and learning. Lists offers endless flexibility to create a solution for your needs.

Lists integrates with Microsoft’s Power Platform, allowing you to easily customize a list form. Change the size, orientation, or display of a list, and save your new form for others to use. Teacher evaluations coming up? Administrators can create an evaluation questionnaire with Microsoft Forms and use Power Automate to automatically send details to a list. Similarly, add automation to an incident list to track details from classroom incident report forms, creating an easy way to keep records and analyze trends.

Get Started with Lists
You can read about more education-specific use cases in this informational flyer, or watch a quick Lists for education tutorial. Ready to equip your school or classroom with Lists? Launch the Lists app from the app launcher of your organization’s Microsoft 365 homepage or add a Lists tab to your Microsoft Teams channel to get started. You can find best practices, guides, and resources on creating a Lists adoption plan for your organization on the Lists Adoption site.

For additional Lists resources, head over to the Lists Resource Page.