Use SharePoint's new site templates today!

by Contributed | May 4, 2021 | Technology

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

 

 

Imagine you’re working on a project that needs a new SharePoint site to track deadlines, record progress, and serve as a central place to collaborate with your team. Perhaps you’ve been tasked with creating an onboarding portal for your organization complete with new hire checklists and key information to help them get started. Maybe you’re leading a training series where you need to store course files and post class announcements. Where do you begin when it comes to designing sites for these scenarios?  

Now you have a starting point! We’ve made it even easier to begin on the right foot with site templates that are available to you in SharePoint. SharePoint site templates are flexible enough to address a variety of needs, make it easy to create and populate site content, and show you what’s possible. These complement those found in the SharePoint lookbook, which has been and continues to be an amazing source of inspiration for modern experiences you can build with out-of-the-box SharePoint components.   

Through customer conversations and user research, we identified 8 scenarios to start with that benefit from having a robust SharePoint site template. SharePoint customers can take advantage of the following SharePoint site templates:

Communication site templates

• Department – Engage and connect viewers with departmental news and resources.


• Leadership connection – Build community by connecting leadership and team members.


• Learning central – Showcase learning and training opportunities.


• New employee onboarding – Streamline and refine new hire onboarding process.

Team site templates

• Event planning – Coordinate and plan event details with your team.


• Project management – Create a collaboration space for your project team.


• Training and courses – Prepare course participants for learning opportunities.


• Training and development team – Plan opportunities to help others learn and grow.

We will continue to build on these options in the future to address even more common scenarios.

Project management	Event planning
Department	Leadership connection
New employee onboarding	Learning central
Training and courses	Training and development team

How to apply a template and what to expect

SharePoint site templates will be automatically available in SharePoint tenants and can be applied by users with site owner permissions or higher. When you create a new site, you will be asked if you’d like to use a template. Select Browse templates to see Microsoft templates and templates from your organization. Or apply a template to an existing site by navigating to Settings and then select Apply a site template.

Our site templates currently offer the following features:

• Can be applied at the time of site creation or can be applied to existing sites.


• Fully customizable home pages that come with pre-populated content and web parts.


• News post templates that help users quickly and consistently publish news.


• Pre-built pages, lists, and document library folders that make it easy to build sites and inspire your own custom content.


• Each template has its own customization guidance to help site owners and editors get started.

What about my existing site designs?

If you’ve used site designs in the past, that experience has been incorporated into the site templates experience and will be referred to as site templates moving forward.

The Site designs entry point will be replaced by the Apply a site template entry point in the Site settings panel. You’ll find your organization’s existing site templates on the “From your organization” tab in the template gallery.

Additionally, as part of the new site template experience, a progress screen is displayed while the site template is being applied instead of a notification bar.

Learn more about how to create custom site templates for your organization using site scripts. 

Site template FAQs

Q: What happens when I apply a template to a site that is associated with a hub site?

A: If your site is associated with a hub, the site will inherit the theme from the hub. When you apply a template, it will automatically use the theme from the template, but will update to the hub’s theme shortly after republishing.

Q: How can I undo a template I just applied?

A: There is no automatic method to undo the application of a site template. However, there is nothing that a template does that can’t be manually applied or deleted. For example, pages and navigational elements can be deleted and themes can be update.

Q: I don’t want to use a template. How can I quickly create a site?

A: There are several resources to inspire your next SharePoint site – like the SharePoint look book and Guided walkthroughs.

Q: How can I update the theme of the site template to a theme that has not been defined by my organization?

A: For themes that don’t fit into your organization’s custom or pre-defined themes, you can change the look of your site in the Settings panel to manually update the theme. 

Q: What happened to Site designs in the Settings panel?

A: In previous versions of SharePoint, site templates were called site designs but will be referred to as site templates moving forward. The Site designs entry point has been replaced by the Apply a site template entry point in the Settings panel.

Q: How can I create custom site templates for my organization?

A: You can create site templates to provide reusable lists, themes, layouts, pages, or custom actions so that your users can quickly build new SharePoint sites with the features they need. Learn more about how to create custom site templates for your organization. 

Q: How can I learn more about how to customize site templates created by my organization?

A: Site templates provided by your organization will appear in the From your organization tab when selecting a template type. Customization instructions will vary depending on the site template design. Review customization resources below to learn more about site personalization options. 

Learn more

Apply and customize SharePoint site templates

SharePoint site design and site script overview

SharePoint Roadmap Pitstop April 2021 (microsoft.com)

Diagnose HoloLens 2 network issues with Fiddler and Wireshark

by Contributed | May 4, 2021 | Technology

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

If network issues are an obstacle to successfully deploying and using HoloLens 2 in your organization, learn how two well-known network diagnostic tools, Fiddler and Wireshark can help you scan, diagnose, and identify problems.

Fiddler is a web debugging proxy and is used to troubleshoot HTTP(S) issues. It captures every HTTP request the computer makes and records everything associated with it. Uncovering end-user authentication issues for the HTTPS apps used in your organization drives better productivity and efficiency for your HoloLens 2 use cases.

Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer primarily used to inspect TCP/UDP traffic from and to your HoloLens 2 devices. This makes it easy to identify what traffic is crossing your network to your HoloLens 2, how much of it, how frequently, how much latency there is between certain hops, and so forth.

In this blog, we’ll go over some examples of when to use these tools, along with installing and configuring them with your HoloLens 2.

Fiddler

For example, let’s say you have an authentication issue with a custom line of business (LOB) application. After being installed on your HoloLens 2, the app can’t authenticate to the back-end server through HTTPS. To troubleshoot this, you can use Fiddler to capture and decode the HTTPS sessions, enabling discovery of network level-issues.

Configure Fiddler to capture HTTP traffic from HoloLens 2

Prerequisites:

• HoloLens 2 devices and your PC must be on the same network


• Note the IP address of your PC

Steps:

On your PC, install and start Fiddler. Configure Fiddler to allow remote computers to connect then:

1. Go to Fiddler Settings and select Connections.


2. Note the listening port for Fiddler (the default is 8866).


3. Select Allow remote computers to connect.


4. Select Save.
   
   Selecting “Allow remote computers to connect” in Fiddler’s connections settings

On your HoloLens 2, configure Fiddler as the proxy server*:

1. Open the Start menu and select Settings.


2. Select Network & Internet and then Proxy on the left menu.


3. Scroll down to Manual proxy setup and toggle Use a proxy server to On.


4. Enter the IP address of the PC where Fiddler is installed.


5. Enter the port number noted above (default is 8866).


6. Select Save.

*If your HoloLens 2 devices is running Windows Holographic builds 20279.1006 and later (Insiders and the upcoming release), use the following steps to configure proxy:

1. Open the Start menu and go to your Wi-Fi network’s Properties page.


2. Scroll down to Proxy.


3. Change to Manual Setup.


4. Enter the IP address of the PC where Fiddler is installed.


5. Enter the port number noted above. (default is 8866).


6. Select Apply.

Decrypt HTTPS traffic from HoloLens 2

On your PC, export the Fiddler certificate.

1. Go to Fiddler Settings > HTTPS and expand Advanced Settings.


2. Click Export Fiddler certificate. The certificate will save to your desktop.
   
   Exporting the root certificate in Fiddler


3. Move the certificate to the Downloads folder on your HoloLens 2.

On your HoloLens 2, import the Fiddler certificate.

1. Go to Settings > Update and Security > Certificates.


2. Click Install Certificate, browse to the Downloads folder and select the Fiddler certificate.


3. Change Store Location to Local Machine.


4. Change Certificate Store to root.


5. Select Install.


6. Confirm the certificate is showing in the list of certificates. If not, repeat the above steps.

Inspect HTTP(S) sessions

On your PC, Fiddler will show the HoloLens 2’s live HTTP(S) sessions. The Inspectors panel in Fiddler can show HTTP(S) request/response in different views – for example, the “Raw” view shows the raw request or response in plain text.

The Inspectors panel in Fiddler showing the HoloLens 2 HTTP session

Wireshark

Applications like Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and VPN plug-ins use non-HTTPS traffic. If your HoloLens 2 has any issues with those types of apps, Wireshark can be used to capture and inspect the IP traffic to troubleshoot your internal OS level networking stack.

Configure Wireshark to capture network traffic from HoloLens 2

Prerequisites:

• PC must have internet access and support Internet sharing over Wi-Fi.

Steps:

On your PC:

1. Install Wireshark.


2. In Mobile hotspot settings, turn Share my Internet connection with other devices to On.
   
   Mobile hotspot settings on the Windows 10 PC


3. Start Wireshark and capture traffic from the Mobile hotspot interface.
   
   The Capture screen in Wireshark

On your HoloLens 2, change the Wi-Fi network to the PC’s mobile hotspot. HoloLens 2 IP traffic will now show up in Wireshark.

Analyze Wireshark logs

Wireshark filters can help filtering out the packets of interests. For example, “tcp.stream eq 1” shows the second TCP stream in the log (stream index starts with 0), “ip.addr == 192.168.137.1 && tcp.port == 80” filters out the TCP packets on port 80 with source/destination IP equals 192.168.137.1.

An example of the logs produced by Wireshark

Conclusion

After deploying HoloLens 2 to your organization, you may need to capture network traffic for troubleshooting purposes. Both Fiddler and Wireshark will work with the HoloLens 2 to identify and diagnose problems in the HTTP(S) and TCP/UDP levels.

Feedback Hub and troubleshooting tips

HoloLens 2 provides a few methods for users to provide diagnostic logs to Microsoft for investigation. You can use Feedback Hub to submit logs for generic network connectivity issues by submitting your feedback through the “Network & Internet” category. In addition the built-in Settings Troubleshooter can collect detailed network traces for more complex issues. Please refer to Collect and use diagnostic information from HoloLens devices for instructions.

Additional resources

For additional information, please see:

• Fiddler


• Wireshark


• HoloLens documentation

Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 135

by Contributed | May 4, 2021 | Technology

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

We continue to expand the Azure Marketplace ecosystem. For this volume, 79 new offers successfully met the onboarding criteria and went live. See details of the new offers below:

Applications Adjuto: Adjuto is a liabilities, fees, and investor relationship management system for life insurance companies, asset management companies, and distributors. Adjuto helps users ensure commercial and regulatory compliance, manage fund liabilities, and remunerate intermediaries. Assistant Anywhere: Assistant Anywhere from ACF Technologies combines its core customer experience software, Appointment Scheduling and Queue Management, with the new virtual technologies Wait Anywhere, Check-in Anywhere, and Q-Anywhere to deliver a complete virtual customer experience platform. Bookigy: Bookigy supports flexible seating in offices, allowing employees to reserve workspace through their laptop or mobile phone. Managers can use valuable application data in the Bookigy dashboard to optimize workspaces and workflows. BusinessSPECTRE: Business SPECTRE is a business intelligence template and a data linkage framework for SAP enterprise resource planning. With Business SPECTRE, data can be rapidly extracted and transferred to Microsoft SQL Server. This app is available only in Japanese. Comarch BSS: Comarch’s BSS (business support systems) portfolio allows telecommunications operators and small and medium-sized enterprises to manage billing, customer care, and service provisions through a fully digitized experience. Comarch BSS can be customized to your company’s specific requirements. CoroPlus Machining Foresight: CoroPlus Machining Foresight performs analysis throughout the manufacturing value chain. It generates real-time and historic process reports based on data from machine tools, cutting tools, and other manufacturing software​. CovidTestMan: CovidTestMan records the results of COVID-19 tests conducted by your organization and generates the necessary documents for payment by health insurance companies. This app is available only in Czech. cta.x – Control Test Automation: Grant Thornton’s new control test automation solution, cta.x, can help audit departments use automation to reduce costs, create efficiencies, and enhance their value proposition. cta.x makes risk management and compliance data-driven, integrated, and automated. DeviceOn/Kiosk+: Advantech’s DeviceOn/Kiosk+ makes it easy to onboard, visualize, operate, and manage your industrial IoT devices. Monitor kiosks and other devices with the solution’s easy-to-use interface, troubleshoot problems, and send software and firmware updates over the air (OTA) on-site and remotely, at scale. EasyCSV: Blackbox Development’s EasyCSV is an automation platform that enables you to fetch CSV or XLSX files from Microsoft OneDrive and send the data to the Zapier online automation tool or to any app or API. You can also create CSV or XLSX files directly in OneDrive with data from Zapier or API calls. Educ8e: Educ8e from Lagetronix Nigeria Limited is a web-based management system for academic institutions. Easy to use and implement, Educ8e integrates admissions, registration, student billing, financial aid, and more, with self-service portals and a secure shared database. Footprints for Retail – SaaS: Footprints for Retail is an AI platform that conducts behavioral profiling of physical shoppers, anticipating their next move with the aim of improving their experience. Its predictive models and campaign automation enable marketing teams to increase efficiency. Hexnode UEM: Hexnode UEM is a one-stop solution for your enterprise’s device management needs. Hexnode UEM offers kiosk management and digital signage features, with a user-friendly portal that makes deploying apps and configuring policies a cakewalk for IT. Icertis Promotions, Rebates & Royalties App: From royalty payments in drug manufacturing to holiday promotions for major retailers, Icertis’ Promotions, Rebates & Royalties App helps businesses manage and optimize their promotions. The solution is built on top of the Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) platform. ICONICS Suite v10.97: ICONICS Suite version 10.97 features GENESIS64, an HMI SCADA solution; Hyper Historian, a high-speed, 64-bit historian; Quality AnalytiX, a monitoring solution for statistical process control data and product quality; and Facility AnalytiX, a commissioning software solution. IFRS 17 in a Box: PwC’s IFRS 17 in a Box was developed in partnership with accounting and actuarial experts knowledgeable about the new insurance reporting standard. Its built-in visualization and reporting tools enable insurers to make quick sense of the numbers populating their primary financial statements and IFRS 17 disclosures. ignio AIOps for Azure: ignio AIOps for Azure uses Microsoft Azure technologies and APIs to bring visibility to a diverse set of data in enterprises’ Azure estates. The solution’s actionable insights enable better management of diverse tools and resources. ignio Cognitive Procurement: ignio Cognitive Procurement is an AI-based analytics solution for procure-to-pay that screens purchase transactions and identifies opportunities to save money. Organizations can monitor live transactions to detect and predict problems. The solution can sit atop Microsoft Dynamics 365 or other e-procurement systems. Imperva Data Security: Imperva’s Sonar platform lets businesses secure their data and gain insight into how people are using it. Analytics automate detection of noncompliant, risky, or malicious data-access behavior across the database, enterprise-wide. IntraActive Learning: The IntraActive Learning portal from ProActive gives your employees easy access to Microsoft 365 online courses to drive efficient user adoption. The portal offers training in Danish and English. Masatomo Marketing: This lightweight customer relationship management system from Masatomo (Shanghai) Corporate Management Co. Ltd. features marketing automation and smart reports. Use it to easily integrate and manage your omnichannel data. This app is available only in Chinese. Model9 Cloud Data Manager on Azure: Model9 moves mainframe data to Microsoft Azure without any changes to the applications, enabling secure integration with Azure’s advanced analytics tools. With Model9, enterprises can reduce mainframe data management costs. Nonprofit powerUp – Batch Donation Capture: cloudThing’s powerUps are add-ons for the Microsoft Power Platform. Nonprofits can use the Batch Donation Capture powerUp to deliver batch processing for bulk donations received through offline channels. Audit logs can be automated, and features can be customized.  Nonprofit powerUp – Communication Preferences: cloudThing’s powerUps are add-ons for the Microsoft Power Platform. Nonprofits can use the Communication Preferences powerUp to manage General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, donor preferences, and internal information policies. Nonprofit powerUp – Donor Engagement Scores: cloudThing’s powerUps are add-ons for the Microsoft Power Platform. Nonprofits can use the Donor Engagement Scores powerUp to analyze interactions with their donors and score their level of engagement. Nonprofit powerUp – Donor Influence Network: cloudThing’s powerUps are add-ons for the Microsoft Power Platform. Nonprofits can use the Donor Influence Network powerUp to create a connected donor network, then visually dive into donor relationships and pinpoint circles of influence. Nonprofit powerUp – Gift Aid Claim Submission: cloudThing’s powerUps are add-ons for the Microsoft Power Platform. Nonprofits can integrate the Gift Aid Claim Submission powerUp with their customer relationship management system to automate gift aid submissions. Nonprofit powerUp – Historical Change Management: cloudThing’s powerUps are add-ons for the Microsoft Power Platform. Nonprofits can use the Historical Change Management powerUp to capture changes to donor records in real time and publish them to audit logs in multiple destinations. Nuance COVID-19 Vaccine Solutions: Nuance AI solutions, such as the COVID‑19 Vaccine Bot and the COVID‑19 Vaccine Assistant, answer customer questions and concerns about COVID‑19 vaccines. Other engagement options, including live chat and messaging on demand, enable customers to get answers without losing the human connection. OneTrust Data Discovery and Cataloging: OneTrust Data Discovery is an AI-powered solution that helps organizations comply with data privacy laws, such as GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD, while flagging IT risk and managing broader data governance policies and programs. OnSched API: OnSched specializes in building plug-and-play booking solutions that meet the needs of complex enterprises. The OnSched API scheduling platform features a fully accessible REST API with detailed developer documentation. Configure room bookings, in-store visits, meetings, and more. Orpheus: Orpheus is an AI-powered knowledge engine that accelerates biomedical literature by analyzing and synthesizing millions of research papers. This helps scientists stay on top of the latest research and gain the critical insights needed to unlock the next level of discoveries. Paribus 365 Data Quality Management: Paribus 365, a data quality management solution designed for Microsoft Dynamics 365, provides fuzzy matching to improve search functionality, duplicate detection to avoid duplicate entities, and lead management to assist the lead qualification and engagement process. ProFile Container: Email is a leading form of business communication, but many email clients impose a limit on file size. Mevitco ProFile is a browser-based application that enables you to upload and share files of any size. The app comes in English and German, but additional languages can be added on request. QAChat: QAChat is a customer service quality assurance product for websites or embedding in robots. Customers can install a QR code at a retail store and call the chat service on a smartphone to inquire about a product. This app is available only in Japanese. R&S Trusted Gate: Encryption for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, and SharePoint: R&S Trusted Gate provides encryption for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft OneDrive, along with the ability to decouple data from them, helping businesses comply with data regulations. Rock Solid SIMA: SIMA from Rock Solid Technologies is municipal accounting software that helps city and county leaders process taxpayer transactions, keep updated financial records, and provide better service to the public. SIMA is available in English and Spanish. Rx.Health: Designed by physicians, the Rx.Health platform supports curation, prescription, monitoring, and improvement of outcomes, with multiple digital assets included in a digital toolkit or formulary. Sapphire Connect: This virtual machine supports the use of Sapphire’s penetration testing services, functioning like a security tester’s workstation plugged into your network and operated by remote control. All test traffic remains within your private network, enabling swift but thorough tests. Self-Service Payments, Sales and Delivery: Vourity allows businesses with unattended self-service operations, such as vending machines or electric vehicle charging stations, to accept payment in a variety of ways. Vourity works with point-of-service terminals, mobile sales, online sales, or social media sales. SITA Mission Control: SITA FOR AIRCRAFT’s Mission Control app fosters collaboration across teams with real-time air-ground information exchange and automated aircraft status updates. With Mission Control, airlines can better manage operational variability, turnarounds, fuel consumption, and carbon emissions. SlashNext Microsoft 365 Phishing Risk Assessment: SlashNext Microsoft 365 Phishing Risk Assessment is a free self-service assessment that analyzes URLs inside emails in user inboxes to identify phishing missed by email security services. SlashNext Total Phishing Protection: SlashNext Total Phishing Protection detects zero-hour threats by performing dynamic runtime analysis on billions of URLs a day through virtual browsers and machine learning. It delivers comprehensive coverage against credential stealing, rogue software, SMishing, scams, and scareware. Spectrio MediaBridge (Formerly Industry Weapon): MediaBridge, an appliance for Spectrio’s CommandCenterHD Platform, handles content distribution to one or many digital signage devices on your internal network. MediaBridge also monitors media player playback and uptime so you can manage network health. Stactize: Stactize is a platform integrated with Microsoft Azure Marketplace APIs that offers subscription lifecycle management and helps independent software vendors take advantage of Azure Marketplace features with minimal development effort. Transcend Control Center: Transcend Control Center offers a way to centrally manage your edge devices. Monitor the performance of Transcend devices and tools with Transcend Control Center’s intuitive dashboard and extend device life with its early warning system. Universal Policy Administrator: Universal Policy Administrator allows administrators to manage Unix, Linux, SaaS applications, and more across a wide variety of platforms. With its policy translation and simplification processes, administrators can avoid having to use complex or non-intuitive scripting methods. Virtusa CogniSense IoT Solution: Virtusa’s CogniSense is a middleware IoT framework packed with extensive capabilities, from sensor data capture to advanced analytics to a rules engine at the edge. CogniSense seamlessly integrates with Virtusa’s data science platform. Virtusa Health Bot Solution: Virtusa’s HealthBot, a digital self-assessment and self-scheduling tool for patients, is a component of Virtusa’s telehealth platform, HealthConnect. HealthBot improves patient access to remote care and boosts patient acquisition and retention. VU Secure Onboarding Process: Secure Onboarding Process from VU LLC authenticates a user’s identity through facial or voice biometrics combined with a document scan. The platform can be integrated with one-time password generators, device identifiers, context analyzers, and multichannel hardware. Consulting services 1-Week Cloud2 Virtual Desktop Service Proof of Concept: Cloud2 will take care of your Windows Virtual Desktop assets on Microsoft Azure with expertise and cutting-edge technologies. Cloud2’s operations center will continuously manage your infrastructure. Adatis Data Platform for Retailers: 1-Hour Briefing: This centralized, enterprise-level data hub helps retailers understand their data and perform real-time analysis, providing a single view of the customer, promotional effectiveness, footfall analysis, and range optimization. Azure Cloud Migration: 6-Week Implementation: Get a free consultation from Prelude Systems to help choose the right method for migrating from on-premises operations to the cloud. Prelude Systems offers a five-stage implementation process and services tailored to your business needs. Azure Launchpad: 10-Day Assessment: Codec’s assessment will provide a blueprint for a comprehensive implementation and adoption strategy for Microsoft Azure. Through a detailed planning session, Codec will deliver a customized plan for your environment. Azure Sentinel SIEM Health Check – Free Assessment: Achieve maximum value from your Microsoft Azure Sentinel security information and event management (SIEM) investment with a free health check from Satisnet, a leading SIEM provider in the United Kingdom. CAF for Azure: 1-Day Cloud Strategy Workshop: The Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure (CAF) is a step-by-step process to transition your company to Microsoft Azure. CBS IT has adapted it for Russian businesses. This service is available only in Russian. CAF Starting Steps: 1-Day Assessment: If you are already using cloud platforms or thinking about migrating to one, take advantage of Gofore’s free one-day assessment to get started with the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) for Azure. Contract & Spend Management Platform: 1-Hour Briefing: Manage supplier relationships to save money, identify areas of risk, and improve quality of service with Adatis’ data platform, a visualization and reporting system on Microsoft Azure with self-service capabilities.  Cyber Security Awareness and Phishing as a Service: This program from Alliance Business Technologies will train your employees to recognize the signs of phishing and other social engineering attacks through the deployment of simulated exercises and educational content. Data & AI Platform for Education: 1Hr Briefing: In recent years, educational institutions have become more conscious of data and more responsive to it. This briefing will introduce the Adatis platform, a centralized enterprise-level data hub, and detail how it can address common educational challenges.  Datacenter Migration: 10-Week Implementation: XMS Technologies, a partner in Chile specializing in SQL Server and Windows Server migrations, will plan and migrate your datacenter to Microsoft Azure. This service is available only in Spanish. Get started with your Data Strategy: 1hr Briefing: Adatis will help you reach your data goals with the right Microsoft Azure data and cloud strategy, tightening governance, improving decision-making, and driving innovation. IT Pro (RU) Data Analytics Workshop: Join IT Pro for an immersive experience highlighting both the theory and the practical experience of Russian companies using Microsoft Azure, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Microsoft Power BI. This offer is available only in Russian. LAB3 Data Assessment: LAB3 Solutions’ data assessment will spotlight modern data platform technologies in Microsoft Azure for midsize and enterprise customers who want to better use their data.  LAB3 IOT Assessment – 4 weeks: LAB3 Solutions’ assessment will help you understand the value of the Internet of Things (IoT) within your business, and it will advise on how to use sensor data to deliver greater business value.  Managed Azure Sentinel SIEM: In this managed service, Bridewell Consulting Limited will deliver a SIEM service built on top of Microsoft Azure Sentinel. Bridewell will adopt a zero-trust, perimeterless security framework and customize the SIEM service to clients’ needs. Managed Detection and Response: In this managed service, Bridewell Consulting Limited will use the Microsoft security stack to create a layered and robust security architecture. Clients will receive access to Bridewell’s shared cyber threat intelligence along with continual updates and analytic improvements. Manufacturing Value Chain GAP-FIT: 10-Week Assessment: The add.BI manufacturing gap-fit model assessment is a framework kit for manufacturing organizations looking for data and analytics best practices. Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop: 7-Day Proof of Concept: SOS Group Limited will provide professional services to deploy Windows Virtual Desktop as a proof of concept for your organization to accelerate your deployment of secure remote desktops on Microsoft Azure. Migration to the CIO Cloud: 1-Week Assessment: Solitea will help with your digital transformation and smooth transition to a hybrid environment using Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure services. This offering is available only in Czech. Optimize Azure: 4-Week Proof of Concept: Blue Turtle’s Optimize Microsoft Azure program provides full-stack visibility and automated resource management of your business services from application through to the underlying infrastructure. Oracle on Azure: 2-Hour Briefing: Developed by Dimension Data for organizational IT and finance managers, this free briefing will provide an introduction to migrating your Oracle workloads to Microsoft Azure or to PostgreSQL on Azure. SAP on Azure: 1-Day Assessment: Edenhouse Solutions invites you to a free one-day workshop to discuss migrating your SAP workloads to Microsoft Azure and to provide you with a clear roadmap. Satisnet – Security Services: 1-Day Assessment: In this engagement, Satisnet will detail the current Microsoft security services it offers. Get the most out of the Microsoft security products and services you already have within your infrastructure. Teams Training & Support 8-Week Implementation: Divurgent offers a Microsoft Teams solution using integrated AI to deliver enterprise initiatives to lower costs and deliver self-service training. Tobias, an AI chatbot hosted on Microsoft Azure, will be implemented for your company. Windows Virtual Desktop: 1-Hour Briefing: Persol will provide an overview of the features and system requirements for Windows Virtual Desktop and the system and network requirements for the deployment. This service is available only in Japanese. Windows Virtual Desktop: 2-Hour Workshop: Enable your employees to work remotely, productively, and securely. Start with Brainscale’s workshop to understand Windows Virtual Desktop. Brainscale also offers a fast-track Windows Virtual Desktop deployment due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Windows Virtual Desktop for the Enterprise: 6-Week Implementation: Enable your enterprise with an automated and scalable multi-region Windows Virtual Desktop solution. Brainscale will deliver an enterprise solution for 50 to 1,000 users with Azure DevOps integration, autoscaling, and rightsizing.  Xamarin Mobile App: 10-Week Implementation: With locations across Canada, MNP brings the industry and technical know-how needed to accelerate cloud transformation. MNP uses Xamarin and Microsoft Azure to build cross-platform native applications.

Preventing Azure Active Directory terms of use from blocking Intune enrollment

by Contributed | May 4, 2021 | Technology

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

By Wayne Bennett – Sr Program Manager | Microsoft Endpoint Manager – Intune

Using Microsoft Endpoint Manager – Microsoft Intune to set your company’s terms and conditions meets the requirements of many organizations. However, the Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) terms of use feature offers greater functionality— including terms of use in different languages and integration with Conditional Access in the form of grant controls. You can learn more about the differences between the two solutions in this blog post.

Potential to block access to Intune

If you’ve configured the Azure AD terms of use solution and set a grant control to require users to accept terms of use in your Conditional Access policy, you need to be aware of a configuration scenario that might unintentionally block access for your users when they try to enroll into Intune.

Typical configuration

When creating an Azure AD terms of use policy, you have the option to select Require users to consent on every device. If you choose this setting, you will see the Consent on every device will require users to register each device with Azure AD prior to getting access warning. Once saved, you are unable to change this setting.

Example screenshot to register each device with Azure AD prior to getting access in a Conditional Access policy

After you create the terms of use policy, the next step is to create a Conditional Access policy. As shown in the following example, many organizations will target All Cloud Apps without configuring any exclusions.

Example screenshot of targeting All cloud apps in a Conditional Access policy

Additionally, many organizations will select Require device to be marked as compliant grant controls and require users to accept the Azure AD terms of use policy.

Example screenshot of configuring both the “Require device to be marked as compliant” and “Terms of Use” policies under the Grant control

Blocking enrollment issue

The combination of Azure AD terms of use requiring users to consent on every device, Conditional Access policy targeting All Cloud Apps, and the control requiring the user to accept the Azure AD terms of use results in the following unintended behaviour during the Intune enrollment process:

• Once the user has authenticated in the Company Portal, prior to Azure AD terms of use appearing, the Help us keep your device secure message will appear. The user will be prompted to install the Microsoft Authenticator app, Conditional Access controls will begin a continuous registration cycle, and the user will be unable to complete enrollment.

The issue is caused by selecting Require users to consent on every device, requiring users to register each device with Azure AD prior to getting access, as per the warning, when creating the terms of use policy.

Example screenshot of the “Help us keep your device secure” message

Prevent Intune enrollment from being blocked

There are two methods to keep the enrollment blocking scenario from occurring:

Method 1: The Terms of use dialog

The first method is to ensure that Require users to consent on every device in the Terms of use dialog remains at the default Off setting when creating the Azure AD terms of use policy.

Note

Once the Azure AD terms of use policy is created, it is not possible to edit the Require users to consent on every device setting. You must create and target a new terms of use policy in the Conditional Access policy.

Method 2: Exclude cloud apps

The second method is to exclude certain cloud apps from Conditional Access targeting. The Per-device terms of use section of the Azure Active Directory terms of use documentation states that “The Intune Enrollment app is not supported. Ensure that it is excluded from any Conditional Access policy requiring Terms of Use policy.” However, excluding the Microsoft Intune Enrollment cloud app is not sufficient— as the example below shows, you must also exclude the Microsoft Intune cloud app.

Example screenshot of excluding “Microsoft Intune” and “Microsoft Intune Enrollment” from the Cloud apps or actions list

Conclusion

Changing your configuration using either of the suggested methods will prevent the Intune enrollment blocking scenario. Before you make any change, be sure to evaluate the settings so you don’t impact any existing Conditional Access requirements.

More info and feedback

For further resources on this subject, please see the links below.

Plan an Azure Active Directory Conditional Access Deployment

Troubleshoot Conditional Access using the What If tool

What is Microsoft Intune

Conditional Access require terms of use

Cloud apps or actions in Conditional Access policy

Device compliance policies in Microsoft Intune

Let us know if you have any additional questions by replying to this post or reaching out to @IntuneSuppTeam  on Twitter.

Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams – Improve student reading fluency, save time and track progress

by Contributed | May 4, 2021 | Technology

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

After a year of practicing resiliency, building technology and self-management skills, and navigating  emotional turmoil, students are preparing to return to a rigorous school experience without some of the skills they would have built in a normal year. A recent study from Stanford illustrated the flattened growth of Oral Reading Fluency during the pandemic. In a broad sample of districts, second and third graders performed about 30 percent behind expectations, with the most severe impact concentrated in already struggling schools. In an environment of continued disruption and uncertainty, we are excited to introduce Reading Progress as a resource to help build opportunities for students and educators to get back on track in a non-stigmatizing and highly customizable way.
 

Reading Progress in Teams supports students in building fluency through independent reading practice, educator review, and educator insights.  Educators can upload a single reading fluency assignment or differentiate for their class’ many levels. Students read their passages out loud, creating an audio/video recording teachers can access and review at their convenience.  Traditionally, tracking students’ fluency is irregular and time consuming because it requires one on one close listening, while somehow still managing the remainder of the class. Creating recordings allows educators to check students’ progress more regularly while also freeing up time for active instruction. By empowering students to complete their reading fluency assignments regularly and independently, Reading Progress keeps the focus on practice and growth, not performing under pressure. Now reading fluency practice can happen anywhere!

Whether educators used the Auto-detect feature for quick review, or manually code errors, valuable data is collected in Insights. Teams Education Insights dashboards help visualize class and individual progress. Insights provides a holistic view of trends and data including accuracy rate, correct words per minute, mispronunciations, omissions and insertions. Reading Progress also highlights actionable insights for educators including common challenges across the entire class or per student. 

During our broad private preview, Reading Progress has been tested in a number of distinct use cases. We’ve seen the expected wide usage for ages 6-11 as well as utilization for middle and high school fluency checks, special education and dyslexia support, and for building English skills for non-native speakers, both in English dominant areas and where it’s taught as world language.  We’ve also seen high interest for adult literacy scenarios. The stigma of reading out loud and lack of educator time has previously made consistent fluency practice in post-elementary education settings minimal.  The implications of a private and regular space for older learners to practice fluency are immense.  Here are two observations from some educators who have been part of the early private preview:

Joe Merrill, an educator from Lake Park Elementary, Florida, has been using Reading Progress in our private preview over the past few months with his class and he has this to say “Reading Progress takes all the nerves out of my student’s fluency checks. They are comfortable with its approach and I am able to collect data quicker and more efficiently than ever before. Now, I can devote more time to differentiated instruction rather than individualized assessments.”

Luis Oliviera, Director of Unified Arts and ELA from Middletown High School in Middletown, RI , has been using Reading Progress with his older English Language Learner students and has this to say: “Reading Progress has been such a time saver for assessing and analyzing my high school ELL students’ reading fluency. I am able to give a passage to the entire class and have them record their responses instead of having to individually assess the students. Cultural selections for the reading passages enhance their knowledge of important topics and current events. This allows more time to work directly with the students in addressing their needs.”

From the beginning, the creation and testing of this tool has been a and has been rooted in the science and literature of reading fluency. Our team has worked with hundreds of educators, literacy specialists and reading scientists. Early on, we had many interviews, brainstorming sessions and “design jams” with experts like Shaelynn Farnsworth, Lauren Taylor, Andrew Fitzgerald, Lauren Pittman, amongst many others.  We’ve consulted with students, iterated on different designs, and have much more in store! 

Four parts to the Reading Progress experience

1) Assignment creation – Reading Progress is built directly into the free Teams Assignments experience.  Once an educator selects Create>Assignment, the Add resource button now includes Reading Progress (Beta) for the private beta group. The educator then completes the creation of the assignment, including uploading the Word document of their choice. This summer educators can look forward to the addition of PDF capabilities and a partnership with  ReadWorks  that includes a small library of curated reading passages. The educator can also manually set the Reading Level, Number of attempts, Genre, and Sensitivity. I call this the “picky dial” – how picky would you like the software to be. For example, younger readers may need more relaxed pronunciation expectations, while older readers might be set to higher sensitivity.  Note that this can be changed during the review experience as well.

2) Student reading and recording: When students receive the Reading Progress assignment, they open it to see a recording experience. By default, video recording will be enabled, but teachers can approve audio-only if needed.  Similar to Flipgrid, the student will start the recording, get a countdown, and then the reading passage will open for the student to read. 

We’ve integrated aspects of the Immersive Reader into this experience to support students in  customizing the way the passage looks before they start reading.

3) Educator review: One of the most powerful aspects for Reading Progress is the quick and easy review process, which simultaneously returns work to students and collects fluency data in Insights. This experience is built-in to the Teams grading and review experience. The review page pulls together the student’s reading recording, words per minute count, accuracy rate, and the ability to fine tune pronunciation sensitivity. 

By default, the Auto-Detect feature is enabled, so you will see predicted mispronunciations, omissions, insertions, self-corrections, and repetitions. The educator can review the Auto-correct data, overriding any inaccuracies, or turn off Auto-detect to mark up the page manually as they listen to the recording, similar to how reading fluency checks are done with paper and pen.  To account for different speech patterns and accents, the educator can change the pronunciation sensitivity analyzes results to make teacher review faster and more accurate. In addition, with a single click the educator can jump to any part of the recording to review detected words or passages.

4) Powerful insights to track student progress:  Fluency data from Reading Progress is collected in Insights to support educators in taking evidence-based action for literacy in their classrooms. Insights dashboards help visualize progress and trends such as accuracy rate, correct words per minute, mispronunciations, omissions, and insertions. Reading Progress also highlights actionable insights for educators, synthesizing common challenges across the entire class or per student.  Educators can share Insights dashboard access to collaborate with literacy coaches, speech pathologists, and reading specialists and more to holistically curate student-centered approaches.

Later this summer education leaders will be able to access Reading Progress data by opting into our new Education Insights Premium designed to compile organization-wide data for intentional and impactful leadership. which is designed for school leaders and organization-wide views.  To learn more about this new Insights offering, visit the Education Insights Premium page.

Average words per minute and accuracy across a class or by student

Word cloud of most challenging word across a class or by student

A Reading Progress end-to-end demo

We’ve put together a support materials as well as an end-to-end video showing the details of how the entire Reading Progress experience works in Teams for Education:

Kate Griggs, founder of CEO of Made by Dyslexia, has had access to our early versions of Reading Progress and has this to say “Reading Progress is a FANTASTIC resource for teachers of, and children with dyslexia. Reading aloud is something dyslexic students really struggle with and literally dread doing, even in small groups or 1:1 with a teacher. Reading Progress offers a great way for dyslexic students to demonstrate what they can do, without feeling embarrassed or nervous. This will be a game changer”. 

Next Steps:

Reading Progress is currently in wide private testing with thousands of educators and is supported on Desktop, web, Mac, iOS and Android.  We are actively listening to educator and student feedback and updating and improving the tool regularly to meet your needs.  We will continue adding more schools to our private preview, and anticipate having Reading Progress at General Availability by late August of 2021, in time for back to school (Northern Hemisphere).

We have many improvements coming this summer, including support for PDF upload, iOS and Android video, a sample content library from ReadWorks, and the highly requested integration and roll up into Education Insights Premium. This will allow schools and districts to aggregate and roll up Reading Progress data into broader dashboards and analytics through the just-announced Education Insights Premium offering.

We also have a new Reading Progress page on the Microsoft Educator Center, and a MEC course coming later this summer.

A huge THANK YOU to all of the educators, students, and reading experts who have worked with us and given us feedback along this exciting journey. We look forward to collaborating with you as we continue!

Mike Tholfsen

Principal Product Manager

Microsoft Education