Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter en blogs updates van 31-12-2024

Updated December 30, 2024: This is a friendly reminder.

To enhance the security and compliance of Viva Engage, we will be retiring all private unlisted groups (also known as “Secret Groups”) on January 13, 2025. These groups and all associated data will be deleted on February 10, 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Viva Engage will no longer support private unlisted groups in external networks. All underlying content, including messages and files, will be deleted. Users will no longer be able to:

• Create private unlisted groups in external networks.
• Participate in private unlisted groups in external networks.
• Access and export data in unlisted groups in external networks.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

There will be no exceptions to the deprecation and deletion starting on January 13, 2025. We recommend you communicate clearly to group owners of this impending change and coordinate an effort to remove the groups or convert them to a listed private or public group.

Here is a guide on How to find and manage your external Viva Engage network. Verified Admins can see all external networks created for the tenant. Learn how more about managing admin roles here: Manage administrator roles in Viva Engage.

To convert the group to listed, select “List in our network’s directory and search results” in the group settings page and save changes. Converting private unlisted groups is the only way to keep the group and its data active in external networks.

Updated December 30, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

A new Microsoft Purview compliance portal introduces a pivotal communications enhancement that integrates Insider Risk Management (IRM) alerts within Communication Compliance (CC) triage flows, providing a holistic approach to compliance risk assessment. This integration empowers investigators with enriched insights by correlating communication alerts with a user’s risk profile and activity history from IRM directly in a CC triage flow. This synergy between IRM and CC facilitates a more nuanced and informed decision-making process during investigations. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 408534.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out mid-November 2024 (previously early November) and expect to complete by mid-November 2024 (previously late October)

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-December 2024 (previously mid-November and expect to complete by late January 2025 (previously late December).

[How this will affect your organization:]

The integration of IRM context into CC is a significant stride towards enhancing the efficacy of compliance investigations. This will allow investigators to view a user’s risk profile and history alongside communication alerts, enabling a more informed and efficient triage process.

The insider risk severity (Low, Medium, or High) determined by activity detected in IRM policies helps to prioritize and respond to user activity accordingly. A new user activity timeline will show messages and activities from IRM in one screen, simplifying the review process.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To use this feature, please connect with IRM administrators to enable Data sharing from IRM settings. If you don’t turn this setting on, you will see Insider risk activity not available.

Updated December 30, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: When users or admins configure Microsoft Edge as the browser to open web links in Teams, then links in Teams chat will be open in Edge, and Edge launches in the profile that matches the authenticated profile. Users will benefit from a seamless browsing experience that integrates their identity and user data across Microsoft apps.&

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 414521.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out late October 2024 and expect to complete by late January 2025 (previously late November).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, users are asked to reauthenticate links in the browser, which slows down users.

By default, there are no changes.

By default, the feature will be on with setting System default browser and Teams links will open in the system’s default browser. System default browser refers to the default browser specified on the user’s Mac device.

Admins can control the settings and availability of this feature (and override user settings) by policy in the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center:

• If this policy is enabled, admins can go to Choose which browser opens web links and select Microsoft Edge.
• If this policy is disabled or not configured, web links will open in the system default browser.

How admins update the policy in the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center:

After admins configure the policy to open links with Edge in Teams, this banner displays to users:

How users update the browser settings in Teams:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your admins and users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Before rollout, we will update this post with revised documentation.

Updated December 30, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat (BizChat): An upgraded version 2 of the Context IQ menu in the Copilot chat box enhances the user experience with greater reliability, improved search performance, and a more intuitive interaction to significantly increase user satisfaction. Users will be able to find and attach the data sources they need for their Copilot prompts, without leaving the BizChat experience.

Context IQ is a set of AI capabilities from Microsoft that allows users to search for, select, and insert relevant enterprise or personal data directly into their prompts or conversations. This capability helps users to “ground” or anchor their prompts in specific, contextually relevant data, making responses more accurate, specific, and useful.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 422307.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early January 2025 (previously mid-December) and expect to complete by mid-February 2025 (previously mid-January). 

[How this will affect your organization:]

Most of the capabilities of the Context IQ menu v2 are the same as the Context IQ menu v1. In Context IQ v2, users will be able to search for more data sources, including people, files, meetings, and emails from the tabs on the menu, or use clickable icons to upload files from their local drives and attach cloud files from Microsoft SharePoint or Microsoft OneDrive.

Users can access BizChat as described in Ask questions and get answers using Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat – Microsoft Support.

1. In BizChat, users can access the New Context IQ menu by entering “/” (forward slash symbol) or by selecting the Add content button. Users can search for data sources by entering text in the Search box:

2. Users can select the Upload from device icon to add files:

3. Users can select the Attach cloud files icon to add files from SharePoint or OneDrive:

The content of files added to a prompt with the Context IQ menu is not directly used to create web queries and is kept within your Microsoft 365 tenant.

This feature is on by default and can only be turned off by disabling Copilot at the tenant level.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Learn more

• Ask questions and get answers using Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat – Microsoft Support
• Using Context IQ to refer to specific files, people, and more in Microsoft 365 Copilot – Microsoft Support

• Resource management: Add/remove users and change the performance and cost per resource.
• Manage durations and wait times for activities in business processes.
• Manage process flow: Define follow-up activities and their distribution.
• Manage working hours and timetables.