02 - M365 Apps and Services¶

Productivity apps (Microsoft 365 Apps)¶

The familiar Office suite, modernized as a subscription.

Plus mobile apps (iOS, Android), web apps (Office on the web), and Mac equivalents.

Collaboration platform¶

SharePoint Online¶

• Team sites, communication sites, hub sites
• Document libraries (with versioning, co-authoring)
• Lists (track items, requests, inventory)
• Built-in workflows via Power Automate
• Foundation for OneDrive (which is your personal SharePoint storage)

OneDrive¶

Personal cloud drive, 1TB+ in most plans. Sync client for Windows / Mac / mobile. Used as the storage layer for many M365 apps.

Teams¶

The hub for communication.

• Chat - 1:1, group, channel
• Channels - team-organized chat + files
• Meetings - video/voice, screen-share, recording (saved to OneDrive/SharePoint)
• Calls - PSTN calling with Phone System add-on
• Apps - extend Teams with custom or third-party apps
• Live events - broadcast to large audiences
• Webinars - registration + reporting

Microsoft Loop¶

Real-time collaborative components (lists, tables, paragraphs) embeddable across Teams chat, Outlook, OneNote.

Microsoft Lists¶

Lightweight tracking (issues, inventory, requests). Built on SharePoint.

Microsoft Planner¶

Project task boards (Trello-style). Group-based.

Yammer / Viva Engage¶

Enterprise social. Discussions, communities, broadcasting.

Email and calendar¶

Exchange Online¶

• Email, calendar, contacts, tasks
• Mailbox sizes typically 50-100 GB
• Anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-malware (basic)
• Defender for Office 365 adds Safe Links / Safe Attachments / advanced threat protection

Microsoft Bookings¶

Customer-facing appointment booking (used by hair salons, doctors, advisors, etc.).

Power Platform¶

Low-code business apps platform. Each module has its own license but bundled with some M365 SKUs.

Power BI¶

• BI dashboards and reports
• Power BI Service (cloud) and Power BI Desktop (Win authoring tool)
• Power BI Pro included in E5; available as add-on for E3
• Power BI Premium for capacity-based deployments

Power Apps¶

• Low-code app builder
• Canvas apps (visual designer) and Model-driven apps (data-driven, on Dataverse)
• Many seeded scenarios in M365: approvals, expense reports, etc.

Power Automate¶

• Workflow automation (formerly Microsoft Flow)
• Triggers + actions across 1000+ connectors
• Power Automate Desktop for RPA (Windows automation)

Copilot Studio¶

(Formerly Power Virtual Agents.) Build chatbots and copilots without code. Now positioned as the platform for custom Copilots.

Dataverse¶

The relational data platform underlying Power Platform. Tables, relationships, security model. Used by Dynamics 365 and Model-driven Power Apps.

Microsoft Copilot (AI)¶

Microsoft's AI assistant, integrated across products.

Variants¶

• Microsoft 365 Copilot - in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Loop. Per-user license. Grounded in your tenant data via the Microsoft Graph.
• Copilot in Edge / Bing - browser/search Copilot
• Copilot for Sales / Service / Finance - role-specific Copilots in Dynamics
• Copilot Studio - build custom Copilots
• GitHub Copilot - code assistant; separate license

How M365 Copilot works (high level)¶

1. User prompts Copilot in Word/Excel/etc.
2. Copilot uses Microsoft Graph to retrieve your tenant context (emails, files, calendar, chats)
3. Sends a grounded prompt to a foundation model (Azure OpenAI / Microsoft hosted)
4. Returns response with citations to source documents

Data stays inside your tenant boundary; not used to train Microsoft's models (per Copilot data protection commitments).

Pricing¶

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a $30/user/month add-on for E3/E5 customers (price subject to change).

Endpoint management¶

Microsoft Intune¶

MDM (Mobile Device Management) and MAM (Mobile App Management) for:

• Windows
• macOS
• iOS / iPadOS
• Android
• Linux

Capabilities:

• Device enrollment + compliance
• App deployment (Win32, iOS, Android, web apps)
• App protection policies (MAM without enrollment for BYOD)
• Conditional access integration with Entra ID
• Patch management for Windows (Windows Update for Business)

Microsoft Endpoint Manager / Configuration Manager¶

Configuration Manager (SCCM) is the on-prem management tool, often co-managed with Intune. "Endpoint Manager" was the umbrella branding (Intune + ConfigMgr); branding has shifted to just "Intune" again recently.

Autopilot¶

Zero-touch Windows device provisioning. Ship a new laptop directly to a user; first boot enrolls into Intune and configures itself.

Identity (in M365 context)¶

Microsoft Entra ID¶

The identity service powering M365 (formerly Azure AD).

• Tenant = your org's directory
• Users, groups, devices, roles
• SSO to thousands of SaaS apps via Entra ID Gallery
• B2B (guest users from other tenants) and B2C (consumer-facing apps)

Hybrid identity¶

• Microsoft Entra Connect - syncs on-prem AD users/groups to Entra ID
• Pass-through Authentication - sign-in validated against on-prem AD (no password sync)
• Federation (legacy) - ADFS-based sign-in
• Cloud Sync - lightweight alternative to Entra Connect

Conditional Access¶

(Detail in 03-security-compliance-trust.md.)

Microsoft Viva¶

Employee experience platform. Modules:

• Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) - communities, discussions
• Viva Connections - personalized intranet in Teams
• Viva Insights - personal/team productivity analytics (anonymized aggregates)
• Viva Learning - LMS aggregating LinkedIn Learning + custom content
• Viva Topics - knowledge graph automatically extracts topics from your tenant's content
• Viva Goals - OKRs and goal tracking
• Viva Pulse - quick employee surveys (manager-led)
• Viva Glint - engagement / sentiment surveys (org-wide, with HR)

Some modules are included in M365 plans; others are paid add-ons (Viva Suite license).

Industry Clouds (high level)¶

Vertical M365 + Dynamics + Azure bundles:

• Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare - patient engagement, EHR integration (FHIR), Teams for clinicians
• Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services - banking + insurance + capital markets workflows
• Microsoft Cloud for Retail - in-store ops, supply chain, marketing
• Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing - factory operations, supply chain
• Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability - carbon accounting, sustainability reporting
• Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit - donor / volunteer / program management

These bundle existing services with industry-specific accelerators.

Common exam triggers¶

• "Email server in M365" → Exchange Online
• "File collaboration with versioning" → SharePoint Online + OneDrive
• "Chat + meetings + calls in one app" → Teams
• "Custom chatbot with no code" → Copilot Studio (Power Virtual Agents successor)
• "Workflow automation across SaaS apps" → Power Automate
• "Manage iOS / Android / Windows fleet from one console" → Intune
• "Zero-touch laptop provisioning" → Windows Autopilot
• "AI assistant in Word/Excel/PowerPoint" → Microsoft 365 Copilot
• "Personal productivity insights" → Viva Insights
• "Knowledge graph from tenant content" → Viva Topics
• "Sync on-prem AD to Entra ID" → Microsoft Entra Connect (or Cloud Sync)