❗Keep in mind that this is an unreleased feature. The functionality described in this article will become available with the next update.
The process of adding Owners and Members one by one when creating a new Team can get tedious if you're adding a large group.
For instance, you might want to create a Marketing Team with all the corresponding employees from that department.
Now, instead of adding each Marketing employee one by one, you can create a Dynamic Entra Security Group that contains everyone in the Marketing Department, and then sync its members into a Space managed by Teams Manager.
With the option to keep the Entra Security Group up-to-date automatically, if the Security Group composition changes down the line, Team Membership will be updated accordingly.
So, with the automatic updates, you're able to add the Marketing Department to a Team once, and then whenever employees are added/removed from the corresponding Security Group, they'll also be automatically added/removed from the Team.
Let's go through this feature together to better understand what benefits your organization can derive from it.
💎 This feature is accessible exclusively to enterprise customers.
If you'd like to request an upgrade, feel free to contact your sales manager or send us an email at [email protected]
⚙️ Adding Security Groups During Team Creation
In order to enable the feature, navigate to Settings > Expert mode > Request and enable the Let users add security groups as owners / members toggle.
Once enabled, users will be able to select Security Groups during Team Creation, both as Owners and as Members.
When a Security Group is added, it has a Keep in sync toggle next to it that can be in one of two states:
Enabled - The entire Security Group is added as a Member/Owner entity, and its composition is updated daily. Users who are added/removed from the Security Group are automatically added/removed from the Team.
Disabled - The composition of the Security Group is read out once during Team Creation, and each person within it is individually added as an Owner/Member to the Space. Subsequent changes made to the Security Group aren't reflected on the actual Team once it's created.
During Request Approval, Admins and Approvers will be able to change the state of the Keep in sync toggle as well as Add/Remove Security Groups.
Keep in mind that if your Security Group contains Guests, they won't be added as Owners, but will be added as Guests when selected as Members.
🔄 Managing Security Groups After Team Creation
You can also Add/Remove Entra Security Groups from existing Teams at any time through the Manage members & owners option on the Admin Dashboard.
Navigate to the Teams tab and switch to Admin View.
Find the Team you'd like to update and click ⋯ > Manage members and owners.
In the Owners or Members tab, search for a Security Group and add it.
Choose whether or not you want to keep it in sync.
Click Save to apply.
All membership changes via Security Groups are reflected in the History panel on the Space Profile Page as "Membership changes via Security group", giving you full visibility into what happened and when.
💡 You can check out our article on Utilizing the Admin Dashboard to learn more about the Space Profile Page and its History panel.
🧠 Things to Keep in Mind
Here are a few caveats that you should keep in mind when utilizing Entra Security Groups in this manner:
Nested Security Groups - Entra Security Groups that contain other Security Groups nested inside them are ignored. Only direct members of the selected group are added.
Supported Content Types - Security Group assignment is currently supported for Teams only. Support for Modern SharePoint Sites without Groups and Communication Sites is coming very soon.
Direct Users vs. Security Groups - If a user is added to a Team both directly and through a Security Group, the direct assignment overrules the group. If the user is removed from the Security Group, they remain in the Team.
ListSync Compatibility - Synced Security Groups are not compatible with ListSync. Membership changes through a synced group are not reflected in the corresponding SharePoint List. Users also cannot add Security Groups directly to the list. Non-synced groups work normally since users are added individually.
⛑️ Need more help?
Get further assistance with Teams Manager through our support chat widget within the app, or reach out to us at [email protected]