User Creation Templates

M365 Manager Plus' user creation templates allow you to configure the attributes required for Microsoft 365 user account creation. On applying these templates during the user account creation process, the attributes will take the values as configured in the templates.

The 'drag-n-drop' customization component in the templates allow you to make any attribute mandatory, hidden, editable or read only. Thus you control the attributes that can be edited by the help desk technician to whom the template is delegated.

These templates also include the 'Create Rules' option which allows you to auto-populate the desired fields, or define conditions to reactively-populate specific fields of the Microsoft 365 user accounts being created.

This document guides you how to,

Steps to create a user creation template:

  1. Go to the Management tab.
  2. In the left pane navigate to Azure Active Directory → User Management.
  3. Under User Templates category, click on User Creation Templates.
  4. Click on Create New Template.
  5. Provide a Template Name, and select the Microsoft 365 Account.
  6. Click on Rules View button for setting up rules to auto-fill desired attributes, if the specified conditions are satisfied.
  7. Click on Enable Drag-n-Drop button to customize the template by just dragging and dropping the required fields from the Field Tray to the appropriate tab of the template.
  8. After configuring the template as per your requirements, click on Save Template.

How to use the layout view (Drag-n-Drop)

  1. In the User Creation Template page click on Enable Drag-n-Drop option found in the Layout View Section.
  2. Under a tab in the Layout View section, you can find all the fields placed under several field groups. You can  create new field groups by clicking the Add Group option found at the right corner of any tab and place new fields under them.
    • To change the name of a field group, click on the edit icon located beside the field group name. Select the Rename option and modify the name.
    • To hide the entire field group or delete it, click on Make Silently Active or the Delete link respectively.
  3. The components found under groups are called fields. For example, under the General tab, To modify the name and other settings of a field,
    • Click on the edit icon found beside a field. Enter the new name in the Field Name text box.
    • Enter the default value for the respective field.
    • Click on Options to make the field Mandatory or Read Only. For example, you can make the First Name and Last Name mandatory.
    • In the Help Card text box enter the text that will be displayed as a tool tip near the respective field. For example, you can describe the password complexity requirements near the Password field.
    • Click on Done once all the required changes are made.
  4. Under the Account tab,
    • If you want to provide a password of your choice for the Microsoft 365 user accounts, click on Let me provide a password option, and enter the password in the text box beside it. Otherwise, click on Random Password.
    • Click on the Configure Password Complexity option to define the minimum and maximum password length, no. of special characters to be included, characters to be excluded, and other password requirements. Click on Save.
    • Choose whether the users should be forced to change the password on their first login, or not.
    • Choose whether the password should expire or not.
    • Choose MFA Settings to Enforce, Enable or Disable MFA for the users.
      • If you choose to enforce MFA, then you should select the Allowed MFA Methods and the Default MFA Method from the respective dropdown menus.
  5. Under the Contact tab,
    • Drag and drop the required fields, and remove the unwanted ones. Provide the default values of respective fields, if required. For example, provide the Department name, if the template is created for a particular department.
  6. Under the Group tab:
    • Choose M365, security and distribution groups to add the user to.
  7. Under the License tab,
    • Choose whether Microsoft 365 licenses should be assigned or not. If yes, you can choose the license and usage location.
  8. Under the Exchange tab,
    • Choose whether mailbox should be enabled or not.
    • If yes, provide the general information like Name, Email Alias, Mailbox Display Name, etc.
    • In the Mailbox Storage section, specify the storage limits at which warning must be issued, sending must be prohibited, and both sending and receiving must be prohibited.
    • Configure who will have Send As, Send On Behalf, Full Access, and other permissions over the mailbox.
    • Configure other mailbox features including IMAP, MAPI, POP, OWA, ActiveSync, etc.
  9. Click on Save Template.
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User creation rules

These rules help administrators to specify the fields that should be automatically updated whenever a user account is created. Values assigned to the fields can be condition-based also, i.e an attribute will be updated only when the specified condition is satisfied.  For example, you can create a rule that assigns John as the manager, if the user belongs to the Marketing department.

Steps to create user creation rules

  1. In the User Creation Template page, click on the Rules View button located in the right corner.
  2. Click on Create New Rule to create a new creation rule. You can then add an existing rule from other templates or add new rules, as per your requirement.
  3. To create a new creation rule, in the Conditions section,
    • Click on Add Conditions.
    • Select the field that must be checked, the condition (Equals, Not equals, In, Not in, etc), and also the value that it must be checked against. Eg: Department - Equals - Marketing
    • Click on + to add another condition.
    • In the Assign Values section, select the fields that must be automatically filled when the conditions are satisfied, and the respective values. Eg: Manager - user@domain.com
    • You can specify a custom name for this rule by clicking on the icon-edit icon found near Rule 1 and keying in the required name. Eg: Manager assignment
  4. It is also possible to assign values to fields without evaluating any conditions. In the Assign Values section, select the required field from the Set drop-down, specify a value for the selected fieldand click on Add to save this value.
  5. To add a new rule, click on Add new rule button located on the top right corner of the Rules View section. Add conditions and then fields to the Assign Values section.
  6. Click Save Template to save the changes.

The templates created will be available while creating single or bulk Microsoft 365 user accounts using M365 Manager Plus.

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Steps to modify user creation templates

  1. Go to the Management tab.
  2. In the left pane navigate to Azure Active Directory → User Management.
  3. Under User Templates category, click on User Creation Templates.
  4. The resultant page will display all the available user creation templates.
  5. Under the Actions column click on the icon-edit icon corresponding to the template you need to modify.
  6. Modify the template as per your requirements, and click on Save Template.

Steps to delete user creation templates

  1. Go to the Management tab.
  2. In the left pane navigate to Azure Active Directory → User Management.
  3. Under User Templates category, click on User Creation Templates.
  4. The resultant page will display all the available user creation templates.
  5. Under the Actions column click on the icon-edit icon corresponding to the template you need to delete.
  6. Click Yes in the confirmation pop-up.

Note: The built-in creation templates cannot be modified or deleted.

Field Tray:

In the Layout View, the pane on the left extreme has all the default tabs and all their corresponding fields. This pane is called the Field Tray. The fields can be dragged-n-dropped to the required tabs in the template or unwanted fields can be moved back to the field tray from the template.

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Make silently active:

Using the make silently active option, it is possible to hide a tab or a field without actually deleting it. When this option is enabled, all the attributes made silently active will be updated in the Microsoft 365 user accounts but will not be displayed during the creation process.

This option is useful in cases where the administrator would like give values to the attributes in the tab but would not like the person creating the user account to know the values being provided.

To view this option, in the Layout View, click on Enable Drag-n-Drop option, and hover over the field to be made silently active. Click on the icon-edit icon to view the Make Silently Active. Even the field groups and an entire tab can be made silently active.

Field Group:

A field group contains a group of related attributes placed under one common head. A new field group can be added using the Add Group' option that is placed inside the tab on the top right corner. Similar to the tab, a field group or any field that is placed in a field group can be made 'silently active'.

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Drag-n-drop:

This option makes it possible to drag and drop the required field or attribute in the required tab.

Click on the tab in which you would like to add a new field. Then, drag and drop the required field from the field tray to the required field group inside the tab.

While moving the field/attribute, a box will be automatically displayed inside the field group. You can drop the required field inside this box in the required position.

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