New Microsoft 365 connector

FlexNet Manager Suite version 2019 R1

FlexNet Manager Suite 2022 R1 introduces the new Microsoft 365 connector, a replacement for the existing Microsoft Office 365 connector. The legacy Microsoft Office 365 connector now appears in FlexNet Beacon as Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) and at a future time, will no longer be supported.

We recommend that you now use the new Microsoft 365 connector as it provides the following benefits and improvements over the existing connector:

• Yields more accurate and robust data through the use of the Microsoft Graph API that is designed specifically to extract usage patterns.
• Provides greater control over access tokens thereby facilitating better issue resolution.
• Supports Microsoft 365’s multi-factor authentication for tenants that have it enabled.

• Eliminates the ability of the connector from making any changes to your Microsoft account because the permissions used in this connector are read-only. An Active Directory administrator grants consent to the application to use the read-only permissions.
• Provides greater usage information. The following usage information is collected from the Microsoft 365 connector:
  • Exchange
  • Skype for Business
  • OneDrive
  • SharePoint
  • Yammer
  • Teams
  Note: To help during the transition period, both connectors are still available.

For more information, see the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference accessible from the title page of the online help.

Additional Information

The following issues with the Microsoft Office 365 connector are now resolved: IOJ-1827747, IOJ-1832704, IOJ-1903592, and IOJ-1866229.

The following table provides information about the two connectors.

Connector Name	Connector installation folder	Notes
Microsoft 365 Note: This is the new connector.	ProgramData\Flexera Software\Compliance\ ImportProcedures\ Inventory\Reader\ Microsoft 365	Note the following: This inventory connector is now available to all customers. The Source Type (on the inventory beacon) is Microsoft 365 .
Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) Note: This is the legacy connector that is now deprecated.	ProgramData\Flexera Software\Compliance\ ImportProcedures\ Inventory\Reader\ Microsoft Office 365	Note the following: This Tier 1 inventory connector remains available although deprecated and will longer be supported on a future release. This connector's Source Type (specified on the inventory beacon PowerShell dialog) is Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated). Previously, the source type for this connector was Microsoft Office 365. The installation folder (shown in the middle column of this table) remains the same as before.