Creating Connections Using the Microsoft Office 365 (Deprecated) Connector

Important: The instructions in this section are for creating a connection to Microsoft Office 365 using the legacy Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) connector. However, the Microsoft 365 connector is recommended connector to use to create a connection to Microsoft Office 365 on an inventory beacon. For those instructions, refer to Using IT Asset Management’s Multi-Tenant App to Connect to Microsoft 365 or see Registering an App Using the Azure Portal to Connect to Microsoft 365.

Use the following procedure to create a connection to Microsoft Office 365 on an inventory beacon using the legacy Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) connector. A separate connection is required for each tenant of Microsoft Office 365. (Typically, there is one tenant per enterprise; but your corporate history, particularly of mergers and acquisitions, may mean that your enterprise has multiple Microsoft tenants.) The inventory beacon requires this connection to import entitlements, users, and usage information from the Microsoft Office 365 online account. Each per-tenant import covers all subscriptions for that tenant.

To create a connection to Microsoft Office 365:

1. Ensure that you have your preferred schedule for imports from Microsoft Office 365 set on the appropriate inventory beacon:
a. Log into the inventory beacon interface as an administrator (for example, in the Windows Start menu, search for FlexNet Beacon, right-click it, and select Run as administrator).

Tip:Remember that you must run the inventory beacon software with administrator privileges.

b. From the Data collection group in the navigation bar, choose Scheduling.
c. If there is not already a suitable schedule in the list, click New... and complete the details (see Creating a Data Gathering Schedule for more information). Otherwise, identify the schedule you will use.
2. Select the Inventory Systems tab (in the same navigation group).
3. Choose either of the following:
To change the settings for a previously-defined connection, select that connection from the list, and click Edit....
To create a new connection, click the down arrow on the right of the New split button, and choose Powershell.
4. Complete (or modify) the values for the following required fields:
Connection Name—The name of the inventory connection. When the data import through this connection is executed, the data import task name is same as the connection name.
Source Type—Select Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) from this list.

Note:If you have not installed the FlexNet Beacon released with IT Asset Management 2019 R1 or later, then Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) will not appear as a Source Type connection. Instead, Microsoft Office 365 will appear as the legacy connector source type.

5. Optionally, if your enterprise uses a proxy server to enable Internet access, complete (or modify) the values in the Proxy Settings section of the dialog box in order to configure the proxy server connection.
Use Proxy—Select this check box if your enterprise uses a proxy server to enable Internet access. Complete the additional fields in the Proxy Settings section, as needed. If the Use Proxy check box is not selected, the remaining fields in the Proxy Settings section are disabled.
Proxy Server—Enter the address of the proxy server using HTTP, HTTPS, or an IP address. Use one of the following formats:

https://ProxyServerURL:PortNumber

http://ProxyServerURL:PortNumber

IPAddress:PortNumber

This field is enabled when the Use Proxy check box is selected.

Username and Password—If your enterprise is using an authenticated proxy, specify the username and password of an account that has credentials to access the proxy server that is specified in the Proxy Server field. These fields are enabled when the Use Proxy check box is selected.
6. Complete (or modify) the values in the Microsoft Office 365 section of the dialog. All of the following values are required:

Note:If you have multiple tenants within Microsoft Office 365 (for example, separate subscriptions for different corporate units or locations), you need to create a separate connector for each tenant using its own credentials. Within each tenant, a single connection and a single import recovers data for all your subscriptions (if you have multiple subscriptions).

Username—Microsoft Office 365 tenant user name.
Password—Microsoft Office 365 tenant password.
7. Save the connection.
8. Select your new connection from the displayed list, and click Schedule....
9. In the dialog that appears, select the name of your chosen schedule for inventory collection through this connection, and click OK.
10. At the bottom of the FlexNet Beacon interface, click Save, and if you are done, also click Exit.

Tip:Consider whether you want to select your connection, and click Execute Now, before you exit.

After a successful data import, the users, applications, licenses, and usage data are all visible in the appropriate pages of IT Asset Management.

Note:To know more about the operations available on the Inventory Systems tab of FlexNet Beacon, see Inventory Systems Tab. For scheduling data imports through this connection, see Scheduling a Connection.