Connecting to Microsoft 365

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

This chapter provides information about how IT Asset Management connects to Microsoft 365.

Connector overview

There are currently two connectors available. It is recommended that you use the use the Microsoft 365 connector, a replacement for the existing Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) connector. To help during the transition to the Microsoft 365 connector, the legacy connector will remain available for a period of time. The following table provides an overview comparison of the connectors. This table assumes you have installed the FlexNet Beacon released with IT Asset Management 2019 R1 or later.

Connector Name	Installation folder	Notes
Microsoft 365 Note: This is the latest connector.	ProgramData\Flexera Software\Compliance\ ImportProcedures\ Inventory\Reader\ Microsoft 365	Note the following: This Tier 1 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: This installation folder name and path remains unchanged.	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). However, 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 on the Create PowerShell Source Connection dialog, and instead will remain Microsoft Office 365.

Generating the Microsoft 365 license compliance position

To generate the compliance position for Microsoft 365 licenses, IT Asset Management needs information about subscriptions and usage of Microsoft 365 licenses (both online and offline):

• The local inventory collection process (within your enterprise) returns the local installations of Microsoft Office that are tied to your Microsoft 365 subscription(s).
• To get subscription and usage information from Microsoft 365 Online Service, the FlexNet Beacon must be configured with an inventory connection of source type Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated) for each tenant of Microsoft 365. (Typically, each enterprise is a single Microsoft tenant; but your corporate history, including mergers and acquisitions, may mean that your enterprise includes multiple Microsoft tenants. Each tenant may then have one or more subscriptions to different licensing plans, such as Midsize Business or Enterprise.)

When you have created and configured the Microsoft 365 connection, the relevant inventory beacon imports the licenses, users, and usage information from the Microsoft 365 Online Service account and uploads it to IT Asset Management according to your chosen schedule. For details on how to create and schedule a connector to Microsoft 365, see Creating Connections to Microsoft 365 or see Creating Connections Using the Microsoft Office 365 (Deprecated) Connector.