Restricting group creation can help tame the Viva Engage chaos, but it’s a blunt tool.
Viva Engage! the place where community vibes can sometimes turn into a chaotic jungle of rogue groups ! If you’re an admin looking to rein in the creation frenzy while still letting users enjoy some autonomy, you’re in the right place.
Let’s dive into how you can control the madness and advocate for Microsoft to make this whole process smoother.
Here’s the catch : Viva engage communities are powered by Microsoft 365 Groups. To limit community creation, you need to control who can create Groups across your organization. Which can lead to unnecessary friction for teams needing groups for things like Teams, SharePoint, or Planner.
It’s like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly !
To limit community creation, you need to control who can create Groups across your organization.
Here’s Your Game Plan:-
- Log In Like the Boss You Are. Head over to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and grab your admin hat.
- Build Your Dream Team with Entra AD.
- Create a security group in YOUR Active Directory for users who should have the privilege of creating groups (and by extension, communities).
- Call them something snazzy, like “Community Creators.”
- Deploy all your PowerShell Wizardry !
- Fire up PowerShell to lock down group creation for everyone except your chosen few (Wait for 24 hours to take effect ). Here’s how: Use Set-MsolCompanySettings cmddlet and it’s parameters GroupCreationEnabled and RestrictGroupCreationToSecurityGroupId to set company-level configuration settings
# Install the Required Modules: |
Don’t forget Test Your Setup first.
And finally …
Confirm that group creation is now limited to your elite team. Everyone else gets to focus on joining communities rather than creating them.
Why We desesparaly desperately Need a Community-Specific Fix instead ?
Admins shouldn’t have to restrict all groups just to tame Viva Engage communities. Microsoft could provide a solution that separates Engage community creation from general 365 Group creation.
Think of it as:
- A toggle switch in the Viva Engage Admin Center to control only community creation.
- A Role-based permissions for community creation without impacting other services.
- A streamlined workflow for admins to approve or deny community creation requests. … This would empower organizations to maintain order without stifling productivity across the Microsoft ecosystem.
Let’s start a revolution !
Microsoft, it’s time to give admins the power to manage communities without hamstringing the entire ecosystem!
Admins, unite! You can share feedback with Microsoft through:
- The Microsoft Feedback Portal (feedbackportal.microsoft.com).
- Viva Engage’s Help and Support options.
- Or , Your Microsoft account manager, if you have one.
The more voices advocating for a targeted solution, the sooner we can ditch the all-or-nothing approach!
Until then, admins will keep juggling PowerShell and diplomacy to make it work …
