Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

MS-102T00
Microsoft 365 Administrator
Change Log
December 2023

Purpose
This document highlights the significant changes to the MS-102T00 – Microsoft 365 Administrator course
from the previous release. This document is for Microsoft Certified Trainers and Instructors to use before
they deliver the class or during preparation for teaching the class.
This is not an error log or a supplement to the Course Materials. This document just provides additional
context so that you can understand the major changes to the course content. Most of the course
materials have been updated to fix typos, broken links, and formatting. So, we recommend you always
download the latest copies.

Please read the Trainer Prep Guide, which provides the overall strategy for implementing this
training.

Transition from MS-100/MS-101 to MS-102 – May 2023

MS-102T00 is an off-shoot of the old MS-100T00 (Microsoft 365 Identity and Services) and MS-101T00
(Microsoft 365 Mobility and Security) courses. In the Fall of 2022, Microsoft decided to take the most
important pieces from MS-100 and MS-101 and combine them together into a new course, MS-102
(Microsoft 365 Administrator).
The new course is accompanied by a new MS-102 certification exam. In doing so, Microsoft is retiring both
MS-100 and MS-101 and their corresponding exams.
Microsoft also changed the industry role that’s the target of this new MS-102 course and exam. MS-100
and 101 targeted the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator role. This role name was a bit of a misnomer,
since it implied the courses and exams targeted large enterprise organizations. Since the courses and
exams target organizations of all sizes that deploy Microsoft 365, Microsoft felt a more appropriate role
would be the Microsoft 365 Administrator role.
As for the courseware, MS-102 simply combines the following content from MS-100 and MS-101:

Page 1
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

• Learning Paths 1-3 in MS-102 come from Learning paths 2, 3, and 5 in MS-100.
• Learning paths 4-9 in MS-102 come from Learning paths 1-6 in MS-101.
During this transition, the existing MS-100 and MS-101 content was reviewed and updated in MS-102 to
reflect the latest Microsoft 365 product changes. The content was also updated to reflect the changes
requested from the last Job Task Analysis (JTA) session conducted by Microsoft for MS-100/101. These
changes included the removal of several existing units, the addition of several new units, and content
updates to several existing units (see the MS-102 Change Log for specifics). But the basic structure of the
nine Learning Paths and their accompanying labs remained unchanged.
In summary, the transition from MS-100/MS-101 to MS-102 included:
• Replacing two 5-day courses (MS-100 and 101) with one 5-day course (MS-102).
• Replacing two exams (MS-100 and MS-101) to receive certification with one exam (MS-102).
• Changing the role targeted by these courses and exams from the Microsoft 365 Enterprise
Administrator role to the Microsoft 365 Administrator role.

December 2023 Release

Update: MAJOR
Type of change: GENERAL/CONTENT/SLIDES/LABS

GENERAL
This revision included two major rebranding efforts:
• Microsoft rebranded Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to Microsoft Entra ID.
Features/terms formerly known as "Azure Active Directory <feature name>" or "Azure AD
<feature name>" are now branded as Microsoft Entra <feature name>. For example,
Azure AD tenant is now Microsoft Entra tenant. Azure Identity Protection also rebranded
to Microsoft Entra ID Protection as part of this rebrand.

• Microsoft also rebranded Microsoft 365 Defender to Microsoft Defender XDR.

CONTENT
All Learn content and graphics were reviewed, and all Azure AD and Microsoft 365 Defender
instances were rebranded accordingly.
For Azure AD, the first rebranded instance in each module was accompanied by the following
Note callout:
Note: Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is now Microsoft Entra ID. Learn more.
30 of the course’s 40 modules were updated for the Azure AD rebrand, including 121 units and 25
graphics.

For Microsoft 365 Defender, the first rebranded instance in each module was accompanied by
the following Note callout:
Page 2
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

Note: Microsoft 365 Defender is now Microsoft Defender XDR (Extended Detection and
Response).
11 of the course’s 40 modules were updated for the Microsoft 365 Defender rebrand, including
41 units and 7 graphics.
Additional content updates were applied in this revision to map content closer to exam requirements.
Content updates include:
• Learning Path 1 updates
• Module 2. Added new units 7 (Create and manage guest users) and 8 (Create and manage
mail contacts).
• Module 3. Added new units 4 (Create dynamic groups using Microsoft Entra rule builder) and
5 (Create a Microsoft 365 group naming policy).

• Learning Path 2 updates

• Module 1. Added new unit 8 (Examine best practices when configuring administrative roles).
• Module 3. Deleted unit 3 (Explore your app compatibility by using the Readiness Toolkit). The
Readiness Toolkit is being deprecated starting Jan 1, 2024, with full retirement on 3/31/2024.

• Learning Path 3 updates

• Module 1. Added new unit 2 (Examine identity models for Microsoft 365). The old unit 2 (now
unit 3) was renamed from “Examine authentication options in Microsoft 365” to “Examine
authentication options for the hybrid authentication model” and updated content accordingly.
Removed old unit 5 (Explore Azure AD Connect since it was redundant information that is
covered in Module 2).
• Module 5. Added new units 5 (Enable passwordless sign-in with Microsoft Authenticator), 7
(Explore Windows Hello for Business), and 10 (Explore Security Defaults in Microsoft Entra ID).
Updated units 2 (Manage user passwords; added license requirements section at end of unit)
and 11 (Investigate authentication issues using sign-in logs).

• Learning Path 5 updates

• Module 2. Moved unit 4 (Protect users from malicious attachments by using Safe
Attachments) to Module 3, unit 2 to provide an introduction to that module. It was more
appropriate there than in Module 2. Moved unit 5 (Protect users from malicious URLs by using
Safe Links) to Module 4, unit 2 to provide an introduction to that module. It also was more
appropriate there than in Module 2.
• Module 4. Removed simulated demonstration from unit 3 as it was outdated due to product
changes.

• Learning Path 7 updates

• Module 2. Updated unit 3 (Enable archive mailboxes in Microsoft 365).

SLIDES
Microsoft World-Wide Learning just converted all course PowerPoint slides to a new template. All slide
decks in this course were updated to reflect the new template design.

Page 3
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

As per our new template, we have also introduced a new Conclusion deck that MCTs should present at the
end of the course, after the final Lab 9 exercises are complete. There are only a couple of slides, which
basically focus on next steps for students in their learning journey.
All slides were reviewed, and all Azure AD and Microsoft 365 Defender instances were rebranded
accordingly.
The lab slides in Learning Path 6 were updated to reflect the addition of a new Exercise 7. All of
the email validation steps from Exercises 2-6 were moved into Exercise 7 due to timing issues
involving the system-generated emails (see the LABS section below for further explanation).

LABS
All labs were reviewed, and all Azure AD and Microsoft 365 Defender instances were rebranded
accordingly. Lab instructions were also updated to reflect rebranded UI instances.
In addition, Exercises 2-6 in Lab 6 were updated and a new Exercise 7 was created. The issue
behind this change is that Exercises 2-6 each included instruction that validated the system-
generated emails for its respective alert or simulated attack. The problem is that the system was
sometimes taking up to 15 minutes to produce the system-generated emails for EACH of these 5
exercises (a potential accumulated wait time of up to 75 minutes; 5 exercises X 15 minutes each).
To address this excessive wait time, the email validation instruction for each exercise was moved
to individual tasks in a new Exercise 7. So after triggering each alert and running each simulated
attack in exercises 2-6, students finished Lab 6 by validating all the alerts and attacks in Exercise
7. By the time they get to Exercise 7, all emails should have been sent, thus avoiding any wait
time.

June 2023 Release

Update: MINOR
Type of change: GENERAL/CONTENT/SLIDES

GENERAL

Following the initial release of this course on May 3, 2023, WWL provided a 30-day period in which MCTs
could review the initial release of the courseware and offer feedback. The changes in this release
addressed that feedback:
• A couple of minor lab issues that had to be fixed due to product changes after the May 1st release.
• Updates to the slides and Trainer Prep Guide to show the connection between the Learning Paths
in the courseware and the topic areas in the MS-102 certification exam. The course was designed
to address the four exam study areas – Microsoft 365 tenant administration, Identity and access,
Microsoft 365 security, and Microsoft 365 compliance.

Some of the feedback we received indicated that instructors were not clear as to the reasoning

Page 4
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

behind the order of topics in the course. We updated the slides and Trainer Prep Guide to help
instructors see how the course Learning Paths map to the four exam study areas. These updates
show how the Learning Paths logically progress from one exam study area to the next. This
progression is similar to how Microsoft 365 administrators must logically progress through their
management tasks – from managing their Microsoft 365 tenant, to managing their users’ access
and identities, to managing system security, and finally, to managing system compliance.

CONTENT

Of the 40 modules in the course, 29 were updated to address issues raised by MCTs during the May-June
2023 review period. Most changes were minor clean-ups. However, the following items address the more
significant changes that were made.
• Learning Path 1 updates
• Module 1, unit 2 (Configure your organizational profile) was split into two units. The content
in the original unit 2 covered two topics – a description of Microsoft 365 plans, subscriptions,
and tenants, and content covering how to configure your Microsoft 365 organizational profile.
In this revision, we split the content regarding plans, subscriptions, and tenants into its own
unit (the new unit 2, titled Explore your Microsoft 365 cloud environment). Plus, we revised
this content to more succinctly and accurately describe these features. Unit 3 contains the
Configure your organizational profile content from the old unit 2.
• Module 4, Units 3 and 4. Revised these units on DNS requirements and creating a custom
domain to make them clearer, less verbose, and more up-to-date.

• Learning Path 2 updates

• Module 4 (Analyze your Microsoft 365 workplace data using Microsoft Viva Insights). The
original version of this module was based on original Viva Insights product specs that are now
outdated. We revised the entire module to reflect the current version of Viva Insights. This
involved:
• Removing units 3-6. Only unit 2 (Examine the analytical features of Microsoft Viva Insights
was retained, although we revised it.
• Adding new units 3-6 (Explore Personal Insights, Explore Team Insights, Explore
Organization Insights, and Explore Advanced Insights, respectively).
• Revising Knowledge Check questions to reflect the new units.

• Learning Path 3 updates

• Module 4 (Manage synchronized identities). We moved in unit 6 (Explore Microsoft Identity
Management) from Learning Path 4, Module 5. It was more applicable in this module than the
prior one.

• Learning Path 4 updates

• Module 5 (Examine Privileged Identity Management). We moved the old unit 5 (Explore
Microsoft Identity Management) to Learning Path 3, Module 4. It was more applicable in this
module than the prior one.

• Learning Path 5 updates

• Module 3. Removed simulated demo from unit 3 as it was outdated.

Page 5
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

• Module 4. Removed simulated demo from unit 3 as it was outdated.

SLIDES
• Updated all slides to map to content changes.
• Updated the Introduction slide deck.
• Added new slide 4 – Audience Profile.
• Added new slide 5 – MS-102 exam study areas.
• Replaced the 9 detailed Agenda slides with 1 summarized Agenda slide (slide 6). The revised
slide has a graphical nature that’s designed to help instructors and students see how the
course Learning Paths map to the four exam study areas in slide 5. The goal of this slide is to
help instructors and students see how the course contents logically progress from one study
area to the next, rather than being just an assorted mix of topics.

We also added instructor notes at the start of the first Learning Path slide deck in each study
area. The purpose of these notes is to remind the instructor to discuss the progression of
course content from the prior study area to the next study area for the exam.

May 2023 - Initial Release of MS-102

Update: MAJOR
Type of change: GENERAL/CONTENT/SLIDES/LABS

GENERAL

This is the initial release of MS-102. As mentioned earlier, MS-102 was created from key topic areas in
MS-100 and MS-101. We then updated the content based on the October 2022 JTA. All the
corresponding labs remained unchanged, with one exception (sensitivity labels), which is called out in
the Labs section below.
So we started by copying the corresponding Learning Paths from MS-100 and 101 (see the LPs
described in the prior section), inserted them into MS-102, and then updated them accordingly in MS-
102 per the JTA. Those content updates are described in the following section.

CONTENT

• Content was updated to reflect changes agreed upon in the October 2022 JTA Refresh.
• Content changes across the entire course included:
• All content was reviewed, and outdated content was either updated or removed.

Page 6
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

• Various units were moved to different Learning Paths and/or Modules for improved
instructional design flow.
• Renamed multiple units and modules to better reflect the purpose of the content.

• Learning Path 1 updates (this was the old LP 2 in MS-100):

• Module 2, unit 7 (Perform bulk user maintenance in Azure AD). Added content on using
PowerShell to perform bulk user maintenance.
• Module 2. Added new units 8 (Create and manage guest users) and 9 (Create and manage
mail contacts).
• Module 3, unit 3 (Create and manage groups in Microsoft 365). Removed the simulation video
as the UI was outdated.
• Module 3. Added new units 4 (Create dynamic groups using Azure rule builder) and 5 (Create
a Microsoft 365 group naming policy).

• Learning Path 2 updates (this was the old LP 3 in MS-100):

• Module 1. Added new unit 8 (Examine best practices when configuring administrative roles).
• Module 1. Several units referenced the “Azure portal”. Changed it to the Microsoft Entra
admin center.
• Module 2, unit 2 (Monitor the health of your Microsoft 365 services). Added content
regarding the Microsoft 365 Health dashboard. Removed the section on the System Center
Operations Manager.
• Module 2. Added new units 3 (Monitor tenant health using Microsoft 365 Adoption Score) and
4 (Monitor tenant health using Microsoft 365 usage analytics).
• Module 3, unit 5 (Deploy Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise with Microsoft Configuration
Manager). Retitled unit and content to remove “Endpoint” from every reference to Microsoft
Endpoint Configuration Manager due to Microsoft rebranding. It’s now just Microsoft
Configuration Manager.

• Learning Path 3 updates (this was the old LP 5 in MS-100):

• Retitled LP name from “Plan and implement identity synchronization” to “Implement identity
synchronization”.
• Module 1. Added new unit 2 (Examine identity models for Microsoft 365).
• Module 1, unit 3 (Examine authentication options for the hybrid identity model). Retitled the
unit name to call out “for the hybrid identity model”. Also made significant updates to the unit
content.
• Module 1. Deleted old unit 4 (Examine provisioning in Microsoft 365) due to JTA decision, and
old unit 5 (Explore Azure AD Connect), since it was covered in Module 2 (so was redundant
here).
• Module 3, unit 2 (Configure Azure AD Connect prerequisites). Revised the content as the old
pre-requisites were outdated.
• Module 5, unit 2 (Manage user passwords). Added screenshot and section on licensing.

Page 7
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

• Module 5. Added new units 5 (Enable passwordless sign-in with Microsoft Authenticator), unit
7 (Explore Windows Hello for Business), and 10 (Explore Security Defaults in Azure AD).
• Module 5. Deleted old unit 8 (Implement entitlement packages in Azure AD Identity
Governance) and old unit 10 (Create and run an access review). Consensus during JTA session
was that these tasks were more appropriate for architect or compliance roles.

• Learning Path 4 updates (this was the old LP 1 in MS-101):

• Module 4. Retitled unit 3 (Assess your security posture with Microsoft Secure Score), unit 4
(Improve your security score), and unit 5 (Track your Microsoft Secure Score history and meet
your goals). Content in these 3 units was outdated, so also replaced the content in each of
these 3 units.
• Module 5, units 2 (Explore Privileged Identity Management in Azure AD) and 3 (Configure
Privileged Identity Management). Revised content in each unit.
• Module 6. Retitled unit 3 (Enable the default protection policies in Azure Identity Protection),
unit 4 (Explore the vulnerabilities and risk events detected by Azure Identity Protection.
Replaced AIP with Azure Identity Protection. AIP is used for Azure Information Protection.

• Learning Path 5 updates (this was the old LP 2 in MS-101):

• Module 2. Moved the old unit 4 (Protect users from malicious attachments by using Safe
Attachments) to Module 3, unit 2, where it’s a better fit and helps introduce that module.
• Module 2. Moved the old unit 5 (Protect users from malicious URLs by using Safe Links) to
Module 3, unit 2, where it’s a better fit and helps introduce that module.
• Module 3. Added new unit 2 (Protect users from malicious attachments by using Safe
Attachments), which was moved in from Module 2.
• Module 4. Added new unit 2 (Protect users from malicious URLs by using Safe Links), which
was moved in from Module 2.

• Learning Path 6 updates (this was the old LP 3 in MS-101):

• Module 1. Added new unit 8 (Identify threat issues using Microsoft Defender reports).
• Module 3. Retitled unit 5 to (Manage endpoint vulnerabilities with Microsoft Defender
Vulnerability Management). Updated content and rebranded Defender Threat and
Vulnerability Management to Defender Vulnerability Management per Microsoft rebranding.
Made same rebranding change in several other units.

• Learning Path 7 updates (this was the old LP 4 in MS-101):

• Module 1. Changed module title (Examine data governance solutions in Microsoft Purview).
Old title was missing “data”.
• Module 2. Retitled unit 4 (Explore Microsoft Purview Records Management), unit 5
(Implement Microsoft Purview Records Management), unit 6 (Restore deleted data in
Exchange Online), and unit 7 (Restore deleted data in SharePoint Online). In units 6 and 7,
changed “Recover” to “Restore” to match Microsoft documentation.

Page 8
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

• Learning Path 8 updates (this was the old LP 5 in MS-101):

• Module 3. Changed module title from Create information barriers in Microsoft 365 to
Implement Microsoft Purview Information Barriers.
• Module 3. Retitled unit 2 (Explore Microsoft Purview Information Barriers) and unit 3
(Configure information barriers in Microsoft Purview).
• Module 4. Changed module title from Explore Data Loss Prevention in Microsoft 365 to
Explore Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention.
• Module 5. Changed module title from Implement data loss prevention policies to Implement
Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention.
• Module 5. Retitled unit 2 (Plan to implement Microsoft Purview Data Loss Protection) and unit
3 (Implement Microsoft Purview's default DLP policies). Unit 3 title changed from “policy” to
“policies” to account for the new second default policy. Updated unit 3 to reflect the second
default policy.

• Learning Path 9 updates (this was the old LP 6 in MS-101):

• Module 2. Added new unit 5 (Apply sensitivity labels automatically).

SLIDES
• Updated all slides to map to content changes.

LABS

• All labs were reviewed and re-tested step-by-step. Lab instructions were updated to reflect
product UI changes since the prior release.
• Lab 1, Exercise 1. Added a new Task 7 (Run a PowerShell script to create and publish a sensitivity
label). In MS-101, the sensitivity label lab (in Learning Path 6) was covered on day 4. In task 2, you
create and publish a sensitivity label. In tasks 3 and 4, you test the label that you created and
published. The problem with sensitivity labels is that it takes 24 hours to propagate the label
through Microsoft 365 once you publish it. So in MS-101, students would do task 2 on day 4, and
then stop the lab at that point and proceed with the next LP. On Day 5, they would do tasks 3 and
4.

With MS-102, this sensitivity label LP is now the final LP on day 5. So after students create and
publish the label in task 2, they can’t wait 24 hours to do tasks 3 and 4, since there’s no day 6 for
the class. So we created a script that students will run in Lab 1, Ex 1, task 7 on day 1. This script
creates and publishes a sensitivity label using the same label options as defined in task 2. Then by
the time they get to LP 9 on day 5 and do the sensitivity label lab, the label will have propagated
through Microsoft 365 and be ready for testing.

Page 9
Change Log: MS-102T00 Microsoft 365 Administrator December 2023

• Lab 9, Exercise 1. This is a continuation of the prior issue with sensitivity labels. Since the students
run the script on day 1 to create and publish the label used in testing in tasks 3 and 4, we modified
task 2 so that they can still create a label, just with a different name. This way, the students still
gain the experience of creating and publishing a label using the UI. However, when they get to
tasks 3 and 4, they will test the label they created and published when they ran the script on day
1.

Page 10