Do you know what Microsoft 365 updates are coming to your Microsoft 365 Tenant?  If you answered “no” to this question then I would encourage you to keep reading.  Recently I had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about how Microsoft is communicating their changes about what is going on in Microsoft 365.  Sometimes it feels like a bit of a mystery, and so gaining some insights into the ongoing changes happening may be important to you.

I have also learned that you really cannot rely on one source of information to know what is going on, but there are some key tips and tricks that are relatively straight forward that I want to share that I expect you will find very helpful.  The maintenance and upkeep of Microsoft 365 has to be a huge task for Microsoft, and with all the moving parts the consumer also has much to consider.

Why care about Microsoft 365 Updates

Before we dive into what is changing and where to find it let’s first discuss some of the reasons why Microsoft 365 administrator would care their Microsoft 365 updates and changes being made to their Microsoft 365 ecosystem.  Let’s highlight them here.

  • My organization needs me to document changes that will impact my users
  • Administrators should be able to communicate planned outages to the business
  • Support professionals should be able to proactively update leaders about new features
  • When a fix is rolled out to my Microsoft 365 tenant the business needs to know about it
  • There are many more, and if you have more to share please be sure to comment on this post

How do I find out what is going on in my Microsoft 365 Tenant?

First and foremost, go to your tenant URL https://login.microsoftonline.com and login.  Then as long as you have permissions head into your Admin center.  Once you are in here you will find the Message Center.  It may look like a long list of stuff, but there is some important information in here about what is up and coming, so be sure to check it out routinely.

Microsoft 365 features and updates

What I also find though is that it can be too much information if you are not using all components of Microsoft 365.   To filter out the extra noise, click “Message center” and then click “Edit Message Center Preferences”.

Microsoft 365 features and updates

 

Also, if you do find that it’s hard to manually get into the Message center to check on things there is also the option to be emailed which can be found at the bottom of the “Edit Message center preferences” as shown below.  When you receive your first email from the system, don’t let the message body fool you.  It says that the information is about last week, but it is actually current and presents information about what is coming too.

 

Microsoft 365 features and updates

Microsoft 365 Roadmap

If you have been administering Microsoft 365 for some time much of that may not be new to you, but the piece that I think is most important is this great website that covers the Microsoft 365 roadmap. This amazing website includes everything you need to know about what has been Launched, what is Rolling Out, In Development, Cancelled, and Previously Released.  It’s easy to narrow things down to the product you care about by typing a key word.  If you aren’t using this today, it’s a must.  You will also notice in the Message Center that features and new updates mention Roadmap items, so with a link to the Roadmap you can get the latest information about what’s coming, what’s been removed, and what has been released.

Wrapping up!

You will quickly find that with these few tools you will have the insights you need to know what is happening in your Microsoft 365 tenant.  Cheers!

Check out some of our other content about Microsoft 365!