Hey everyone! I've recently started working at a much larger company with around 2000 employees. I'm trying to navigate their Microsoft tenant, which has been poorly managed for some time before I got here. One major challenge I'm facing is dealing with the vast number of functional accounts—there are hundreds of mailboxes set up in various ways, including shared mailboxes, licensed accounts, Teams email addresses, and distribution lists. On top of that, many service accounts send emails for reports and alerts to different teams. To make matters worse, there are several accounts with overlapping prefixes, like multiple addresses named "accounting" due to past acquisitions without proper integration. I've already deployed Conditional Access Policies and had to exclude over 100 users just to maintain essential workflows. In my previous job, I built the tenant from scratch, so I had more control. Here, it feels like I'm trying to close the barn door after all the cows have escaped. Any tips on managing this situation?
5 Answers
It sounds like you've inherited a digital disaster. Start with small steps: label everything clearly and work on untangling the chaos gradually. Think of it as digital archaeology—you’re not just fixing a tenant; you’re sorting through layers of history!
One step at a time! Start addressing the mailbox issues alphabetically. You don't have to resolve everything at once; what's crucial is to have a solid plan. I also recommend creating a spreadsheet that lists all SMTPMailAddresses and MSOLUsers. This way, you can track progress and assign someone to take ownership of each address, making the whole task feel more manageable.
Do you have the authority to tackle this problem? Sometimes companies have cultures that create these issues, and they don't always allow for easy fixes. If you do have that power, just start pulling at the threads of the issues one by one—it's a long road, but it can be done!
What’s your future plan for these accounts? I’m trying to shift our approach from distribution lists to shared mailboxes, but it becomes tricky with forwarding rules. I want notifications similar to those from distribution lists, but with the history from shared mailboxes. Any thoughts?
I hear you! We're planning to hire someone specifically to comb through all the accounts one by one and either standardize or retire any that aren't needed. It's a monumental task since there are so many employees involved.
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