Creating collections – Planning and Implementing Microsoft 365 Apps Deployment

In Configuration Manager, a collection is a group used to identify users or devices that will be targeted for running tasks, such as inventories, deploying applications, or configuring client settings. A collection can contain either devices or users, but cannot contain both.
Collections can be managed by placing users or devices directly (called a direct rule) or dynamically (called a query rule) based on attributes such as the members of an organizational unit or the version of a device’s operating system. Collections can also include or exclude other collections.

FURTHER READING
Creating and managing collections is outside the scope of the MS-100 exam. The MS-100 exam only requires you to know that collections are groups of users or computers.
You can learn more about how to manage direct and query-based collections here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/configmgr/core/clients/manage/collections/create-collections.
Creating and deploying the Microsoft 365 apps
In this section, we’ll briefly cover the step to create and deploy the application package.

The pilot group
As previously mentioned, the Microsoft 365 Apps software is compiled into a package known as an application in Configuration Manager. From a best practices perspective, it’s important to have groups of individuals using the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) build of the Microsoft 365 apps to help detect any issues before they reach the broad group with the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel build.
To configure the application, follow these steps:

1. On the Configuration Manager server, launch the Configuration Manager console.
2. Expand Software Library | Overview and select Office 365 Client Management.
3. On the Application Settings page, enter a name and description for the application package, as well as the location where the installation media will be stored (specified as \server\share).
4. Click Next.
5. On the Office Settings page, select Go to the Office Customization Tool.
6. As you did with the Intune deployment, select the appropriate settings from the customization tool, including the update channel (Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview)), languages, accepting the EULA, whether to remove the previous MSI version of Office, and any other application settings.
7. After the options have been selected, click Submit.
8. Click Yes on the Deployment page to deploy the package now. You can also exit the wizard and deploy the package at a later time.
9. Select the pilot collection for deployment and then click Next.
   The broad group
   These steps mirror the pilot group settings with two exceptions:
   • In step 6, instead of selecting Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview), select Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel
   • In step 9, instead of selecting the pilot collection, select the collection that represents the broad group