When this review is useful
Review tenant security, privileged access, conditional access and collaboration controls against an agreed baseline.
Microsoft 365 adoption, tenant consolidation, customer assurance or uncertainty about privileged access and exceptions.
The scope should identify the business service, control owner, assessment period and intended report reader. Include supplier dependencies and explain what has changed since the previous review. This prevents an apparently narrow request from silently expanding into an unsupported opinion about the whole organisation.
Assessment procedures to agree
- Examine roles, eligibility, assignments, exclusions and approval records using controlled exports.
- Compare conditional-access intent with actual policy state and documented exceptions.
- Sample joiner/leaver, external sharing and administrative review records across the agreed period.
Procedures are proposed until the engagement scope is accepted. Record the population used for each sample, the selection rationale and the date on which evidence was collected. Follow exceptions to their cause; do not extrapolate a sample failure rate to the entire estate without a defensible method.
Evidence and context to prepare
- Tenant count, licence context and administrative ownership
- Dated role, policy and exception exports with sensitive identifiers removed
- Leaver population, review records and approved sharing rules
Begin with approximate counts and non-sensitive descriptions. Full evidence belongs in an agreed secure channel after confidentiality, access and retention arrangements are settled. Avoid sending passwords, secret values or unnecessary personal records.
Expected outputs
- Configuration and operating-evidence assessment
- Prioritised identity and collaboration findings
- Validation criteria for policy and process changes
The report should distinguish verified observations from management explanations and open questions. Findings need proportionate recommendations and measurable closure conditions. Management retains responsibility for risk acceptance and changes.
Questions that change effort and coverage
- Which tenants and guest populations are included?
- Are policies report-only or enforced?
- Who approves exclusions and how are they reviewed?
Assessment boundary
A configuration review does not establish that an authentication bypass was attempted or that all historical activity was reviewed.
Build your audit scoping brief, or send your requirements with an NDA or RFP. High-level context is sufficient for the first conversation.
