For today’s IT leaders, Microsoft 365 is both a blessing and a challenge. Its flexibility and power have made it the backbone of modern collaboration, but with that power comes a daunting level of complexity. As organizations grow, so do their digital footprints: more users, more Teams, more licenses, more risk.
Manual governance, once sufficient for smaller, simpler environments, now feels like trying to hold back the tide with a bucket. The result? Wasted resources, security gaps, and a never-ending stream of support tickets.
But what if governance could run itself? What if the most common, costly, and risky issues could be detected and resolved automatically, freeing IT to focus on strategy instead of firefighting?
That’s the promise of automation. In our recent Governance on Autopilot webinar (watch on-demand), we explored how organizations can reclaim control by automating their processes. This blog starts where we left off with the ten most impactful Microsoft 365 governance automated policies and actions you can adopt for your governance plan.
The pace of change in Microsoft 365 is relentless. New features, new users, and new threats emerge constantly. Even the most diligent IT teams can’t keep up with manual checks and ad hoc cleanups. Automation isn’t just a convenience, it’s a necessity.
Automated governance means:
But automation isn’t about replacing people, it’s about giving them superpowers. With the right policies and workflows, you can ensure your Microsoft 365 environment is always clean, compliant, and cost-effective.
Let’s walk through the ten most valuable automated policies and actions, each solving a real-world problem that plagues IT teams everywhere. These aren’t just theoretical best practices; they’re based on the daily realities of organizations like yours.
Every IT admin knows the pain: a user leaves, their account is disabled, but their licenses remain active, sometimes for months. Multiply this by dozens or hundreds of departures, and the wasted spend is staggering.
Automated license cleanup detects disabled accounts with active licenses and reclaims those licenses. This not only saves money but ensures that new hires can be onboarded without delay.
Admin accounts are the keys to your kingdom. If even one lacks multi-factor authentication, your entire environment is at risk. Yet, tracking MFA compliance manually is nearly impossible.
With risk mitigation automation, any admin account without MFA is flagged instantly. Automated notifications prompt users to enable MFA, and IT can take swift action to enforce compliance – closing one of the most common security gaps.
A Team with only one owner is a ticking time bomb. If that owner leaves or is disabled, the Team becomes orphaned, potentially locking out users and losing critical data.
Insufficient owners Policy monitors Teams for low ownership and prompts action, ensuring every Team has backup owners. This simple step prevents countless headaches down the line.
Sometimes, licenses remain assigned to users who are disabled but not yet deleted, often due to legal or HR requirements. Immediate removal could cause issues, but indefinite retention is costly.
License cleanup with a 30-day grace period strikes the right balance. Licenses are reclaimed after a set period, giving stakeholders time to act while still optimizing costs.
External forwarding rules are a classic data leakage risk. Left unchecked, they can quietly siphon sensitive information outside your organization.
Automated detection of external forwarding reviews mailboxes for risky rules and notifies IT or mailbox owners. With a 30-day review window, you can catch and remediate issues before they escalate.
Password hygiene is foundational to security, but users rarely change passwords unless prompted. Stale credentials are an open invitation to attackers.
Password age reminders automatically identify users with old passwords and send gentle nudges to update them. This keeps your environment safer, without IT having to chase users manually.
When a Team’s owner is disabled, the Team can quickly become unmanaged. This creates compliance risks and can disrupt business processes.
Automated owner replacement detects these scenarios and triggers ownership reassignment to another eligible user, ensuring every Team remains governed and accessible.
Power Automate flows are the silent engines behind many business processes. When a flow stops, work grinds to a halt, but owners may not notice until it’s too late.
Stopped flow notifications monitor for broken automations and alert the right people, so issues are resolved before they impact productivity.
Inactive users, those who haven’t logged in for months, often retain expensive licenses. Manual reviews are tedious and error-prone.
Inactive user license review identifies dormant accounts and prompts a review, so licenses can be reclaimed or reassigned as needed.
A Team named inappropriately or in violation of policy can create reputational, legal, or regulatory headaches.
Prohibited content review scans for Teams with flagged words or phrases and initiates a review process, allowing IT to address issues quickly and consistently
| Policy | Action | What it solves |
| Disabled user accounts with assigned licenses | Disabled Account License Cleanup | Frees up wasted licenses by removing them from deactivated users |
| Administrators without MFA | Risk Mitigation for Users without MFA | Flags and mitigates high-risk accounts lacking multi-factor authentication |
| Teams with very few owners | Insufficient Owners Alert & Action | Ensures Teams have enough owners to avoid orphaned workspaces |
| Licenses assigned to disabled users | License Cleanup with 30-Day Grace Period | Adds a grace period before reclaiming licenses, balancing cleanup with caution |
| Mailboxes with external redirect rules | External Email Forwarding Policy Violation (30 Days) | Detects and manages risky forwarding rules that could leak data |
| Users with passwords not changed in 6+ months | Password Age Reminder | Promotes better password hygiene with automated reminders |
| Teams with a disabled owner account | Replace Disabled Team Owners | Prevents governance gaps by reassigning ownership |
| Stopped Flows | Stopped Flow Notification | Notifies owners of broken Power Automate flows to ensure continuity |
| Licenses assigned to inactive users | Inactive User License Notification & Review | Identifies and reviews licenses tied to dormant accounts |
| Teams with prohibited words in name/description | Prohibited Content Team Review | Flags and reviews Teams with inappropriate or non-compliant naming |
What makes these automations truly powerful is their adaptability. Every organization is different. What’s a risk for one may be business as usual for another. Rencore Governance’s automation engine is built for this reality:
The days of manual Microsoft 365 governance are over. With the right automations in place, you can transform chaos into control, reducing risk, saving money, and freeing your IT team to focus on what matters most.
Rencore Governance makes it easy to implement these automations, giving you the tools to keep your environment secure, compliant, and efficient. No matter how fast you grow. Interested in learning more?