CIAOPS Getting Started with Office 365 Administration online course

You may have seen on my Twitter feed all the new online courses I have been posting up. You can of course take these courses individually but I have now combined them all into a single course;

Getting Started with Office 365 Administration

The course includes the following material:

1. Configuring Office 365, licensing and creating users

1.1 Create a trial Office 365 tenant via the web
1.2. Create Office 365 tenant via Volume Licensing
1.3. Set Partner of Record
1.4. Managing licensing, subscriptions and domains
1.5. Adding cloud users
1.6. Office 365 administration roles
1.7. Company profile and theming
1.8. Managing Office 365 Service Settings

2. Configuring users for email on the web and via Outlook

2.1. Using Outlook on the Web
2.2. Using Outlook on the desktop
2.3. Shared mailboxes
2.4. Configuring mailbox options
2.5. Office 365 groups

3. Configuring shared Document access via office 365 Team Sites

3.1. Accessing SharePoint Online
3.2. Uploading Documents to Team Sites
3.3. Adding apps to Team Sites
3.4. Creating sub-sites in Team Sites
3.5. Administrating SharePoint Online

4. Working with private documents using OneDrive for Business

4.1 The difference between OneDrive and Team
4.2 Uploading documents to OneDrive for Business
4.3 Synchronising Office 365 files to the desktop
4.4 Sharing Office 365 documents
4.5 Using the SharePoint Recycle Bin

5. Collaborating using Delve, Yammer and SharePoint

5.1. Using Delve
5.2. Enabling Enterprise Yammer
5.3. Using Enterprise Yammer
5.4. Using Office 365 video
5.5. Editing office 365 User Profiles

6. Integrating Skype for Business for all users in Office 365

6.1. Install Skype for Business client
6.2. Enabling external Skype for Business communications
6.3. Adding contacts in Skype for Business
6.4. Scheduling online meetings using Skype for Business
6.5. Conducting Online meetings using Skype for Business

7. Configuring and managing synchronised Office 365 users

7.1. Understanding Office 365 identity management
7.2. Installing Azure AD connect
7.3. Syncing local AD user to Office 365
7.4. Managing users with synchronised identities
7.5. Troubleshooting synchronised users

8. Office 365 PowerShell

8.1. Configuring Office 365 PowerShell access
8.2. Managing users with PowerShell
8.3. Managing mailboxes with PowerShell
8.4. Managing SharePoint with PowerShell
8.5. Managing Skype for Business with PowerShell

With more lessons coming soon.

Each lesson includes a short video tutorial as well as downloadable lesson notes. Each lesson also includes a number for questions to test your knowledge and understanding on the topic.

To celebrate the launch of this new course I have a number of discount coupon codes that will provide a discount of 10% off the normal price of this complete course. I only have a limited number of these coupons so please contact me via email (director@ciaops.com) to receive yours. I expect these coupons to go fast so if you are reading this after November 2015, I’d suggest there won’t be any left. So hurry.

Going forward I’m planning migrate much of my published content into these online courses. You can check out what is there via:

CIAOPS Academy

Where you will find each individual course plus aggregated courses like Getting Started with Office 365 Administration.

Keep you eyes peeled for more courses launching soon.

CIAOPS Configuring and managing synchronised Office 365 users online course now available

If you want to understand how to configure and manage the synchronisation of users from a local Active Directory to Office 365 then you can now do so thanks to my latest course:

Configuring and managing synchronised Office 365 users

Each lesson contains a short video tutorial, downloadable course notes and a quiz to test your knowledge. You can also ask questions and provide feedback to gain even more knowledge.

You’ll find this and a growing number of CIAOPS online courses at:

http://ciaops-academy.teachable.com/

Got a suggestion for a course you’d like to see me do? Then don;t be shy, let me know either via Twitter (@directorcia) or email (director@ciaops.com).

CIAOPS Office 365 PowerShell online course now available

I’ve been working hard recently building a lot of Office 365 content that I plan to offer online. The first of these projects is now public:

PowerShell for Office 365

You can go, sign up and take the the course immediately. It is based on my original eBook from a while back but has been updated with the latest information.

Each lesson contains a short video tutorial, downloadable course notes and a quiz to test your knowledge. You can also ask questions and provide feedback to gain even more knowledge.

I am aiming to improve and extend the course over time, so please let me know what you’d like to see n future updates to the content.

As I mentioned previously, I am starting to add more and more of these online courses which you’ll find at:

http://ciaops-academy.teachable.com/

So take a look at what’s there already and keep an eye there for new material coming REAL soon!

Are you going to Office 365 Nation?

Harry Brelsford has been running SMB reseller events for many years now. He continues this tradition with the Office 365 Nation event in Seattle from October 2 – 4, 2015 and you can get more details and register at:

http://fall2015.smbnation.com/

I have been lucky enough to again be selected to speak at the event this year. If you missed it, I also presented last year and here’s my summary of the whole event:

Review of office 365 Nation 2014

This year I’ll be presenting on a broad range of topics including:

– Office 365 Identity

– Yammer

– Office 365 Security and compliance

– Azure and Office 365 exam cram topics

– Office 365 for MAC

to name but a few. Chances are that I’ll also be doing a few impromptu sessions like I did last year.

But you know what the best thing about this event is? The networking. Catching up with peers and sharing experiences, gaining understanding and building relationships is something you can’t do as effectively in emails, social media or in forums.

I look forward to seeing everyone soon and if you aren’t registered then hop to it as I’m sure places are limited. Tell Harry I sent you.

Revised bootcamp notes publication now available

As I detailed a while back I have now updated my Bootcamp products offering to include:

1. Latest version of my Office 365 bootcamp notes. This OneNote notebook is something I use everyday to capture information about Office 365. It is my reference ‘bible’ covering everything from Exchange to Sharepoint, Delve to Single Sign on as well as troubleshooting, best practices and a range of PowerShell scripts and third party solutions that work with Office 365.

2. Latest version of my Azure bootcamp notes. This OneNote notebook contains my daily brain dump about Azure. It contains links, information, tutorials and more. Again, this is something I use everyday and update constantly.

3. Exam cram notes for the Office 365 70-347 and 70-346 exam. It contains information and links to help you pass the exam. It also has a number of practice exam questions to give you an idea of what might be covered in an exam.

4. Five (5) supporting Office 365 checklists and templates that you can use for your Office 365 implementation. These documents are in various Office formats (Word, Excel, etc).

There are two ways to get access to this material:

1. You can join my Cloud Business Blueprint community via:

http://www.cloudbusinessblueprint.com/members-sign-up/

where you’ll get immediate access to the latest versions plus heaps of other unique on demand training, cheat sheets, re-brandable content, articles AND access to the members forums to converse with other cloud resellers.

2. You can purchase the existing Office 365 bootcamp notes via;

http://www.e-junkie.com/ciaops/product/488325.php

for AU $148. This purchase will also entitle you to a 12 monthly subscription for updates to these products (generally updated monthly).

Also, given that the 74-325 Office for SMB exam has been superseded I have made the OneNote exam cram notes I created for this available for free download with all my other free material at:

http://www.ciaops.com/downloads

If nothing else, those bootcamp notes are going to provide a centralised and searchable way to locate just about anything to do with Office 365 and Azure. This will save you inordinate amounts of time and easily pay for your outlay. You’ll also get free updates for to all of these for 12 months once you purchase. Like I said, I use these notebooks EVERY DAY.

If you want some testimonials about these bootcamps and information provided visit:

http://www.ciaops.com/bootcamp/

Please support this material so I can continue creating more.

OneDrive news from Ignite

I’ve been catching up on the sessions from Ignite and one of the sessions I have been most keen to see is:

A File’s Future with OneDrive for Business – BRK2192

Why? OneDrive for Business sync client is currently, probably unfortunately, the weakest component of Office 365. I see a lot of frustration out there with clients when they hit the limits of this application. These can be overcome and minimized with some tuning but the sync software currently doesn’t really support they way many customers believe they should work with the cloud. Most want (inappropriately in my opinion) to sync everything from the cloud to every desktop. Like it or not, that is how they expect to work and at the moment the OneDrive for Business sync client struggles to support this.

As you can see from the above slide the OneDrive for Business team recognise that the sync client basically hasn’t met client expectations and fixing this is currently their highest priority.

(click image to enlarge)

The good news as shown on the roadmap above is that we can expect to see a next gen sync client in Q3 2015 with the final release before the end of the 2015 year.

(click image to enlarge)

The other exciting news is that before the end of the year the currently maximum limit of 20,000 file being synced will be removed, the maximum file size that can be synced will increase to 10GB and selective syncing of files from within a Document Library will be available.

There are a few other sessions on OneDrive at Ignite that I’ll be working through and reporting back what I find so stay tuned. However, I think the news is very positive now for OneDrive for Business in general. Yes, many of the changes coming have been a long time in materialising but the good news is that they will be with us shortly.

The news from Ignite has been very positive and the improvements Microsoft are being to Office 365, Azure and like are truly amazing. I’ll report on more of these as I work through all the content. Kudos also to Microsoft for making the content from Ignite readily available so quickly to review on demand. I certainly wish I could have attended in person but in some ways having access to the on demand content makes it even easier to stay up to date.

To view the sessions from Ignite visit:

https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015

New CIAOPS Office 365 bootcamp package coming

I am working on an update to my Office 365 bootcamp notes that I plan to offer. This new product will include:

1. OneNote notebook with all the knowledge I have accumulated over the years about Office 365. It includes links and information about the product. It includes troubleshooting tips and links, it includes links to third party solutions and so much more. Basically, everything I discover about office 365 goes into this notebook every day and I USE it everyday!

2. OneNote notebook with all the knowledge I have accumulated over the years about Azure. Like the Office 365 notebook, this one contains links, tips information and more about everything Azure. Everything I discover about Azure goes into this notebook and I am using it more and more EVERY day.

3. OneNote notebook with notes designed to help you pass the Office 365 70-346 certification exam.

4 OneNote notebook with notes designed to help you pass the Office 365 70-347 certification exam.

I plan to update all of these notebooks on a regular basis and make them available as an annual subscription. Before, when you bought the bootcamp notes you only got them as a point in time publication. With the product changing so rapidly much of the information becomes obsolete and out of date so quickly.

Also, because all the notebooks continue to grow over time I need to spend some dedicated time updating and improving them. However, if I am just doing that for myself then it always seems to take a lower priority. Having them as an subscription model will give me the impetus to ensure they are as up to date and relevant as possible.

There are two ways to get access to this material:

1. You can join my Cloud Business Blueprint community via:

http://www.cloudbusinessblueprint.com/members-sign-up/

2. You can purchase the existing Office 365 bootcamp notes via;

http://www.e-junkie.com/ciaops/product/488325.php

for AU $148. This purchase will entitle you to a 12 monthly subscription to my new bootcamp notes product when it becomes available soon.

As a sweetner for option 2 (as everything offered is already part of option 1 anyway), I will also throw in, for a limited time, my:

Getting Started With Azure (valued at AU $120)

and

Getting Started with SharePoint Online Tutorial Team Site Standard Edition (valued at AU $90).

So that’s an extra AU $210 of value if you sign up today for the ‘pre-release’.

Note, this ‘pre-release’ of my new bootcamp notes product will only be available for a very limited time. As soon as I have put the finishing touches on it and launched it, then there’ll be no more sweeteners.

So many people come to me asking where they can find information about Office 365 (and now more so Azure). With this offer you can have access to the information I use in an easy to access format that you can upload to the cloud and sync and access on every device (how I do it).

As a final point, if you enjoy and obtain benefit from all the free stuff I do like this blog, my YouTube channel, my free downloads, my open sourced SharePoint Guide then I’d REALLY appreciate your support. Doing so will allow me to focus more on providing you a great solution and all the up to date information you need in one location for Office 365 and Azure.