MGDC for SharePoint FAQ: How can I estimate my Azure bill? Updated!

MGDC for SharePoint FAQ: How can I estimate my Azure bill? Updated!

by | Nov 1, 2024 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Introduction


 


When gathering SharePoint data through Microsoft Graph Data Connect, you are billed through Azure. As I write this blog, the price to pull 1,000 objects from Microsoft Graph Data Connect in the US is $0.75, plus the cost for Azure infrastructure like Azure Storage and Azure Synapse.


 


That is true for all datasets except the SharePoint Files dataset, which has a different billing rate. Because of its typical high volume, the SharePoint Files dataset is billed at $0.75 per 50,000 objects.


 


I wrote a blog about what counts as an object, but I frequently get questions about how to estimate the overall Azure bill for the Microsoft Graph Data Connect for SharePoint for a specific project. Let me try to clarify things…


 


Before we start, here are a few notes and disclaimers:



  • These are estimates and your specific Azure bill will vary.

  • Check the official Azure links provided. Rates may vary by country and over time.

  • These are Azure pay-as-you-go list prices in the US as of October 2024.

  • You may benefit from Azure discounts, like savings using a pre-paid plan.


How many objects?


 


To estimate the number of objects, you start by finding out the number of sites in the tenant. This should include all sites (not just active sites) in your tenant. You can find this number easily in the SharePoint Admin Center. That will be the number of objects in your SharePoint Sites dataset.


 


Finding the number of SharePoint Groups and SharePoint Permissions will require some estimation. I recently collected some telemetry and saw that the average number of SharePoint Groups per Site for a sample of large tenants was around 31. The average SharePoint permissions per site was around 61. The average number of files per site was 2,874.


 


Delta pulls (gathering just what changed) will be smaller, but that also varies depending on how much collaboration happens in your tenant (in the Delta numbers below, I am estimating a 5% change for an average collaboration level).


 


Here’s a table to help you estimate your Microsoft Graph Data Connect for SharePoint costs:


Jose_Barreto_0-1730410840546.png


 


Notes for the table above:


* Higher collaboration level assumes twice the average in terms of groups, permissions and files.
** Security scenario includes Sites, Groups and Permissions. Capacity Scenario includes Sites and Files.
*** Delta assumes 5% change for average collaboration and 10% change for high collaboration. These are on the high side for one week’s worth of changes. Your numbers will likely be smaller.


 


As you can see, smaller tenants with an average collaboration will see costs below $10 for the smaller Sites dataset and below $1,000 for larger datasets like Permissions or Files. 


 


If you want to estimate the number of SharePoint objects more precisely, there is an option to sample the dataset and get a total object count without pulling the entire dataset. For more information, see MGDC for SharePoint FAQ: How can I sample or estimate the number objects in a dataset? 


 


 


The official information about Microsoft Graph Data Connect pricing is at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/graph-data-connect/


 


How much storage?


 


The SharePoint information you get from Microsoft Graph Data Connect will be stored in an Azure Storage account. That also incurs some cost, but it’s usually small when compared to the Microsoft Graph Data Connect costs for data pulls. The storage will be proportional to the number of objects and to the size of these objects.


 


Again, this will vary depending on the amount of collaboration in the tenant. More sharing means more members in groups and more people in the permissions, which will result in more objects and also larger objects.


 


I also did some estimating of object size and arrived at around 2KB per SharePoint Site object, 20KB per SharePoint Group object, 3KB per Permission object and 1KB per file object. There are several Azure storage options including Standard vs. Premium, LRS vs. GRS, v1 vs. v2 and Hot vs. Cool. For Microsoft Graph Data Connect, you can go with a Standard + LRS + V2 + Cool blob storage account, which costs $0.01 per GB per month.


 


Here’s a table to help you estimate your Azure Storage costs:


Jose_Barreto_1-1730411164939.png


 


The same notes from the previous table apply here.


 


As you can see, smaller tenants with average collaboration will see storage costs below $1000/month, most of it going to storing the larger Files dataset. The cost for delta dataset storage is also fairly small, even for the largest of tenants. There are additional costs per storage operation like read and write but those are negligible at this scale (for instance, $0.065 per 10,000 writes and $0.005 per 10,000 reads).


 


The official information about Azure Storage pricing is at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/storage/blobs/


 


What about Synapse?


 


You will also typically use Azure Synapse to move the SharePoint data from Microsoft 365 to your Azure account. You could run a pipeline daily to get the information and do some basic processing, like computing deltas or creating aggregations.


 


Here are a few of the items that are billed for Azure Synapse when running Microsoft Graph Data Connect pipelines:


 



  • Azure Hosted – Integration Runtime – Data Movement – $0.25/DIU-hour

  • Azure Hosted – Integration Runtime – Pipeline Activity (Azure Hosted) – $0.005/hour

  • Azure Hosted – Integration Runtime – Orchestration Activity Run – $1 per 1,000 runs

  • vCore – $0.15 per vCore-hour


 


As with Azure Storage, the costs here are small. You will likely need one pipeline run per day and it will typically run in less than one hour for a small tenant. Large tenants might need a few hours per run to gather all their SharePoint datasets. You should expect less than $10/month for smaller tenants and less than $100/month for larger and/or more collaborative tenants.


 


The official information about Azure Synapse pricing is at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/synapse-analytics/


 


Closing notes


 


These are the main meters in Azure to get you started with costs related to Microsoft Graph Data Connect for SharePoint. I suggest experimenting with a small test/dev tenant to get familiar with Azure billing.


 


For more information about Microsoft Graph Data Connect for SharePoint, see the links at https://aka.ms/SharePointData.

Update on classic storage account retirement and upcoming changes for classic storage customers

by | Nov 1, 2024 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We previously announced that support would end for retired Azure classic storage accounts on 31 August 2024. Now that we are past the retirement date and Azure classic storage accounts are not supported, we have some updates to share on our plans and the considerations for customers who have not migrated their remaining classic storage accounts to Azure Resource Manager.


 


On or after 1 November 2024:



  • Your ability to perform write operations using the classic service model APIs, including PUT and PATCH, will be limited. You will only be able to perform read and list operations using the classic service model APIs.

  • Your remaining classic storage accounts will be migrated to Azure Resource Manager on your behalf on a rolling schedule. Your data will continue to be stored, but any applications that use the classic service model APIs to perform management plane operations will experience disruptions if you’re actively using any write operations. Write operations will only be available through the Azure Resource Manager APIs after your account(s) have been migrated. 

    • Note: There are no impacts on the availability of the data plane APIs before, during, or after the migration of classic storage accounts.




Azure storage accounts under Azure Resource Manager provides the same capabilities as well as new features, including:



  • A management layer that simplifies deployment by enabling you to create, update, and delete resources.

  • Resource grouping, which allows you to deploy, monitor, manage, and apply access control policies to resources as a group.


 


To avoid service disruptions, you’ll need to migrate your classic storage accounts to Azure Resource Manager as soon as possible. Our recommendation is that customers self-service their migrations using the existing migration capabilities instead of waiting for Azure Storage to migrate any remaining classic storage accounts on your behalf. This ensures that you can migrate on your schedule and minimize impacts. We cannot guarantee that you will not experience service interruptions if you further delay your migration.


 


Required action


To avoid service disruptions, migrate your classic storage accounts as soon as possible. Additionally, update any management operations in code or applications that target the classic deployment model. Read our FAQ and migration guidance for more information.


 


Help and support


If you have questions, get answers from community experts in Microsoft Q&A. If you have a support plan and you need technical help, open the Azure portal and select the question mark icon at the top of the page.


 


FAQ


 


Q: I want to delete my account, but the operation is blocked. How do I delete my account if write operations are blocked on the classic control plane? 
A: You can delete your account using the Azure Resource Manager APIs for Azure Storage after your account has been migrated from the classic service model.


 


Q: Will I be able to use the legacy PowerShell cmdlets to manage my classic storage accounts?
A: No. After your accounts have been migrated, they can be managed with the modern PowerShell cmdlets for Azure Storage and Azure Resource Manager. 


 


Q: What resource group will my migrated resources appear in? 


A: Any classic storage accounts that are migrated on your behalf will be placed in a new resource group. The name of the new resource group follows the pattern -Migrated. For more information on the migration process, visit Understand storage account migration from the classic deployment model to Azure Resource Manager. 

The next chapter for the Schedule Board: Enhanced Usability and Performance 

The next chapter for the Schedule Board: Enhanced Usability and Performance 

by | Oct 31, 2024 | Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Revolutionizing Your Scheduling Experience 

Welcome to the next chapter in scheduling. Today, we are thrilled to unveil the dramatically enhanced Schedule Board on Universal Resource Scheduling. 

A Seamless Transition 

At the core of this update, we are moving from the legacy ExtJS to a modern React component for the schedule board. Our guiding principle for this upgrade has been visual parity. The Resource panel, Requirements panel, Filters, and Views are all exactly as you know and love. But look closer, and you’ll discover the subtle enhancements we’ve made based on your valued feedback. 

Performance You’ll Feel 

You’ll notice that everything feels a little bit snappier, and that’s because it is! A more efficient React infrastructure means  

  • a 30% reduction in load times when navigating through pages in the resource panel 
  • a 40% reduction in load times when switching views 
  • a 55% reduction in load times when saving bookings 
  • a staggering 68% reduction in load times when switching tabs 

and more.  

This isn’t just performance improvement; it’s a performance revolution. 

Intuitive Usability Enhancements 

We’ve heard your feedback and incorporated your top requested usability improvements: 

1) Days of the Week: With the new React board, you can now filter which days of the week you want to have displayed on your board’s hourly view. For example, if your technicians only work Monday to Friday, you can exclude the non-working days Saturday and Sunday for a more space-efficient board. 

2) Reorder Tabs Control: Another top request from you was the ability to reorder tabs. For example, you can now prioritize your frequently used tab to load first when you open the schedule board. You can also multi-select more than one tab and move them all at once! This additional flexibility streamlines your day-to-day operations, making your workflow smoother and more intuitive. 

3) Ellipsis control: In the past, your dispatchers may not have known that there was other capabilities off the resource panel such as View resource card or Get driving directions. Now with the new ellipsis (3 dot) control, they can access these options quickly and intuitively.  

4) Dayline: On the previous schedule board, locating your current time and day position on a dense board was be a challenge. The new dayline makes it easier than ever to navigate the schedule board with precision and ease. 

Experience the Next Chapter Today 

The new Schedule Board on Universal Resource Scheduling is not just an upgrade; it’s a transformation. It’s faster, smarter, and more flexible, all while maintaining the familiarity you rely on. We can’t wait for you to experience the new level of efficiency and usability it brings to your scheduling tasks. 

Join us in embracing this leap forward on 1 Nov 2024. Your scheduling, reimagined. 

The post The next chapter for the Schedule Board: Enhanced Usability and Performance  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.

Microsoft now a Leader in three major analyst reports for SIEM

by | Oct 31, 2024 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We’re excited and honored to be positioned in the Leaders Category in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SIEM (security information and event management) for Enterprise 2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US51541324, September 2024)—our third major analyst report in SIEM to name Microsoft as a Leader. We were recognized in the most recent reports as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Information and Event Management and as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Security Analytics Platforms, Q4 2022. We believe this position validates our vision and continued investments in Microsoft Sentinel, making it a best-in-class, cloud-native SIEM solution. It’s always a rewarding experience when trusted analysts recognize the continued work we’ve put into helping our customers modernize their operations, improve their security posture, and work more efficiently. 


 


A Leader in the market with an innovative solution for the SOC


 


Microsoft Sentinel provides a unique experience for customers to help them act faster and stay safer while managing the scaling costs of security. Customers choose our SIEM in order to:  


 



  • Protect everything with a comprehensive SIEM solution. Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native solution that supports detection, investigation, and response across multi-cloud and multi-platform data sources with 340+ out-of-the-box connectors A strength of Microsoft’s offering is its breadth, which includes user entity and behavior analytics (UEBA), threat intelligence and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) capabilities, along with native integrations into Microsoft Defender threat protection products. 


  • Enhance security with a unified security operations platform. Customers get the best protection when pairing Microsoft Sentinel with Defender XDR in Microsoft’s unified security operations platform. The integration not only brings the two products together into one experience but combines functionalities across each to maximize efficiency and security. One example is the unified correlation engine which delivers 50% faster alerting between first- and third-party data, custom detections and threat intelligence.3 Customers can stay safer with a unified approach, with capabilities like automatic attack disruption—which contains attacks in progress, limiting their impact at machine speed.   


 



  • Address any scenario. As the first cloud-native SIEM, Microsoft Sentinel helps customers observe threats across their digital estate with the flexibility required for today’s challenges. Our content hub offerings include over 200 Microsoft- created solutions and over 280 community contributions. The ability to adapt to the unique use cases of an organization is something called out in both the Forrester and Gartner reports.  


 



  • Scale your security coverage with cloud flexibility. Compared with legacy, on-premises SIEM solutions, Microsoft Sentinel customers see up to a 234% return on investment (ROI).1 This makes it an attractive option for customers looking for a scalable offering to meet the evolving needs of their business while managing the costs of data. We’ve recently launched a new, low-cost data tier called Auxiliary Logs to help customers increase the visibility of their digital environment, while keeping their budgets in check. In addition, Microsoft’s SOC Optimizations feature, a first of its kind offering, provides targeted recommendations to users on how to better leverage their security data to manage costs and maximize their protection, based on their specific environment and using frameworks like the MITRE attack map  


 



  • Respond quickly to emergent threats with AI. Security Copilot is a GenAI tool that can help analysts increase the speed of their response, uplevel their skills, and improve the quality of their work. 92% of analysts reported using Copilot helped make them more productive and 93% reported an improvement in the quality of their work.


What’s next in Microsoft Security 


 


Microsoft is dedicated to continued leadership in security through ongoing investment to provide customers with the intelligence, automation, and scalability they need to protect their businesses and work efficiently. New and upcoming enhancements include more unified features across SIEM and XDR, exposure management and cloud security in the unified security operations platform, and our SIEM migration tool—which now supports conversion of Splunk detections to Microsoft Sentinel analytics rules and additional Copilot skills to help analysts do their job better.  


 


To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity. 

Microsoft named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Sales Force Automation Platforms  

Microsoft named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Sales Force Automation Platforms  

by | Oct 31, 2024 | Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

As organizations globally grapple with the accelerated development and adoption of AI, business leaders are keen to use the potential of generative AI in transforming revenue-generating functions like sales. Investing in cutting-edge AI capabilities will set up sales teams to bolster customer experience, being able to understand the customer needs and delivering a highly personalized buying experience at a much faster pace.  

retailer conducting a transaction

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

Increase seller efficiency.


Learn more

Today, many sales teams are bogged down with legacy customer relationship management (CRM) systems designed decades ago, manually entering data and dealing with interfaces built for a slower pace, all of which leaves little time for what truly matters: connecting with customers. Sales leaders are now looking for AI-powered technology that helps them build a stronger pipeline, convert opportunities quicker, and build strong relationships with customers. By using technology that reduces the amount of time spent on manual tasks, sellers gain valuable hours each day to work on opportunities that are already in motion. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2026, B2B sales organizations using generative-AI-embedded sales technologies will reduce the amount of time spent on prospecting and customer-meeting prep by more than 50%.1 

With this context, today, we’re excited to share that Microsoft has been recognized as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation for the fourteenth consecutive year.

Figure of Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation Platforms

Figure 1: Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation Platforms** (25 August 2024)  

How Microsoft is making selling easier 

Close more deals and spend less time on tasks 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales enables sellers to close more deals and increase personal productivity with a feature-rich CRM system that includes next-generation AI features out-of-box. Sellers can confidently develop and prioritize their pipeline with lead and opportunity qualification. Sales helps sellers deliver high-quality engagements with prospective customers by helping them prepare with relationship insights, next-step recommendations, and suggestions for improving their interactions. Sales managers can build high-performance sales teams with the ability to identify sellers who need coaching, monitor business health with intelligent forecasting, and scale best practices with automated sales sequences. 

Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales works as a companion for sales representatives by providing generative AI-powered features designed to reduce manual and time-consuming work for sellers. For instance, sellers can quickly get up to speed with accounts, opportunities, contacts, and leads with record summarization and recent changes in the prospective customer organizations. They can also get news updates on accounts along with answers and content recommendations for that account using access to sales documents in SharePoint. Sellers can get help summarizing long email threads and responding to threads with Copilot drafting emails with infused CRM context. Right before taking meetings with customers, sellers can ask Copilot for meeting preparation assistance as well. 

Access sales insights everywhere, no matter where you choose to work 

At Microsoft, we know first-hand that sellers often spend their time outside of their CRM in productivity apps like Outlook and Microsoft Teams. That’s why Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales seamlessly brings CRM insights right into the seller’s flow of work. Copilot for Sales brings together Microsoft 365 Copilot with a role-based agent that connects with your CRM platform to bring sales insights and generative AI into the flow of work. Sellers can simplify their daily tasks by using Copilot to draft e-mails, set up meetings, or summarize previous meetings and e-mail threads. They can save time with Copilot by generating pitch decks, meeting preparation briefs, and data visualizations in PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. When it’s time for a sales call, sellers can use Copilot to get insights right within Teams, with AI-generated sales tips, related information, and answers to customer’s questions. After the call, Copilot provides a rich meeting recap that allows the seller to stay focused on next steps.  

Integration with an expanded ecosystem 

Organizations can unlock the full potential of the Microsoft Cloud to empower their sales teams with seamless integration at every step. The Sales integration with Teams fosters open communication and collaboration across marketing, sales, and service departments. With automatic data synchronization between Microsoft 365 apps and Sales or other CRM platforms, sellers can access customer and opportunity information directly within Teams and Outlook. Additionally, sales operation leads and managers can utilize Microsoft Power BI to analyze trends and generate reports. Microsoft Power Platform further enables sellers to automate workflows, develop apps, and analyze data, enhancing agility and driving innovation. 

Our customers’ success 

First West Credit Union is headquartered in Langley, British Columbia, and operates through four locally-known brands to serve members across the province. After a comprehensive request for proposal (RFP) process involving multiple vendors, First West decided to replace its earlier CRM solutions with Sales. The implementation was completed in record time.

“In my experience, these are typically 24-month journeys. The initial deployment of our Sales system was completed in just 11 months. This expedited rollout enabled us to seamlessly transition from and decommission our outdated legacy CRM systems, marking a significant achievement in our digital transformation journey.”

Darrell Jaggers, CIO & Chief Transformation Officer, First West Credit Union

The sales advisors at First West Credit Union are already realizing value. The manual reporting process used to take 20 minutes, but member discovery now takes only a few minutes with Sales, driving productivity gains of more than 75%. Within the first month of launching Sales, First West’s advisors had completed more than 2,600 member discoveries, marking a 54% surge in adoption compared to the previous approach. 

Alkemy, a specialty chemical systems company, transformed its sales operations by adopting Sales in 2019. Partnering with Intelibis, they automated customer segmentation, digitized sales processes, and integrated with Power Automate and SharePoint. This shift reduced their operational burden by 90%, generated over 2,900 reports, and significantly improved customer service. Alkemy now aims to become fully digital, using predictive controls to expand in the marketplace. 

As organizations continue to adopt AI at an unprecedented pace, at Microsoft we are focused on delivering the most cutting-edge experiences built on trust and security in leading products like Sales.

Learn more about Dynamics 365 and sales 

Contact your Microsoft representative to learn more about the value and return on investments, as well as the best way you can get started with Sales and Copilot for Sales. 

Sources:

  1. Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation Platforms, Adnan Zijadic, Guy Wood, Varun Agarwal, Steve Rietberg, 24 August 2024.  

*Gartner is a registered trademark and service mark and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.  

**This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft.  

The post Microsoft named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Sales Force Automation Platforms   appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.