<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1703665079923990&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">

What are the Microsoft 365 applications?

What are the Microsoft 365 applications?

M365 Applications Summary
Posted by TEAM ASCEND on 8/17/21 9:39 AM

<< Back to Blog

Do you ever wonder what all those applications in the Microsoft App Launcher do? From Bookings to Forms, MyAnalytics to PowerBI, Microsoft 365 has tons of applications to help you manage your day-to-day. Some of these apps will also help you manage your team, schedule meetings, and understand where everyone spends most of their time. The following is a quick summary of non-Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) applications in M365.

Quick Links
Bookings Delve Forms Kaizala Lists
MyAnalytics Planner PowerApps Power Automate PowerBi
Stream To-Do Whiteboard    

 


 
 
Bookings 
  • Configuration  Microsoft Bookings | Microsoft Docs 
  • What is it? – Bookings is an app that allows online appointment scheduling for internal and external users.  
  • How can we use it? – It is great for virtual meetings (with Teams integration) when you want a person to reserve a meeting time. This ntegrates with an individual user’s Outlook Calendar.
  • Security – It can be turned on or off at the organization level and for individual users. 
Delve 
  • Configuration  Delve  
  • What is it? – Delve is a search-based app that presents information about individual users in M365. 
  • How can we use it? – Find someone who can help solve a problem. This app shows not only information about the user, but also their relationship to content and other people. 
  • Security – Most user fields can be synced to local AD properties. Other users cannot see files they do not have permission for. Content and People relationships can be disabled (via MS Graph). 
Forms 
  • Configuration  Forms Documentation   
  • What is it? – Forms is a survey or questionnaire tool. 
  • How can we use it? – Potential replacement for 3rd-party survey tools like SurveyMonkey. Places survey results into an Excel spreadsheet. 
  • Security – Forms Security Can be set up for external sharing and can be turned off for individual users. 
Kaizala 
  • Configuration  Kaizala Settings  
  • What is it? – Kaizala Pro is a phone messaging application. It is in process to be integrated into MS Teams and will be deprecated. 
  • How can we use it? – Provides a phone directory, secure chat, group channels, “Cards” mini-apps for Surveys, Polls, and job-related tasks. 
  • Security – It can be disabled organizationally, but users can still use the app for personal use. 
Lists 
  • Configuration  Lists Management   
  • What is it? – Lists is an app that shortcuts the creation and access to lists in SharePoint and Teams. 
  • How can we use it? – It is good for scenarios where users need quick access to lists, bypassing site-level navigation. 
  • Security – Lists is part of all Teams sites and enabled by default. It can be disabled. organizationally.  Lists provides the ability to read, create, and edit lists and is tied to the user’s SharePoint and Teams permissions.  Users can’t create lists using the mobile client. 
MyAnalytics 
  • Configuration  MyAnalytics for Admins    
  • What is it? – Tracks and provides information about how a person utilizes their time and suggestions about how to make better use of time. Uses Outlook data. 
  • How can we use it? – Intended to improve an individual user's time utilization. 
  • Security – You can turn this on or off for the organization, and users can opt-in or out. 
Planner 
  • Configuration  Planner for Admins 
  • What is it? – Lightweight task management application 
  • How can we use it? – For task management. It also interacts with Power Automate. 
  • Security – You can turn this on or off for the organization. The ability to create plans is based on the ability to create an O365 group. It can also be configured for external users. 
PowerApps 
  • Configuration – PowerApps 
  • What is it? – A Rapid Application Development Platform. 
  • How can we use it? – PowerApps is a replacement for InfoPath. You can use data from more sources than SharePoint. It also facilitates responsive form creation. 
  • Security – Based on user licensing. All users with enterprise M365 licenses can create apps. Users can be restricted from creating apps by adjusting environment settings:  
Power Automate (Flow) 
  • Configuration – Power Automate 
  • What is it? – A workflow Development Platform. 
  • How can we use it? – Replaces SharePoint-based workflow engines. It can be used across Office applications and with non-Microsoft applications. 
  • Security – Based on user licensing. All users with enterprise M365 licenses can create workflows. This cannot be restricted. 

PowerBI 

  • Configuration  Power BI   
  • What is it? – A data analytics tool. 
  • How can we use it? – Provides data reporting and analytics functionality, particularly for data drill down. 
  • Security – Based on user licensing. Additional licensing is required to be able to create, publish, and drill down on published reports. 

Stream  

  • Configuration  Stream Overview  
  • What is it? – A Video Streaming Service. 
  • How can we use it? – Video storage recently transitioned to use SharePoint as the backend. Integrated tools for editing and presentation. It can record from Teams. 
  • Security – SharePoint permissions control access. 

Sway  

  • Configuration  Administrator Settings for Sway  
  • What is it? – A tool to compile text, video, and images in an interactive online format. 
  • How can we use it? – Create web-enabled content displays.
  • Security – You can disable Sway on a user-by-user basis, enable external sharing, and control content sources. Files are stored in Azure storage. 

To-Do 

  • Configuration  To-Do  
  • What is it? – A personal task management tool; presents tasks from Outlook. 
  • How can we use it? – A shortcut to Outlook tasks with some minor additional organization screens.
  • Security – You can disable To-Do on a user-by-user basis by licensing; requires Exchange Online. It is available as a locally installed app. 

Whiteboard 

  • Configuration  Enable Microsoft Whiteboard  
  • What is it? – A digital Whiteboard. 
  • How can we use it? – Used like a physical whiteboard in virtual meetings. 
  • Security – You can disable it at the organization level. Files are stored in Azure and can be shared with others.

Note: the apps you have access to are based on your M365 license.

Contact Us if you’re curious about which apps are available to you! Looking to adopt Microsoft 365? Look to our experts who've helped many organizations with a seamless Microsoft 365 Migration.

New call-to-action

 

<< Back to Blog

Posted in Microsoft, IT Tips