AAD Group-Based License Management Generally Available

• AAD group-based license management can help organizations manage licenses for Microsoft services in a more scalable manner.
• The new capability is compatible with traditional user-based licensing but requires manual work to move from the old model to the new one.
• Group-based licensing also enables the configuration of service plans available within the licensed level of service, across all users.
• • Group-based licensing does not offer any reporting, and organizations will need to monitor deployments to ensure licenses are provisioned successfully.

Azure Active Directory (AAD) group-based licensing can be used to assign User Subscription Licenses (User SLs) to end users for Office 365, Windows 10 with AAD-based activation, and other products and services. Group-based licensing assigns User SLs based on AAD group membership, rather than assigning them directly to users. This functionality could make assigning and auditing licenses of Microsoft-hosted services and select other products easier. The capability, available in preview for more than a year, became generally available in Oct. 2018.