How do I run a clean license audit in Microsoft Admin Center?
An audit is not a single click, it is a tour of three screens: active licenses, assigned users and sign-in activity. Anyone who has not signed in for 30 or 60 days can almost always be trimmed.
Try this first
- 1Open admin.microsoft.com and go to Billing, Your products, there you see per SKU what you pay and what you have assigned.
- 2Go to Users, Active users and sort by Last sign-in, users with no activity in 30 or 60 days are review candidates.
- 3Click on Licenses and apps per candidate and check which SKU is assigned, sometimes someone has E3 where Business Standard would do.
- 4Write down every change with date and reason, an audit without a log is hard to defend later to accountants or management.
When to bring us in
If you want a first audit with a second opinion, we can take a look and deliver a pragmatic optimization report.
See also
- New hire has an account but cannot reach Outlook or TeamsAn M365 account without a license is an empty shell. Assigning takes a few clicks, but picking the right plan pays off long-term.
- Employee left, but their email must be retainedPulling the license straight away starts a 30-day timer on the mailbox. The right route keeps access to the mail without paying for the license.
- We pay for licenses nobody usesBetween leavers, duplicate plans, and test accounts there is often 10-20% wasted license spend. A usage report exposes it fast.
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