Naming convention policies in Automate365 are essential for maintaining a well-organized, searchable, and compliant Microsoft 365 environment. These policies ensure that every new workspace created by provisioning a template adheres to predefined naming standards. By enforcing consistent names, you improve clarity, simplify administration, and enhance the overall user experience.
Anatomy of a Naming Convention
In Automate365, each naming convention is structured around three distinct blocks, allowing for flexible and powerful combinations:
Prefix: Text that appears before the main resource name.
Resource Name: The primary name chosen for the workspace during the provisioning process.
Suffix: Text that appears after the main resource name.
Each of these blocks (Prefix, Resource Name, Suffix) can be configured in two main ways:
String
You can define a fixed string of text that will always appear in that block. This is ideal for incorporating departmental codes, project years, or other consistent identifiers.
Example:
DEPT-or-2025
Mapped to Entra ID Attributes
For dynamic and personalized naming, you can map the Prefix or Suffix block to specific user attributes of the person requesting the workspace. This automatically pulls relevant user information into the name. The following Entra ID attributes can be mapped:
Title
Department
Company
Office
State or Province
Country or Region
Resource Name Behavior
The Resource Name block is designed to capture the unique name chosen by the end-user during the workspace provisioning request.
If the Resource Name block is left empty in your naming convention policy, Automate365 will use whatever name the user provides for the new workspace as its core name. See example below.
Example of the naming convention policy:
Request to the user during provisioning:
Naming convention examples
Let's look at a few examples to illustrate how these blocks combine to form powerful naming policies:
Example 1: Departmental Prefix
Prefix:
DEPT-(String)Resource Name: (Left Empty)
Suffix: (Left Empty)
Resulting Names:
DEPT-HR,DEPT-IT,DEPT-Marketing(Explanation: The user provides "HR", "IT", or "Marketing" as the resource name, and the static prefix is added.)
Example 2: Project Year Suffix
Prefix: (Left Empty)
Resource Name: (Left Empty)
Suffix:
-2025(String)Resulting Names:
ProjectCarpex-2025,BuildingSite-2025(Explanation: The user provides "ProjectCarpex" or "BuildingSite" as the resource name, and the static suffix is appended.)
Example 3: Dynamic Department Prefix (from Entra ID)
Prefix:
Department(User attribute) "-" (String)Resource Name: (Left Empty)
Suffix:
-Project(String)Resulting Names (for a user in the "Sales" department):
Sales-Carpex-Project,Sales-Alpha-Project(Explanation: The user's department ("Sales") is automatically pulled as the prefix, combined with the user-provided resource name and a static suffix.)
Example 4: Combined Static and Dynamic
Prefix:
OFFICE_(String)Office(User attribute)Resource Name: (Left Empty)
Suffix:
-Group(String)Resulting Names (for a user with "London" in their Office attribute):
OFFICE_London-Project Phoenix-Group(Explanation: A static prefix is combined with the user's office from Entra ID, the user-provided resource name, and a static suffix.)
By leveraging these flexible naming convention policies, Automate365 ensures that your Microsoft 365 workspaces are consistently named, easily identifiable, and aligned with your organizational standards.
Why Automate365 for Naming Policies?
While Microsoft 365 offers some native capabilities for naming conventions, Automate365 significantly extends this control across your entire digital workspace, addressing key gaps in the out-of-the-box experience.
In Microsoft 365, native naming convention enforcement is primarily handled within the Microsoft Entra Admin Center, providing control over Microsoft 365 Groups. This means services like Microsoft Teams, which are built upon Microsoft 365 Groups, indirectly benefit from these rules.
However, when it comes to direct naming enforcement for other critical services, such as SharePoint sites, Microsoft Teams (beyond the underlying Microsoft 365 Group), or Power Platform environments, Microsoft's native admin centers do not offer built-in naming rules. To achieve consistent naming across these diverse areas, organizations typically need to implement custom provisioning solutions.
Admin Center | Enforce Naming | Use Case |
Entra Admin Center | ✅ Native (with P1 license) | Group/Team naming policies |
Teams Admin Center | ❌ No built-in naming policy enforcement (inherits M365 Group name) | View/manage Team names |
SharePoint Admin Center | ❌ No built-in naming policy enforcement | Provision site names/url |
Power Platform Admin | ❌ No built-in naming policy enforcement | Power Apps / Power Automate |
This is where Automate365 provides a crucial advantage. By centralizing naming convention policies within its template-driven provisioning, Automate365 fills this native gap, allowing you to consistently apply your desired naming rules to all new workspaces—including SharePoint sites, Teams, and other group-connected services—from a single, intuitive platform.
Beyond establishing consistent naming, you can further enhance your governance by preventing the use of inappropriate terms in workspace titles.