How to Export Users with Manager Report in Microsoft 365

User onboarding in Microsoft 365 involves assigning the right manager for users to support performance tracking, accountability, and organizational oversight. Whether you're handling a single user or multiple users, it’s essential to add a manager to a user in Microsoft 365.

While it's a straightforward process to assign a manager in the Microsoft 365 admin center, it becomes tedious to update manager assignments for multiple users during departmental changes or role transitions. For a more efficient approach, you can use the PowerShell script below to bulk assign managers in Microsoft 365.

Bulk update managers using a CSV file in Microsoft 365

• Use '-ImportUsersFromCsvPath' parameter with the above script to assign a Microsoft 365 manager to the list of users available in a CSV file.
• The CSV file should have the User Principal Name (UPN) of the users with the header 'username'.

.\SetAzureADUserManager.ps1 -ImportUsersFromCsvPath"C:\Windows\ImportUserFromCsvPath.csv" -ManagerId <ManagerObjectId>

With the above method, you can easily assign managers to multiple users in Microsoft Entra ID. Moreover, this script also covers various other use cases like assigning Microsoft 365 managers based on user properties, replacing existing manager with new manager, and more.

Managers play a crucial role in guiding their teams, approving requests, and keeping workflows on track. However, unauthorized or accidental changes to manager assignments can disrupt team structures and lead to inaccuracies in the organization’s chart. To maintain a clear reporting structure, it’s important to audit changes to users’ managers in Microsoft 365.

Audit User Manager Changes in Microsoft Entra ID

While the Microsoft Entra admin center allows you to audit user manager changes, it provides only basic details, such as the event type, date, time, and status. It lacks crucial information like the affected user and their assigned or removed manager, which makes it difficult to gain full visibility into these changes.

• The user manager changes displays all assignment and removal actions, with charts like “Performed by” showing how many changes each user or service account made.
• The report also includes detailed information, such as the event time, modified user, performed by, result status, and more.

Microsoft 365 user management goes beyond provisioning accounts; it requires understanding the organizational structure of managers and their direct reports to maintain clarity and support targeted analysis.

For example, if you need to review license usage or activities of users reporting to a specific manager, you can identify and analyze their data. This approach supports performance tracking, helps in finding users, and enables effective productivity assessment.

Get a list of all Entra ID users under a manager using PowerShell

Connect to the Microsoft Graph PowerShell using the below cmdlet.

Connect-MgGraph –Scopes "User.Read.All"

Execute the following cmdlet to get all the the direct reports under a specific manager in Microsoft 365.

$ManagerName = "<ManagerName>"

Get-MgUser -All -ExpandProperty Manager | Where-Object { $_.Manager -ne $null -and $_.Manager.AdditionalProperties["displayName"] -eq $ManagerName } | Select-Object UserPrincipalName, DisplayName, @{Name="Manager"; Expression={$_.Manager.AdditionalProperties["displayName"]}} 

Note: Replace <ManagerName> with the actual username of the manager to view their direct reports in Microsoft 365.

When a direct report leaves the organization, Microsoft 365 initiates automatic steps as part of the M365 user offboarding process. Below are the key events that occur without admin intervention.

Organization Chart Visibility: For up to 30 days (soft delete period), the user may still appear as a direct report in the manager’s organizational chart.

OneDrive Access Notification: If a manager is assigned to a user, they receive an automated email notification granting access to the team member’s OneDrive when the user leaves the organization. This access remains available until the OneDrive retention period ends, after which the content is deleted.

Manual actions to transfer departing user’s data in Microsoft 365

By understanding what happens when a direct report leaves, you can take the right steps to preserve important data and maintain continuity. Proactive reassignment and data handling ensure a smooth offboarding experience.

Microsoft Entra ID allows you to create dynamic groups using a dynamic membership rule that automatically includes all direct reports of a specified manager. This is especially useful for effective communication, as any email sent to the dynamic distribution list reaches all the direct reports of the manager.

Direct Reports for "<Manager’sObjectID>"

Replace <Manager’sObjectID> with the actual Object ID of the manager, which can be found on the manager's profile in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

By implementing this dynamic group, any changes in the manager's direct reports are automatically reflected in the group's membership, which streamlines administrative tasks and ensures up-to-date group members.