How to structure a new Microsoft Intune environment

Start with the group model

Intune uses Microsoft Entra groups and the built-in All users and All devices virtual groups for most assignments. Decide early when a group is genuinely needed and when an assignment filter is the simpler choice for properties such as operating system, manufacturer, or ownership.

• Use the built-in All users and All devices groups for broad targeting instead of recreating them as dynamic groups.
• Use assignment filters for supported device properties when the targeting is only needed by Intune.
• User groups for licensing, app entitlement, and Autopilot user-driven scenarios.
• Keep pilot and exception groups intentional, documented, and as simple as possible.

A naming convention you can read at 2 a.m.

Names should say what the object is, what it targets, and which ring it belongs to. Avoid abbreviations that only make sense to the person who created the object.

Deployment rings

Three rings are usually enough: a small pilot for the IT team, a broader early adopter ring, and production. The important part is that every assignment explicitly names its ring, so nothing lands everywhere by accident.

# Illustrative example - review before running in any tenantConnect-MgGraph -Scopes "DeviceManagementConfiguration.Read.All" $profiles = Get-MgDeviceManagementDeviceConfiguration -All$profiles |    Select-Object DisplayName, Id, LastModifiedDateTime |    Sort-Object DisplayName

Documentation that survives

A short README in a repository beats a long document nobody opens. Record the purpose of each policy family, who owns it, and the intended ring progression.