How playbooks work

Playbooks let you detect, identify and remediate misconfiguration and permissions issues automatically and continuously over time. The benefits of these policies are not limited to security; in fact, they can also impact employee productivity and cost.

How do policies work?

The policy process is organized into three key steps:

1. Detection: the system automatically runs a large number of checks to identify any anomalies.
2. Validation: all detected anomalies are evaluated and marked as either exceptions or something that must be managed.  
   This lets you easily address the settings that fall outside of your organization’s standard policies. Exceptions can be set at a granular level, down to individual users.
3. Remediation: anomalies are resolved quickly and consistently.  
   For each anomaly, you have two options:
   1. have the anomaly resolved automatically;
   2. handle the anomaly manually. 

Other stakeholders, such as managers, can be involved to help address the problem.

Learn more about remediation settings and actions.

Watch the video below to get a clear understanding of the policy process in action:

Out-of-the-Box and custom playbooks

What are they?

There are two different types of playbooks: Out-of-the-Box playbooks and custom playbooks. Depending on your organization’s needs, you may want to implement one or the other.

Out-of-the-box policies

They are pre-configured collections of policies that are beneficial to any organization. They are flexible, best-practice templates that automatically detect and resolve issues in your Microsoft 365 environment. With these Playbooks, you can easily stay ahead of policy violations and compliance issues, ultimately enhancing your security, cost-effectiveness, and productivity without the need for lengthy implementation processes.

Custom policies

They consist of tailored-made policies, designed to manage unique internal policies and remediate anomalies through a personalized and automated process. Their flexibility empowers you to implement practices that align with your specific needs, ensuring that you have complete control and peace of mind when it comes to your compliance posture.

When to use them?

• If you're unsure about which policies to manage, Out-of-the-Box playbooks offer a great starting point. 
  These ready-to-use solutions can be quickly and easily implemented, providing you with flexible policies based on industry best practices. 
  Out-of-the-Box playbooks cover a wide range of areas to help you improve your security, productivity, and compliance. 
• On the other hand, if you have specific internal policies or requirements that you need to manage, Custom playbooks are the way to go. 
  With these collections of tailored-made policies, you can personalize what to detect and how to remediate issues, while also automating the entire process.  
  The flexibility of custom playbooks allows you to implement practices that align with your specific needs, giving you total control over your compliance posture and peace of mind.