Step 3 - Create the Exchange Distribution List Groups

SPARK utilizes Exchange Distribution List Groups to notify SharePoint Online site admins and owners who are required to review SPO sites for which they are responsible. SPARK automatically updates these distributions lists. All 10 distribution lists are required.

Distribution List Group names must exactly match the names provided within this guide.

Requirements

An Exchange Administrator will be required for this step. At minimum the installer must have:

  • Access to the Microsoft Exchange admin center
  • Exchange Administrator M365 RBAC role 1

Steps to complete:

Step 1: Create the first Exchange Distribution Group

  1. Browse and sign into the Exchange Online Management Portal

Use the correct URL for your environment:

Worldwide (Commercial) & GCC https://entra.microsoft.com
GCC-High and DoD https://entra.microsoft.us

  1. Expand Recipients from the left navigation

  2. Select Groups under the Recepients navigation

  3. Click on the Distribution list tab

  4. Click on Add a group

Access Groups
  1. Select Distribution for the group type, and click on Next
Group Type
  1. In the Basics step, enter the group’s Name and Description for the first group from the table below, then click Next.”
SPARK Site Owners Distribution Group Table
Name Description
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-1 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-2 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-3 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-4 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-5 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-6 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-7 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-8 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-9 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
DL-Spark-SiteOwners-10 The site admins/owners that will be notified for attesting for their sites.
  1. In the Owners step, Add each member from the SPARK Management Admins group that was populated in the previous two steps. When finished, click Next

😒 Unfortunately, you can’t add a group as an owner, so you will need to add each the user accounts here.

<div align="center"> Owners </div>

  1. On the Members step, Do not add any members, click on Next

SPARK uses Azure Automation to add and remove users to these groups dynamically.

  1. In the Settings step, set the Group email address to match the name provided from the table

  2. Under Joining the group select the option Closed for Joining the group

  3. Under Leaving the group select the option Closed, then click Next

  4. Finally, Click Create group to create the distribution list

Settings

Step 2: Hide the Distribution List from the Global Address List (GAL)

  1. In the list of Distribution Groups, find and click on the Distribution List Group you just created

  2. Select the Settings tab

  3. Under General settings, ✅ CChheck he box next to Hide this group from the global address list

  4. Click Save to enable this option

Hide Distribution List

REPEAT THIS PROCESS!

Repeat this process using the table above until you have all 10 Distribution List Groups created.

Organizations may optionally configure Exchange Online mail flow rules to prevent unauthorized messages to the SPARK distribution lists.

Continue to creating the Entra App Registrations

References

  1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/recipients-in-exchange-online/manage-distribution-groups/manage-distribution-groups ↩