Microsoft 365 Implementation Support at MOL Group
Aptim supported MOL csoport in the implementation of Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) by providing expert services focused on technical assessment, validation, and compatibility testing.
The primary objective was to ensure a smooth and secure deployment of Microsoft 365 across the enterprise environment.
As part of the project, we established a dedicated test environment based on Windows 10, enterprise-configured Office clients, and security hardening aligned with CIS benchmarks. This environment enabled comprehensive validation under conditions reflecting the actual enterprise infrastructure.
In this environment, our main responsibilities regarding the Office suite included:
- Add-ins
- Macros
Compatibility and integration testing, as well as the related documentation.
Office telemetry
The items to be tested were selected based on the reports generated by the Office Telemetry Dashboard, focusing on the most frequently used elements, weighted by their business criticality. Office Telemetry is an assessment tool that monitors the behavior of Office clients within a domain environment and collects related data. Among other things, the monitoring covers which files were opened, from which machines, by which users, and how frequently, as well as which client versions were available and what types of errors occurred during the use of the given documents.
The telemetry system itself was neither designed nor implemented by us; we worked exclusively with the results of the collected assessments. That said, the telemetry system itself – along with its design and potential use cases – could easily deserve a dedicated blog post of its own…
Microsoft 365 – Add-ins (Plug-ins)
After finalizing the list of macros and add-ins to be tested, the plug-ins underwent both installation and functional testing. Installation testing included validating the installation and removal processes using the previously prepared, company-tailored silent installer package. During functional testing, we verified whether the add-ins could be successfully loaded and disabled.
Following this, we tested the “LoadBehavior” property of the add-ins. By default, this property can have three states: the add-in loads automatically when the client starts, remains disabled by default at startup, or loads according to its last saved state.
Once these checks were completed, the actual functional testing phase began, which in certain cases required the involvement of key users.
Microsoft 365 – Macros
In the case of macros, the situation was more complex, as these are essentially mini applications created in Excel that often reference external resources or require critical testing for other reasons — for example, because they perform operations in live production systems.
As a first step, the macros were analyzed using the Microsoft Readiness Toolkit, which helped identify potential risks within the source code, such as absolute references to external resources or Visual Basic components that may have become outdated.
Following the readiness assessments, the code was subjected to compilation testing, after which functional testing was carried out as well.
In some cases, functional testing was relatively straightforward because the required test environment could be created easily. In other cases, however, decisions had to be made between investing significant resources into building a dedicated test environment or performing the testing directly in the production environment together with business users, while carefully evaluating the associated risks.
We also prepared detailed documentation of the macro testing process and its results.
The project was successfully completed on schedule, and as a result, we were invited to support the large-scale rollout of Windows 10 and Office 365 as well. You can read more about this in our Projects section.
Request a free consultation, or explore our other Microsoft 365 projects here.
