Roll out a policy change

Time needed: 10 minutes to set up, then a day of watching.

A policy change reaches every device in its groups. Piloting gives it to one group first, so a mistake reaches a handful of devices rather than all of them.

Step 1: have a pilot groupCopy Anchor Link

Piloting needs the policy assigned to at least two groups, one of them small. For example, assign Staff Phones and a small Staff Phones Pilot group with three volunteers' devices in it.

Step 2: make the changeCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the policy and select Edit.
2. Make your change.
3. Watch Checks on the right for anything unexpected.

Step 3: publish to the pilot onlyCopy Anchor Link

1. Select Review changes.
2. Read the settings turned on and the checks. Tick the acknowledgement if there is a danger you mean.
3. Under Rollout, choose Pilot group first and pick the pilot group.
4. Publish.

The policy page now says Piloting in the pilot group. Only that group gets the new version.

Step 4: watch for a dayCopy Anchor Link

• On Alerts, filter by the pilot group. New findings mean the change asks for something devices can't do.
• Ask the volunteers whether anything they rely on stopped working.

Step 5: promote or roll backCopy Anchor Link

• All good: select Promote to all groups. Everyone gets the new version.
• Something wrong: select End pilot and restore. The previous settings come back as a new version, and the history keeps a record of what happened.

To undo a change that was published to everyone, open Version history, select the last good version and Restore it.