Microsoft Graph provides the ability to modify licenses assigned to groups when implementing group-based licensing. The command set-MGGroupLicenses is utilized to modify the license template assigned to a group.

Set-MGGroupLicense

When creating a license template to apply or modify on the group a bodyParameters switch is utilized. Building the bodyParameters by hand can often be tricky. In this post I want to break down the structure of the bodyParameters and demonstrate how this can be built easily with Powershell.

The bodyParameters starts with a hash table that contains two array entries. The add licenses array and the remove licenses array. (Black box in figure below).

The add licenses array is an array of hash tables. (Green Box). Each hash table entry in the array is a combination of an array of plans to disable (Purple Box) and the skuID associated with those plans (Blue Box).

The remove licenses array is an array of skuIDs to remove from the group. (Red Box).

This is what the structure looks like in Microsoft’s sample documentation.

On the current group is the Office 365 A1 for Students License. This license needs to be replaced with the Microsoft 365 E5 licenses with the Information Barries and Microsoft 365 Phone System plans disabled. I also want to add the entire Microsoft 365 Defender for Office 365 (Plan 2) license.

To recap

• Remove Licenses
  • Office 365 A1 for Students = 314c4481-f395-4525-be8b-2ec4bb1e9d91
• Add Licenses
  • Microsoft 365 E5 = 06ebc4ee-1bb5-47dd-8120-11324bc54e06
    • Disable Microsoft 365 Phone System = 4828c8ec-dc2e-4779-b502-87ac9ce28ab7
    • Disable Information Barriers = c4801e8a-cb58-4c35-aca6-f2dcc106f287
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (Plan 2) = 3dd6cf57-d688-4eed-ba52-9e40b5468c3e

To build the body parameters utilize in the set-MGGroupLicenseCommand:

#Establish the body parameters hash table.
$params = @{}

#Build the add licenses array
$addLicenses = @()

#Build the remove licenses array
$removeLicenses = @()

#************************************************************************

#Build the disabled plans for the first license to be added.

$disabledPlans = @()
$disabledPlans += "4828c8ec-dc2e-4779-b502-87ac9ce28ab7"
$disabledPlans += "c4801e8a-cb58-4c35-aca6-f2dcc106f287"

#Set the skuID for the first license.

$skuID = "06ebc4ee-1bb5-47dd-8120-11324bc54e06"

#Build the hash value for the added licenses.

$skuHash = @{"DisabledPlans" = $disabledPlans ; "SkuID" = $skuID}

#Add the skuHash to the array of licenses to add.

$addLicenses += $skuHash

#************************************************************************

#Build the second entry to the add licenses.

#Build the disabled plans for the second license to be added.

$disabledPlans = @()

#Set the skuID for the first license.

$skuID = "3dd6cf57-d688-4eed-ba52-9e40b5468c3e"

#Build the hash value for the added licenses.

$skuHash = @{"DisabledPlans" = $disabledPlans ; "SkuID" = $skuID}

#Add the skuHash to the array of licenses to add.

$addLicenses += $skuHash

#************************************************************************

#***********************
#At this time all licenses to be added have been built and added to the addArray.
#***********************

#Update the licenses to remove with the decomissioned plan.

$removeLicenses += "314c4481-f395-4525-be8b-2ec4bb1e9d91"

#***********************
#Complete the params has table.
#***********************

$params = @{"AddLicenses" = $addLicenses ; "RemoveLicenses" = $removeLicenses}

In some instances, discovering the SKU and PLAN ids utilized in the body parameters configuration can also be challenging. One of the methods I like to use to simplify process is to create a standard user in Microsoft 365 and apply the license template to the user. The license template would be the same as the template I want to assign to the group. The user can then be utilized as a template for completing the body parameters build.

#Obtain the user that has the license template to be applied.

$licenseTemplateUser = get-mgUser -userID licenseTest@domain.onmicrosoft.com -Property AssignedLicenses

#Establish the body parameters hash table.
$params = @{}

#Build the add licenses array
$addLicenses = @()

#Build the remove licenses array
$removeLicenses = @()

#************************************************************************

#Build the licenses to be added.

foreach ($sku in $licenseTemplateUser.AssignedLicenses)
{
    write-host ("Processing skuID: "+$sku.skuID)

    #Set the SKUID

    $skuID = $sku.skuID

    if ($sku.disabledPlans.count -gt 0)
    {
        write-host "The sku has disabled plans - creating disabled plans."

        foreach ($plan in $sku.disabledPlans)
        {
            write-host $plan
            $disabledPlans+=$plan
        }
    }
    else
    {
        $disabledPlans=@()
    }

    #Build the hash for the sku.

    $skuHash = @{"DisabledPlans" = $disabledPlans ; "SkuID" = $skuID}

    #Add the has to the add licenses array.

    $addLicenses += $skuHash
}

#Set any licenses to be removed.

$removeLicenses += "314c4481-f395-4525-be8b-2ec4bb1e9d91"

#***********************
#Complete the params has table.
#***********************

$params = @{"AddLicenses" = $addLicenses ; "RemoveLicenses" = $removeLicenses}

I hope that outlining the structure of the bodyParameters simplifies utilizing graph for group based license administration.