In April, Microsoft published a roadmap item about new admin roles for Microsoft Places. These roles are now rolling out.
Microsoft Places will be enhanced with these new admin roles:
- Places Administrator in Entra ID
- Building Administrators in Exchange Online (RBAC role)
- Desk Administrators in Exchange Online (RBAC role)
The Places Administrator role in Entra ID is a centralized IT role with full permissions for Microsoft Places management, focused on onboarding, feature configuration, and assigning local admin roles. Meanwhile, the Building and Desk Administrators RBAC roles allow Places administrators to delegate management tasks to local stakeholders.
Timeline
The new admin roles are currently rolling out and are expected to be deployed by the end of August 2025.
Details about the new Places admin roles
This update introduces three distinct roles in Microsoft Entra ID and Exchange Online:
- Places Administrator
Places Administrator is a new admin role in Entra ID and can replace the existing Exchange RBAC role TenantPlacesManagement.
The Places Administrator role provides full control over the Microsoft Places service in Microsoft 365. Users with this role can manage all building-related data, including creating and updating buildings, floors, rooms, sections, and desks. They can define workspace metadata such as capacity, features, and accessibility, as well as configure and enforce booking policies for desks and rooms.
This role is intended for users responsible for managing physical workspace resources and maintaining up-to-date and structured location information.
The template ID is 78b0ccd1-afc2-4f92-9116-b41aedd09592.
- Building Administrators
Building Administrators is a new RBAC role in Exchange and is named PlacesBuildingManagement.
Users with this RBAC role can be local managers responsible for the day-to-day oversight of one or more buildings within Microsoft Places. They manage associated spaces such as floors, sections, rooms, desks, and workspaces. Their role ensures that location data remains accurate and that workspaces are correctly configured for booking, usage insights, and location-based experiences across Microsoft 365.
- Desk Administrators
Desk Administrators is a new RBAC role in Exchange and is named PlacesDeskManagement.
Users with this RBAC role can be stakeholders responsible for managing desks within specific sections of a building. They oversee desk configurations, including mode settings (such as shared or permanent), metadata (like capacity or features), and desk assignments. Their role ensures desks are accurately maintained and available for booking and reporting within Microsoft Places.
