10 Intune Device Configuration Profiles Best Practices

Intune is a cloud-based mobile device management (MDM) service from Microsoft that helps you manage and secure mobile devices used by your employees. You can use Intune to create and deploy device configuration profiles to your devices.

In this article, we will discuss 10 best practices for creating and deploying device configuration profiles using Intune.

1. Create a device configuration profile for each platform

Different platforms have different capabilities, and as such, you’ll need to tailor your configuration profiles to take advantage of what each platform can do. For example, iOS devices can take advantage of features like AirPrint and AirPlay, while Android devices can take advantage of features like Android for Work and Samsung Knox.

Creating a separate device configuration profile for each platform ensures that you’re making the most of what each platform has to offer, and it also makes troubleshooting any issues that may arise much easier.

2. Use the correct settings and profiles for your organization’s needs

If you use settings or profiles that are not meant for your organization’s devices, you could end up doing more harm than good. For example, if you use a profile meant for iOS devices on an Android device, you could end up breaking features or causing other problems.

It’s important to make sure you’re using the correct settings and profiles for your organization’s needs so that you can avoid these types of problems.

3. Test your configurations before deploying them to devices

When you make a change to a configuration profile, there’s always the potential for something to go wrong. If you deploy the configuration to devices without first testing it, you run the risk of causing problems for users.

Testing is especially important if you’re making changes to existing profiles. For example, suppose you want to add a new restriction to an existing profile. If you don’t test the change before deploying it, you could find that the restriction doesn’t work as intended and causes problems for users.

To avoid these problems, always test your configurations before deploying them to devices. That way, you can be confident that they’ll work as intended and won’t cause any problems for users.

4. Deploy only the required settings

The more settings you deploy, the more complex your profile becomes. This can lead to issues when you need to troubleshoot problems or make changes to the profile. It’s also important to consider that some settings may conflict with each other. By deploying only the required settings, you can avoid these potential problems.

It’s also important to remember that you can’t deploy every possible setting to every device. Some settings may only be relevant to certain types of devices, or they may not be supported by all devices. By deploying only the required settings, you can ensure that your profile will work on all of the devices you’re targeting.

5. Use conditional access to restrict access to company resources

If a device is not compliant with your company’s security policies, you can use conditional access to block that device from accessing company resources. This ensures that only devices that meet your security standards can access sensitive data.

Additionally, using conditional access can help you troubleshoot compliance issues more quickly. If a device is not able to access company resources, you can check the Intune console to see if that device is compliant. This can save you time and effort in troubleshooting compliance issues.

6. Assign device configuration profiles to groups of users or devices

If you assign a device configuration profile to an individual user, it will only be applied to the devices that user signs in to. If the user has multiple devices, they may not all be using the same operating system or have the same settings, so the profile may not work as intended on all of them.

Assigning profiles to groups of users or devices ensures that all the devices in the group will receive the same configuration and prevents any potential issues with incompatible settings.

7. Manage Windows 10 with Microsoft Intune and Group Policy

Group Policy is a powerful tool that can be used to manage and configure Windows 10 devices, and it’s natively supported by Intune. This means that you can use Intune to deploy Group Policy settings to your Windows 10 devices, making it easy to centrally manage and configure them.

Not only does this make it easier to manage your Windows 10 devices, but it also reduces the need for custom scripting or other workarounds to manage devices.

8. Monitor compliance reports in Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

The Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center is the central location for all things Intune. This is where you go to create and deploy device configuration profiles, as well as monitor compliance reports.

Compliance reports show you which devices are compliant with your Intune policies and which are not. This is important information to have because it allows you to take corrective action if necessary.

For example, if you see that a particular device is not compliant with your security policy, you can investigate to see why and then take steps to remediate the issue.

Monitoring compliance reports is a best practice because it helps you ensure that your Intune policies are being enforced and that your devices are compliant.

9. Update device configuration profiles as needed

As Microsoft releases new versions of Intune, they often include changes and improvements to the device configuration profile settings. If you don’t update your profiles accordingly, you could be missing out on important security or management features.

Additionally, as new devices are released with different capabilities, you’ll need to update your device configuration profiles to take advantage of those new capabilities. For example, if you want to manage iOS devices with Intune, you’ll need to create a new device configuration profile specifically for iOS devices.

Finally, as your organization’s needs change, you’ll need to update your device configuration profiles to reflect those changes. For example, if you add a new app that you want all of your users to have, you’ll need to add that app to your device configuration profiles.

10. Delete device configuration profiles that you no longer need

If you have a lot of device configuration profiles, it can be difficult to manage them all. If you delete the ones you no longer need, it will be easier to manage the ones you do need. In addition, if you have device configuration profiles that are no longer being used, they could potentially conflict with other device configuration profiles and cause problems.

To delete a device configuration profile, go to the Intune console, select the profile, and then click Delete.