Microsoft has made an update to its Admin Center by removing the ‘Relevance' field from the Choose column panel, a tool critically important to administrators managing Microsoft 365 environments. The detection of this change was first reported by industry expert Tom Arbuthnot and has sparked concern within the Microsoft admin community. While not all tenancies experience this change, its absence could signify a shift in functionality within the platform.
Impact on Tenant Administrations
The ‘Relevance' field provides essential functionality by enabling administrators to filter and prioritize updates, changes, and notifications based on their importance to the organization. This field considers app usage, potential issue prevention, planning aides, and major service changes, labeling them with high, medium, or low relevance indicators. The removal of this feature could disrupt administrative workflows and challenge users to maintain operational efficiency in the updating process.
Has anyone noticed the "Relevance" field is missing from their #Microsoft365 message centre.
It's a UI-side calculated field, but it is missing from two tenants, but I can see it on others.
Comparing two screenshots of different tenants.
Maybe message centre Pros @DarrellaaS… pic.twitter.com/d6yaanu8V6
— Tom Arbuthnot (@tomarbuthnot) January 19, 2024
Speculation on Future of Admin Center Functions
As of now, Microsoft has not provided any official statement regarding the removal of the ‘Relevance' field or offered any documentation that suggests the intention behind this update. Speculations arise that the feature could either be under temporary displacement due to an ongoing update, possibly to support new sections like ‘Copilot' added at the end of the previous year, or a permanent deprecation with the possibility of reincorporation into different subscription plans.
In a landscape where updates and functionalities are frequently adjusted, the removal of the ‘Relevance' feature from Microsoft's Admin Center raises significant questions within the tech community. As administrators rely on these features for effective management of Microsoft 365 services, any alterations can have substantial impacts on administrative strategy and organization-wide communications regarding software updates. Microsoft's continued development of the Admin Center and how it will cater to the needs of different tenancies remains a topic of interest and concern among users and industry observers alike.
