The YouTube video by Andrew Hess of MySPQuestions announces a practical way to discover every tenant-wide SharePoint alert before Microsoft phases that feature out. In clear, step-by-step segments, the presenter explains how the Microsoft 365 Assessment Tool can scan a tenant and produce a Power BI report that lists existing alerts and related metadata. Consequently, administrators gain visibility into alerts that are otherwise scattered across sites and user accounts, which makes planning migration or replacement efforts far easier.
The core value of the assessment tool is comprehensive discovery: it inventories alerts across an entire tenant and surfaces who created them and where they live, enabling admins to prioritize action. Moreover, the video demonstrates how the tool exports results into a visually accessible Power BI report, so teams can interpret patterns and usage without manual log crawling. Therefore, organizations facing the retirement of alerts can make informed choices about which notifications to replace, translate into workflows, or retire altogether.
Andrew walks viewers through connecting the tool to Microsoft Entra and granting the API permissions required for tenant-wide scanning, and he pauses to explain each configuration choice for administrators. Next, he shows how to create a certificate using PowerShell, specifically the New-SelfSignedCertificate command to produce a thumbprint that the tool uses for authentication, and then runs the included commands to collect alert data. Finally, the video demonstrates generating the Power BI report from the collected data so teams can quickly review and export the inventory.
With SharePoint Alerts being retired, the two primary replacements discussed are Power Automate and SharePoint rules, and each option has tradeoffs. Power Automate offers rich automation and cross-service integration but can increase complexity and may require additional licensing depending on the flows and connectors used; by contrast, SharePoint rules are simpler and built into the platform but currently lack some capabilities, like creating notifications for users with only Reader permissions and for external guests. Consequently, organizations must weigh customization needs and cost against simplicity and native support when selecting a replacement strategy.
Microsoft’s phased approach to retiring alerts introduces both opportunities and constraints; for example, starting in October 2025 alerts will begin to expire after 30 days unless re-enabled, which gives organizations time to transition but also forces recurring user actions if no migration is completed. Furthermore, identifying alerts is only the first challenge: groups must map alerts to business processes, decide whether to build equivalent flows or rules, and communicate changes to users to avoid losing essential notifications. As a result, the assessment step that Andrew highlights is critical because it reduces surprises and enables staged migration plans that balance effort, risk, and user impact.
For teams responsible for Microsoft 365 governance, the video serves as a timely how-to that combines discovery, configuration, and reporting in one workflow, and it emphasizes preparing users for change rather than reacting to sudden loss of functionality. In practice, administrators should run the assessment tool early, catalog the alerts that drive business-critical workflows, and then pilot replacements using both SharePoint rules and Power Automate to measure effort, reliability, and cost. Ultimately, using the assessment tool to guide a measured migration reduces operational risk and improves communication with end users as the platform moves to modern notification mechanisms.
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