How to enroll in the Targeted Release Program

I am often asked by my loyal followers how to stay ahead of upcoming changes in SharePoint and prepare yourself and your employees for them. While there are many tricks in the book, one such technique is to enroll yourself and some others in the Targeted Release Program. All that means is that you will get to see the changes and updates a few weeks or months before the general public. That will give you some extra time to prepare, get familiar with the features released, and think about Change management before the @#$% hits the fan and you start getting all the phone calls at your help desk. I myself use this trick to get a head start on the features I need to train my clients on (and blog about) 😀. Though I am not an early adopter by nature, this trick helps me with my job and consulting.

How to enroll in the Targeted Release Program

1. You must be a Global Administrator to alter the Targeted Release Program
2. Navigate to the Admin Center by clicking on the Microsoft 365 App Launcher, then the Admin tile.
3. Next, click on Org settings under the Settings tab
4. Click on the Organization profile tab, then Release preferences
5. By default, it will have Standard release for everyone. While you can change it to the Targeted release for everyone, I do not recommend this (unless your entire staff is a bunch of tech-savvy early adopters) 😀. My recommendation is to choose Targeted release for select users
6. Once you choose the Targeted release for select users and click Save, it will allow you to select users
7. Just type in the name(s) of the users and click Save
8. This is how it will appear once setup
9. According to Microsoft, it might take up to 24 hours for the changes to take effect.

Benefits of the Targeted Release Program

There are many benefits related to enrollment in the Targeted Release Program:

1. Extra time to prepare your staff. By using the features ahead of everyone else, you will become familiar with the updates and limitations, so you will be able to support your staff when they become generally available
2. Change Management. Kind of related to the above, in case you want to create documentation or communications about the upcoming changes, the Targeted Release Program will allow you to do just that.
3. Provide feedback to Microsoft. Microsoft relies on feedback from the Targeted Release program to fine-tune features and resolve potential bugs. You can always provide your feedback to Microsoft on issues or concerns during the targeted period