🧪 Lab Tenant Data Seeder¶

Status: 🟢 First run complete | Last run: 2026-04-08
Purpose: Generate realistic M365 usage data in the lab tenant so admin reports, Copilot Readiness, and dashboards show meaningful data for demos
Reusable: Yes — run this playbook whenever you move to a new lab tenant

Why This Exists¶

Lab/demo tenants start empty — the M365 Admin Center usage reports (Email Activity, Teams Activity, M365 Apps Usage, Copilot Readiness) all show zero data unless real user interactions happen. This playbook generates enough activity across multiple users to populate all key reports within 24-48 hours.

Quick Reference¶

Item	Value
Current lab tenant	`M365CPI52224224.onmicrosoft.com`
Admin account	`admin@M365CPI52224224.onmicrosoft.com`
Primary personas	MOD Admin, Amber Rodriguez, Sonia Rees, Eka Siahaan, Robin Kline
Supporting cast	Corey Gray, Dakota Sanchez, Lisa Taylor, Kai Carter, Omar Bennett
Total lab users	43 (incl. conf rooms & service accounts)
Reports location	M365 Admin Center → Reports → Usage
Data latency	24-48 hours for most reports; Copilot Readiness recalculates weekly

Architecture¶

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    DATA SEEDER                          │
│                                                         │
│  Phase 1: PowerShell Script (automated)                 │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Microsoft Graph API                               │  │
│  │  ├── POST /sendMail        → Email Activity       │  │
│  │  ├── POST /events          → Calendar Activity    │  │
│  │  ├── PUT  /drive/items     → OneDrive Activity    │  │
│  │  └── POST /chats/messages  → Teams Chat Activity  │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│                                                         │
│  Phase 2: Manual Blitz (10 min, you)                    │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Browser logins as 4-5 different users             │  │
│  │  ├── Open Outlook web      → M365 Apps Usage      │  │
│  │  ├── Open Word web         → M365 Apps Usage      │  │
│  │  ├── Open Excel web        → M365 Apps Usage      │  │
│  │  └── Open PowerPoint web   → M365 Apps Usage      │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│                                                         │
│            ▼ 24-48 hours later ▼                        │
│                                                         │
│  📊 M365 Admin Center Reports populated                 │
│  📊 Copilot Readiness "Suggested candidates" populated  │
│  📊 Viva Insights Copilot Dashboard populated           │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

What Gets Populated¶

Report	Phase 1 (Script)	Phase 2 (Manual)	Notes
Email Activity	✅	—	`sendMail` via Graph counts as real sends
Teams Chat Activity	✅	—	Graph chat messages count
OneDrive/SharePoint Activity	✅	—	File uploads and edits count
Calendar/Outlook Activity	✅	—	Calendar event creation counts
M365 Apps Usage (app opens)	❌	✅	Needs real app interaction in browser
Copilot Readiness ("Suggested candidates")	Partial	✅	Combines email + Teams + app usage signals
Active Users report	✅	✅	Both contribute

Lab Personas Reference¶

Your go-to users for demos and testing. The script targets these first.

Primary Personas (your daily drivers)¶

Name	UPN	Role in demos
MOD Administrator	`admin@M365CPI52224224.onmicrosoft.com`	Global Admin — admin center, policies, reports
Amber Rodriguez	`AmberR@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Power user — heavy Outlook, Word, Excel, PPT
Sonia Rees	`SoniaR@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Collaborator — Teams chat, shared docs, meetings
Eka Siahaan	`EkaS@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Data analyst — Excel heavy, OneDrive, SharePoint
Robin Kline	`RobinK@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Manager — calendar, Teams meetings, approvals

Supporting Cast (background activity)¶

Name	UPN	Used for
Corey Gray	`CoreyG@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Email recipient, meeting attendee
Dakota Sanchez	`DakotaS@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Email recipient, file collaborator
Lisa Taylor	`LisaT@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Teams chat partner
Kai Carter	`KaiC@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Meeting attendee, email recipient
Omar Bennett	`OmarB@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Background email & chat activity

Prerequisites¶

Before running the script, you need:

1. App Registration in Entra ID¶

Create an app registration with application permissions (not delegated) so the script can act on behalf of all users.

Go to Entra Admin Center → App registrations → New registration
Name: Lab Data Seeder
Supported account types: Single tenant
After creation, note the:
- Application (client) ID
- Directory (tenant) ID
Go to Certificates & secrets → New client secret → copy the Value
Go to API permissions → Add the following Application permissions:

Permission	Type	Why
`Mail.Send`	Application	Send emails as any user
`Calendars.ReadWrite`	Application	Create calendar events
`Files.ReadWrite.All`	Application	Upload files to OneDrive
`Chat.Create`	Application	Create Teams chats
`Chat.ReadWrite.All`	Application	Send chat messages
`User.Read.All`	Application	List users for the script

Click Grant admin consent for the tenant

2. PowerShell Prerequisites¶

# No extra modules needed — uses Invoke-RestMethod with raw Graph API
# Just need PowerShell 7+ (already installed)

Phase 1: The Script¶

Step 1: Set Your Credentials¶

Create a file at C:\ssClawy\learning-docs\scripts\lab-seeder-config.json (⚠️ gitignored):

{
  "tenantId": "YOUR-TENANT-ID",
  "clientId": "YOUR-APP-CLIENT-ID",
  "clientSecret": "YOUR-CLIENT-SECRET",
  "domain": "M365CPI52224224.onmicrosoft.com"
}

Security

Never commit this file to git. Add scripts/lab-seeder-config.json to .gitignore.

Step 2: Run the Seeder Script¶

cd C:\ssClawy\learning-docs\scripts
.\Seed-LabData.ps1

Step 3: What the Script Does¶

The script runs through these stages:

Stage 1/4: 📧 Sending emails
  Primary personas (Admin, Amber, Sonia, Eka, Robin) send 5 emails each
  Supporting cast (Corey, Dakota, Lisa, Kai, Omar) send 3 each = ~40 emails
  Realistic subjects: "Q3 Budget Review", "Project Kickoff", "Meeting Notes"

Stage 2/4: 📅 Creating calendar events
  Amber organises meetings with Sonia + Eka + Robin
  Admin creates all-hands with 8 attendees = ~15 events
  Realistic titles: "Sprint Planning", "Design Review", "Weekly Sync"

Stage 3/4: 📁 Uploading documents to OneDrive
  Each primary persona gets Word + Excel + PPT files
  Supporting cast get Word + Excel files = ~30 files
  Real file content (not empty) for authentic activity

Stage 4/4: 💬 Sending Teams chat messages
  Amber ↔ Sonia, Eka ↔ Robin, Admin ↔ Amber, etc.
  ~40 messages across 1:1 chats
  Realistic content: project discussions, quick questions

The Script (Seed-LabData.ps1)¶

Script is ready

The full script is at C:\ssClawy\learning-docs\scripts\Seed-LabData.ps1 — see the source for full details. It handles auth, error handling, progress logging, and skip flags.

Key features:

Runs all 4 stages automatically (~3-5 minutes)
Skip individual stages: -SkipEmails, -SkipCalendar, -SkipFiles, -SkipTeams
Realistic content (budget reviews, sprint planning, compliance docs)
Rate-limited (500ms between API calls) to avoid throttling
Clear progress output with ✅/❌ per action
Summary stats at the end

Phase 2: Manual Blitz (10 Minutes)¶

This step is needed because M365 Apps Usage reports track actual app opens in the browser/desktop, which can't be faked via API.

Log into each of your 5 primary personas in a private/incognito browser window. Spend ~2 minutes per user.

#	User	UPN	Apps to open
1	MOD Administrator	`admin@M365CPI52224224.onmicrosoft.com`	Outlook + Word + Excel
2	Amber Rodriguez	`AmberR@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Outlook + Word + Excel + PowerPoint
3	Sonia Rees	`SoniaR@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Outlook + Word + Teams chat
4	Eka Siahaan	`EkaS@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Outlook + Excel + PowerPoint
5	Robin Kline	`RobinK@M365CPI52224224.OnMicrosoft.com`	Outlook + Word + Teams chat

Quick links to open for each user:

App	URL
Outlook	outlook.office.com
Word (new doc)	word.new
Excel (new sheet)	excel.new
PowerPoint (new deck)	powerpoint.new
Teams	teams.microsoft.com

What to do in each app (keep it quick):

Outlook → Read an email, compose and send a reply to another lab user
Word → Type a few sentences, save to OneDrive
Excel → Enter some numbers, add a SUM formula, save
PowerPoint → Add a title slide with text, save
Teams → Send a chat message to another lab user

Pro tip

Use Edge profiles — create a profile for each persona so you can stay logged in permanently. Much faster than InPrivate windows.

Password for Lab Users¶

Lab tenant users typically share the same default password. Check your lab provisioning email or the M365 Admin Center → Users → Reset password.

Verification¶

After 24-48 hours, check these reports:

Reports to Verify¶

Report	How to check	What to look for
Email Activity	Admin Center → Reports → Usage → Email activity	Send/receive counts for lab users
M365 Apps Usage	Admin Center → Reports → Usage → M365 Apps → Usage	Active users across Outlook, Word, Excel, PPT
Active Users	Admin Center → Reports → Usage → Active Users	Multiple users showing activity
Teams Activity	Admin Center → Reports → Usage → Teams user activity	Chat message counts
Copilot Readiness	Admin Center → Reports → Usage → M365 Copilot → Readiness tab	"Suggested candidate for Copilot" column populated

Quick Verification Command¶

Use the lab admin tools in Copilot CLI:

"Check the M365 admin center for email activity reports in my lab tenant"
→ Uses m365-admin-graph tools to query

Re-Running on a New Lab Tenant¶

When you get a new lab environment (every ~90 days):

Update the config file with new tenant ID, client ID, and secret
Re-create the app registration (Step 1 in Prerequisites) — or export/import it
Run the script — .\Seed-LabData.ps1
Do the manual blitz — 10 minutes across 4-5 users
Wait 24-48 hours — reports populate

Save time on new tenants

Keep the app registration manifest exported as JSON so you can import it into the new tenant instantly instead of recreating permissions manually.

Troubleshooting¶

Issue	Solution
`401 Unauthorized`	Admin consent not granted — go to Entra → App registration → Grant admin consent
`403 Forbidden` on sendMail	`Mail.Send` application permission missing or not consented
`403 Forbidden` on Teams chat	Teams chat application permissions require Resource-Specific Consent (RSC) policy enabled in Teams Admin Center. This is a stricter security gate than standard Graph permissions. See RSC docs. Not critical — email + calendar + files cover the most important reports.
Reports still empty after 48h	Check user has an active M365 license (Admin Center → Users)
Copilot Readiness tab not visible	Need at least one Copilot license purchased on the tenant
Client secret looks like a GUID	You may have copied the Secret ID instead of the Value. The Value is only shown once at creation time — create a new secret if needed.

Run History¶

Date	Tenant	Results	Notes
2026-04-08	`M365CPI52224224`	📧 40 emails ✅ · 📅 12 events ✅ · 📁 30 files ✅ · 💬 0 chats ❌	First run. Teams chat blocked by RSC policy (403). Phase 2 manual blitz pending.