Conditional Access Optimization Agent Phased Rollout: deployment without the stress

Microsoft recently introduced a cool feature in Security Copilot that helps you deploy Conditional Access (CA) policies without the usual heart palpitations: Phased Rollout.

If you’ve ever pushed a CA policy and sat with your finger hovering over the “rollback” button, or spent hours manually carving up users into “safe” deployment rings, this one is definitely for you.

How it works (The Step-by-Step)

The Optimization Agent analyzes your sign-in data and existing policies to propose a 5-phase rollout plan, starting with low-impact/low-risk groups and moving up.

1. Check Suggestions: Log in to the Entra admin center and head to the Conditional Access Optimization Agent. Look for policy suggestions marked with “Suggested phased rollout”.

2. Review the Plan: Click Review suggestions > Review phases. You’ll see the 5 phases the agent prepared.
   • Pro tip: You can edit the groups in each phase if you disagree with the AI’s risk assessment.

3. Launch: Hit Start phased rollout. The agent creates a new policy (active for the first phase, but report-only for the broader scope).

4. Execute & Monitor: You manage the pace.
   • Move to next phase: If logs look clean.
   • Roll back: If users start screaming.
   • Complete: When you’re ready to go all-in.

My Take

Honestly, this feels like a nice, interesting solution for real-world “deployment anxiety.” We’ve all been there—planning a rollout manually, creating five different security groups (Pilot, IT, Dept A, Region B, Everyone), and manually shuffling policies. It’s tedious work that this tool just automates away.

The feature I love most is the built-in kill switch. If the policy blocks more than 10% of sign-ins during a phase, the agent automatically pauses the rollout. That explicit safety net makes it much easier to trust the process.

You do need an Entra ID P1 license and Security Compute Units (SCU) to use it, but for complex environments where a bad CA policy can lock out the entire company, it seems like a solid investment.