Microsoft 365 Apps Activations & Desktop Right-sizing

The question it answers: Which users activated Microsoft 365 Apps on how many devices, and who is licensed for the desktop apps but never installed them?

Every desktop activation counts against the 5-PC/Mac limit, activations stay with disabled users, and many users licensed for the desktop apps never install them - they are candidates for cheaper web-only plans (E1/F3, Business Basic). Licence Usage measures workload activity; this report measures desktop installs.

Note

If Microsoft 365 admin centre > Settings > Org settings > Reports conceals user names, the usage rows cannot be matched to users.

At a glance

Where in the app	Licensing › Licence Value & Entitlements › M365 Apps Activations & Right-sizing
Workload	Licensing
Kind	Findings list · dashboard tile
Data	Read from Microsoft 365 when someone first opens it, then kept for the report cache lifetime (Settings > Data & cache, 1 hour unless changed).
Licence	No extra licence needed.
Report id (API and MCP)	entra.licensing.apps-activations

Columns

Column	Key	Type
Severity	Severity	Status
Product	Category	Text
User	Subject	Link
Check	Setting	Text
Windows / Mac / mobile	Value	Text
Finding	Finding	Text
UPN	Detail	Text
Last activated	When	Date
Desktop activations	Number	Number

A findings list hides columns that no row fills. Severity is Critical, Serious, Warning, OK or Info; rows rated Critical, Serious or Warning need attention (Working with findings).

What it needs

Licence: No extra licence needed.

Application permissions on the IntensiveReports app registration (all permissions):

Permission	API	What it allows	Note
Reports.Read.All	Microsoft Graph	Read all usage reports
Organization.Read.All	Microsoft Graph	Read organization information
User.Read.All	Microsoft Graph	Read all users’ full profiles

Data sources it reads

• GET /beta/reports/getOffice365ActivationsUserDetail
• GET /v1.0/subscribedSkus (service plans)
• GET /v1.0/users (cached)

Through the API and MCP

GET /ir-api/v1/reports/entra.licensing.apps-activations?size=100

An AI assistant reads it with the MCP tool get_report and the id entra.licensing.apps-activations. The client needs the Read grant for Licensing. See Using the API.