115: Co-management Strategy

Implementation Effort: High
User Impact: Medium

Overview

Co-management is a transition strategy for organizations that already use Configuration Manager and want to adopt Microsoft Intune without replacing every management process at once. It can be valuable in a Zero Trust program because it lets you move workloads such as compliance, update management, endpoint security, and app delivery toward cloud-based controls while keeping necessary legacy processes during migration. The key is to treat co-management as a governed transition pattern, not a permanent default state.

Implementation Guidance

1. Identify why co-management is needed and what the exit criteria are. Common reasons include preserving existing software distribution, task sequences, or reporting while cloud controls are built out.
2. Enable cloud attach and inventory the current workload ownership before moving any slider. Many environments have accumulated overlapping policies over time, and co-management will surface those conflicts quickly.
3. Move workloads in an intentional sequence. Many organizations start with compliance, resource access, endpoint security, or Windows Update because those shifts immediately improve Conditional Access, reporting, and remote administration.
4. Create pilot collections and device groups for each workload move. Do not shift all workloads for all devices at once; validate policy precedence, reporting, and user impact in rings.
5. Document the source of truth for each workload. Administrators should always know whether Intune or Configuration Manager owns compliance, updates, apps, and configuration for a given device population.
6. Review whether co-management is still necessary every quarter. The strategic goal is usually more cloud-native management with fewer legacy dependencies over time.

Video Walkthrough

Reference

• Co-management for Windows devices — Introduces co-management for Windows devices across Configuration Manager and Intune.
• Microsoft Configuration Manager documentation - Configuration Manager — Serves as the Configuration Manager docs hub, including cloud attach and tenant attach guidance.
• Migration guide to Microsoft Intune - Microsoft Intune — Describes migration options and workload transition planning for moving management to Intune.