Microsoft FastTrack

Microsoft FastTrack is the deployment assistance service Microsoft provides to eligible customers — remote-delivered guidance, deployment planning, and limited hands-on assistance for getting Microsoft 365 services rolled out successfully. Included with qualifying licences at no additional cost.

What FastTrack provides

FastTrack engineers work with customer IT teams on:

Onboarding planning

• Tenant configuration — setting up the basics for Microsoft 365.
• Identity strategy — choosing PHS, PTA, or federation; planning Entra Connect.
• Domain setup and email migration planning.
• Network connectivity review.
• Migration scoping — sizing the migration project.

Deployment guidance

• Office 365 / Microsoft 365 Apps deployment via Intune or the Office Deployment Tool.
• Microsoft Teams rollout planning.
• SharePoint deployment for collaboration scenarios.
• OneDrive rollout including Known Folder Move.
• Microsoft Defender baseline configuration.
• Conditional Access policy design.
• Purview sensitivity label and retention configuration.

Migration assistance

• Email migration from on-prem Exchange, Google Workspace, or other providers — guidance and limited execution help.
• File migration from file shares or other clouds.
• Limited tenant-to-tenant migration assistance.

Adoption services

• Adoption planning materials — communication templates, training resources, change-management frameworks.
• Champions programme structures.

What FastTrack doesn't do

It's important to know the limits:

• Not a full system integrator — for hands-off deployments, you need an SI partner.
• Not 24/7 support — FastTrack is project-style engagement, not operational support.
• Limited scope — customisations beyond the standard deployment patterns are usually out of scope.
• Customer-driven — your team still does most of the work; FastTrack guides and reviews.

For complex, large-scale migrations or specific customisations, FastTrack typically complements rather than replaces a system-integrator partner.

Eligibility

FastTrack is included with qualifying licences — generally 150+ seats of Microsoft 365 / Office 365 — at no additional cost. Specific services have specific licence requirements:

• General onboarding and deployment guidance: 150+ seats of most M365 plans.
• Migration assistance: typically requires E3 / E5 or specific Apps for Enterprise plans.
• Security / Purview-specific FastTrack: usually requires E5.

Customers with smaller seat counts can engage CSP partners offering similar guidance commercially.

How to engage

Customers eligible for FastTrack can request engagement via the FastTrack portal (fasttrack.microsoft.com). The flow:

1. Submit a request describing the scenario and goals.
2. Initial discovery call with a FastTrack engineer.
3. Engagement plan outlining scope, timeline, and your team's responsibilities.
4. Working sessions — typically remote calls, screen-shares, and documented guidance.
5. Closeout when the engagement objectives are met.

A typical engagement spans weeks to a few months depending on scope.

When to use FastTrack vs an SI partner

• FastTrack when: standard Microsoft 365 deployment, your IT team can do most of the work, you need Microsoft expertise to validate and unblock specific decisions.
• SI partner when: complex customisations, deep migration scope, hands-on execution help, long-term operational handoff.
• Both when: large enterprise rollouts often combine SI partner for execution with FastTrack for Microsoft-specific validation and tricky technical questions.

Operational considerations

• Engage early — FastTrack is most valuable at the planning stage, not after problems have surfaced.
• Document the engagement — FastTrack guidance becomes your team's reference material.
• Combine with internal capability building — don't outsource skills; use FastTrack to accelerate your team's learning.

For most eligible customers, FastTrack is a no-brainer — included with the licence cost, focused on getting Microsoft 365 working successfully. The main pitfall is not engaging until something has gone wrong; engage proactively for better outcomes.