Unified Access Log (UAL)

The Unified Access Log (UAL) by Microsoft is a feature of Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365) that provides a single, unified log format for various services across the Microsoft cloud ecosystem. The UAL consolidates logs from various services, making it easier for administrators to monitor and analyse user activity in their Microsoft 365 environments.

Services that are part of the Unified Access Log (UAL) include:

  1. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD): Logs related to user sign-ins, user management, authentication events, and security events, such as conditional access policies, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and more.
  2. Exchange Online: Logs related to mailbox activities, including mailbox access, message delivery, message tracking, mailbox operations, and admin operations.
  3. SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business: Logs related to file and folder activities, sharing activities, site and list activities, and synchronization activities.
  4. Microsoft Teams: Logs related to team and channel activities, meetings, calls, chat messages, and app usage.
  5. Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI: Logs related to app usage, creation and modification of apps, flows, and reports, and sharing activities.
  6. Yammer: Logs related to group activities, messages, files, and user activities in Yammer.
  7. Security and Compliance: Logs related to Data Loss Prevention (DLP) events, eDiscovery events, and other security and compliance-related activities.
  8. Dynamics 365: Logs related to user activities, such as creating, modifying, and deleting records, and other admin operations in Dynamics 365 applications.
  9. Other Microsoft 365 services: Logs from various other Microsoft 365 services like Planner, Stream, Sway, Forms, and more.

The Unified Access Log (UAL) simplifies log management and analysis for Microsoft 365 administrators by providing a consistent log format and a single location to monitor and investigate user activities across different services. It also helps organizations meet regulatory and compliance requirements by offering comprehensive log data for audits and investigations.