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Portal Walkthrough: Control 1.4 — Advanced Connector Policies (ACP)

Last Updated: April 2026 Portal: Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com) Estimated Time: 45–60 minutes (first environment group); 15 minutes per additional environment Primary Owner Admin Role: Power Platform Admin

Portal configuration guide for Control 1.4 — Advanced Connector Policies (ACP). ACP is the default-deny, action-aware connector governance layer that supersedes the Business / Non-Business / Blocked classification model in classic data policies for certified connectors. Custom connectors, HTTP connectors, and Copilot Studio virtual connectors continue to require classic DLP coverage.

Prerequisites

# Item Where to confirm
1 Target environment is in a United States region PPAC > Manage > Environments > environment row > Region
2 Managed Environments enabled (Control 2.1) Environment Overview > Managed Environments = On
3 Environment is in an Environment Group (Control 2.2) PPAC > Manage > Environment groups
4 Documented approved connector catalog with owner, business purpose, security review date, and zone scope Internal change-management system (ServiceNow, Jira, etc.)
5 Classic DLP policy already covering custom connectors and HTTP endpoints (will run in mixed mode alongside ACP) PPAC > Policies > Data policies
6 Caller holds Power Platform Admin role; sensitive change windows use Entra PIM just-in-time elevation (Control 1.1) Entra admin center > Roles and admins

Mixed mode (recommended for FSI): Until ACP supports custom connectors, HTTP connectors, and connector endpoint filtering, leave classic DLP policies enabled. The runtime engine evaluates the most restrictive of both systems.

Step 1 — Enable Managed Environments (if not already on)

  1. Sign in to the Power Platform Admin Center.
  2. Navigate Manage > Environments.
  3. Select the target environment row, then Enable Managed Environments in the command bar.
  4. Set FSI-recommended values:
  5. Limit sharing: Exclude sharing with security groups (or stricter)
  6. Usage insights: On
  7. Maker welcome content: Point to your internal AI governance landing page
  8. Solution checker enforcement: Block
  9. Select Enable.

Managed Environments is required for ACP to block nonblockable connectors (Dataverse, Office 365 Users, etc.). On non-Managed Environments, ACP can still be authored, but those connectors remain unblockable.

Step 2 — Confirm or Create the Environment Group

  1. Manage > Environment groups.
  2. Select + New group (skip if already created).
  3. Name using the FSI tier convention, e.g., Zone3-Regulated-Production or Zone2-Team-Collaboration.
  4. Description must record the regulatory scope, e.g., Zone 3 — production environments hosting customer-facing agents subject to SEC Reg S-P, FINRA 4511, and SOX 404 ITGCs.
  5. Add environments > select the in-scope environments > Save.

Step 3 — Author the Advanced Connector Policy (Group Scope)

Default-deny: ACP blocks every certified connector and every action by default. You only ever add approvals. Authoring an empty policy = blocking everything except platform nonblockable connectors.

  1. Open the environment group from Step 2.
  2. Select the Rules tab.
  3. Select Advanced connector policies (preview).
  4. Review the preloaded nonblockable connectors (Dataverse, Office 365 Users, Approvals, Notifications). On Managed Environments these can also be removed if your zone policy requires it.
  5. Select + Add connectors and add only the connectors on the approved allowlist for this zone.
  6. For each added connector, select it to expand the Actions panel:
  7. Use the Triggers, Actions, Internal actions, and Deprecated tags to make explicit allow/deny decisions.
  8. Toggle off every action that is not required for the documented agent use case.
  9. Default to read / list / get actions only; require a separate change ticket to enable create / update / delete.
  10. Select Save.
  11. Return to the Rules tab and select Publish rules in the command bar.
  12. Confirm the policy panel header displays Status: Applied.
  13. In each member environment, Settings > History should show an entry Update Managed Environment Settings within 5–10 minutes — this is the cascade of the ACP rule into design-time and runtime infrastructure.

FSI suggested allowlist (Zone 2 baseline)

Connector Allowed actions (illustrative) Notes
Microsoft Dataverse List rows, Get row by ID Add Create/Update only with CAB approval
SharePoint Get items, Get file content Block Send HTTP request to SharePoint, Delete file, Set permissions
Office 365 Outlook Send email V2 (to internal recipients only — enforce via Exchange transport rule, not ACP) No external mailbox actions for Zone 3
Microsoft Teams Post message in chat or channel Block Create team / Add member / Export
Approvals Create approval, Wait for approval Workflow only

FSI standing blocklist (Zone 2 / Zone 3)

Do not add to the allowlist:

  • All social-media connectors (X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok)
  • Consumer cloud storage (Dropbox, Box personal, Google Drive personal, OneDrive consumer)
  • Consumer messaging (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord)
  • Public-AI passthrough connectors whose terms permit training on inputs
  • Any connector whose data-processing region cannot be constrained to United States

Connectors are blocked simply by not being in the allowlist — there is no separate denylist to maintain.

Step 4 — Single-Environment ACP (Targeted Governance)

Use this path for a single regulated, pilot, or quarantined environment that is not part of a group, or whose policy must differ from its group.

  1. Security > Data and privacy.
  2. Select Advanced connector policies (preview).
  3. Author the policy using the same connector + actions controls as Step 3.
  4. Select Save.
  5. Confirm Status: Applied appears at the top of the panel.

Each environment supports one effective ACP. If the environment was previously in a group, removing it leaves the last group ACP attached until you edit it or use Remove rule.

Step 5 — Mixed Mode vs. ACP-Only Mode (Decision)

Mode When to use FSI recommendation
Mixed mode (default) Any tenant that still needs custom connector, HTTP, virtual connector, or endpoint-filter governance Default for FSI. Keep classic DLP active until ACP gains parity.
ACP-only mode Tenants that fully migrated all governance to ACP and want a single policy surface Only enable after a documented migration sign-off; otherwise classic DLP rules silently stop enforcing.

To enable ACP-only mode at the group scope: Rules tab > toggle Advanced connector policies only to On. At the single-environment scope: Security > Data and privacy > toggle Advanced connector policies only to On.

ACP-only mode does not delete classic DLP policies — it stops evaluating them. To return to mixed mode, toggle off.

Step 6 — Classic DLP Coverage for the ACP Gap

For every environment covered by ACP, also confirm a classic DLP policy is scoped to it that:

  1. Places HTTP, HTTP with Microsoft Entra ID, and HTTP Webhook connectors in Blocked unless used by an approved internal flow (then use connector endpoint filtering to restrict to internal hosts).
  2. Places all custom connectors in Blocked by default; allowlist only after security review (Control 2.7).
  3. Places Copilot Studio virtual connectors (knowledge sources, channels, skills) in the appropriate group — these are not governed by ACP and will not be in the future.
  4. Is scoped at the environment level, not security-group level, so service-principal-authenticated connections are also covered (see the Service Principal warning on the control page).

Step 7 — MCP Server Governance (Preview)

  1. In the same Advanced connector policies panel, scroll to the MCP servers section.
  2. Each registered MCP server appears alongside connectors.
  3. Block any MCP server that is not on the approved-server inventory by removing it from the allowlist.
  4. Document the server-level decision in the connector catalog (server ID, owner, business purpose, supported zones).

ACP supports server-level MCP blocking only. Tool-level granularity is not yet available — combine with the Copilot Studio agent-level tool toggles for layered control.

Step 8 — Verify Publish and Capture Evidence

  1. Reopen the policy panel; Status must read Applied.
  2. Open one member environment > Settings > History; confirm Update Managed Environment Settings entry within the last 10 minutes.
  3. Sign in as a maker (non-admin) and attempt to add a non-allowlisted connector to a flow or Copilot Studio agent — design-time enforcement should display "This connector is blocked by your administrator" in Power Automate maker portal (and in Copilot Studio / Power Apps as design-time enforcement reaches GA per the maker portal rollout).
  4. Capture the screenshots listed in docs/images/1.4/EXPECTED.md and store under maintainers-local/tenant-evidence/1.4/.

Configuration Matrix by Governance Zone

Setting Zone 1 (Personal) Zone 2 (Team) Zone 3 (Enterprise)
ACP rule Optional Required (group scope) Required (group scope, strict allowlist)
Classic DLP (mixed mode) Tenant-wide Required Required
Action-level allowlisting N/A Read by default; CAB for write Read-only by default; CAB + security review for any write
MCP servers Not allowed Internal-only, named approval Internal + vetted vendor only, server-level inventory
Allowlist recertification Annual Quarterly Monthly
ACP-only mode Not used Not recommended Not recommended until parity achieved

Back to Control 1.4 | PowerShell Setup | Verification & Testing | Troubleshooting

Updated: April 2026 | Version: v1.4.0