MS-900 Describe Microsoft 365 apps and services Practice Question
A company is deploying Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise to 500 users. The IT team wants to minimize network traffic during installation by downloading only the apps that users need, instead of the full Office suite. Which deployment tool should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse the ODT with broader management tools like Intune or Configuration Manager, but the question specifically asks for the tool that directly controls which apps are downloaded, which is the ODT.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Office Deployment Tool (ODT)
The Office Deployment Tool (ODT) allows IT administrators to download and deploy only the specific Microsoft 365 Apps (e.g., Word, Excel) needed by users, using an XML configuration file to control which products and languages are installed. This minimizes network traffic by avoiding the download of the full suite, making it the correct choice for this scenario.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Microsoft Store for Business
Why it's wrong here
The Microsoft Store for Business (MSFB) has been deprecated and removed, making it impossible to use for any current deployment. Even when it was available, it only offered a fixed, full-suite bundle of Microsoft 365 Apps rather than allowing you to select individual applications, and it did not provide the same granular configuration or offline download capabilities as the Office Deployment Tool. Therefore, it cannot satisfy the requirement of deploying only specific selected apps.
- ✗
Microsoft Configuration Manager
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) is an on-premises systems management solution that can deploy software, but it requires a significant infrastructure of distribution points and software update points, and it typically pushes the entire Office suite as a single application. While you can create a deployment package, ConfigMgr lacks the built-in capability to download only the selected individual Office apps from the Office CDN with the same granularity as the Office Deployment Tool, making it less efficient and more complex for a cloud-based, bandwidth-conscious deployment.
- ✗
Microsoft Intune
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Intune's Microsoft 365 Apps deployment profile does give you some controls, like removing specific apps after installation, but it still downloads the entire Office suite payload to the device before applying those exclusions, which wastes bandwidth and doesn't offer pre-download selection from the source. The Office Deployment Tool, in contrast, uses a configuration.xml to define precisely which apps to download and install, allowing you to avoid downloading unneeded apps altogether. Intune is better suited for device management rather than granular Office app selection.
- ✓
Office Deployment Tool (ODT)
Why this is correct
The Office Deployment Tool (ODT) is the correct choice because it uses a configuration.xml file to specify exactly which Microsoft 365 Apps applications (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint) to download or install, along with architecture, language, and update channel settings. During the /download mode, it retrieves only the selected apps and their dependencies from the Office Content Delivery Network, significantly reducing bandwidth compared to pulling down the entire suite. This granular control makes ODT ideal for creating a custom deployment with specified apps, and it supports both online and offline installation scenarios.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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