Best practices for Microsoft Teams at IU

UITS recommends these best practices for effective use of Microsoft Teams at IU:

  • Creation: Any Microsoft Teams team must be created using IU's Institutional storage request form. To access the form in the Teams client, in the left navigation pane select New Team. This process ensures the team is created as private, where specific members are assigned access, and it provides additional safeguards, naming conventions, and tools that will be valuable for storage owners and the IU community.
  • Scope: Rather than having a single team for an entire organization, it is usually better to have multiple teams, each with a more focused group of people. For example, if a group is working on a project, that could be its own team. Other examples include student clubs, research labs, internal or interdepartmental committees, and teammates within an organization. If a team becomes unwieldy, with too many members or tasks, create new ones to help maintain focus and security.
  • Institutional data: Microsoft Teams is appropriate for institutional data of all data classifications. It is important for the team owner and requester of the storage space to provide accurate information including what type of data will be stored and data classification when completing the Institutional storage request form. This ensures the appropriate safeguards and naming conventions are applied. If the data classification or types of data you specify during the creation process change during the life of the team, it is important to update this information to remain in compliance. For additional help in identifying the type of data that will be stored, see Classification levels of institutional data.
  • Channels: Every team within Microsoft Teams begins with a General channel that all members can access. In addition, you can create additional channels for more focused topics. Standard channels are available to all within the team, while private channels can be limited to a subset. You can't add members to a private channel who aren't already in the team itself, however. You may also have no more than 30 private channels in a team; if you find yourself frequently expanding the membership of your team to accommodate channel topics, consider creating new teams instead.
  • Permissions: Three permission levels are available:
    • Owner: Should be restricted to those with organizational responsibilities for the team. Owners can add and remove users, and also have the ability to delete the team itself. You are limited to 100 owners, and UITS recommends that you have at least two in any team to maintain access and security.
    • Member: This would apply to most people in the team.
    • Guest: Guest designation is for external individuals.
  • Access: For full functionality, use the Microsoft Teams application or the web app. If you'd like to access Microsoft Teams documents from File Explorer or the Finder, you can also use the OneDrive application.
  • Training: IT Training offers webinars on Microsoft Teams.

This is document bglj in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2023-08-01 09:14:43.