Sometimes, a change in administrative philosophy is necessary to really grow your Microsoft Teams use. If your MS Teams use hasn’t been as efficient or as under control as required, it may be that the Teams “default” administrative philosophy just isn’t up to par. Here’s what you need to know about the administrative management of your MS Teams platform.
Creating Structured Processes for MS Teams
If there’s no process for managing how Teams and their Channels are created, it’s easy for it to get out of control. Teams may be created for small, temporary projects, and employees may start to get confused. When there are too many teams involved, it’s hard for employees to know where to look for important information. This can be easily solved by creating business processes that outline when and how Teams should be created — and who should be added to them.
Every team should be primarily on a “need to know about” basis, not only for reasons of security, but also for reasons of simplicity. When employees are on a dozen teams that don’t matter to them, they will need to navigate around them and eventually they won’t be able to keep up. Unstructured/Self-Service Administration is the Microsoft Teams’ “Default” administrative model.
Drive Teams Adoption with Improved Training
Your administrative goals need to be aligned with your employees. If your employees aren’t aware of your administrative processes and standards, they aren’t going to be able to follow them. At the time a Microsoft Office 365 Account is created Microsoft will send an email with links to basic online training materials. While the one-time training email is a good start – regular on-going training should also be provided.
Continuous monitoring of Teams usage and targeting low use users with additional training will maximize your organization’s return on Microsoft licensing investment. General on-going training should also be offered to everyone with a Microsoft Teams License on an annual or bi-annual basis to make certain even heavy users of Microsoft Teams can continue to become more efficient.
Controlling the Permissions for Your Systems
Every user should only have the permissions they need to complete their work. An employee doesn’t need to have the ability to create Teams; that should be in the purview of administrators and management. The fewer permissions employees have, the simpler their work will be, and there will be less of a chance of issues occurring.
If you don’t control the permissions over Teams management, it becomes easier for employees to accidentally delete or overwrite information that’s needed. That will ultimately lead to confusion and fear, and employees may hesitate before following processes because they’re afraid of getting something wrong.
Standardizing Teams and Documents
Team names, channel names, and other data that’s stored in MS Teams need to be standardized. This may seem trivial, but it’s actually quite important. Standardizing names is better for business processes. It means that employees will more easily be able to find the teams and channels they need, as everything will be clearly labeled.
It’s easy for things to get out of hand over time. Once things become inconsistent, it can spiral, and lead to widespread confusion. If your Team names aren’t already standardized, you may want to start standardizing now.
Conclusion: Integrating Office 365 Groups with MS Teams
Many companies switch from an Office 365 Groups platform to MS Teams. But in actuality, Office 365 Groups and MS Teams are meant to work well together, and they need to be integrated with each other. Office 365 Groups provide shared mailbox and calendar functionality, while MS Teams provides chat and collaboration.
When used properly, Microsoft Teams provides a tremendous capacity for growth and collaboration. But Teams can also be used incorrectly, and havoc may ensue. If you haven’t applied an administrative philosophy, it’s hard to assure your productivity. By implementing the above changes in your processes and structure, you’ll be able to sidestep many of the potential pitfalls.
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