Nowadays, we embrace Microsoft Teams as the go-to solution for virtual collaboration, so it’s crucial not to overlook the essential practices for effectively managing and governing your Teams environment. While Teams enhance productivity, the risk of uncontrolled sprawl and associated challenges cannot be ignored.
Navigating the management of Microsoft Teams requires a thoughtful strategy. In this article, we will delve into the realm of Microsoft Teams governance, exploring best practices that promote structure, scalability, and efficient collaboration.
By following these Microsoft Teams governance best practices, organizations can maintain control over their Teams ecosystem while maximizing its potential.
Let’s dive in!
Best Practices for Microsoft Teams Governance
The process of setting up a Microsoft Teams governance should not be underestimated, as it involves creating channels, configuring apps, and organizing folder structures, which can quickly accumulate to more than half an hour per workspace. If additional customizations on the SharePoint side are considered, it can potentially take up to half a day to fully establish a collaborative environment.
To enhance the governance of your Teams platform, it is crucial to have a clear policy in place regarding the authorization structure of your Teams spaces. Additionally, it is important to develop a plan for managing the access and permissions of external users.
We have compiled a list of 11 best practices to help you establish an effective Microsoft Teams governance policy tailored to your business needs.
In our organizations, we follow certain best practices for Microsoft Teams Governance, which may include:
1. Structured Team Creation
While moving on to the Microsoft teams, one of the primary necessities will be team creation planning. It might be tedious to set the team creation controls.
On the other hand, you have to make sure that team members have the full freedom to create the team to eliminate IT shadowing. And also you don’t want their end users to form clusters with the creation of unnecessary teams.
While structuring the team in your organization, you have to know the below things:
- Any specific naming conventions are followed in the organization?
- Any restrictions on adding up guests per team?
- Any limitations on creating teams?
After revising the answers above, you can just do the team creation activities such as team creation, naming, classification, and access for guests. If you are involved in the naming activity, ensure that you follow standard provisioning templates.
2. Managing Access for External Guests
Even though it may yield greater opportunity if you get to collaborate with external people, certain Microsoft Teams governance security and compliance issues may level up. Therefore, it will be harder, to get prepared from the start to carry out Microsoft Teams governance for the projects that need constant onboarding and offboarding of external guests.
To resolve such kind of cases, it is better to get a clear outline of accessing policies and requirements. Once you get thorough on it, alter the controls for the guests and external users. And also, set the roles you can approve or deny the requests when raised by the guests.
Share this documented information with the team members who are all engaged in collaboration with external users and guests to maintain the privacy of the organization.
3. Usage of Tagging System
Whenever you need active engagement in a team, then you can tag the personality you want. This unique MS Teams feature helps out team members with a large population. Having a rigid tagging system can help in Microsoft Teams’ governance activity. To attain it, you must go through these questions:
- Who can be able to edit the tags?
- What kind of tags can be suited to the project’s needs?
It is recommended to have a documented copy of the above copy to benefit your organization with the creation of a rigid tagging system. This kind of Microsoft Teams governance activity assures that the team members are using the proper tagging system while creating the teams.
4. Lifecycle Management of MS Teams
When it comes to team creation and management, it is common to overlook the importance of planning for the termination of teams at the end of their lifecycle. Once a project concludes or an organizational objective is achieved, the teams associated with them lose their relevance to the organization. It is crucial to have a well-defined plan for managing the lifecycle of teams and handling their outdated content effectively.
Some of the best practices that need to be followed during Microsoft Teams lifecycle management are:
- Checking Expiration policies in teams
- Archiving and deleting teams
- Detecting inactive teams
5. Data retention policy
Establishing a data retention policy plays a vital role in Microsoft Teams governance by defining which data should be stored or archived, the appropriate duration for retaining this data within Teams, and the timing for its deletion. This policy is essential as it ensures regulatory and operational compliance, mitigates the risk of data leaks, and prevents excessive data sprawl.
Neglecting to implement a data retention policy can lead to unfavorable outcomes. On one hand, data might be retained for an extended period, resulting in compliance issues and unnecessary clutter. On the other hand, data could be deleted prematurely, impeding employees’ access to crucial information and potentially causing disruptions to operations.
Learn More : How to optimize organization usage of Microsoft Teams through analytics and reporting
6. Educating the users
While Microsoft Teams generally provides a user-friendly experience for communication, video calls, and collaboration, there is a possibility that less technologically inclined users may encounter difficulties with its functionalities.
Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of users within Microsoft Teams. This includes understanding their rights and limitations, adhering to the established governance policies, and actively participating in maintaining a secure and productive Teams environment.
Share best practices for using Microsoft Teams effectively and efficiently. This may include guidelines for creating and managing teams and channels, organizing and sharing files, conducting meetings, and maintaining professionalism in communication.
Additionally, issues may arise if employees become overly engrossed in the interactive features of Teams and utilize the tool carelessly or for personal reasons. These behaviors can potentially impact productivity and pose security risks within the organization.
7. Using Naming conventions
Enhance the organization and discoverability of your Microsoft Teams workspaces by implementing naming conventions. By incorporating prefixes based on specific characteristics, such as “Project” for project-related teams, you can introduce additional standardization.
Consider using abbreviations for different departments or locations to further differentiate teams. It is important to ensure that the naming conventions remain concise and maintain a record of the abbreviations utilized.
Leveraging various MS Teams add-ons, you can automate the application of URL and naming conventions through predefined templates. Additionally, metadata can be utilized to extend the naming of teams. With this approach, users are not required to manually take action, as the standardization can be implemented by the tool itself.
8. Creating policies for chat and channels
When it comes to Microsoft Teams governance, establishing guidelines for proper conduct in chats and channels is a critical best practice. While Teams offers a social aspect that fosters team building and collaboration, it is essential to be mindful of the potential for inappropriate social interactions to occur, such as the use of offensive language, harassment, or abuse.
To maintain a respectful and productive work environment, moderation policies play a crucial role. Clearly defining and communicating the violations and their consequences allows IT departments to proactively address serious workplace issues, including damaged relationships, legal liabilities, and decreased productivity. This ensures a safer and more conducive atmosphere for all team members.
9. Using confidential label for sensitive data
In the collaborative environment of Microsoft Teams, end users often encounter the need to handle and share sensitive data, including customer information. Due to the potential implications of data protection regulations, maintaining compliance and preventing leaks of sensitive information becomes a key focus of Microsoft Teams governance.
In this context, sensitivity labels serve as invaluable tools for IT administrators. By applying a “confidential” label to a chat that contains sensitive information, IT administrators can effectively restrict access to a select group of users.
This proactive measure ensures that sensitive data is appropriately handled, mitigates compliance risks, and safeguards the company’s reputation from potential harm. Sensitivity labels provide a reliable mechanism to protect confidential information within Teams, fostering a secure collaboration environment.
10. Adhering to e-discovery and legal policies
Setting up e-discovery and legal hold policies is crucial to ensure the security, compliance, and legal integrity of your Microsoft Teams environment. By following best practices, you can effectively govern Teams and mitigate legal liabilities.
To address legal requirements, it is essential for the IT department to establish a comprehensive policy for preserving all relevant data within Teams. This policy should outline procedures for retaining chats and files, enabling quick and accurate retrieval of information when needed for legal proceedings.
So, What are the benefits of adhering to policies?
Organizations can avoid potential sanctions, fines, and other damages, and safeguard their reputation and legal standing.
By proactively implementing e-discovery and legal hold policies, you can protect your organization’s interests, maintain regulatory compliance, and ensure data availability for legal purposes. Prioritizing data preservation in Teams is a critical step toward reducing legal risks and upholding the highest standards of Microsoft Teams governance.
Also Read : How to prepare for MS-700: Managing Microsoft Teams?
11. Managing Teams ownership
Ownership plays an important role in Microsoft Teams. It means accessing right can be offered on the basis of organizational hierarchy. Ms teams grant a higher level of permission to the owner of a group. In short, he will be the sole responsibility for setting the Microsoft Teams governance policy for their teams.
Here comes the risk: whenever the owner left the organization, the team will have only limited accessibility. It doesn’t sound good right?
To put an end to this, it is essential to follow the below ownership ways for the project:
- Default ownership: By default, the creator of a team becomes its owner, granting them the ability to add members and promote them to owners.
- Role-based ownership: Additionally, Teams offers role-based ownership, allowing you to assign user roles and designate owners based on their roles within the project
- Less number of owners: To prevent teams from being left unmanaged, it is advisable to have multiple active owners. This ensures that there is always someone responsible for managing the team if one owner decides to leave.
Neglecting Microsoft Teams governance can lead to a multitude of tasks that divert your attention from strategic objectives. However, by implementing a suitable governance concept and following our recommended best practices, you can ensure that Microsoft Teams remains a productive and user-friendly platform, aligning with your future goals.
FAQs
Why do we need Microsoft Teams governance?
There are many benefits achieved by team governance such as security, compliance, data management, collaboration, and productivity.
What do governance models cover?
Governance models encompass principles of ethics, integrity, and a code of conduct that guide the behavior of leaders, volunteers, and workers. The actions and conduct of leaders significantly impact the mindset and behavior of individuals at lower levels within the organization.
What are the keys to building successful teams?
The keys to building successful Microsoft teams such as:
- Purpose
- Selection of the right people
- Culture
Conclusion
Hope this article conveys best practices to be followed to govern Microsoft teams in an effective way. When deploying Microsoft Teams, it is crucial to have a strategic plan in place. Take into account the various user profiles within your organization and anticipate any specific requirements that may arise.
During the setup process of Microsoft Teams governance, give careful thought to the organization and structure of Teams spaces. Ensure that each space is optimized for collaboration and take proactive steps to minimize clutter, creating an ideal environment for users to work together effectively.
It has been found that a well-governed Teams environment fosters a culture of accountability, enhances productivity, and helps organizations meet their regulatory and legal obligations.
If you have any comments or suggestions about this blog post, please feel free to comment us!
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