Category: Prepare for Change

Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash
Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Governance, Microsoft Teams, Modern Workplace, Planning, Prepare for Change, Security, User Adoption

Shared Channels in Microsoft Teams – What do you need to start thinking about now?

Microsoft Teams Connect (Shared Channels) is about to being launched and many are impatiently waiting to use it. I think that Shared Channels will be very useful, and I clearly see its value as you do not have to be a guest in many organizations and change tenant as often as you need today. BUT here is some well-meaning advice in place. You who may think that it is only to activate the functionality and then everyone can use it (just as many did when Private Channels was launched) should stop a bit and think beforehand. If you want this to work well and not lose control (again), then you need to do proper homework with planning, configuration and training before you roll this out in the organization.

“With Microsoft Teams Connect we are making it easier to collaborate with anyone outside your organization. You can use Team’s full suite of collaboration capabilities with external partners in other Azure AD orgs the same way you use them with colleagues from your organization. Shared channels enables people from different orgs to work together as one team in a shared space for a more structured, deeper and longer-term collaboration.”

Source: Microsoft 365 Roadmap

Some examples of what you need to think about:

  • Just as with Private Channels, each Shared Channel gets its own SharePoint area. How should you have control over this?
  • Is the access for the external users affected if you implement (or have implemented) Conditional Access and MFA?
  • How do Shared Channels work in Teams that are blocked from inviting guests?
  • How to do with Sensitivity Labels? Does it work and when (and where) can you use it?
  • Is it enough that you just configure your organization’s tenant for it to work?
  • When should I use a team of guests, when should I use a Private Channel and when should I use a Shared Channel?
  • How are Shared Channels related to M365 Groups?
  • Do all Apps work the same way as in regular channels?
  • Should everyone be able to create Shared Channels or can I control this with a policy?

I am sure that more questions will arise over time, but these are good to start with finding the answers to.

Strategy, Planning, User adoption and Governance

“If you do not do things the right way from the beginning, sooner or later you will have to pay for it afterwards.“

To start using Shared Channels is no exception. As always, Strategy, User adoption and Governance are of great importance here too. This time do not make the same mistakes that many others have made by just rolling out new functionality without first familiarizing yourself with both opportunities and challenges. I have seen many examples of this when it comes to rapid implementation of Microsoft Teams and not least when it comes to Private Channels. You must ALWAYS plan for how new functionality will be implemented in the organization and not least how the new functionality will be received and embraced by your end users. What information should be communicated to them, how should you communicate the information and what training do they need to complete.

Even though we do our work in the cloud and Microsoft 365 is our plane, we can not rely on there being any magic cruise control. You actually need Governance on all services and features and Shared Channels in Microsoft Teams are no exception.

I’m really looking forward to the launch of Shared Channels and I will, without a doubt, use it. However, I will spend a lot of time in advance getting to know how it really works and how we will use it in our organization.

If you are curious to know more about Shared Channels, you can read more here:

Tony Redmond’s article “Diving into the Details of Microsoft Teams Shared Channels“

AvePoint Blog article “6 Things You Need to Know About Microsoft Teams Connect (Shared Channels)” by Kevin Joy

Good luck and do not forget that with good planning you always get the best result!

/Magnus

Photo by Yukiko Kanada on Unsplash
Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams Apps, Modern Workplace, Power BI, PowerApps, Prepare for Change, SharePoint, SharePoint Online, Tasks, To Do, Yammer

The wonderful feeling that your toolbox is complete

Microsoft Ignite is in full swing with almost limitless amounts of information about news regarding improvements and new functionality we can soon expect to be served on our table.

I must say that it has never been so inspiring and exciting to work with collaboration solutions from Microsoft. The toolbox grows and grows and I can, with a clear conscience, say that now we probably have everything (or at least most) we need in Microsoft Teams. It has really and finally become a workspace where you can make all your tools and all your information available in the right context.

(Photo by CDC on Unsplash)
With a little planning of how to put the whole thing together, you and your colleagues can actually soon perform all your daily activities without having to leave the Microsoft Teams interface to open additional systems.

“Everything in one place!”

Here is a selection of some important building blocks that we can use to achieve this:

  • All tasks in one app (Tasks)
  • Build workflows with the new “Power Automate app” in Teams
  • Build your own company-specific apps with integrations with your business systems with Power Platform and make these
    apps available to your teams.
  • Use Power BI to visualize your data in dashboards and reports.
  • Use the new “Home Site App” app to link your Modern SharePoint Intranet to teams and get an overview of news, links, quality systems, handbooks, etc.
  • Use the Yammer app to integrate relevant Yammer networks into different Teams

(Photo by Barn Images on Unsplash)

The possibilities do not stop here. For me, however, this is the most relevant functionality (for the moment) I need in my toolbox to help companies and organizations work in a smooth and modern way.

If you are eager to learn more about the possibilities with the news in #MicrosoftTeams, please take a look at “What’s New in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Ignite 2020“

Automation, Change, Microsoft 365 Governance, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Governance, Prepare for Change, Tips & Tricks

How to improve your Governance solution by automating the monitoring of Microsoft 365 Roadmap

Many of you may have read some of my posts on “How to use Microsoft Teams to simplify O365 Governance” and the simple concept I have developed to make everyday life easier for those who have some form of service responsibilities in governance for Office 365.

Nothing is complete (all concepts have improvement potential) and when I read the post “Posting Microsoft 365 Roadmap Items to Teams” by Tony Redmond, I immediately saw how the governance concept I developed can be easily improved by automating the monitoring of Microsoft 365 Roadmap (and others important sources of information). Continue reading “How to improve your Governance solution by automating the monitoring of Microsoft 365 Roadmap” →

Photo by Daniel Gonzalez on Unsplash
IT Governance, Microsoft Teams, Modern Workplace, Office 365, Office 365 Governance, Planning, Prepare for Change, Security & Compliance, Tips & Tricks, User Adoption

Things to Know Before Your Organization Opens Up to Use Private Channels in Microsoft Teams

Let me start by saying that I love new functionality that creates opportunities and solves concrete needs, BUT: Having a holistic perspective when managing your organization’s productivity platform is a puzzle with many pieces. In my opinion, there are mainly three pieces you need to fit together as soon as possible if you are to succeed in introducing new functionality into an organization. These pieces are: Continue reading “Things to Know Before Your Organization Opens Up to Use Private Channels in Microsoft Teams” →

Microsoft Teams, Office 365, Prepare for Change, Tips & Tricks, User Adoption

How to temporarily disable private channels

Private channels in Microsoft Teams are now launched and rolled out to your tenant. You can create private channels for a specific group of team members in a team. Only those people that are added to the private channel will be able to see and write messages in it.

In my previous blog post “Private channels in Microsoft Teams are here but are you ready to release it in your organization yet?” i wrote about what to think of in order to start using it properly.

Have you informed your users about your guidelines for using this Private channels? If you haven’t done so, now is the time to do it. In the meantime,  you can (read: should) disable Private Channels for a time until everyone knows how it works and how to use it.

How do you do this then? It is easier than you think: Continue reading “How to temporarily disable private channels” →

Change, IT Governance, Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Teams, Modern Workplace, Office 365, Office 365 Governance, Planning, Prepare for Change, Tips & Tricks

Private channels in Microsoft Teams are here but are you ready to release it in your organization yet?

Now you have the opportunity to create “Private channels” in your tenant, but have you informed all your users about how private channels work and how and when to use this functionality? If not, NOW is the time to communicate the guidelines you have for using private channels. (Surely you have developed guidelines?)

“I have a feeling that most of you have not prepared yourself for this rollout and now you stand there with the “Smörgåsbord”  popped up and your users storm in, enjoy the goodies and leaves a very messy table behind.”

Continue reading “Private channels in Microsoft Teams are here but are you ready to release it in your organization yet?” →

Microsoft 365, Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Teams, Office 365, Office 365 Groups, Planner, Prepare for Change, SharePoint Online, To Do, User Adoption, Yammer

A seemingly never-ending flood of news from Microsoft Ignite is spreading fast

(Photo by Matt Power on Unsplash)

Do you have trouble keeping your nose above the surface of the stream of updates that are now spreading across websites and social platforms? Perhaps you try to keep up with the news/updates that is being launched on Ignite but feel that you have trouble filtering everything? Continue reading “A seemingly never-ending flood of news from Microsoft Ignite is spreading fast” →

Change, Microsoft Teams, Office 365, Office 365 Governance, Prepare for Change, Tips & Tricks

How to view messages from Microsoft 365 Message Center in a Channel in Microsoft Teams

There are many sources of information and many variants on how best to “Stay on top of Office 365 Changes“. In previous articles on Office 365 Governance, I have described how you can use Microsoft Teams to make this update monitoring easier by gathering all information sources in one place.

AllInOne Continue reading “How to view messages from Microsoft 365 Message Center in a Channel in Microsoft Teams” →

Change, IT Governance, Microsoft 365 Governance, Microsoft Teams, Office 365, Office 365 Governance, Prepare for Change, Tips & Tricks

Guide to configure a basic Governance Team for Office 365

If you are looking for a solution / tool to get you started with Governance in the shortest possible time (and which still gives you great value) I have, in this post, in the Microsoft Tech Community forum for Microsoft Teams, made a step-by-step description on how to configure a Microsoft Team to solve this.

 

Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Modern Workplace, Office 365, Prepare for Change, User Adoption

Back in Business, but what happened to Microsoft Teams this summer?

If you, like me, have just come back from vacation and been more or less offline, I can inform you that there has been a lot of information about Microsoft Teams during the summer.

I was going to summarize all the news today and post here on my blog but Vesa Nopanen got ahead of me and wrote a really good update so I share it with you here:

“Teams summer summary: what’s new and what is coming out soon”

Thank you Vesa for making this compilation!