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Microsoft Teams Governance

The best Tips and Tools, helpful Articles and Video Tutorials for your Microsoft Teams Governance

Governance in Teams

No more uncontrolled growth in Microsoft Teams! You want to keep your Microsoft Teams structured and secure? We show you how to best implement MS Teams Governance!

1 – What is MS Teams Governance, and why should I implement it?

Microsoft Teams Governance means a collection of settings to ensure security and structure for your MS Teams environment. Teams has many interfaces with external third parties: guest users, apps from third-party providers, meetings with externals, and many more. With its features centering around user-created workspaces like teams or channels and user-created content like posts or documents, the potential for uncontrolled growth should not be underestimated.

Our recommendation is to have a governance strategy ready before implementing MS Teams.

In short: If your organization uses Microsoft Teams, you do need to think about MS Teams governance.

2 – Tools for Microsoft Teams Governance

Microsoft Teams Governance made simple. Keep control of your Microsoft Teams environment with these tools.

Approval Workflow, Lifecycle, Naming Conventions, Metadata and Templates for your Microsoft Teams Governance

Request & Approval Workflow

Prevent the uncontrolled creation of teams. Review and approve all request for new teams.

Microsoft Teams Governance Policies

Combining your lifecycle settings with naming conventions, you can create powerful governance policies.

Teams Templates & Provisioning

Create templates with just a few clicks. Provide a consistent structure for channels, apps, settings and more.

Discover Teams Manager
Microsoft Teams Management with Governance Dashboard
Manage Guest Users in Microsoft Teams

Reporting, Monitoring and Access Management of your Guest Users with External User Manager

Guest Access Request & Approval

Set up an approval process for guest users in Teams & Microsoft 365 Groups. Approve or deny requests new guest requests.

Guest Users Access Review, Lifecycles and Reports

Regularly check you guest users, remove guest users automatically and keep track with reports.

Security & Compliance for Guest Users in Teams

In the onboarding process you can set binding guidelines. Adapt the onboarding to your requirements: GDPR, NDA, videos, etc.

Find out more about External User Manager

3 – Teams Governance Helpful Articles, Best Practices and more

Here you can find the latest blogposts for Microsoft Teams Governance. Visit our blog for more helpful articles!

Apply Governance Policies to Unmanaged Teams in Microsoft Teams

Learn how to migrate existing, unmanaged teams into your governance strategy with Teams Manager‘s „Unmanaged Bot“.

Microsoft 365 Group and Microsoft Teams Lifecycle Management – Governance Best Practices

All about best practices for Microsoft 365 Group and Microsoft Teams lifecycle management.

How to Schedule External Meetings in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams makes it very easy to meet remotely with external attendees. In this blog post, you will learn the step-by-step process of setting up an external meeting in MS Teams.

4 – Video-Tutorials for Microsoft Teams Governance

Filter by product and discover video tutorials that can help you with your MS Teams Governance.

External User Manager: Manage Guests in Microsoft Teams | Demo

In this short External User Manager demo we show you how easy it is to manage guests in Microsoft Teams.

Comprehensive Dashboard for External Users in Microsoft Teams

Learn how to access the External User dashboard, get a detailed overview, track pending requests, access reviews, and much more.

External User Manager Setup and Configuration in Microsoft Teams

Learn how to get started with setup and configuration of External User Manager for Microsoft Teams.

5 – Microsoft Teams Governance Case Studies

Ever wanted to know how to structure Microsoft Teams with our Solutions2Share solutions? Check out our case studies now and see for yourself!

Streamlining Team Creation with Teams Manager at Midwest BankCentre

In pursuit of a solution to streamline team creation in Microsoft Teams, Midwest BankCentre discovered Teams Manager.

Lifecycles and naming conventions in Microsoft Teams at Pfleiderer

The introduction of the Teams Manager at Pfleiderer was intended to avoid
uncontrolled growth and provide more structure from the outset.

Structure, consistency and control for GOLDBECK SOLAR

The implementation of Teams Manager was intended to fight the uncontrolled growth that had occurred in the beginning and to provide more control and structure for new project teams.

6 – Online-courses and Workshops for Microsoft Teams Governance

Learn from the governance market leader how governance works for Microsoft 365. We offer online courses and workshops.

Teams with Structure - Online Course

We'll show you step-by-step how to implement governance in Microsoft Teams. Develop and implement your own governance strategy with standard tools and prevent uncontrolled growth!

Read more

Governance Workshops

Together we work on your individual challenges and requirements. We offer Governance Workshops for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, Guest Users & External Users, Apps and PowerApps.

Read more

7 – Teams Governance Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here you will find the most frequently asked questions about MS Teams Governance.

What are the possibilities for Teams Governance?

Microsoft offers several options for Teams Governance out of the box. For example, retention policies can be used to control how long M365 groups exist before they are archived. It’s also possible to control which apps users are allowed to use.
However, who is allowed to create a team or not, or whether guests are allowed in a team or not, can only be controlled via PowerShell, Sensitivity Labels or third-party providers.

Is there a checklist for MS Teams governance?

Each organization is unique and has individual needs, which is why a standardized governance checklist, or a Microsoft Teams governance document for that matter, would be too general in most cases. If you would like some help to get started, we can gladly help you prepare a governance strategy for your use case.

Is governance teams-relevant only? 

Definitely not. Wherever you use a tool that interacts with externals or third-parties, or as soon as you have user-generated content, you need to think about governance guidelines for security and structure.

What are the most important rules for MS Teams Governance?

Microsoft Teams Governance is primarily about the following: The controlled creation of Teams, naming conventions, lifecycles and guest access.
Here are 6 Teams Governance hacks:
https://www.solutions2share.com/microsoft-teams-governance-hacks-for-structure/

What are some Microsoft Teams governance best practices? 

First and foremost, deactivate the team creation for your users (the standard method, that is). Check out our blogpost on how it is done: https://www.solutions2share.com/microsoft-teams-how-to-disable-teams-creation/
You can find many more Microsoft Teams governance best practices in our blog.

Is there a specific Microsoft Teams governance software? 

There are a number of companies offering Microsoft Teams governance software. Among them, Solutions2Share is the biggest app developer for specialized MS Teams governance apps. You can find our governance apps in the Teams app store: Teams Manager for keeping control of the creating and structure of teams and channels, External User Manager for integrating external guests safely into your environment, and File Manager for a better overview over your files in MS Teams.

What are some Microsoft Teams governance examples? 

One of the best MS Teams governance example is to think about lifecycles: how long do you want a team to exist? What should happen if it is no longer used? How long should external users have access? Should there be a time limit for the use of third-party apps, which often have full access to your data?

What should a comprehensive Microsoft Teams governance policy include? 

That depends a lot on your organization and use case. Basically speaking, your MS Teams governance policy should include a way to control the creation of and templates for new teams, lifecycles to prevent sprawl, naming conventions for more structure, sensitivity labels for more security, a decision on guest access vs. external access and rules for the use of third-party apps.

How do I restrict the creation of teams?

Restricting the creation of Teams is one of the most common requirements for a Microsoft Teams governance approach, but it can only be done with a PowerShell script. Here’s how to do it:
https://www.solutions2share.com/microsoft-teams-how-to-disable-teams-creation/
CAUTION! This script restricts the basic ability to create other M365 groups. Like for example a SharePoint Teams site needs them.

Can guest access be defined per team in MS Teams?

By default, this can only be defined in Microsoft Teams via Sensitivity Labels. See here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/sensitivity-labels-teams-groups-sites
However, it is easier with third-party apps.

What do I need to know about Teams templates?

The most commonly used template types in Microsoft Teams are DepartmentTeams, ProjectTeams, CollaborationTeams, and TestTeams.
Folder structures cannot be predefined by default in Teams templates. Also, it is not possible to provide predefined OneNotes or Planner tasks in a Teams template. This requires the use of a third-party application such as Teams Manager.
Teams templates can be created in the Teams Admin Center. For this you need Teams Admin rights. For detailed Teams templates we recommend the Teams Manager.

Want to start with Microsoft Teams
Governance? Book a demo!

Do you have any questions concerning Microsoft Teams Governance? We would like to answer all your questions and show you possibilities in Microsoft Teams for your Teams Governance.

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