Microsoft Teams use case: Groups and Committees

Applicable to

Applies to UCT servicing officers and chairs of UCT groups or committees.
Applies to members of UCT groups or committees.

When to use

Use when servicing officers or chairs of groups or committees want to create or enhance a Microsoft Team to facilitate their collaboration and meetings within their group or committee.
Use when members want to learn good practices when using Microsoft Teams to collaborate with fellow committee/group members in meetings, chats or other activities within the Team created by their chair or servicing officer.

Description

This covers the case in which staff and students in groups and committees across campus (e.g. Students Representative Council, Employees Union, Sports teams, etc.) use Teams when working towards a common goal: to facilitate the organisation of their group, and to coordinate, track and document their communication, meetings and activities in one place, to ensure that they work effectively and efficiently.

Recommended tools and tabs

Recommended tools

Tool	Used for:
Polly	Quick informal polls during committee/group meetings Gauge member views quickly and providing a report within the meeting
Polls
Microsoft Forms	More comprehensive, formal and/or extended surveys/questionnaires to be sent to the committee/group outside of meetings
OneNote	Take informal/formal notes during or after meetings
Whiteboard	Brainstorm during discussions or workshops
Wiki	Document proceedings during or after meetings
Glossary	Provide a standard set of terms/acronyms and definitions for use within the committee/group to ensure shared understanding
OneDrive for Business	Manage standard meeting recordings Note: Permissions to meeting recordings should be managed to ensure that they are only made available to those authorised to access them.
SharePoint	Manage channel meeting recordings Note: Permissions to meeting recordings should be managed to ensure that they are only made available to those authorised to access them.
Website	See the recommended Tabs section below Note: Only secure links (i.e. HTTPS) may be added.

Recommended tabs

Examples of tabs that might be useful or applicable to different groups and committees:.

Note: Only secure links (i.e. HTTPS) may be added.

Title	Description	Used for:
Governance Intranet	Link to the Governance Intranet: http://governance.uct.ac.za	Storing meeting agendas, minutes, supporting documentation for official UCT committees
<other links to websites>	<websites related to the committee or group>	Providing resources/information to support the activities of the committee/group outside of those provided by Microsoft Teams

Recommended channels

Examples of channels for groups/committees

Channels should be created based on the committee or group’s specific needs (such as topic, discipline, or subject). However, examples of types of channels that could be created are:

General channel for general discussions, operations, miscellaneous items

Private channel for private collaboration or discussions, e.g. for chair and servicing officer to finalise minutes, agendas and supporting documentation
Meetings channel
Sub-committee or related working group channel, if applicable

Good practices for using channels

Selected good practices are listed below, but for a full list, please see the Channels section in the Good practices guide for Microsoft Teams.

Area	Practice/s
Naming of channels	Use a reliable and agreed naming convention for Channels that will be sustainable in the long run within the team.
Permissions in channels	Meeting permissions can be set in channels to limit and manage access to meeting recordings to ensure that only those permitted to access recordings can do so.
Private channels	Private channels may be used in committees for private discussions between two or more members of the team. Note: Polly and certain other tools don’t work in private channels.

Features

This list contains features that are available in Teams to better manage your workspace.