Microsoft Teams use case: Research

Applicable to

Applies to researchers and research support staff who would like to create a Microsoft team and use Teams as a platform for remote collaboration within their research project.

When to use

Use when researchers and research support staff are collaborating within their departments or across departments using Teams.

Description

This covers the case in which staff or students collaborating on a research project with each other as well as with researchers from other institutions use Teams when working towards a common goal: to facilitate communication, online meetings and activities for research (staff, students, postgraduates, researchers) in academic departments/units/teams across campus and with external institutions or parties to enable them to carry out research activities remotely, effectively and efficiently.

Recommended tools and tabs

Recommended tools

Tool	Used for:
OneNote	Taking informal/formal notes during or after meetings
Whiteboard	Brainstorming during discussions or workshops
Wiki	Documenting proceedings during or after meetings
Glossary	Providing a standard set of terms/acronyms and definitions for use within the committee/group to ensure shared understanding
Planner	Planning and coordinating tasks within the PASS department/unit/group
OneDrive for Business	Managing 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	Managing 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	Note: Only secure links (i.e. HTTPS) may be added. See Tabs recommended section below
Microsoft Forms	More comprehensive, formal and/or extended surveys/questionnaires to be sent to the committee/group outside of meetings
Polly	Quick informal polls during committee/group meetings Gauging member views quickly and providing a report within the meeting
Polls

Recommended tabs

Examples of tabs that might be useful or applicable to different departments or areas:

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

Title	Used for:
UCT Research portal	UCT research administration
ZivaHub – Open Data UCT	Storing UCT research data
UCT eResearch	Obtaining assistance with finding the most appropriate tools/ services to support the research life cycle
UCT Libraries	Finding literature and related research materials
SAP for Finance	Monitoring and reporting on funds allocated to research
ServiceNow portal	Logging IT incidents, problems, change requests, development requests
PeopleSoft	Support staff in Faculty Offices
<other links to websites>	Providing resources/information to support the activities of research staff outside of those provided by Microsoft Teams

Recommended channels

Examples of channels for Research

Channels should be created based on the research project 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 between senior research staff or managers of the research project
Research stream/s channel/s
Sub-research groups or related research group channel, if applicable

Good practices for using channels

A selection of 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.