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5 things to know about using Teams

Here are five things you should know about using Microsoft Teams.
 

1. What is Microsoft Teams? 

It’s a new chat and collaboration platform for within the organisation and the wider NHS in Wales, along with a select group of organisations which have been ‘white listed’ e.g. Welsh Government, councils etc. 

 

2. How do I use Microsoft Teams? 

As well as the chat-based communications, Teams' integration with other Microsoft services allows access to shared files and calendars, collaborative editing, and easy switching between voice, video, and text chat.

On the left –and tool bar of Teams, you will find:

  • Activity - Catch up on all your unread messages, @mentions, replies, and more. 
  • Chat – Connect with one or more colleagues using the chat function, which also has emoji’s, reactions and gifs.
  • Teams - Find channels to belong to or create your own. Inside channels you can hold on-the-spot meetings, have conversations, and share files. 
  • Calendar - See everything you’ve got lined up for the day or week. Or, schedule a meeting. This calendar syncs with your Outlook calendar. 
  • Files – Here you can see all the files you have access to which have been posted in chat and channels

Use the command box at the top to search for specific items or people, take quick actions, and launch apps. 

The aim of a Team is to promote collaboration and working together to produce an outcome, such as a project or workstream.

 

3. Who has access to Microsoft Teams? 

Everyone in PHW has access to Teams in one form or another. Teams Lite is enabled for the whole organisation, which can be used to chat, call and communicate in channels. Another part of the O365 roll-out is moving everyone’s mailboxes from being on premises to the cloud. Once your mailbox is moved to the cloud, you will have the full version of Teams which supports additional functionality such as ‘Live Events’ and other O365 applications.

 

4. How do I get Microsoft Teams? 

Follow our Get Started with Teams page for guidance on how to setup teams on your laptop, PC or mobile device.

 

5. How do I create my own Team? 

As part of the O365 Programme, we have been looking into the architecture of how Teams will be set up across the organisation.  Each new Team creates a ‘back-end’ Sharepoint site, and we need to manage any potential data sprawl. Over the next few weeks we will be devising a process for how new Teams are created and managed in the future.

In the meantime, if you have a request to create a Team, please send it to PHW.Office356@wales.nhs.uk