Microsoft Teams

UNDER CONSTRUCTION: This article is incomplete and under construction. Direct questions to TLT (tlt@winona.edu).

What is Teams?

Teams is a huge step forward for Microsoft and for us as inhabitants of a unified Microsoft Office 365 ecosystem. Teams is much more than Microsoft's bid to compete with Slack, a recent entry into the workplace collaboration market that includes many of the same features and functions. Instead, it's Microsoft's answer to what has been missing from Office forever and what has been confusing about their recent attempts to support teamwork. Many of us have struggled to understand and integrate into our Office-enabled workday Microsoft tools like SharePoint, Skype for Business, and OneDrive. While it has been clear that Microsoft is transforming Office into something more than the Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel programs installed on our laptops, it has been less clear where Office is headed and why we need to go there. With Teams, Microsoft is finally bringing this into focus.

A Microsoft Team has several components, some of which may already be familiar:

• SharePoint site - When a team is created, a corresponding Microsoft SharePoint site is also created and integrated with the Team site. For example, when you select the Files tab in a team channel, you are actually accessing a subfolder in the Documents folder of the SharePoint site. That subfolder was created when the channel was created and given the same name. Team members can access certain features of that SharePoint site through the team, such as folders for storing documents. The SharePoint site can also be accessed directly, without using the Team interface.
• OneNote notebook - When a team is created, a corresponding Microsoft OneNote notebook is also created. Team members can create and access pages in that notebook from the team interface (e.g., meeting notes). The OneNote notebook can also be accessed directly, without using the Team interface.

How to create a Team

Submit a request to Minnesota State IT Service Desk. Precede the name of your team with "WSU-" (e.g., WSU-My Team). System office technicians will create the team for you, assign you to the team Owner role, and email you an invitation to the team.