General Guidance
Make sure that you are up to date regarding your organisation’s data privacy and information governance considerations. Contact your Local Administrator (LA) or local IT team in case of questions.
Be aware that local settings may make the Teams experience different between organisations.
It can be useful to confirm prior to the meeting whether participants are expected to dial in via video, or whether audio is sufficient so that attendees can get themselves set up accordingly.
Note that the approach described below is one way for the NHS and the Public Sector to collaborate, but there are many other ways to work together with Microsoft Teams.
Note that Microsoft Teams is an ever-evolving tool and you might experience small incremental changes to the meeting experience.
Download the full Step by Step Guidance and Learning PowerPoint presentation to interact with the learning links
Getting ready to collaborate
1. Creating a private channel
Private channels are a place for sensitive files or discussions that shouldn’t be visible to all members of a Team. Private channels are created in the same way as a standard channel except that you need to choose the private option in the privacy drop-down list.
Anyone, including guests, can be added as a member of a private channel as long as they are already members of the Team. Click here to learn more.
2. Inviting guests
If you want people who are from an external ‘non-NHSmail’ organisation (and not federated, see list of federated organisations here) to join a chat or collaborate on data, grant them guest access to a Teams site that you have set up (here’s how to add guests to your Team).
3. Switching between Microsoft Teams environments
To access a Team located in the IT environment (tenant) of an external partner, you will need to switch accounts in Teams. To access another Microsoft Teams environment, go to the accounts menu under your profile picture at the top of the Microsoft Teams application, then pick the account you want to access.
Note that different organisations have different IT environments (tenancy) with different set ups or permissions, so all Microsoft Teams functionalities are not always available.
Preparing before a meeting
1. Inviting guests to your meeting
As mentioned above, let your guests know before the meeting that they are required to switch tenants.
Guests in a Team have reduced functionality which is set and cannot be changed. For more information see here.
2. Choose a background
Choose a background that allows participants to focus, especially when you are in a busy environment. There may be approved backgrounds that are recommended by your organisation. You can change your background during the meeting as well. For further information please visit Change your background.
3. Assign a coordinator
For large meetings or for meetings where experts join at different time slots, it can be useful to receive support from a coordinator. The coordinator can take care of the scheduling, making sure experts join at agreed time slots, etc.
Being efficient during a meeting
1. Recording a meeting
If you are planning to record the meeting, ask participants before hitting ‘record’ that they are ok with the session being recorded. Any participants who may join during the meeting will see a banner at the top of the meeting window that informs them that this meeting is being recorded.
2. Use Live captions
Make your participants aware that they can use live captions to follow subtitles of the conversation. Live captions can be switched on via the ‘More options’ ellipse and capture best what’s being said when you speak clearly and directly into the microphone. Click here for more information.
3. Meeting minutes
When you are sharing meeting minutes, consider using Teams instead of email. Remember to tag the participants in your Teams post so that they’ll be notified that a message is waiting for them.
Follow up after a meeting
1. Sharing the meeting recording with guests
Guests cannot access meeting recordings via a link to the recording on Stream. If you want to share the recording with them, the person who recorded the meeting will need to download it and upload it in the files section of a Teams channel that your guests have access to. Click here for more information. Please check the information governance in place for your organisation regarding recordings.
FAQs
It is recommended to set up a private channel so that discussions about individuals or patients are only visible to those entitled to. Click here for more information.
A guest user in Teams is someone from an external ‘non-NHSmail’ organisation who has been given access to collaborate as a member of a Team.
External guests can only be added by using their full email addresses, they will not appear in the organisation people finder. Add a guest in the same way you would add any other member; select more options and add member. Find out more about guest permissions on NHS Support Net > Guest User Access in Teams.
When you want to join a Team created by external partners (and located in their IT environment or “tenant”), you will need to switch accounts. To access another Microsoft Teams environment, go to the accounts menu under your profile picture at the top of the Microsoft Teams application, then pick the account you want to access. Note that different organisations have different IT environments (tenancy) with different set ups or permissions, so all Microsoft Teams functionalities are not always available. See the guidance above.
If you want external guests to view the meeting minutes, add OneNote as a tab to a Teams channel that your guests have access to (click here to see how to). Then use this shared notebook to take meeting minutes and point your guests with a link to the relevant OneNote page.
For every participant to be able to add to the meeting notes in real-time, add a OneNote notebook to the Teams channel that you’re using for the meeting (click here to see how to). Then you can share a link to the meeting’s OneNote page in the invite (click here to see how to). This will allow all participants to view and edit the shared notes. This way, participants can also prepare for the meeting upfront using the meeting’s OneNote page.
Meeting participants from another tenant may not have the same functionalities due to local settings. Find out more about guest user permissions for guests joining meetings in the NHSmail environment.
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| Last Reviewed Date | 26/05/2021 |
