Office 365 Groups - University of Leeds IT

What is an Office 365 Group?

What is an Office 365 group?

When a new Microsoft Team, Plan in Planner, SharePoint site or email mailing list is created it creates an Office 365 Group. A Group is a collection of Microsoft resources for people to share and collaboratively work with.

Groups in Office 365 let you choose a set of people that you wish to collaborate with and easily set up a collection of resources for those people to share. Resources such as a shared Outlook inbox, shared calendar or a document library for collaborating on files.

How do I get a new Office 365 group created?

If you require a new O365 Group creating, please see the 'related requests' on the right hand side of this page. Please note that new group can only be requested by members of staff only.

Why can’t I create my own Office 365 Group?

As Groups could be used to share confidential information we need to ensure Group owners are aware of their responsibilities before a group is created. Group names also need to be controlled to avoid confusion from similarly named groups and to ensure group names are appropriate. Groups should also only be created for University business. Social groups which are not related to the University are not permitted.

Privacy

All Office 365 Groups will be set up as private groups, not public.
Content in a private Group can only be seen by the members of the Group
People who want to join a private Group have to be approved by a Group owner.
Neither public groups nor private Groups can be seen or accessed by people outside of the organisation unless those people have been specifically invited as guests.

Guest access in Office 365 Groups

Guest access in Office 365 Groups lets you and your team collaborate with people from outside your organisation by granting them access to Group conversations, files, calendar invitations, and the Group notebook. Access can be granted to a guest - for example, a partner, vendor, supplier, or consultant - by any Group owner.

More information on Office 365 guest access can be found on the Microsoft Website here.