{"id":6953,"date":"2017-02-20T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6953"},"modified":"2017-02-26T21:24:24","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T21:24:24","slug":"office-365-groups-and-teams-what-when-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/office-365-groups-and-teams-what-when-and-why.htm","title":{"rendered":"Office 365 Groups and Teams &#8211; what, when and why?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Office 365 offers a fantastic set of collaboration tools but there are times when I wish they were just a little more tightly integrated. The basic Exchange-Skype-SharePoint trio are fine &#8211; and OneDrive is finally sorted after years of transitioning to a new client but what about Video, Sway, Groups, Yammer, Planner, etc.? Well, I recently got myself along to a Microsoft Cloud User Group event where Al Eardley (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Al_Eardley\">@Al_Eardley<\/a>) gave a really informative talk about Groups vs. Teams &#8211; and what you should be aware of. This post attempts to merge some of the main points from Al&#8217;s talk with some other information I&#8217;ve been tracking in recent weeks to hopefully give a better idea of how these two apparently competing (but actually complementary) products can be used.<\/p>\n<h3>TL;DR<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Office365?src=hash\">#Office365<\/a> Groups\/Teams: Groups provide features that teams need; Teams provides consolidated interface to access features (via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/al_eardley\">@Al_Eardley<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/markwilsonit\/status\/829809411929554944\">February 9, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Office 365 Groups have been around for a while\u00a0but Teams are new (at the time of writing, Teams are still in preview, having been launched in late 2016 and being lauded as &#8220;Microsoft&#8217;s Slack competitor&#8221;).<\/p>\n<h3>Groups vs Teams<\/h3>\n<p>Let&#8217;s start by thinking about the Office 365 tools we use to collaborate:<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Scope<\/th>\n<th>Tool<\/th>\n<th>Notes<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Me<\/td>\n<td>OneDrive<\/td>\n<td>Personal file storage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Us<\/td>\n<td>Teams<\/td>\n<td>Working as a team, to collaborate on content. On a project, bid, system, area of business<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Us<\/td>\n<td>Groups<\/td>\n<td>Similar functionality but can share with partners outside the organization<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Everyone<\/td>\n<td>SharePoint<\/td>\n<td>Publishing content the traditional way (can also share through Groups\/Teams) with\u00a0governance and approval processes. Records to keep.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Then, if we look at the features we use:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Distribution list &#8211; so we can easily get &#8220;stuff&#8221; to &#8220;people&#8221; using Exchange Online<\/li>\n<li>Files &#8211; and sharing them with shared document libraries in SharePoint Online<\/li>\n<li>OneNote &#8211; collaborative note-taking<\/li>\n<li>Calendar &#8211; a &#8220;proper&#8221; Exchange calendar, not just a SharePoint calendar!<\/li>\n<li>Planner &#8211; for task management; things to complete as a team, with criteria to step through, simple interface &#8211; a\u00a0Kanban board like Trello<\/li>\n<li>Landing page &#8211; that&#8217;s editable\/customisable<\/li>\n<li>News &#8211; keeping everyone informed<\/li>\n<li>Yammer Group &#8211; because Office 365 Groups and Yammer Groups are now integrated<\/li>\n<li>Persisted Chat &#8211; within Teams. Another way to record conversations<\/li>\n<li>Channels &#8211; the ability to have a team with multiple channels to segregate content by project\/activity<\/li>\n<li>Connectors &#8211; the ability to include information from other sources, e.g. Twitter, Visual Studio, PowerBI, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Woah! Information overload! And some of these features are in Groups. Some are in Teams. Neither has them all!<\/p>\n<p>So consider this: with Groups we create a container for content, integrating various services\u00a0and applying security using a common identity; Teams sit above Groups &#8211; and creating a Team creates an underlying Group. Also, Groups can be public, private or external but Teams are public\/private only (there is no external sharing in Teams).<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the easy part &#8211; access to the features depends on the application you&#8217;re using (Outlook, Outlook on the Web, SharePoint Online, Planner, a Group site, Teams in-browser, Teams in the desktop client&#8230; etc.). We get different views of the same elements from different locations &#8211; which can feel a bit disjointed but I expect (sincerely hope) it will get better as Teams moves closer to release.<\/p>\n<p>It might help to look at what goes where inside Office 365 (this information is taken from a recent webinar from AvePoint):<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Skype for Business Online<\/th>\n<th>Exchange Online<\/th>\n<th>SharePoint Online<\/th>\n<th>Planner<\/th>\n<th>Yammer<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Instant Messaging<\/li>\n<li>Broadcast meetings<\/li>\n<li>Teams chats<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>User mailboxes<\/li>\n<li>Calendars<\/li>\n<li>Group conversations<\/li>\n<li>Group mailboxes<\/li>\n<li>Planner task comments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Sites, lists, libraries<\/li>\n<li>Office 365 Video portal<\/li>\n<li>User OneDrives<\/li>\n<li>Group files<\/li>\n<li>Group notebooks<\/li>\n<li>Teams attachments<\/li>\n<li>Planner attachments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Plans<\/li>\n<li>Buckets<\/li>\n<li>Tasks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Internal networks<\/li>\n<li>External networks<\/li>\n<li>Yammer notes and files<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>So which tool has which features?<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Features<\/th>\n<th>Groups<\/th>\n<th>Teams<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Distribution List<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Files<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Yes*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>OneNote<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Yes*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Calendar<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Yes*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Landing Page<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Not visible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>News<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Not visible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Planner<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Yes*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Yammer Group<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Persisted Chat<\/td>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Channels<\/td>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Connectors<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Items marked * in the table above are segregated by channel<\/p>\n<h3>Pros and cons<\/h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th><\/th>\n<th>Drawbacks<\/th>\n<th>Benefits<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Groups<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Interface &#8211; disjointed navigation experience<\/li>\n<li>Skype for Business &#8211; very little integration<\/li>\n<li>Conversations &#8211; Outlook conversations add nothing new to collaboration<\/li>\n<li>Yammer &#8211; there are restrictions on integration<\/li>\n<li>Landing page &#8211; does not offer links to all features of a team (Calendar or Planner) &#8211; the page can be changed but this needs some SharePoint knowledge<\/li>\n<li>News &#8211; is an immature feature<\/li>\n<li>Groups are public by default (which can lead to oversharing)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>External access<\/li>\n<li>Android\/iOS apps<\/li>\n<li>Easy to provision (maybe too easy sometimes, unless self-service group creation is disabled)<\/li>\n<li>Management tools are improving with controls over naming, banned words, soft-deletion, group expiration, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Teams<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Calendar &#8211; can&#8217;t invite Rooms, a Surface Hub, or anyone outside of the team<\/li>\n<li>Skype for Business &#8211; joining meetings from Outlook does not use Teams (it opens the Skype for Business client instead!)<\/li>\n<li>Planner &#8211; tasks in Teams planners are not available in Groups; and Teams planners are not visible in the Teams web interface or in Planner!<\/li>\n<li>News &#8211; not available at all<\/li>\n<li>Chat &#8211; restricted to the Team<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Single interface<\/li>\n<li>Skype for business integration<\/li>\n<li>Windows and Mac apps<\/li>\n<li>Android\/iOS apps<\/li>\n<li>Regular product updates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Further Reading<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.avepoint.com\/blog\/technical-blog\/office-365-groups-vs-teams\/\">Office 365 Groups vs Teams: how to successfully deploy both<\/a> (by Loryan Strant\/<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheCloudMouth\">@TheCloudMouth<\/a>, writing for AvePoint), including this useful guidance on considerations before rolling out Microsoft Teams:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.avepoint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Use-Case-Graphic_Office-365-Groups-Campaign_Teams-vs-Groups-Blog_Things-to-Consider-When-Rolling-Out-Groups-and-Teams.jpg?resize=700%2C802&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Four considerations before rolling out Microsoft Teams\" width=\"700\" height=\"802\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.office.com\/2016\/09\/26\/yammer-strengthens-team-collaboration-through-integration-with-office-365-groups\/\">Yammer strengthens team collaboration through integration with Office 365 Groups<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>AvePoint&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avepoint.com\/office-365-groups\/\">Office 365 Groups Playbook<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/support.office.com\/en-gb\/article\/Manage-files-in-Microsoft-Teams-c593c78a-27c4-4661-a598-682baa30ca7e\">Managing files in Microsoft Teams<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/view.aspx?resid=68E71B20B9955A5B!131866&amp;ithint=file%2cdocx&amp;app=Word&amp;authkey=!APHMNuwVoJNn9y8\">Microsoft Teams &#8211; the good, the bad and the ugly<\/a> (by Pavel Soukenik).<\/li>\n<li>[Update 26 February 2017] <a href=\"https:\/\/cp-mlxprod-static.microsoft.com\/014862-1003\/en-us\/downloads%2Fintroduction_to_microsoft_teams.pdf\">Introduction to Microsoft Teams<\/a> (Microsoft presentation).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Office 365 offers a fantastic set of collaboration tools but there are times when I wish they were just a little more tightly integrated. The basic Exchange-Skype-SharePoint trio are fine &#8211; and OneDrive is finally sorted after years of transitioning to a new client but what about Video, Sway, Groups, Yammer, Planner, etc.? Well, I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/office-365-groups-and-teams-what-when-and-why.htm\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Office 365 Groups and Teams &#8211; what, when and why?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[217],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-office-365"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Office 365 Groups and Teams - what, when and why? - markwilson.it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trying to unpick the spaghetti of Office 365 Groups and Teams to see how these two apparently competing (but actually complementary) products can be used\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/office-365-groups-and-teams-what-when-and-why.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Office 365 Groups and Teams - what, when and why? 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