Microsoft 365 Group Standards

An MS 365 Group is a service that works with the Microsoft 365 tools so you can collaborate with your teammates when writing documents, creating spreadsheets, working on project plans, scheduling meetings, or sending an email.  This article describes the standards for creating, use, and managing Microsoft 365 Groups.

Application

This set of standards applies to students, faculty and staff that create and use groups in MS 365 and to the Office of Information Technology with regard to how groups are managed at ISU.

Exceptions

These standards have been developed by the Office of Information Technology according to best practices for creating, using and managing groups and in accordance with University policy set by the Board of Trustees and should be adequate for most use of Office 365 Groups with little need for an exception. 

Please contact the Technology Support Center if an exception is needed.

Standards

Creating

1. Groups in Microsoft 365 may be created by students, faculty and staff using the following applications:
   • Outlook Online
   • Outlook Desktop
   • OneDrive
   • Planner
   • Teams
   • SharePoint Online Home
2. The person that creates the group will be responsible for naming the group with a name that respects the rights of others to be free from harassment or intimidation to the same extent that this is right is recognized in the use of other communications media.

3. Group resources include:
   • Outlook email distribution list
   • Outlook group calendar
   • SharePoint site collection
   • Planner
   • OneNote Notebook
   • Teams application* (when the group was created in Teams)

*This application is slightly different in that when you create a group using teams you have access to all of the resources plus the Teams application.  On the other hand if you create a group in one of the other applications you can later go back and create a Team for your group to use.

Using

• Groups must be used in accordance with the Acceptable Use Policy #810 in the ISU Policy Library.
• Group membership is the primary responsibility of the person who created the group. 
• Membership is not automatically updated when students or employees move across organizational units.
• Data stored and shared in a group should be done so according to the Data Security and Management Policy found in section 830 in the ISU Policy Library
• A group owner who gives inappropriate access to sensitive data – even inadvertently – to an individual who should not have access to those data is subject to a policy violation (see Policy 830, Section 830.3).

Managing

1. Group Activity
   • Groups persist in our environment until they have been inactive for 180 days. 
   • Notification by email will be sent to the group owner when a group has been inactive for more than 180 days prompting the group owner to renew the group.
     Example email message:
     
   • The group will be deleted if it is not renewed or accessed in any way during that  30 day period.  (If the group is accessed in any way during the 30 period, this resets the clock, and the group will not be deleted.)
     Example email message:
     
   • Deleted groups can be restored within 30 days.  (Beyond that time frame, the group is not retrievable in any way.)
   • The Office of Information Technology may restrict or deny access to the group if the group is used in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy.

2. The Office of Information Technology will address the misuse of any groups according to the Acceptable Use Policy #810 in the ISU Policy Library.