OFFICE 365 GROUPS Administrative look into Groups July 9, 2015

Agenda  Introduction to Groups  Plans & Availability  Administration  Architecture  Behind the Features  Pros & Limitations  The Future

What is Groups? Introduction to Office 365 Groups

Introduction to Groups  Groups is a collaboration tool which provides , conversations, files, a notebook and a calendar all in one place  Groups is a feature that is available in Outlook Web App and calendar and SharePoint Online  Groups will be rolled out to all customers that have an Exchange Online or Office 365 commercial subscription, both new and existing.  Groups can be created in three places: Outlook Online, OneDrive for Business and the O365 Admin Center

Let’s take a look Demo

Who can get Groups? Plans & Availability

 Groups is currently only available for first release customers (about 25% of Office 365 users)  Plans Office 365 Enterprise E1–E4 subscription plans (including the corresponding A2–A4 and G1–G4 plans for Academic and Government customers) Office 365 Business Essentials and Business Premium plans Office 365 Small Business, Small Business Premium and Midsize Business plans Office 365 Kiosk plan

Plans & Availability  Groups is only available to Office 365 customers  Users with the Office 2016 preview will be able to see and use Groups on their local Outlook  There is capability for Hybrid users

How to manage Groups Administration

Office 365 Admin Center  Groups are merged with your other types of groups such as distribution lists  O365 admins do not need to be members of a group  Administrators can Add and delete groups Make groups Public or Private Add and remove users from a group Make a user an admin of a group Edit the group name and description

Administration User administration  From Outlook or OneDrive for Business users can create or browse groups  Users who create a group become the admin for that group Group admins can delete a group without access to the Admin Center (from Outlook or OneDrive for Business)  Group members can view all conversations, files, calendar items and the notebook  Members can also add the group to their favorites in Outlook, unsubscribe, view the details of the groups, leave the group and add members to the group

What’s the structure? Architecture

Hybrid Architecture

More than meets the eye Features

General Information  When a Group is created it creates a hidden site collection in SharePoint Online  Hidden site collections: Currently there is no access to the Group site collections from the Admin Center or anywhere else No way to change the storage quota No way to access the recycle bin to retrieve a deleted group ○ No restoring Groups after they have been deleted You can’t name another site collection with the same name as your group because it is a site collection Can’t navigate to the site collection

General Information  Files library is very basic Can’t add columns No access to library setting or the ribbon Can’t change the permissions to files or folders  The Group also creates a mailbox and calendar in Exchange Online This mailbox will need to be assigned a license if it exceeds the 50MB quota

General Information  Groups are protected against external access You can select the setting “Let people outside the organization” after setting up a group  You CANNOT add external users as members of a group  You CAN share files with external people with the traditional share feature  Groups are public (to everyone in the organization) by default and have to be set as private (only approved members can join)  External mail creates a new conversation when they reply

Pros & Limitations Let’s sum it up

Pros  One place for files, , calendar and notes  Can compare the calendar side by side with your Outlook calendar  Provides coauthoring with a conversation pane to chat while working  Inform the whole group quickly and easily  Delete when there is no longer a need for the group  Can limit the ability to create Groups with PowerShell  Will be available with Outlook 2016 (you still need to be an Office 365 customer)

Limitations  Everyone can create Groups by default  Limited management for Groups  Hidden site collections  Pulls storage from the SharePoint Online pool  You cannot recover deleted Groups  No retention Polices can be applied to your Groups  Can’t create columns (metadata)  May need to assign a license to the mailbox  No migration capabilities  Only available to Office 365 users (not on-prem)

What does the future hold? The Future

 Integration with Office Delve  The ability for group members to publish pages  Mobile applications for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone – Universal app  Implementation of integrated eDiscovery – Support for in-place holds and data loss prevention  External users will be able to participate in groups and access group content  There is talk about integrating Skype for Business and Yammer

The Future  Site collections may become accessible If this happens, the site settings and app settings will become available to users  A soft delete feature will be deployed allowing the ability to restore deleted Groups

Thank You!  References Exploring Office 365 Groups (Article by: Tony Redmond) Exploring Office 365 Groups Delivering the first chapter of Groups in Office 365 (Office Blog) Delivering the first chapter of Groups in Office 365 Office 365 Groups Deep-dive (Microsoft Ignite video) Office 365 Groups Deep-dive Groups for Office 365 (Sharegate webinar) Groups for Office 365  Other Find help about groups in Office 365 (Office Support, PowerShell management links) Find help about groups in Office 365