Summary
This article provides comprehensive guidance for the appropriate use, governance, and lifecycle management of Microsoft Teams at USNH. It outlines key practices for naming, ownership, privacy, and compliance to ensure Teams are used effectively in support of university teaching, research, and administrative collaboration.
See also: SharePoint: USNH SharePoint Usage Guidelines and Governance
Contents
Governance
Team Creation and Naming Conventions
Team Ownership and Responsibilities
Guest Access and External Collaboration
Sensitivity Labels and Information Classification
Lifecycle Management and Cleanup
Monitoring, Compliance and Policy Review
Governance and Use at USNH
The use of Microsoft Teams at USNH is governed by university policies on information security, data classification, and appropriate use of institutional resources. All Teams should be created and maintained in accordance with these guidelines and reviewed regularly for ongoing relevance and data hygiene.
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Team Creation and Naming Conventions
When to Create a Team
Microsoft Teams is best used for ongoing collaboration among a defined group of people who need to chat, share files, co-author content, and schedule meetings in a centralized space. When a new Microsoft Team is created, a corresponding SharePoint Team site is created to store Team content. SharePoint Team sites have a default storage quota of 100GB. (See SharePoint/Teams: Understanding the Relationship Between SharePoint and Teams to understand how SharePoint and Teams work together)
Teams should support a defined business or academic purpose, such as:
- Departmental collaboration
- Project-based workgroups
- Instructional support (e.g., committee work, advising groups)
Microsoft Team Naming Conventions
To support clarity, consistency, and discoverability across USNH Microsoft-based directories, please follow these naming guidelines when creating a new Team:
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Include Your Campus: The name of your college or campus should be part of the Team name to help distinguish it from similarly named groups across the system.
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Be Clear and Concise: Choose a name that accurately reflects the purpose of the Team while keeping it as brief as possible.
- Teams with "test" in the name may be renamed to align with naming standards.
- Teams named after individuals may be reviewed and renamed to reflect their purpose more clearly.
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Use Respectful Language: Team names must not contain offensive or inappropriate language.
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Default to Private: All Teams should be set to private unless explicit approval for a public Team is granted by Enterprise Technology & Services (ET&S).
| Recommended |
Not Recommended |
| KSC Red Team Senior Project 2025 |
Senior Project 2025 |
| UNH-ECON650-Fall2024-Advising Group |
Joes Team |
| PSU-FinAid-Document Review |
File Check Group |
| USNH ET&S Online Migration Project |
Project Team |
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Team Ownership and Responsibilities
Every Team must have at least two owners to ensure accountability and continuity. Owners are responsible for:
- Managing Team membership and permissions
- Maintaining relevant content and structure
- Reviewing shared access and guest users
- Responding to administrative outreach (e.g., Teams flagged as orphaned or inactive)
Note: Inactive or orphaned Teams may be subject to archival or removal after a defined review period. Teams found to contain ungoverned data, inappropriate content, or expired access may be remediated by the Teams Administration team.
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Guest Access and External Collaboration
Guest access is allowed in Teams but must be used thoughtfully:
- Only invite guests who have a business, instructional, or research purpose
- Periodically review guest membership using Manage Team > Members > Guests
- Remove external access when no longer required
- See M365: Protecting Data in SharePoint and OneDrive for more information.
Note: Some Teams are subject to Sensitivity Labels which may restrict or prohibit guest access. See below for more.
Sensitivity Labels and Information Classification
If your Team contains data classified as Sensitive or Restricted under the USNH Information Classification Policy, you must request and apply an appropriate Sensitivity Label during Team creation.
See: MS Teams: Requesting a Sensitivity Label for your Teams Site
Sensitivity labels apply controls such as:
- External sharing restrictions
- Conditional access
- Mandatory encryption or permissions limits
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Lifecycle Management and Cleanup
To support system performance, improve collaboration efficiency, and reduce digital clutter, Teams should be actively maintained throughout their lifecycle.
Team owners are expected to:
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Regularly review activity and membership to ensure the Team remains relevant and active.
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Archive Teams that are no longer used for ongoing work but may need to be retained for reference or compliance.
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Delete Teams when they are no longer needed and contain no content of institutional value. Be sure to consult your department’s data retention policies before doing so.
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Remove outdated channels, files, and tabs that are no longer used or relevant.
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Maintain clear and organized structures within each Team (e.g., consistent naming, folder hygiene, and clear channel purposes).
USNH Teams Administrators conduct periodic reviews of orphaned and inactive Teams. Teams that meet these criteria may be:
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Flagged for review and owner reassignment
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Archived for a defined period
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Deleted if there is no response or justification for retention
See: M365: Cleanup Tips for OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams
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Monitoring, Compliance, and Policy Review
The Microsoft Teams environment is monitored for administrative health and policy compliance. USNH Teams Administrators may:
- Remove or rename Teams to align with institutional standards
- Archive or delete inactive, orphaned, or noncompliant Teams
- Update policies and guidelines in response to new technologies or security requirements
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Further Readings
MS Teams: Accessing Microsoft Teams
MS Teams: Access and Modify Settings in Microsoft Teams
SharePoint/Teams: Recovering Deleted Items from Teams or SharePoint Online
MS Teams: Understand & Decide - New Team, or New Channel
LinkedIn Learning - Microsoft Teams
Need additional help?
For assistance concerning site creation, content sharing, file synchronization, or other common SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, or Office app activities, we recommend our Microsoft 365 Learning sites:
Learn more about the great tools our Microsoft 365 Learning sites offer!
Visit the Technology Help Desk Support page to locate your local campus contact information or to submit an online technology support request. For password issues you must call or visit the Help Desk in person.