CMVM How-to: Use Microsoft Teams to collaborate on a Research Grant application Page 1 of 9

CMVM How-to: Use Microsoft Teams to collaborate on a Research

Grant application This guide gets you started using Microsoft Teams, available as part of our Office 365 suite. It is

based around an example where University staff collaborate, together with external collaborators,

to prepare a research grant for submission.

The guide provides a starting point for understanding how we could adopt this kind of tool to

support a research need, and to point to some relevant training from LinkedIn Learning.

While Teams can help with the process up to submission, you’ll still have to use the relevant funder

application process / website to submit the final version.

Why would I use Teams for collaborating on a Research Grant application? To simplify collaboration with other members of staff and external collaborators.

Teams enables multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously regardless of

location, which can really cut down on email correspondence1. It also enables threaded and topical

discussions, such as those about different parts of a grant application, supports remote video

conferencing and allows inclusion of lots of other applications that could be useful.

That all sounds nice, what does Teams actually give me?

1. A shared collaboration space

When you create a Team you’re creating a shared space for collaboration, which initially will look

something like this (using the desktop app on Windows plus some explanatory text and shapes):

1 You can set up notifications to get an email when there’s any change in the Team, so you can still

work from email, and get prompted to check Teams: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-

teams-quick-tips/set-up-notifications-effectively?u=50251009 (All URLs accessed 08-Nov-19)

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2. Security

Teams gives you the ability to quickly invite any staff, students and external collaborators to form a

team easily, with the confidence that the data is secure and compliant with data protection laws2.

Here’s a 4 minute training video on how to create a team and add staff:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-essential-training-3/create-teams-and-add-

members-4?u=50251009&auth=true as a guest: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-

teams-essential-training-3/add-guest-team-members-outside-of-your-office-365-

organization?u=50251009&auth=true3.

3. Chat = Posts = Discussion Forum = Conversations

Teams enables you to have discussions in a threaded chat space, either about general topics, or, by

adding a channel, about a specific area of interest. For example several channels have been added

here for different areas of a grant application, so that discussion and files that are relevant to each

area could be separated:

You can of course just use the General channel for everything and use search to keep it simple.

Here’s a 6 minute video on how to send and receive messages, including to target a particular

person in the team using an “@mention”: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-

2 Note that the default apps (Posts, Files and Staff Notebook) plus other apps we pay for are covered under the University agreement with Microsoft through our Microsoft Campus Tenancy terms and conditions: additional channels have different terms and conditions that you must check and consider before adding as a new tab. For example Polly is a polling app that allows you to ask questions and get quick responses in the discussion, however the terms imply that all data goes straight to a separate company, in the USA, including that of others responding to the poll. This would mean that users of the Polly app are signing up to share all Polly data with a separate company to Microsoft, and should consider GDPR law accordingly. 3 This is straightforward where the external collaborator is part of a Microsoft tenancy and using a Microsoft Operating system such as Windows 10. Official University email addresses are preferred for external collaborators being invited as guests. Testing with non-Microsoft accounts (gmail on android phone) proved more complex: the simplest way to achieve this was for the external collaborator to:

Use the Edge browser on a laptop/desktop to access the Teams invitation email, click the link and follow several steps to set up the relation between the gmail account and the Microsoft authentication. (This step was tested with the Edge browser on android and was only successful on a new phone.) o Microsoft simply treat the gmail email address as a user ID and asked to create a new “Microsoft-

password” for that user ID, which it then uses for Teams authentication. Note this results in the gmail account gaining a separate “Microsoft-password” to get into Teams.

Install the Teams app on the android device and log in with the gmail and new “Microsoft-password”.

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essential-training-3/send-and-receive-messages?u=50251009&auth=true and here’s a 2 minute

training video on how to add a channel: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-

essential-training-3/create-and-manage-channels-2?u=50251009&auth=true.

4. Shared Files

Teams gives you a default ‘document library’ that you can think of like a network drive, but shared

between the people you’ve chosen to be in your team including external collaborators. It’s a

location where you can store and share files. These files can be editable by anyone in the team, and,

if you use a web browser, can even be edited by multiple people at the same time. Here’s an

example with a folder to collect PI CVs, and a draft “Vision Statement” that everyone could open and

edit at the same time in a web browser:

Here’s a 5 minute video on how to share files: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-

essential-training-3/share-files?autoplay=true&u=50251009&auth=true, a 2 minute video showing

three ways to share files (for different audiences): https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-

teams-quick-tips/three-ways-to-share-files-in-teams?u=50251009&auth=true and a 4 minute video

on how to edit and collaborate on files: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-

essential-training-3/edit-and-collaborate-on-files?u=50251009&auth=true.

While perhaps less relevant for a research grant application, you can also add an existing SharePoint

site as a document library, so you don’t need to copy files from one location to another (note the

permissions of the SharePoint site will prevail). For example you may want to include the contents of

a previous grant submission already held in SharePoint. Here’s how:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-tips-and-tricks/integrate-sharepoint-content-

into-teams?u=50251009&auth=true.

Tip: to enable Teams files to be accessed using Windows Explorer like a network drive

Windows users can take a few extra steps to enable access to a document library from Windows

Explorer, just like a network drive. So then if you create a new document you can save it directly into

the Team shared document library. Click the “Open in SharePoint” button (ringed in orange in the

previous image) to open the SharePoint site containing the files in a web browser (this example is

the FireFox browser):

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Then click Sync (ringed in purple above), choose Microsoft

OneDrive as the Launch Application in the pop-up box, and

then “Open Link”.

After a short while, the Team files will then be accessible

directly from Windows Explorer, and you can use it like a

network drive:

Tip: to enable Teams to be synchronised on Mac OS

The OneDrive sync app for Mac can also be used to synchronise files, more info at:

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/sync-files-with-onedrive-on-mac-os-x-d11b9f29-00bb-

4172-be39-997da46f913f

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5. Staff Notebook = Notes

This is based on OneNote, an electronic notebook, which contains different sections and pages and

mimics a paper notebook containing different topics. Each OneNote Staff Notebook has 3 parts by

default:

Collaboration Space — a space for everyone in your group to share, organize, and

collaborate. This could be useful for taking and sharing meeting notes.

Content Library — a read-only space where group leaders can share information with group

members. This could be useful for sharing requirements or clarifications from the funder.

Private Notebooks — a private notebook shared between the group leader and each

individual group member. Group leaders can access every group member notebook, while

group members can only see their own. This could be useful in notes for specific items, or an

alternative would be to use the Chat option.

An example of the Staff Notebook in the Collaboration Space, which could be used to take notes

from meetings is below, including a view of what happens after importing the meeting details from

Outlook Calendar (using Import > Meeting Details, logging in and selecting the relevant meeting to

automatically pull through the message/agenda and attendees):

Here’s a 1 minute overview showing how to get organised with OneNote online – it’s got some

additional information about how to use OneNote outside Teams:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-onenote-online-office-365-2/get-organized-with-

onenote-online?u=50251009&auth=true and which is part of this longer 25 minute video on how get

organised with OneNote: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/onenote-quick-tips/get-organized-

with-onenote?u=50251009&auth=true – click on the Contents section on the right hand side while

the “Get organised with OneNote” video is playing to quickly jump to other sections that are useful

to you.

6. Remote Meetings using Video Conferencing

Remote Meetings enables video calls on demand with anyone who has the software microphone,

speakers and camera. Alternatively, you can use a simple headset4 for a low-cost way to meet

4 This page gives some recommended headsets and webcams, with the vendor and code to order (half way down): https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/ISGM/Online+Meetings

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without video. Here’s an example with two people in two different campus areas in Edinburgh,

showing the additional options behind the 3 dots, such as recording5:

Here’s a 6 minute video showing how to start an on-demand video conference:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-essential-training-3/initiate-a-video-or-audio-

meeting-on-demand-2?u=50251009&auth=true and here’s how to share what’s on your screen with

anyone else, so that remote collaborators can see the same thing as you:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-teams-quick-tips/share-your-screen-in-a-video-

meeting?u=50251009&auth=true.

7. Flexibility – you can add many more capabilities

Many things can be included, with more are being added all the time (there are too many to list

here). This is to give just one example to show how to add another tool in. If you follow the initial

steps, then you can add others to explore what additional features they can give you.

Caution: the terms and conditions for add-ins may be different from those apps covered under our

Microsoft Tenancy, and may not comply with GDPR: see previous Footnote 2 for more details.

If you like to plan and organise the work, then including Planner could be useful, to note the tasks

that need to be done, assign the tasks to people, and arrange them into logical buckets. Here’s a 1.5

minute video on how to add Planner: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/microsoft-planner-quick-

tips/add-a-plan-to-a-teams-channel?u=50251009&auth=true

Start adding tasks, assigning team members and adding due dates, here’s how:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/sharepoint-for-project-management-modern-theme/add-a-

task-to-a-plan?u=50251009&auth=true. Tasks can have sub-tasks, and be put into “buckets” to make

organisation easier, for example:

5 Use of the recording and screen sharing can be handy, for example it has been used during a Skype call between Argyle House and Easter Bush. Screen sharing was used to demonstrate use of Power BI, at a time one person could not attend. The file of the recording, which captured the shared screen and the associated audio discussion, was saved into OneDrive and shared with the person who could not attend.

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So in a team meeting everyone could create and update tasks/actions in a common space. An

alternative way to view the same tasks is to choose the “Schedule” view by date, for example to look

at what’s due in the next week, with unscheduled tasks on the right:

OK, I’d like to try it, where do I start, is there training? 1. There’s some useful information on Teams at the University of Edinburgh at

https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/computing/comms-and-collab/office365/teams

2. Follow this LinkedIn Learning account creation page https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-

services/help-consultancy/is-skills/linkedin-learning/account-creation-and-access and login

to directly use the URLs listed. A copy of the instructions on that page (from 18-Nov-19) is

below, if this doesn’t work please revisit the previous link for updated steps:

a. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/learning.

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b. Click Sign In at the top right of the screen. c. Click the Sign in with your organization link near to the bottom of the box. d. When prompted, either enter your email address and click Continue. e. Enter your EASE credentials (if you're not already logged in to EASE). f. At the 'Welcome to LinkedIn Learning' prompt, choose whether or not to connect

your LinkedIn profile (this can be done at a later date). g. Select the subjects you'd like learning suggestions for (if any) and continue. h. Your LinkedIn Learning account will now become active and ready to use.

3. Start with how to access teams on a computer (3 minutes):

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/migrating-from-skype-for-business-to-teams/access-

teams-on-a-computer?u=50251009&auth=true – or jump to it

using the Office365 service for the University of Edinburgh:

https://www.office365.ed.ac.uk/, sign in, click the 9 dot square

(circled in blue) and choose “Teams”.

4. Then choose the videos that are relevant from the collection “Teams for Research Funding

Applications” at:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/collections/6585532118112182272?u=50251009&auth

=true or use the search bar at the top to find other training suited to your needs.

a. Start with Microsoft Teams Essential Training – this 2h overview covers a wide range

of information, but you can jump to the relevant sections that are of interest to you

by using the ‘Contents’ section on the right hand side of the LinkedIn Learning page.

i. If you want to set up your own Teams site, it’s also got info on how to add

members, and administer a Teams site.

b. Many (not all) of the other videos linked are sub-parts of that training course,

several of them are suggested in the sections above, so revisit those to see what

you’d like to do and the relevant training.

Tip: save time when watching videos by speeding them up (1.75 times is OK for

the above video set). Click on the 1x near the bottom right of the playback

controls and switch to your preferred speed.

What are the limitations? External collaborators who are invited as guests may not be able to do everything in a team, as they

may have a more limited licence. More details on what guests can do are at:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/guest-experience#comparison-of-team-member-

and-guest-capabilities

What other options do I have? There are other options for collaborating on grant applications.

Email can be used by a lot of people, but it can result in some information being out of date or

missed. It can also result in multiple versions of a document, which would take additional time and

know-how to merge accurately into one document.

Shared network drives can be used if you have already got groups with the relevant security access –

this option limits collaboration to staff, students and those who have a visitor account. It’s probably

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faster to set up a Team with the right group access, which you can control yourself, so that adding a

new person is quick at any time.

Wiki pages can be used for collaboration, again this is limited to collaboration to staff, students and

those who have a visitor account. Documents can be uploaded to a page for sharing, and although

you can’t work simultaneously on a document, it allows multiple people to edit a common version.

More on accessing the University wiki service at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-

services/computing/comms-and-collab/central-wiki

What about other cloud services?

“Never store sensitive University information on unsupported third party cloud-storage services.” 6

This includes avoiding use of “Third party cloud services like DropBox, Google drive, and others” Do

not use non-University cloud services for grant applications. These normally store data outside of

the European Economic Area, so if you include any personal data (such as in a CV) then you would

likely be breaching the Data Protection Act. The University’s Microsoft Campus Tenancy licence is

compliant with the Data Protection Act.

What else should I consider? Records management and retention policies should be considered when creating a team that will

use files. The lifecycle of the Teams data, and when to delete data should be considered in

conjunction with existing Centre policies on records management. More on records management at:

https://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/guidance/records/introduce and retention schedules

at https://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/guidance/records/introduce/retention-

schedules/create-review

How do I give feedback on this? Thoughts and feedback suggestions, comments and compliments are always welcome at

IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk or through the form at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/help-

consultancy/contact-helpline

Version 1.3 December 2019

6 https://www.ed.ac.uk/infosec/how-to-protect/encrypting/use-cases