SharePoint contains two types of site collection: team and communication sites. Team sites are great for giving the members of a work group or project a way to collaborate on project deliverables, plan events, track status updates, and exchange ideas. Communication sites help you “broadcast” a message, tell a story, and share content to a large audience.

How to create a site collection.

1.Go to the app launcher from the top left corner and click ‘Admin’, under Apps.

2. From the left navigation, click ‘Show all’.

3.Under the “Admin Centers”, click ‘SharePoint’

4. Expand the ‘Sites’ and click ‘Active sites’ in the left navigation bar

5. You will see all the active sites on the right-hand Click on the ‘+Create’ button to create a new site.

6. Choose whether you want to create a ‘Team’ or ‘Communication’ site in the right pane. Here I have clicked on the Team site.

7. Give your site a name, add owner, and select the language. You can also expand the advance settings to change the privacy settings and time zone. Then click ‘Next’.

8. It will take a few seconds to create your site. Write the name of your site in the search box to find the site you created under active sites.

9. Click on the site URL to open the site.

Final thoughts

We hope this post on how to create a site collection on SharePoint helped. If you need more help on SharePoint site collections, contact us at contact@beyondintranet.com.

Initially, Microsoft will provide 13 base templates based on tasks like managing a project, promoting an event, or coordinating incident responses. The base templates have a predefined team structure with set channels, tabs, and apps; they can be duplicated but not edited.

Currently, a team has many capabilities and most of these are supported by team templates but not all. Below I share what capabilities these templates do and do not support.

Supported capabilities

a. Base template type
b. Team name
c. Team description
d. Team visibility (public or private)
e. Team settings (e.g., member, guest, @mentions)
f. Auto-favorite channel
g. Installed app
h. Pinned tabs

Not supported capabilities

a. Team membership
b. Team Picture
c. Channel settings
d. Connectors
e. Files and content

The remaining capabilities will be added to the templates in future updates.

New templates and their properties

Microsoft created templates based on specific industry needs.  These templates include priority apps that are available on the app source. Initially, Microsoft will publish 13 templates spanning key business scenarios and industries so users can get more from using Teams.

It will be possible to extend or override certain special templates with additional properties based on your specific needs. However, some base template types contain properties that can’t be changed.

The following are the templates and their properties.

Template limitations

Team templates have some limitations in terms of channels, tabs, and apps.

How to create a team from templates

1. Click on Teams from the left navigation on your MS Teams client.

2. At the bottom of the teams’ list, click Join, or create a team.

3. Now, click on the ‘Create a team’

Note: If you don’t see the Create a new team option, you may not have the necessary permissions to create your teams.

4. A new window will pop up, select any template under ‘Select from template’. As you can see below, we selected the ‘Contoso Events Management’ template.

5. Once you select the template, it shows you the team templates’ structure (channels and apps).

6. You can customize the team name, description, and channel names in a template.

7. After you create the team, users receive guidance on how to best use and further customize the team. Each template comes with its instruction manual.

When this will be released?

Microsoft will begin rolling this out in the first week of October. They expect to finish the rollout by the end of October.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft Teams is a great platform to collaborate with everyone in your organization. The new templates provide a basic structure for a team for those who are not sure how to get the most out of this platform.

If you have any questions about the Teams templates or any other aspect of implementing Teams for your organization, contact us today for a free consultation.

Here is the process for Office365 Global and Teams admin to customize the Microsoft Teams meeting invite for all users in the tenant. Admins can add the following items to meeting invite:

1. Organization’s logo

2. Specific URLs

3. Custom footers that can include statements for privacy or security and phone numbers for technical support.

You need to follow these 7 steps to customize your Microsoft Teams invite.

1. Sign into the Microsoft Admin center

Global or SharePoint admins can access the dashboard by logging in:

https://admin.microsoft.com If you are already logged in, click ‘Admin’ from the app launcher as.
Note: If you see a message that you don’t have permission to access the page, you don’t have admin rights.

2. Click on ‘Show all’ in the left pane of the Microsoft 365 admin center.

3. Under ‘Admin centers’ select ‘Teams’ you will be redirected to the Microsoft Teams admin center.

4. Select Meetings > Meeting settings in the Microsoft Teams admin center.

5. In the email invitation section customize the following four fields

a. Logo URL – image URL (.jpg or .png)

b. Legal URL – Organization’s legal page or privacy policy URL.

c. Help URL – website contact page.

d. Footer –add privacy, disclosure, or contact information (phone number, address, etc). 

6. Click Preview invite to review it before it is live.

7. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.

Note: After customizing, the meeting invite changes may take an hour to reflect.

Final Thoughts

The process above shows the ability to customize Microsoft Teams meeting invite and adding the organization’s logo, legal and help URLs with the footer to add privacy, disclosure, or contact information.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below, or reach out to our SharePoint team for more questions. You can reach us at contact@beyondintranet.com

The SharePoint platform is promising thanks to the recent developments where Microsoft moved Office 365 services to the cloud. Office 365 is a cloud service that comes with SharePoint online. Together they help businesses improve their collaboration and communication. Several enterprises have already taken leverage of these advantages and SharePoint online has seen mass adoption. According to the Global SharePoint Industry survey report – SharePoint 2016 has seen a 67% increase in deployment, while SharePoint Online deployments rose by 167%.Still, some company owners hesitated to move their content to the cloud. If you are thinking about migrating from a SharePoint On-prem server to SharePoint Online, here some benefits which can help you decide.

The success of non-profit organization depends on donations or funds from different external sources and its resources. If the fund is mismanaged or not used properly, it may result in loss of clients, trust, and status. Therefore, it’s crucial for non-profits to use effective yet affordable tools to handle the entire process.

The answer to this problem lies in one technology and that is Microsoft SharePoint, a web-based collaborative platform.

How can SharePoint benefit non-profits?

A SharePoint Version that is Affordable and Effective

Gone are the days when SharePoint was considered the technology of only the big and profitable companies. With the release of Office 365 and SharePoint Online, non-profits can now find a SharePoint version that is affordable and effective. Microsoft offers Office 365 and SharePoint either totally free or at a significant discount to non-profits (depending on the plan). This is a no-brainer considering all the features and benefits that are provided.

Central Location for All Your Important Documents

Most non-profits email accounts are scattered all over Yahoo, Gmail, or any other mail provider. Important documents are also stored all over the place (i.e. Dropbox or personal drives). Utilizing SharePoint brings all these important aspects of your non-profit under one roof. With SharePoint there is a cohesiveness that streamlines processes. When an employee leaves, the important documents are all saved under one common location, so there is no loss of data or difficulty finding the right information at any time.

Shallow Pockets for IT Budgets

SharePoint is a cloud-based system that allows you to work 100% online. Since your files are in the cloud, Microsoft controls the security aspect and spends millions of dollars on that effort, so you don’t ever have to worry about your data being breached. Non-profits don’t need to worry any more on server hosting, software licensing, or separate IT support. This all comes as a bundled package under services provided by Microsoft. If you need to scale up or make the tools more effective as per your use case, the platform is highly flexible for customizations. And that’s where Beyond Intranet

Sharing Internal Documents with External Partners

Non-profits work mostly with external partners. SharePoint is a well-known platform for document management and seamless collaboration. You can easily set up a document library where all the important documents related to vendors, donators, or stakeholders can be placed, and you can also manage user permission levels to access the documents. Apart from document management, you can also set up group calendars to track projects, tasks, meetings and events, or create custom workflows that simplify your specific processes. We have a complete SharePoint team of experts who can demonstrate how to set up these processes in SharePoint easily.

But when we say document management, we don’t mean DROPBOX! SharePoint isn’t just drop box.

Knowledge Management and Collaboration

SharePoint is excellent when it comes to knowledge management and collaboration. We know that organizations, including non-profits, can suffer when there is miscommunication or no communication at all. It is important to bridge this gap and SharePoint Knowledge Management tools have taken the charge to determine how they can help you reinvent the way you work!

Users can search, share, add, or access important company information whenever and wherever they want within high security levels.

Value of Your Own Non-Profit Intranet

Just like with SharePoint, having an intranet of your own was also at one time thought to be just for larger companies! Small organizations avoided giving even a thought to their OWN COMPANY INTRANET. Surprisingly, though, experts state that non-profits are among the companies that can benefit the most from having their own intranet. Resources are required to collaborate and work from anywhere, anytime. It is necessary that everyone continuously shares the latest docs and info at one common location, ensuring easy access at all times.  Only SharePoint can make this happen.

A well-thought-out intranet can be the nexus where staff can easily find relevant documents, organizational charts, employee directories, employee benefits, forms, general directions for operating as a member of your nonprofit, and more. SharePoint Online makes setting up and modifying your intranet super easy. All you need to do is plan up your Intranet carefully.

Scalability and Customization

SharePoint is a highly customizable application, one that is designed to accommodate your changing needs. You can not only create custom workflows of any of your business processes within this, but you can also set up document libraries to allow for easy document sharing, setting up group calendars to track projects, tasks, meetings and events, and more.

Microsoft also takes good care of keeping SharePoint Online updated with new features on a regular basis, making the platform up-to-date as well as highly scalable.

We’re Here to Help!

Hey, non-profits! You continuously serve your communities, so give Beyond Intranet the chance to serve you!

Beyond Intranet, (a subsidiary company of Beyond Key) is a SharePoint custom development expert for the last 12 years and can help you in any aspect of SharePoint customization, ready-to-use SharePoint add-ins, integration capability, and intranets for nonprofits. We have built an enviable reputation as an expert in SharePoint based consulting, Custom Application Development, Intranet Design and Development, Branding, and  SharePoint Migration.

Reach out to us at contact@beyondintranet.com and connect with our SharePoint experts to get a free consultation today!

This guide shows every step. You’ll see why each one matters, get troubleshooting tips, and find answers to common questions. It works for both SharePoint admins and people new to these tools. 

Microsoft has recently introduced tremendous capabilities to integrate SharePoint Planner directly into SharePoint team sites as a Plan and as a web part.

What is Microsoft Planner—and Why Use It with SharePoint Online? 

Microsoft Planner is a visual app included in Microsoft 365. It lets you: 

• Make plans for projects or teams 

• Break work into tasks and assign them to people 

• Set deadlines 

• Organize tasks into Buckets for workflow 

• Add files, write comments, and keep updates in one place 

• See your project on Boards and Charts 

When you put Planner into your SharePoint Online Team Site, you: 

• Keep tasks and documents together 

• Let everyone see and update project work in the same spot 

• Get permissions in sync with site members 

• Make it easy to track what’s happening 

Remember, Planner integration works only in SharePoint Online Team Sites. Communication Sites can show a Planner Web Part, but you can’t create or manage plans there. 

Important: Where Can You Use Microsoft Planner in SharePoint Online? 

Only SharePoint Online Team Sites support SharePoint Planner integration. Team Sites focus on group work and let you use Planner fully. Communication Sites are for sharing news or info with large groups. You can add a Planner Web Part to Communication Sites, but can’t make new plans there. 

If you aren’t sure what type of site you have, check with your admin or see which template you used. 

How to Create a Plan in SharePoint

1. Go to Your SharePoint Online Team Site 

Open your browser and go to the Team Site where you want to create the plan. 

2. Start a New Plan 

Find the “New” button near the top left. Click it. Pick “Plan” from the list. 

If you don’t see “Plan,” you might not be in a Team Site, or your admin may have turned off Planner features. 

3. Name the Plan 

A panel or box appears. Type a name for the plan. Click “Create.” 

When you do this: 

• A new plan links to your site’s Microsoft 365 Group. 

• Everyone in the SharePoint Online Team Site gets access to the plan. 

• You’ll find the plan in the Microsoft Planner app too. 

Using an Existing Plan 

Some teams already have a plan made somewhere else, but still connected to the same Microsoft 365 Group. You can add it to your SharePoint Online Team Site. 

After clicking “New > Plan,” pick “Use an existing plan.” Find your plan in the dropdown. Click “Create.” 

Only plans tied to your site’s Microsoft 365 Group show up. You can’t pick plans from other groups. 

Add the SharePoint Planner Web Part to a SharePoint Page 

1. Edit the Page

Go to the page where you want to show the plan. Click “Edit” at the top right. 

2. Add the Planner Web Part

Move your mouse above or below other web parts, or under the title. Click the “+” button. Type “Planner” in the search box and choose “Planner.” 

3. Connect the Plan

You can: 

• Create a new plan by typing the name and clicking “Create” 

• Pick an existing plan from the dropdown 

Figure 4 — Select Planner web-part

Set how the plan appears. You can show the Board view to see tasks in Buckets, or use Charts to see visual progress. 

4. Pick a Display

Set how the plan appears. You can show the Board view to see tasks in Buckets, or use Charts to see visual progress. 

Planner Chart Display

SharePoint web parts help you quickly glean and access relevant information, from internal news to shared documents. The new Planner web part adds to this experience, allowing you to add plan information directly on pages and news posts.  Depending on what task information you think is most relevant to your team, you can choose between the Planner Board or Charts view to appear on your homepage.

Make sure to give this web part a clear name, like “Project Tasks.”

5. Save and Publish

Click “Republish” or “Publish” at the top right. Now your page is updated with the Planner board. 

Making the Most of SharePoint Planner Integration

With Planner in SharePoint Online, you can: 

• Assign Tasks to people, set deadlines, and add files 

• Move tasks between Buckets to track work 

• Use Charts to see project status 

• Add comments or attach files to tasks 

SharePoint Online and Planner give you a single place to manage work and see progress. 

Practical Use Cases 

• Project Management: Keep track of deliverables, deadlines, and who’s doing what 

• Team Operations: Handle routine tasks or requests 

• Agile Teams: Run sprints, manage backlogs, and track work on Boards 

• Departmental Planning: Coordinate HR, marketing, or IT tasks 

Frequently Asked Questions On SharePoint Planner

Q1: Can I use Planner integration on all SharePoint sites? 

 No. You can only create and manage plans in SharePoint Online Team Sites. Use the Planner Web Part for display on Communication Sites. 

Q2: Who can see and edit my plan? 

 Everyone in your SharePoint Online Team Site (including guests, if allowed) can see and edit the plan. Permissions match your site membership. 

Q3: What if I don’t see the Planner option or web part? 

 You might be on a Communication Site, or your admin may have turned off Planner. Also, check if your Microsoft 365 license supports Planner. 

Q4: Can I display more than one plan on a page? 

 Yes. Add multiple Planner Web Parts to a page and link each one to a different plan. 

Q5: Can Planner tasks show up in a calendar? 

 Not in the web part, but you can sync tasks with due dates to Outlook if your group allows it. 

Troubleshooting and Tips 

If you can’t find the Planner Web Part, check if you’re in a Team Site and have the right permissions. Only plans tied to your Microsoft 365 Group will show up when adding an existing plan. If new members can’t see the plan, have them refresh the page or open Planner from office.com. For more task views, go into Planner itself where you can group by due date, label, or assignment.