There is a lot to consider when deciding what communication software to use, or where to save your work. This page provides some guidance on the core communication and collaboration tools available at Cardiff Met.

The infographic below summarises when to use the core communication platforms. Try an interactive version

Microsoft Teams

"Inner Loop - conversing and collaborating with people you work with regularly on core tasks and projects."

Microsoft Teams should be used to communicate with people you work with regularly and to collaborate on documents in small to medium sized groups  (including external partners).  

Examples of when to use Teams: 

• Conversations with students or colleagues about a task or event. 
  
• Supporting and discussing an assignment with a student group.
  
• A video meeting for a project team.
  
• Collaborating on a shared document.
  

When using Teams, the focus is on doing work within a small to medium sized group, with an informal tone and rapid tempo of response from colleagues.  

For more information about Teams, refer to the Microsoft Teams page on Study.

Yammer

"Outer Loop - connecting with people across the university; discussing ideas and sharing updates"

Yammer should be used to connect with people across the university. It can be used to discuss ideas, share updates, create communities of interest and as a channel for help or support. 

Examples of when to use Yammer:

• Communicating across the whole of Cardiff Met through the All Company channel.
• For large and wide group discussions. For example a Yammer group for an entire School or Unit.
• For help or support groups. E.g. the Dysgwyr Met Caerdydd / Cardiff Met Welsh Learners group, the Microsoft Office Specialist group. 
• To create and maintain communities of interest. E.g. the Your Technology community, the Cyncoed Garden group.
  

Yammer is typically used to communicate to medium to large audiences, with a semi-formal tone and a low tempo of response.

For more information about Yammer, refer to the Yammer Flash guide.

Email

"Ubiquitous for targeted communications"

Use email for targeted communications towards internal and external colleagues. Email is suitable for small or large audiences and is characterised by a formal tone and low tempo of response. 

There are numerous examples of when to use email, but when might email not be the best tool? Consider using:

• Teams for project or task focused discussions, instead of email
  
• Yammer for "broadcast" messages to large audiences, instead of email
  
• Teams or Yammer to share and collaborate on documents, instead of email
  

Storing your work 

We strongly advise you to not store documents on computer hard drives, external storage (such as DropBox) or USB memory sticks. These devices these may not be secure and are not backed up.

As per the Electronic Communications Policy "personal data or confidential corporate information should never be stored on non-Cardiff Met external storage systems and services".

Offline Files

SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business allow documents to be synchronised to the hard drive of a computer, through the "Sync" client. It is imperative that this feature is only used to synchronise documents to secure (encrypted) hard drives. 

All Cardiff Met Windows 10 computers are encrypted. If you are unsure whether your device is secure, contact the IT Helpdesk for advice.

Important Documents

Certain "important documents" need to be stored in specific places, e.g. project documentation for formal BIS projects should be stored on the project server, HR documents should be stored in the appropriate area of the HR SharePoint 2016 team site.  This is so the information is accessible and managed correctly.  You need to check if there are any special storage requirements for important documents in your area.

Recovery of documents

The following advice relates to documents stored on SharePoint Online (Teams) and OneDrive for Business.

Deleted documents go to the recycle bin, after which they can be recovered for a period of 90 days. If they are deleted from the recycle bin they are sent to a second-stage recycle bin. In the case of SharePoint Online (Teams), Team Owners can recover documents from the second-stage recycle bin. For OneDrive for Business, the user themselves can recover documents from the second-stage recycle bin. 

The total time that deleted documents are recoverable is 90 days. For example, if a document is deleted on day 0 it will move to the recycle bin. If that document is then deleted on day 30 it will move to the second-stage recycle bin where it will be held for a further 60 days, for a total of 90 days recoverability.

Questions?

If you are still unsure, or have questions about the communication and collaboration platforms at Cardiff Met, you can contact the IT Helpdesk for advice.