This article has been revised to reflect an updated rollout schedule.
Microsoft Teams — an app designed for communication and collaboration — will be phased in as an additional University IT (UIT) service offering. Groups identified as early adopters will get access starting next month. By the end of the calendar year, all Stanford University faculty, staff, and students will have the option to use the tool if they choose.
Slack, Zoom, and Google Drive will continue to be the university's preferred collaboration platforms, and the introduction of Teams will not impact their availability.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Teams is a chat-centered workspace that has many of the same features as other tools already provided by UIT. However, the platform also offers unique functionality that can benefit specific groups at Stanford.
Teams can be leveraged for cross-affiliate collaboration, enabling individuals at the university to communicate and share information with their colleagues at the hospitals.
Rollout schedule for Teams
Teams will be deployed according to the schedule below. This phased approach will help balance the IT support load.
- Feb. 15: Available to all UIT staff and Stanford Medicine Technology and Digital Solutions staff supporting School of Medicine populations.
- March and April: Available to staff in Land, Buildings & Real Estate and other Business Affairs units.
- Coming soon: Available to individuals in the School of Medicine on a rolling basis. Cardinal Key will be required in the university tenant* for all users who attest to working with protected health information (PHI) or personally identifiable information (PII).
- July through December: All Stanford University students, faculty, and staff will have the option to use Teams before the end of the 2023 calendar year. Stay tuned for more information about the rollout to the broader campus community.
Affiliate Collaboration Transformation program
The introduction of Teams is part of the Affiliate Collaboration Transformation program. This multi-year initiative seeks to make it easier for the university and hospitals to share information securely. Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children’s Health employees already have access to their Teams platform.
Next steps
Look for announcements in the UIT newsletter and Slack to learn more about upcoming training opportunities and resources for Teams.
*A Microsoft tenant is a set of services assigned to an organization and is typically associated with a domain name, such as @stanford.edu or @stanfordhealthcare.org. In simpler terms, think of “tenant” as a piece of the cloud with an organization’s name on it.
