is a virtual communication and collaboration tool; it is a chat-based digital workspace within Microsoft 365 that includes document sharing, online meetings, and other features for business communications, supporting teams to make decisions, communicate and work creatively and collaboratively with each other.
Functions of the application include:
- Chats – instant messaging for short, timely communications. These result from 1:1 or many-to-many (group) conversations held via the Chat mechanism in the Microsoft Teams application.
- Meeting Chats – chats that are part of or result from a Teams meeting. If the meeting is scheduled in a Teams channel, the meeting chat is treated as a channel conversation. If the meeting is not associated with a Teams channel, it is treated as a group chat.
- Meeting Recordings & Transcripts – audio and/or video recordings of a Teams meeting produced contemporaneously with the meeting in the Teams application, and its associated transcript.
- Channels - a collaboration space within a Team for teams or projects to start conversations, share announcements, access files, apps and resources that are regularly used.
- Channel Conversations – chats that exist within the confines of a Teams channel.
Scope of these Guidelines:
These guidelines apply to all Queen’s University faculty, staff, and students who are able to access and use Microsoft Teams.
The guidelines apply to:
- one-to-one and many-to-many (group) Chats,
- Meeting Recordings & Transcripts, and
- Meeting Chats.
They do not apply to:
- Channel Conversations, and
- Files or links shared during Chat conversations, which will continue to be retained according to their respective storage and be subject to the University’s records management policies.
Retention Protocol
All Teams Chats, Meeting Chats (except Channel Conversations) and Meeting Recordings & Transcripts are subject to automatic deletion after 90 days.
Rationale
The records affected by this protocol are generally considered transitory, i.e. documents, data or recorded information created by the University in the course of conducting its activities, but they have no ongoing operational, informational, evidential or historical value.
Teams Chats and Teams Meeting Chats are a convenient place to have a short conversation. By design, being outside of an established Team/Teams Channel, these conversations are intended to be ephemeral in nature and are not to be preserved. If outcomes of a Chat are to be recorded, i.e. there are follow-on action items, then these outcomes should be appropriately preserved in more stable record retention format such as Teams Channel Chat, document, Web page, or follow-up e-mail message.
Similarly, Meeting Recordings & Transcripts should be used as an aide memoire, to produce minutes, document decisions, outcomes and action items. Similar to Chats, these decisions, outcomes or action items should be appropriately preserved in more stable record retention format such as a document or a follow-up e-mail message.
Automatically deleting these messages after 90 days should avoid the need to retain transitory information unnecessarily. While a Chat message or a Meeting Recording/Transcript is usually transitory in nature, faculty and staff are reminded that it is the content that determines whether it is transitory - not the form. Similarly, important University records should be stored in an appropriate recordkeeping system.
Additional Resources
For guidance, please consult the .