In this article

Use Case: Improving Collaboration and Productivity within an Organization using Microsoft Teams

Andy Blake Cooper Solutions (ABCSOL) Inc. is a leading technology provider in the Manufacturing space. The organization serves ship-building companies with technology solutions (Equipment and Process Automation) that are both cost-effective for its customers and meet all the quality of delivery standards. It is backed by robust R&D practices for over three decades now.

Problem

ABCSOL aims to minimize its go-to-market (gestation) period for serving its customers with cutting-edge innovations. So, the organization is focusing on improving the throughput of its R&D wing and has identified productivity issues compounded due to the lack of coordination and collaboration in the wing as a predominant aspect needing immediate attention as effective communication within and outside its R&D wing is highly crucial.

Analysis

To this end, after a careful study of its needs and the vision for the R&D wing, ABCSOL has chosen Microsoft (MS) Teams as its collaboration platform. The most important factors considered during this analysis are:

• Smooth transition from a Systems perspective
• Improvement of interaction within these teams
• Working with zero-to-minimal learning curve for adaptation
• Scalability

So, it has partnered with SnapLogic to leverage the capabilities of MS Teams and to integrate it with the existing suite of MS products. Let us dive into the details of how SnapLogic can assist ABCSOL to achieve these objectives.

Solution Overview

Using the Teams Snap Pack, we can build a solution that automates the management of communication, and hence paves the way to effective collaboration, within and across the teams in ABCSOL This Pipeline demonstrates how we can improve the interaction within the staff so that the productivity can be maximized.

Download this solution. 

Understanding the solution

First, let us understand the purpose of this Pipeline.

Constructed using the Snaps in the Teams Snap Pack, this Pipeline leverages a subset of Microsoft Teams' capabilities to configure the Teams framework for ABCSOL. This framework allows each staff member to communicate through multiple mediums such as chat, audio, video, file/document shares, and so on within and across the various teams/departments in the organization. By doing so, the organization can enable its entire staff to interact, coordinate, and effectively collaborate and achieve the individual, team, as well as the company's goals for productivity.

Second, let us understand how this Pipeline is constructed.

The Pipeline begins with creating a new team (one for each department) and then adds the corresponding members to this team (Onboarding).

• Each team contains a General channel by default, which is accessible to all the team members.
• Each team can have one or more owners.

Once added to the team, team members, based on their permissions, can create topic-based sub-teams (channels) for more localized collaboration towards their goals. These channels can be public (visible to all team members) or private (visible to limited members).

Part 1: Create Teams, Channels and add Members

The first part of the solution Pipeline covers the following activities in the Teams instance.

• Create a public team (Create Team Snap): Any member in the organization can locate and join this team.
• Map the team name and add members to the team (Mapper and Team Operations Snaps).
• Create a channel within the team (Create Channel Snap).
• Map the channel name and add members to the channel (Mapper and Channel Operations Snaps).

Create Team	Add Team Members
Create Channel	Add Channel Members

Part 2: Review Configuration and Start Sending Channel Messages

After configuring the team and the channels, we can now review them and make changes to the team (Team Operations Snap) or channels (Channel Operations Snap), as required. In this use case, we list the channel members and remove some members who need not be a part of this channel anymore. Later, we send a message to the channel.

List Channel Members
View Output Preview

To send messages to a channel on behalf of the channel owner or a participant, we can draft the required message using the Send Channel Message Snap, as shown in the following image.

Sending a Message in Channel
Message Output Preview

Conclusion

Using the Teams Snap Pack, we can get the required set of employees onboard (to use Teams), add them into relevant teams and channels. By doing this, we are allowing the users to streamline their interactions and encouraging meaningful collaborations that can transform into great ideas well executed for the customers.

Downloads

See Also

• Teams Snap Pack
• Configuring Teams Accounts