Quick Start

Available to: Students, Faculty, Researchers, Staff (Requests for student use, e.g., for research or sites for student organizations, must be made by faculty or staff.)

Cost: No charge for using Microsoft Teams. Some add-ons require additional charges. See Cost, below.

Login

Microsoft Teams, the successor to Microsoft Skype for Business, is a unified communications platform combining modern online meeting technology with enterprise level persistent chat, file storage and collaboration, and application integration.

Benefits

Easily add Teams meetings to your events using native integration with Microsoft Outlook. Collaborate with peers and guests in meetings, even if they are outside Boston University. Securely record and store your meetings with cloud-based storage in Microsoft Stream.

Key Features

  • Meet with up to 1000 people at the same time
  • Integrated with your existing Outlook calendar and application
  • Share your desktop, applications, or a whiteboard during meetings
  • Automatically record and upload video, audio, and shared content from meetings to Microsoft Stream
  • Audio conferencing allows audio-only participants to join via telephone (standard charges apply)
  • Presence indication based on each person’s Teams activity, manual status settings, and Outlook calendar
  • Join meetings and collaborate from Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices
  • Approved for restricted use data (including HIPAA)

What to Expect

Microsoft Teams is provided as part of Microsoft’s cloud-based Office 365 platform, for which Microsoft promises 99.9% uptime. See the Office 365 Trust Center for details and compliance reports.

Requirements

  • Collaboration and chat features are accessible from most modern web browsers. However, not all features are available in all browsers. Detailed information about supported features for each browser can be found on Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams.
  • The Microsoft Teams app is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Detailed requirements can be found on Hardware requirements for the Microsoft Teams app.
  • At minimum, hosts and participants in an online meeting should have:
    • A broadband wired or wireless internet connection
    • A microphone and speakers, or a headset

Cost

While Microsoft Teams is available at no charge, additional add-ons must be purchased.

Add-on Description Cost
Audio Conferencing Allows participants to join meetings by calling one of Microsoft’s local conference numbers. $18/year

To request an add-on or a consultation, please submit a request.

Getting Started