The Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy has adopted a new policy that directs Departments to use Microsoft Teams (MS Teams) as the primary platform for collaboration within and across the Public Service.
In a statement, the Department said the Collaboration Platform (Microsoft Teams) Policy was approved by the Chief Customer and Digital Officer and was effective immediately.
“In unprecedented times, a need for a safe, reliable, interoperable, cost-effective and standardised solution to collaborate across the Government is necessary,” the Department said
“The policy addresses the current high priority issue for a cost-effective, secure collaboration platform to support business continuity.
“It leverages existing contractual arrangements with Microsoft, clarifying that MS Teams can be used without any additional cost to Departments and that additional contractual clauses exist to address requirements for the offshore of personal information.”
The Department said the policy would be supported by a guideline (to be released soon) to assist with its implementation.
“The Queensland Government Customer and Digital Group is committed to a collaborative Queensland Government Enterprise Architecture (QGEA) consultation process. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic this policy has been fast-tracked,” the Department said.
“It is acknowledged that some Departments might have already invested in collaboration tools or were using existing tools such as Skype.”
However, as MS Teams was freely available under a contract it was expected that Departments would move away from other tools when operationally convenient.
“A dedicated QGEA discussion forum topic is available to gather your questions and share information,” the statement said.
It said the policy was scheduled for a shorter review period of 12 months and Government employees could keep up-to-date by subscribing to News and Notifications through their profile.
Full details of the policy can be accessed on the Department’s website at this PS News link.
