Microsoft Teams - Allowing (approved) Guest access for Video calls (only)

[MYK-IT]

Just like most / many other schools in recent months, we have tested, configured and deployed Microsoft Teams for use by our staff etc. setting up departmental Teams and configuring the numerous Teams policies as best as we can, combined with providing training guides and sessions etc. Still early stages, but we wanted to ensure its implementation was controlled and overseen in a structured way (as much as possible) without the term "unprecedented times" being used as a scapegoat to use literally any free service that every company seems to be offering at the moment!

 

Sorry I digress...

 

Basically, with "Zoom" being the "on-trend" word at the moment you know that staff will use it (regardless of AUPs, guidelines etc) especially if Microsoft Teams cannot offer similar capability. That being the ease of allowing external (guest) users to be able to be added to a video call.

 

Our Office365 Tenancy is locked down for internal use only, and I agree that staff will want to video-call external users and therefore, I am trying to see if / how this is possible without literally opening up our data (SharePoint, OneDrive etc.) just because all we want to achieve is allowing external (approved) guests to a video call (scheduled meeting?).

 

From this guide, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/guest-access-checklist it appears that I have to modify Azure AD to allow users to add members, then allow Guest access within Teams, then more changes within Office Groups and finally within SharePoint (with further permission / setting changes within each SharePoint site). On first glance, it seems so overwhelming just to allow an external (approved) guest access to a video-call.

 

So, while the school's approved system is Office365/Microsoft Teams, I know that staff will / may use other services (e.g. Zoom) if that can do it, and the official system doesn't. Then the danger is that will set a precedent and others won't continue to use Microsoft Teams. Despite AUPs etc. etc. as just go back to "unprecedented times" strapline.

 

Therefore, I would appreciate any advice from others who use Microsoft Teams and allow external (approved) guest access for video-calls. Even if I had to populate the approved list of accounts. The alternative thought, was to create dummy accounts within our Office365 tenancy solely for this purpose (as I am being asked by other non-teaching departments for similar capability).

 

Thanks all, keep safe!

Edited April 21, 2020 by MYK-IT

[john]

Is this literally to do conference calls?

 

If so guest access is much more that is about bringing people into your organisation to work wtih you in the actual teams / sharepoint etc... which has its place (we use it where I work with key partners) but for a video call we just sent a Teams Meeting from Outlook and they join using Chrome or Edge or Teams app and requires no changes to permissions etc it works for anyone. Have you tried that from an exchange account send a Teams Meeting request to your personal email and open it on a non company machine and see what hapens.

[5tu]

As John says, external people don’t need to be in a team in order to have teams meetings with staff. Just configure your staff policy to allow meetings with external contacts.

[MkII]

Guest Access works well for us. Just copy the guest email address into the meeting invite and they can dial straight into that meeting without having any deeper access into that team.

Likewise you can add them into the team in the same way. It's not possible to give guests as much access as your own users so they can never be team owners and create teams, for example.

We collaborate with two other local high schools and students join each school's Teams with their native accounts.

We also have our primary cluster staff joining the cluster high school meetings.

Edited April 21, 2020 by MkII

[MYK-IT]

@gybe78 Thanks for your reply, although I don't want to enable External users (as I believe that is more towards integrating with SharePoint, internal groups, data etc, as opposed to joining a meeting??)

 

@MkII Thank you too, I may be mistaken but I assume you have enabled Guest access (as per https://regarding365.com/enable-guests-in-microsoft-teams-what-else-did-i-just-turn-on-2110bb400c71) but I just require it for meetings only. I have tried a test meeting using an external email address (which it didn't find) but I copied the meeting url and tried on a different computer, but would not join with only people with access to this org can join its meetings error.

 

After further reseraching, I have just enabled Anonymous users can join a meeting within Teams Admin > Meetings > Meetings Settings to On, after reading this (https://erwinbierens.com/anonymous-meeting-join-in-microsoft-teams/) - though will take 2-24 hours to apply, before I can test further. @john I assume that this works for you, as you have this same setting enabled too?

 

Thanks again.

Edited April 22, 2020 by MYK-IT

[john]

That meeting setting @MYK-IT is about who can get in and start it, by default anyone that isn't authenticated cannot start the meeting and has to sit in a lobby to be admitted / wait for an authenticated person eg an internal useror a guest of your domain. Pros and Cons over that setting for us as we still have some dinosaur staff we have it set to let them as you need your leader pin to start it if you dial in on a mobile phone for example and our staff never note that pin they got in an email or where to reset it until too late....

 

Have you done the simple thing which is open outlook and send a Teams Meeting request to your personal non school email and tried on your own device to access it and see what happens. A lot of the settings your talking around are not around having a video conference call but working on a collabrative basis like @MkII indicated you may find that you are already setup and enabled without any changes.

[MYK-IT]

Thanks @john

 

I think what threw me out originally, was that I was attempting to do it via a meet now session, and when typing in external email addresses it (quite rightly) couldn't find / resolve them (as they weren't approved external users / guests).

The setting that I did enable earlier, Anonymous users can join a meeting (that has now propagated) appears to have done the job, combined with scheduling a Team Meeting via the calendar Tab in Teams. Now working as required.

 

Thanks to all.

[MatthewL]

We have had the same this week as we have gone live with Teams now licensing is free to us.

 

You don't have to have a team created to have a meeting, simply go to Outlook and create a new Team Meeting and send out via calendar invite and those with link can join. Lots of confusion over this and sick of seeing Teams popping up on the service desk as a job!

[john]

We have had the same this week as we have gone live with Teams now licensing is free to us.

 

You don't have to have a team created to have a meeting, simply go to Outlook and create a new Team Meeting and send out via calendar invite and those with link can join. Lots of confusion over this and sick of seeing Teams popping up on the service desk as a job!

 

Happens in business a well, annoyingly our staff have loved making group chats and then having issues with new people being added not able to access files etc... telling them that this is what a team is better for hasn't gone down wellv but sadly end users do love making a mess at times, but on a plus they are praising IT saying they love Teams and thanks for pushing them to come to training etc so we are taking it as a win even if they are not quite using the right feature in the best way.

 

A massive plus on meetings is if you use Chrome or Edge its totally software free for meeting participants it wil just ask to use your webcam and audio stuff so say yes and then your sorted no installs etc so makes a really simple conference tool.

[MYK-IT]

After more testing / usage, I've noted another major flaw with Teams meetings which is something so fundamental that I cannot believe it's possible! (And can understand why Zoom is popular, despite various security concerns!)...

 

I'm talking about scheduled meetings and the associated link it creates. It's bad enough that invitees can join a meeting before the organiser has started it (I know guests can be held in lobby, but all organisational accounts can join). Where when the meeting has been ended by the organiser (I know that leaving as an organiser the meeting continues!) Anyone can go back in, by clicking the link / meeting at any time (e.g. future date) and restart the meeting! And carry on communicating!

 

We don't have students online / configured as yet. I'd imagine this must be a nightmare for schools who do.

 

Really like Teams, especially the online collaboration of files etc, but with basic 'meeting' features like this lacking (and fed up of Zoom this, Zoom that) it's frustrating.

 

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/599053-schools-and-universities/suggestions/39960256-allow-the-ending-of-a-meeting-to-occur-by-the-meet

 

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/40091788-prevent-users-from-joining-meeting-after-it-has-en

Edited April 25, 2020 by MYK-IT