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Note

Policy and procedure “owners” are accountable for the timely review, updating, and dissemination of policies and procedures in their functional area. Assignment of responsibility for policies or procedures is accomplished partly through a series of delegations of authority. Delegations of authority assign authority and responsibility. In order to document your policies and procedures it is helpful to have a standard format that you follow. This can simply be a Word document or database application that you develop. Whatever the approach, you should establish a standard template for documentation. Here is a simple format that can be used to document your policy and procedures.

If you enabled the org-wide app permission policy setting, Allow interaction with custom apps, you may not see app setup policies yet in the Microsoft Teams admin center. It's currently being rolled out and will be available soon in your organization.

As an admin, you can use app setup policies to customize Microsoft Teams to highlight the apps that are most important for your users. You choose the apps to pin and set the order that they appear. App setup policies let you showcase apps that users in your organization need, including those built by third parties or by developers in your organization. You can also use app setup policies to manage how built-in features appear.

Apps are pinned to the app bar. This is the bar on the side of the Teams desktop client and at the bottom of the Teams mobile clients (iOS and Android).

You manage app setup policies in the Microsoft Teams admin center. You can use the global (Org-wide default) policy or create custom policies and assign them to users. Users in your organization will automatically get the global policy unless you create and assign a custom policy.

You can edit the settings in the global policy to include the apps that you want. If you want to customize Teams for different groups of users in your organization, create and assign one or more custom policies. If a user is assigned a custom policy, that policy applies to the user. If a user isn't assigned a custom policy, the global policy applies to the user.

Note

If you have Teams for Education, it's important to know that the Assignments app is pinned by default in the global policy even though currently, you don't see it listed in the global policy. It will be the fourth app in the list of pinned apps on Teams clients.

Create a custom app setup policy

You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center to create a custom policy.

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Setup policies.

2. Click Add.

3. Enter a name and description for the policy, and then click Add apps.

4. Turn on or turn off Allow uploading custom apps, depending on whether you want to let users upload custom apps to Teams. You won't be able to change this setting if Allow third-party or custom apps is turned off in org-wide app settings in app permission policies.

5. In the Add pinned apps pane, search for the apps you want to add, and then click Add. You can also filter apps by app permission policy. When you've chosen your list of apps, click Add.

6. Arrange the apps in the order that you want them to appear in Teams, and then click Save.

Edit an app setup policy

You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center to edit a policy, including the global (Org-wide default) policy and custom policies that you create.

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Setup policies.
2. Select the policy by clicking to the left of the policy name, and then click Edit.
3. From here, make the changes that you want. You can add, remove, and change the order of apps.
4. Click Save.

Assign a custom app setup policy to users

You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center to assign a custom policy to individual users or the Skype for Business PowerShell module to assign a custom policy to groups of users, such as a security group or distribution group.

Assign a custom app setup policy to users

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users, and then click the user.
2. Select the user by clicking to the left of the user name, and then click Edit settings.
3. Under App setup policy, select the app setup policy you want to assign, and then click Apply.

To assign a policy to multiple users at a time, see Edit Teams user settings in bulk.

Or, you can also do the following:

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Setup policies.
2. Select the policy by clicking to the left of the policy name.
3. Select Manage users.
4. In the Manage users pane, search for the user by display name or by user name, select the name, and then select Add. Repeat this step for each user that you want to add.
5. When you're finished adding users, select Save.

Assign a custom app setup policy to users in a group

You may want to assign a custom app setup policy to multiple users that you’ve already identified. For example, you may want to assign a policy to all users in a security group. You can do this by connecting to the Azure Active Directory PowerShell for Graph module and the Skype for Business PowerShell module. For more information about using PowerShell to manage Teams, see Teams PowerShell Overview.

In this example, we assign a custom app setup policy called HR App Setup Policy to all users in the Contoso Pharmaceuticals HR Project group.

Note

Make sure you first connect to the Azure Active Directory PowerShell for Graph module and Skype for Business PowerShell module by following the steps in Connect to all Office 365 services in a single Windows PowerShell window.

Get the GroupObjectId of the particular group.

Get the members of the specified group.

Assign all users in the group to a particular app setup policy. In this example, it's HR App Setup Policy.

Depending on the number of members in the group, this command may take several minutes to execute.

Microsoft Policies And Procedures Training

FAQ

Working with app setup policies

What built-in app setup policies are included in the Microsoft Teams admin center?

• Global (Org-wide default): This default policy applies to all users in your organization unless you assign another policy. Edit the global policy to pin apps that are most important for your users.
• FirstLineWorker: This policy is for firstline workers. You can assign it to firstline workers in your organization. It's important to know that like custom policies that you create, you have to assign the policy to users for the settings to be active. For more information, go to the Assign a custom app setup policy to users section of this article.

Why can't I find an app in the Add pinned apps pane?

Not all apps can be pinned to Teams through an app setup policy. Some apps may not support this functionality. To find apps that can be pinned, search for the app in the Add pinned apps pane. Tabs that have a personal scope (static tabs) and bots can be pinned to the Teams desktop client and these apps are available in the Add pinned apps pane.

Keep in mind that the Teams app store lists all Teams apps whereas the Add pinned apps pane includes only apps that can be pinned to Teams through a policy.

I'm a Teams for Education admin. What do I need to know about app setup policies in Teams for Education?

The Calling app isn't available in Teams for Education. When you create a new custom app setup policy, the Calling app is displayed in the list of apps. However, the app isn't pinned to Teams clients and Teams for Education users won't see the Calls app in Teams.

How many apps can be added to a policy?

A minimum of two apps must be pinned to the Teams mobile clients (iOS and Android). If a policy has less than two apps, the mobile clients won't reflect the policy settings and instead will continue to use the existing configuration.

There's no limit on the number of apps you can add to a policy.

How long does it take for policy changes to take effect?

After you edit the global policy or assign a policy, it can take up to 24 hours for changes to take effect.

User experience

How can users see all their pinned apps in Teams?

To view all apps that are pinned for a user, users may have to do the following depending on the number of installed apps and the size of their Teams client window.

What do I need to know about the Teams mobile experience?

The Teams mobile clients (iOS and Android) currently don't support personal apps with static tabs. Depending on the apps set in the policy, apps pinned to the Teams desktop client might not appear in the Teams mobile clients. Personal bots will still appear in Chat on mobile clients.

With the Teams mobile clients, users will see core Teams apps such as Activity, Chat, and Teams, and you can pin some first-party apps from Microsoft, such as Shifts.

Can users change the order of apps pinned through a policy?

Currently, users can change the order of their pinned apps on Teams mobile clients but not on the Teams desktop or web clients.

Custom Teams apps

My organization built a custom Teams app and published it, either to AppSource or the Tenant app catalog, but the app icon isn't displayed as expected when the app is pinned to the app bar in Teams. How do I fix it?

Make sure that you follow the logo guidelines before you submit the app. To learn more, see Checklist for Seller Dashboard submission.

Related topics

No company can achieve sustained success without a firm foundation on which to build. The foundation often manifests itself in policies and procedures that govern the decision-making process of the staff and thus direct the company towards achieving its goals. Microsoft has an extensive foundation--lots of policies and procedures--a sample of which reveals the core values of the company.

Values

Microsoft designed its principles and procedures on the set of values the board claims for the company overall and for the staff therein employed. Microsoft believes in honesty and integrity, in being respectful with others while encouraging growth and improvement, in having a passion for customer technological needs and desires, and in being accountable to not only the customers but also to the staff and investors. Microsoft believes in dreaming big and following through on those dreams while still maintaining a critical eye on the company's actions.

Standards of Business Conduct

Microsoft operates under its self-devised Standards of Business Conduct which derives from the company values. Although the Standards of Business Conduct are fairly extensive, the document clearly states that it does not and cannot include specific information for every possible contingency but rather should serve as a guidepost in decision-making for the staff.

Regulatory Compliance

It is Microsoft policy to maintain accurate and up-to-date knowledge of the laws and regulations that govern the corporation worldwide. If at any time a member of the staff becomes aware of a violation of regulation or law it is the employee’s responsibility to report the violation to either Human Resources, management, the Director of Compliance, Law and Corporate Affairs or the Business Conduct Line.

Lobbying

While adhering to federal laws regarding lobbying, Microsoft protects shareholder interests by actively lobbying for any issues in Congress that may affect the direction or future of the company.

Export Policy

The United States government restricts the exportation of certain technology including software and hardware. Microsoft complies with this policy in order to help protect national security and to conserve limited resources.

Fair Information Practices

Aware of its role in the communication industry, it is Microsoft policy to produce and maintain an online environment that is safe for Internet users. Included in this policy is an educational initiative to better help consumers use the Internet wisely.

Microsoft Policies And Procedures Training

Diversity

It is Microsoft’s belief that a diverse workplace increases the successful recruitment of talented staff members who will prove to be an asset to the company. Therefore, Microsoft actively strives towards diversity while complying with Equal Opportunity regulations.

• Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Rudolf Schuba