Team and Group Expiration Policy

Expiration Policy

What is the Expiration Policy at Syracuse University?

1. Any Team or Group inactive for greater than 365 days will expire.

2. The Team or Group owners will be notified 30 days, 15 days, and 1 day before the team's expiration date so that they can renew the group before the expiration date.

3. If the Team or Group is not renewed before expiration it will be deleted.

Group Renewal

How to renew a Team or Group?

There are several ways that a Team or Group can be renewed.

1. Any member of the Group or Team performs one of the following actions:
   1. SharePoint - View, edit, download, move, share, or upload files. (Viewing a SharePoint page does not count as an action for automatic renewal.)
   2. Outlook - Join or edit group, read or write group message from the group, and like a message (Outlook on the web).
   3. Teams - Visit a teams channel.
   4. Forms - View, create, or edit forms, or submit a response to a form.
2. The group owner can manually click the Renew group button sent in the expiration warning email message

   

3. Notifications for a Team that is about to expire are added to the team owner's Activity Feed.
      
4. The group owner can click Renew now in team settings to renew the team in the Teams application.  
   Select the three dots by the team name > Manage Team > Settings > Renew now
   

   

Microsoft 365 Teams and Groups

Microsoft 365 Teams and Groups allow Students, Faculty, or Staff to select a team of collaborators and establish a shared collection of resources. These resources can include some or any of the following - an Outlook mailbox, SharePoint site, or Team collaboration channels. The most up to date information about potential use cases and how to create a Microsoft 365 Team or Group can be found in the following article from Microsoft: 

Learn about Microsoft 365 Teams

Team and Group Owners

The user who creates the Microsoft 365 Team or Group is assigned as the owner. Owners have the ability to add and remove users, change settings, add apps, and manage channels. Once users are added to the group, an owner can promote other members of the group to owner status. It is important to note that owners are the only members of a Microsoft 365 Team or Group who will receive expiration notifications. Ensuring a Group has two owners helps not only safeguard against deletion, but also prevent ownerless Groups, known as orphaned Groups. In some cases, a Team or Group owner may have left the University or removed themselves from the group. If you find yourself a member of a Team or Group that has no owner, please reach out to your IT Support for assistance.

View Group Expiration Dates via a Syracuse University Microsoft 365 Account

1. With your NetID/Password sign in at the following link: My Groups - Overview (microsoft.com)
   
   1. This view can also be accessed by signing into Home | Microsoft 365> selecting the user icon>"View Account">dropdown by "My Account">"My Groups"
2. Groups that are within 30 days of expiration will appear on the "Overview" page under "Groups Expiring Soon" 
3. The "Groups I own" page will provide the expiration date of Groups with an expiration date of greater than 30 days
   
   
   1. Clicking the group name will bring you to a page containing information about the Group and links to resources that are directly associated with that Group such as an Outlook mailbox, SharePoint site, or Team
      
   2. Group members and owners can be viewed via their respective menu tabs

Delete an Unused Team or Group

If a Group Owner receives an Expiration Email and decides the Group can be deleted prior to the determined expiration date, the delete it now link near the bottom of the email can be used to delete the Group.

Recover Deleted Teams or Groups

When a Team or Group has reached the 365-day inactivity limit, it will be deleted and no longer usable. A Team or Group can be recovered by the owner up to 30 days after deletion via the Renew group button in any of the Group Expiration warning emails. A confirmation prompt may appear. When a Team or Group is successfully recovered a browser window will open with the following message: