Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Collaboration Tools topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lakeville committee green-lights SharePoint and Teams deployment for staff; licensing and access questions remain
Summary
The subcommittee confirmed that SharePoint and Microsoft Teams have been deployed for the town administrator and select board; members agreed staff training and licensing implications must be addressed before wider rollout to committee members.
The Town of Lakeville Technology Subcommittee on Aug. 12 reviewed a recent deployment of Microsoft Teams and SharePoint for town staff and the select board and directed staff to clarify training plans and licensing impacts before extending access.
Andrew Sukhart, the town administrator, said he asked Bob McNally to deploy Teams and SharePoint for his office and the select board to replace older on-premises file shares. McNally confirmed the environments were set up, but the committee noted that non-staff committee members will not have the same network access and that some features require higher licensing tiers.
Committee members raised the need for a training plan for staff and for a demonstration for committee members who lack the same permissions. Jim Barth and others asked about the practicality of committee-level access, and McNally said he would provide a demo at the next meeting once he has reviewed the deployment with the town administrator.
The group discussed that SharePoint/Teams functionality depends on Microsoft licensing. Sukhart noted department heads and the select board currently hold Microsoft G3 licenses (which include Teams), while many other users have lower-tier accounts that may not include the full feature set. The subcommittee asked staff to inventory license types and potential additional costs required to expand access or to enable features such as live transcription and shared document editing.
Next steps: Bob McNally will arrange a demonstration of the deployed Teams/SharePoint environment; staff will report back on recommended training, any licensing upgrades needed and a timeline for phased rollout.
