Productivity Suite – Faculty and Staff

When evaluating cloud service platforms for potential use by the Concordia community, IITS performs Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA). Click here to learn more about Concordia’s PIA process and privacy controls. While Microsoft 365 has many security features, additional precautions are always recommended when storing data.

Microsoft employs security measures that meet standards set by the IT security community. However, we recommend that additional security measures are taken when sensitive or confidential data is stored. This can include password protecting documents, using multi-factor authentication to protect your account, or encrypting files. While not always needed, these measures and general cyber security awareness help in protecting the privacy of your data.

As with any cloud service, there are important considerations to keep in mind when using Microsoft 365 apps for document storage. The information below also applies to any other tool that you may use collaboratively for your work at Concordia.

Do:

1.      Keep document titles short and meaningful. See the Document Naming Guideline for more information.

2.      Organize records according to the Records Classification and Retention Plan.

3.      Protect personal information in accordance with Policy SG-9

4.      Password protect files with personal or confidential data. When possible remove or obfuscate personal or sensitive data from all files.

5.      Ensure that access is granted only to individuals that require access for all documents across all Microsoft 365 applications.

6.      Request a consultation from IITS by contacting the IT Service Desk if there is any doubt or you require assistance with securing data.

Do NOT:

1.      Store unprotected documents that contain personal data or information that can identify a person. For example, always password protect SIN numbers, home addresses, Quebec permanent codes, etc. This applies to your data and that of others.

2.      Store unprotected documents that contain confidential information without password protecting it.

3.      Use online apps for long-term archiving of files. They are only intended for active documents, not for long-term storage.

4.      Store confidential documents on your personal computer, or a USB drive.

If you’re new to the Microsoft 365 environment, click here to join the new to Teams/Microsoft 365? Ask Us! Team. This team is comprised of keen Concordia employees actively working together to share knowledge and problem solve with Microsoft 365!

If you require training with Microsoft 365, consult the Microsoft 365 Training Portal or the IITS training site to consult the training opportunities provided by IITS.

If you’re having issues with a desktop application, access, or authentication, contact the IT Service Desk.

All faculty and staff have access to the same set of Microsoft 365 apps. This includes online versions of the standard suite of office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), 1 TB of individual file storage, Intranet (SharePoint), collaboration tools (MS Teams) and much more.

To get a complete and up to date list of the apps available, please log into the Microsoft online portal.

Microsoft offers a number of mobile versions of their Microsoft 365 apps without additional cost or licensing.  For a complete list of mobile apps, we encourage faculty and staff to visit Microsoft’s Google Play Store or Apple Store.

Please note that you will need to log into the apps with your Microsoft portal account credentials.

If your office computer is owned by Concordia, it should already be installed. If not, please contact the Service Desk or your IT Rep for installation. Please note that assistance is required as there may be compatibility issues with previous versions of Office Suites.

Yes, faculty and staff have the option to download and install apps on up to 5 computers (PCs or Mac). For step by step instructions, please follow these installation guides for Apple MacOS or Windows

Concordia employees who are also students can also download and install apps by logging into their student Microsoft 365 account.

You will have access to Microsoft 365 as long as you are an active Concordia employee.

Microsoft (MS) Teams is a collaboration app that integrates a number of tools from Microsoft.  MS Teams can be used for video meetings, workplace chats, file collaboration, project coordination and video streaming. Faculty and staff can create their own Teams to help manage project or to create a virtual space of online collaboration with colleagues and students alike.

We encourage faculty and staff to learn more about using Microsoft Teams through this quick start guide or by watching Microsoft orientation videos.

Concordia specific training sessions are also available via Zoom and Teams itself.  To register for online training, please consult the IITS training page for registration and availability. To inquire about scheduling a specific training session for your group, please contact iits.training@concordia.ca.

Certain words in Teams names have been restricted to avoid confusion.  If you think you have a legitimate need for one of these restricted words, please contact the IITS Service Desk to submit a request.

Check your recycle bin and second stage recycle bin in your OneDrive online portal.

Make sure all users editing the document are using the same version of Office. There may be minor problems between users collaborating and using different versions of desktop Office suites (such as Office 2016 and Office 365 ProPlus). Some features may not exist in an older version of Office or may be implemented in a new way. If the same desktop version cannot be used and problems occur, we recommend using Office Online (web version) available in Office 365.

Concordia email addresses for new staff are automatically provisioned. New staff can verify their email address.