Summary

The Momentum Center, a non-profit organization located in Grand Haven, embarked on a two-month training program to enhance productivity, efficiency, and functionality using Microsoft Teams. This initiative aimed to create a more connected and visible community within the organization.

Challenge

The primary challenges faced by the Momentum Center included:

• Lack of familiarity with Microsoft Teams among staff members.
• Difficulty in navigating and utilizing various features of Teams to maximize productivity.
• Ensuring accessibility for all employees, including those with disabilities.

Managing user permissions and external access while maintaining security and compliance.

Strategy

To address these challenges, we implemented a comprehensive training program over two months, which included:

• Basic Training: Initial sessions covered the fundamentals of Teams, such as navigating the interface, managing status, sending chat messages, understanding teams and channels, and locating files.
• Advanced Features: Subsequent sessions delved into rich text formatting, attaching files, managing the activity feed, and starting and managing meetings and live events.
• Teams Administration: Training on user management, team settings, SharePoint integration, and administrative tools within Teams and SharePoint.
• Accessibility Training: Focused on making Teams accessible, including features like live captions, transcriptions, chat translation, high contrast mode, and other accessibility settings.
• Power Platform Introduction: Introduced Power Apps and Power Automate, demonstrating how to create applications, automate processes, and interact with data to improve productivity.

Results

The training program yielded significant improvements in several areas:

• Increased Proficiency: Staff members became proficient in using Teams, leading to more efficient communication and collaboration.
• Enhanced Accessibility: The focus on accessibility ensured that all employees, including those with disabilities, could fully participate in team activities.
• Improved Administrative Control: Training on administrative tools helped the Momentum Center manage user permissions, maintain security, and ensure compliance.
• Empowered Employees: The introduction to the Power Platform empowered employees to create custom applications and automate workflows, enhancing overall productivity.

The comprehensive training program not only improved the day-to-day operations of the Momentum Center but also fostered a more inclusive and connected community, in line with the organization’s mission.