Teams Rollout & Creation
From planning with Advisor for Teams to creating teams from templates, M365 Groups, and SharePoint sites — every method you need to know for rolling out Teams at scale.
Planning your Teams rollout
Rolling out Teams is like opening a new campus building.
You don’t just unlock the doors and hope for the best. You plan: which departments move in first? What furniture goes where? Are the rooms set up for lectures or labs?
Advisor for Teams is your rollout planner — it creates a project plan with tasks, assigns owners, and tracks progress right inside Teams. Then you create teams using templates (pre-configured blueprints with channels, tabs, and apps already set up), from existing M365 Groups, or from SharePoint sites.
Advisor for Teams
Teams admin center → Planning → Advisor
Advisor creates a team in your tenant with channels for each workstream:
| Workstream (Channel) | Key Tasks |
|---|---|
| General | Overview, timeline, stakeholders |
| Chat, teams, channels, and apps | Configure messaging policies, app permissions, channel settings |
| Meetings and conferencing | Meeting policies, audio conferencing setup |
| Phone system (if selected) | Teams Phone setup, calling plans, auto attendants |
| Education (if education tenant) | Class teams, SDS sync, education policies |
Each channel has a Planner tab with pre-built tasks. Assign tasks to team members, set due dates, and track progress.
Exam tip: Advisor for Teams creates a REAL team in your tenant — not a static document. It’s a living project plan that your deployment team collaborates in.
Five ways to create a team
| Feature | Best For | Who Can Do It | Steps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams admin center | Admin-created teams, org-level teams | Teams Administrator | Admin center → Teams → Add team |
| Teams client | User-created teams for projects/departments | Any user (unless restricted by group creation policy) | Teams client → Join or create a team → Create |
| PowerShell | Bulk creation, scripted deployments | Admin with MicrosoftTeams module | New-Team -DisplayName 'Name' -Visibility Private |
| Microsoft Graph | Automated workflows, app integrations | App with Team.Create permission | POST /teams with team configuration JSON |
| From existing resource | Converting existing groups or sites to teams | Owner of the group/site | Teams client → Create from existing M365 Group or SharePoint site |
Creating from existing resources
| Source | What Happens | What Carries Over |
|---|---|---|
| M365 Group | Group becomes a team with the same members | Membership, SharePoint site, email, Planner |
| SharePoint site | Team connected to the existing site | Files, permissions (members become team members) |
| Existing team | Copy of team structure (channels, tabs, settings) | Channel structure, tabs, app settings — NOT content or membership |
Scenario: Kofi's mass team creation at Harbour University
At the start of each semester, Kofi needs to create ~2,000 class teams. Manually? Impossible.
Kofi’s approach:
- Template: Created a “Class Team” template with channels: General, Announcements, Assignments, Resources
- School Data Sync (SDS): Imports class rosters from the student information system
- PowerShell backup: For special teams not in SDS:
New-Team -DisplayName "COMP101-2026-S1" -Template "Class Team" -Visibility Private- Template policy: Restricts students to see only the “Class Team” and “Study Group” templates when creating teams
Result: 2,000 teams created automatically, all with consistent structure, in under an hour.
Team templates
Microsoft-provided templates
| Template | Pre-configured Channels | Pre-installed Apps |
|---|---|---|
| Manage a project | General, Announcements, Resources, Budgets | OneNote, Planner, SharePoint |
| Manage an event | General, Announcements, Logistics, Budget | OneNote, Planner |
| Onboard employees | General, Announcements, Training, Fun Stuff | OneNote, Planner |
| Organise help desk | General, Announcements, FAQ, Tickets | OneNote, Lists |
| Incident response | General, Announcements, Logistics, Recovery | OneNote, Planner |
Custom templates
Admins can create custom templates in the Teams admin center:
- Teams admin center → Teams → Team templates → Add
- Start from scratch, from an existing template, or from an existing team
- Define: channels, tabs, apps, team settings
- Save the template
Template policies
Template policies control which templates users see when creating a team:
- Show all templates — users see Microsoft + custom templates
- Hide specific templates — remove templates that don’t apply
- Show only specific templates — restrict to approved templates only
Template policies are assigned to users/groups, allowing different user populations to see different templates.
🎬 Video walkthrough
🎬 Video coming soon
Teams Rollout & Creation — MS-700 Module 14
Teams Rollout & Creation — MS-700 Module 14
~10 minFlashcards
Knowledge Check
Kofi needs to create 2,000 class teams at the start of the semester, each with the same channel structure (General, Announcements, Assignments, Resources). What is the MOST efficient approach?
A manager at Pinnacle Corp wants to convert their existing 'Marketing' Microsoft 365 Group into a Teams team. What will carry over?
Next up: Membership, Roles & Team Settings — how to manage who’s in a team, what role they have, and how to configure team-level settings for privacy, sensitivity, and frontline workers.