Can I restrict who may create teams?

Yes. You can set it so that only members of a specific security group may create teams and Microsoft 365 groups. This is done with PowerShell and requires a Microsoft Entra ID P1 licence, which is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, among others.

What is the difference between archiving and deleting a team?

An archived team still exists and can still be read and searched, but nobody can change anything in it. A deleted team can still be restored for 30 days and is then gone for good.

How many owners should a team have?

At least two. Then someone can still manage members and answer questions about the team when an owner leaves, is ill or is on holiday.

Microsoft Teams sprawl: how an SME should control who creates teams and clean them up

Q: What happens when someone creates a team?

Microsoft 365 also creates a Microsoft 365 group, with a SharePoint site for the files, a group mailbox, a shared calendar and a OneNote notebook. So every team is also a new storage location for business information.

It starts innocently: someone creates a team for a project, someone else for the Christmas drinks, a third person for a customer. A year later there are dozens of teams. Some no longer have an owner, some have guests nobody can place, and files sit in places nobody can find anymore. It is not a disaster, but it costs time and makes it hard to see who can access which information.

Why Teams sprawl becomes a problem

A team in Microsoft Teams is more than a chat channel. When it is created, Microsoft 365 also creates a group, with a SharePoint site for the files, a group mailbox, a shared calendar and a OneNote notebook. So every new team is also a new place where business information is stored.

With five teams that is easy to oversee. With fifty it gets difficult. Employees no longer know which team holds a document, duplicate teams with almost the same name appear and teams remain long after the project has finished. If the only owner leaves, nobody can add or remove members anymore. And anyone who still has access to an old team can also see the files stored there, which becomes even more important when rolling out Copilot.

Who may create a team?

By default everyone in the organisation can create teams and Microsoft 365 groups. For many SMEs that is too open, but locking everything down is not a good idea either: employees then start sharing files by email or through personal services. There are two common choices:

Everyone may create teams, with agreements. Suitable for small organisations. You agree on a naming convention and clean up periodically.
Only a fixed group may create teams. For example managers or a few key users. Other employees request a team from them. You set this restriction with PowerShell, using a security group of people who are allowed to create teams. Microsoft requires a Microsoft Entra ID P1 licence for this, which is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, among others.

How to get Teams in order

List all teams. The Teams admin center shows every team with its number of members, owners and guests. The usage reports show which teams are still active.
Make sure every team has at least two owners. Then someone stays responsible when an owner leaves or is ill. Add this to your joiner and leaver checklist as well.
Agree on a naming convention. For example ‘PRJ - Customer name’ for projects and ‘DEP - Finance’ for departments. Everyone can then see straight away what a team is for, and fewer duplicate teams appear.
Decide who may create teams. Everyone with agreements, or only a fixed group. Record the choice and tell employees who to ask.
Clean up old teams. A team that is finished but whose content must be kept should be archived: it stays visible and searchable, but nobody can change anything in it. Teams that can really go should be deleted. A deleted team can still be restored for 30 days.
Turn on an expiration policy. With an expiration policy for Microsoft 365 groups, owners receive an email before the end of the period asking whether the team is still needed. Teams that are actively used are renewed automatically by Microsoft.

What to watch out for

Archiving and deleting are not the same as retaining. If information must be kept for a fixed period, for example for tax record-keeping, arrange that with retention policies before you start cleaning up teams. And make sure the files are included in the backup: a deleted team is gone for good after 30 days.

Look at guests while you clean up as well. Teams with customers or suppliers as guests often remain after the collaboration has ended. Read what to decide about guest accounts. And do not restrict team creation so strictly that employees move to WhatsApp groups or personal storage: that is when you really lose the overview.

How Floor ICT handles this

For every customer, Floor ICT first lists all teams, owners and guests, and discusses which teams can go or should be archived. Together we decide who may create teams, set up a naming convention and make sure every team has at least two owners. Where the licence allows it, we turn on an expiration policy so old teams no longer linger. As part of our management we periodically check for teams without an owner and for old guest access.

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