Teams Governance: Creation, Classification, and Lifecycle with Sensitivity Labels

 

Teams governance is the difference between a collaboration platform and a collaboration sprawl engine. At a minimum, governance defines: (1) how teams are created, (2) how they are classified, (3) what controls are enforced, and (4) how teams are reviewed and retired. In Microsoft Teams, sensitivity labels are a practical way to enforce consistent privacy and compliance expectations at creation time—such as forcing a team to be private when a specific label is selected.

Key design decisions

·       Team creation model: open self-service, gated self-service, or IT-provisioned.

·       Classification model: which labels exist (e.g., General, Confidential, Highly Confidential) and what they control.

·       Guest/external collaboration: which scenarios are allowed and what’s blocked by default.

·       Lifecycle: when a team is reviewed, archived, or deleted.

Configuration guide: sensitivity labels for Teams

Sensitivity labels are created in Microsoft Purview and then become available in Teams. A common starting pattern is to create a label that enforces the team’s privacy level. For example, a label named ‘Confidential’ can be configured so that any team created with the label must be Private.

1. In Microsoft Purview, create (or update) a sensitivity label for Teams.

2. Configure the label’s Team privacy setting (Public or Private) to match your governance intent.

3. Publish the label to the appropriate users (pilot first, then broader rollout).

4. Validate user experience: confirm the label appears during team creation and that privacy is enforced.

5. Document what the label means in plain language and include it in your onboarding materials.

Practical rollout approach

·       Start with two or three labels maximum to avoid ‘classification fatigue’.

·       Align label names with your organization’s data classification terms.

·       Combine labels with policies (apps, guests, meeting controls) as your next maturity step.

References

·       Sensitivity labels for Microsoft Teams: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/sensitivity-labels