Office365
At Sittingbourne, Milton & District Scouts, we utilise the industry leading Microsoft Office 365 Enterprise for Education platform for our email, document storage, collaboration and online conferencing tools. With the features that Office 365 provides, we’re eager as a District to expand the platform to our Groups and Units.
Equivalent business tools and hosting would normally cost thousands of pounds a year, but we are delighted to be able to offer it to groups within the district for free.
Handy Office365 Links
(Requires Login)
Sittingbourne, Milton & District Help Centre - if you are new to the District or Office365, start here for loads of how to guides. If on the other hand, you are well versed in either, why not visit anyway and contribute new content!
All Office365 Apps - do you just want to see your emails or create a Word/Excel/PowerPoint document? Maybe you want to explore the multitude of other apps you and your group can benefit from. Look no further.
SharePoint Home Site - visit the home site to see what sites you have access to and what files in your arenas have recently changed.
Your frequent SharePoint Sites - once you have been using SharePoint for a while, this page will learn what sites you use most or have specifically made your favourites and give you a quick and easy route to them.
Your recommendations - once you have been using Office365 for a while, this page will recommend content to you based on your role(s). You can also quickly access email and teams attachments without going into your email.
District Documents - the District Documents file share is within the SharePoint home site and hosts documents that are shared across the district. You will find standard operating procedures, logos, fonts, templates, stock images, risk assessments, templates and more!
External Activity Providers - have you had a great experience with an external activity/event provider that others can benefit from? - Do you need ideas for your section? either way, visit the Activity Providers list and share details!
Your security Info - planning to get a new mobile or change your number? - make sure you visit here to change your security information to ensure you don't get locked out!
What is Office365
Office 365 provides anywhere access to professional email, calendar, HD video conferencing, and more. Designed to help educational establishments have the tools they need to do more good, this global offering provides groups with access to Office Online, Microsoft’s best-in-class cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.
What will my section/group get?
By hosting your Group’s email with us, you will receive for FREE:
- Unlimited free @sittingbournescouts.org.uk email addresses
- Web versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Visio, Project and much more
- Secure personalised business class email, calendar, and contacts with a 50 GB inbox (Microsoft Exchange)
- Personal File storage and sharing with 1 TB of OneDrive storage
- Collaboration services to securely store & backup documents including full version control and change tracking (SharePoint). Essential for team collaboration and succession planning.
- Unlimited online meetings, instant messenger, and audio, HD video, and web conferencing (Teams for Business)
- Secure social media and networking platform (Yammer)
- Process automation and integration with third party services (PowerAutomate)
- Online forms for secure data collection inside and outside of the district (Forms), great for surveying parents!
- Work management tools to help teams create plans, organise, assign and collaborate around tasks (Microsoft Planner)
- Professional digital storytelling tools to create interactive reports, presentations, newsletters and more (Microsoft Sway)
- District-based technical support when you need it
- Access to the district members area based on SharePoint
- Access to the District Email Directory
- Fully managed GDPR compliance & alignment
What are the advantages of using privately hosted email?
- All emails are hosted on a private enterprise class server meaning potentially sensitive information is kept safe. Free email accounts are consumer products and do not provide users with the same level of privacy, protection or support (this is especially important when members leave the group).
- Data is automatically backed up so you can retrieve something you may have deleted by mistake.
- Data can be synchronised for offline use but easily removed when a member leaves the group (no GDPR concerns!)
- With the custom domain name, parents and outside organisations can be confident of your identity when receiving emails. Anyone can set up a free Gmail or Hotmail account with something similar to your group and pose as a leader. We want to make sure our adult members are protected from identity theft and safeguard our young people from imposters.
- A Scouting email address allows you to manage and maintain a Scout-Life balance by keeping your Scouting mailbox separate from your personal inbox.
- It looks professional. Quite often Scouting will lead you to have contact and dealings with public officials, MPs, large corporations, Business leaders and having your own custom scout email address will give a much better impression.
- When your group sign up for the system, you will automatically get a address book of all the people in your own group and the district which will update as people join the organisation and leave – so you can always get hold of the people you need to.
- Centrally managed distribution lists can be setup so that you can be confident everyone who needs to, receives your email.
Sign me up!
To get started with Office365, have your membership number to hand and complete the Office365 account request form