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jamesbaxterARUK's avatar
jamesbaxterARUK
Brass Contributor
Jan 25, 2019

Permission for users to create plans but not groups

Hi there,

 

I am in the process of setting up microsoft teams for my department. I am very impressed with the tools on offer so far but I have hit a hurdle. I have been looking through the Microsoft Graph API to try to understand the relationships between the various objects (Plans, groups, teams, channels etc.) within office 365.

 

I understand that teams and groups share an ID and have a 1:1 correspondence. I also understand that this was at one point true for groups and plans but has since changed. My sysadmin does not want to allow users the ability to create plans as he believes that there must be an associated group which will be created simultaneously.

 

My team have no desire to create more groups but we would like to utilise multiple plans per group (so that we can have different plans for different channels in Teams). I was wondering if there is a way to allow users the ability to create plans owned by groups of which they are members but not allow the ability to create more groups?

 

TL;DR: Allow users to create plans owned by their groups but not groups?

 

This would be a fantastic help.

 

Best,

James

 

 

 

  • jamesbaxterARUK's avatar
    jamesbaxterARUK
    Jan 30, 2019

    I think I have worked it out!

     

    According to the Microsoft graph API:

     

    • Groups and teams share an ID so have 1:1 correspondence
    • Groups and plans don't share an ID. The group object owns a PlannerGroup object which contains a list of plans owned by the group. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/resources/plannergroup?view=graph-rest-1.0 . This means that they have a many:1 correspondence
    • Standalone plans quietly create a group and give it ownership of a single plan. That group could potentially still own more plans in the future.

     

    By creating a plan through Microsoft Teams, you can create a plan without needing permission to create a group just as the API would suggest. I am not sure if this is due to a recent update or not but it is now working for me.

     

    You need to create a new tab in a channel within a team and select planner, then create a new plan. This will automatically give ownership of the plan to the group associated with your team (with the same id as your team).

     

    I'm guessing this bypasses a stage where you would need group permissions or something. I have checked and I still don't have permission to create groups so that is a good sign. Either way, I'm glad it works.

     

    James

     

     

     

     

  • DStefan's avatar
    DStefan
    Copper Contributor

    jamesbaxterARUK 
    I figured out a kind of work around to get separate plans into channels within a group. It doesn't resolve the issue of creating a new group for each plan, but it DOES allow for us to update and view the plans that I have created in the same team and channels.

    My project entails repeated builds of the same system module for around 20 business units. I created a plan template that works as a master set of tasks (so I don't have rebuild the plan each time) then I use the copy plan function to create the separate plan for each unit in our company. Then in Teams, I go to the channel for the build for the specific business unit and add a website tab and point the tab to the URL for the plan. This might not solve your problem, but it appears to be an adequate workaround for us until MS figures out that people might need to have more than one ongoing project their teams are working on at any given time.

    • jamesbaxterARUK's avatar
      jamesbaxterARUK
      Brass Contributor

      DStefan 

      Hi there,

       

      Thanks for your response. I actually think they may have added the feature. If you use the tabs on a teams channel to create a new plan it creates a plan specific to the channel/group. I am not sure how to duplicate plans though, I haven't looked into it.

      • DStefan's avatar
        DStefan
        Copper Contributor

        jamesbaxterARUK  That's weird because I see the option to make copies of a plan, but I do not see the option to add the plan to different groups or channels. Can you share a screen shot(s) of where you are seeing those options?

  • DStefan's avatar
    DStefan
    Copper Contributor

    I'm struggling with the same limitations. I have a team that is working on multiple iterative implementations for close in more than 20 business units in our company. We have separate channels for the purpose of managing communications related to each separate system build project. I created a plan template and I was hoping to use the copy plan function to replicate the set of tasks for each of the channels so we could track the progress of each build, but this does not appear to be possible. Annoying.

      • jamesbaxterARUK's avatar
        jamesbaxterARUK
        Brass Contributor

        I think I have worked it out!

         

        According to the Microsoft graph API:

         

        • Groups and teams share an ID so have 1:1 correspondence
        • Groups and plans don't share an ID. The group object owns a PlannerGroup object which contains a list of plans owned by the group. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/resources/plannergroup?view=graph-rest-1.0 . This means that they have a many:1 correspondence
        • Standalone plans quietly create a group and give it ownership of a single plan. That group could potentially still own more plans in the future.

         

        By creating a plan through Microsoft Teams, you can create a plan without needing permission to create a group just as the API would suggest. I am not sure if this is due to a recent update or not but it is now working for me.

         

        You need to create a new tab in a channel within a team and select planner, then create a new plan. This will automatically give ownership of the plan to the group associated with your team (with the same id as your team).

         

        I'm guessing this bypasses a stage where you would need group permissions or something. I have checked and I still don't have permission to create groups so that is a good sign. Either way, I'm glad it works.

         

        James

         

         

         

         

  • AFAIK, there is not way to restrict Group creation in the way you have just described...to create a Plan the user needs:
    1) Belong to a modern SPO site so he/she can create one or more plans linked to the Group site associated to the site.
    2) Belong to a Microsoft Teams so he/she can create one or more plans linked to the Group site associated to the Team
    3) Create new standalone Plans what means a Group is created behind the scenes
    • jamesbaxterARUK's avatar
      jamesbaxterARUK
      Brass Contributor

      I was describing:

       

      "2) Belong to a Microsoft Teams so he/she can create one or more plans linked to the Group site associated to the Team".

       

      Is it possible to allow permissions to create plans but not further groups in this case?

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