Upgrading to Teams from Skype for Business
With more of the work force working remotely and as Microsoft Teams continues to rise in popularity, you may find yourself in need of upgrading existing Skype for Business users to Teams users (Skype for Business will officially reach end of life on July 31, 2021 ( https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/healthcare-and-life-sciences/skype-for-business-online-end-of-life-july-31-2021/ba-p/779137 ). Teams offers the full power of Office 365 groups and as such tightly integrates SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business and Teams.
Skype for Business and Teams are designed to coexist – chat,
calling and meetings can be available in both clients for users during the
upgrade process. This is in fact the default mode. However, there may be a need
or desire to migrate users to Teams and help them cut the cut with Skype for
Business. For these scenarios, Microsoft has built interoperability options into
Teams. There are several interoperability modes to be aware of as you plan your
migration. If assigning an upgrade policy to users/tenant via the Teams Admin
Portal, there are five available options.
If assigning an upgrade policy to users/tenant via PowerShell, there are a few more options:
This is explained by Microsoft here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/skype/grant-csteamsupgradepolicy?view=skype-ps
Islands mode is the default mode for starting, and Teams Only mode is the goal to move toward. As you can see, it is important to understand which interoperability options are available as you progress toward Teams Only.
Upgrade Settings: Portal
Navigate to the Teams Portal: https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/
From left menu, locate “Org-wide Settings” and select Teams Upgrade
Here you can select the coexistence mode for the entire organization.
Once you’ve set the mode for the all users, you can then select different modes for individual users as you migrate them toward Teams Only mode.
To change a user’s coexistence mode, go to Users from the
main portal page, select the user you would like to change and select Edit in
the Teams Upgrade section.
Upgrade Settings: PowerShell
If you need to change multiple users to a new coexistence mode, the easiest method is to use PowerShell.
1. To begin, save your credentials.
$cred = get-credential
2. Download the Skype Powershell module from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366
Once downloaded, double-click to install.
3. Run the following command in PowerShell:
Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Skype for Business Online\Modules\SkypeOnlineConnector\SkypeOnlineConnector.psd1"
4. Now import the Skype Online module
Import-module SkypeOnlineConnector
5. Start the session:
$session = New-CsOnlineSession -Credential $cred
6. Import-PSSession $session
7. Finally, set the coexistence mode for multiple users:
To change the mode for a specific user: Grant-CsTeamsUpgradePolicy -Identity user@nimbasys.com -PolicyName IslandsWithNotify
To change the mode for multiple users (from CSV):
Import-CSV – path c:\path\user.csv | foreach { Grant-CsTeamsUpgradePolicy -Identity $_.UserPrincipalName -PolicyName IslandsWithNotify }
Hope this is helpful
