Templates are crucial to establishing a solid Governance Infrastructure. All other Governance Components are either directly or indirectly related to them, and the entire governance model hinges on you configuring your Templates to look exactly how you want them to look.

There are many ways to modify your Templates after you've already created them. For instance, you can add Widgets or Channels to the Template Team through the standard Teams interface, and then Save this team as a Teams-Manager-Template.

Let's explore other Advanced Configuration Options together to make sure that you're getting the most out of your Governance Infrastructure.

📋 Prerequisites

In order to fully benefit from the contents of this article, we recommend completing the following procedures first:

⚙️ Configuring Templates

Navigate to Settings > Templates, find the Template that you'd like to configure, and click the ⋯ button next to it.

You'll be presented with the following options:

Save - Allows you to save changes that were made to the Template Team through the regular Teams interface. For instance, you can add a planner to your Template Team and save it, so it carries over to all Teams made with this Template.

Download - Allows you to download the Template as a zip archive, you can then upload these templates to add them to a different tenant.

Delete - Permanently deletes the Template.

Set Fields - Allows you to assign existing Metadata fields to this Template.

Deactivate template - Renders the Template invisible to end users. This option is preferable to deletion since you can always reactivate them from Settings > Templates > Deactivated templates.

Set visibility - Allows you to make the Template visible only to a specific Dynamic Group(s).

Configure Template - Allows you to view additional Template options.

🛠️ Additional Template Options

Selecting Configure Template from the dropdown will direct you to a separate page composed of three tabs.

1. Template Information

The Template Information tab will allow you to change the Template Name, Description, Goal, and Audience.

You'll also be able to either upload a Cover Image or generate one using AI.

At the very bottom of the Template Information page, you'll find the option to attach Metadata fields to the Template or select a Dynamic Group that it will be visible for.

2. Governance

The Governance section allows you to View and Edit the Policy Package attached to the Template. You can Edit every aspect of the Policy, including Visibility, Guest Access, Ownership, and more.

3. Reporting

The Reporting section allows you to view information about the Teams that have been created based on this Template.

You'll be able to view how many Teams there are in total, how many are Archived, how many Members there are, etc.

You'll also be able to access each Team individually, in case you'd like to jump to them directly from this screen.

🔖 Template Versions

Once a Template has been created, it will also create a corresponding Template Team. You have the ability to make additional changes to this Template Team and Save them to make sure that the changes are reflected in the actual Template.

Here's how it's done:

Navigate to Settings > Templates to get started.
All newly created Templates will have V1 under their Version Column; this is the original Template as you created it.
Find the Template Team in the Teams UI and make the desired changes. In our case, we added a Channel and a Whiteboard.
Once done, go back to Settings > Templates, find the corresponding Template, click on ⋯ next to it, and select Save.
You'll get a success notification informing you that the Template has been Saved.
The Template Version will be changed to V2.
Now, the changes you've made to the Template Team (Channels, Apps, etc.) will be a part of the Template.

This process is not restricted in any way; you can keep iterating when it comes to your Templates, and each time you do so, the Template Version will be changed (V3, V4, etc.).

▶️ Enabling Alternate Content Types for Request & Approval

In order to enable different Content Types, you must have an Enterprise License. Simply navigate to the Settings > Expert mode > Request and enable the desired Content Types.

Available Content Types:

Viva Engage Communities

SharePoint Sites

Communication Sites

Modern Sites without a Group

Planner

Channels (not a content type by itself, simply enables separate channel requests)

Alternate Template Types operate exactly like Team Templates; the only difference between them is Content Provisioning (except for certain Content Types that don't require Templates at all).

Here's how you can create a Template:

Navigate to Settings > Templates.
Click on Create a template.
Select SharePoint Site.
Specify the Template's Name and Description.
Click on the Additional settings dropdown to change the Template's Default Language (this will be the language in which all future SharePoint Sites are created).
Click on Create.

When you open the Create a template menu, you'll notice that the options you see here aren't an exact match with the Additional Content Type list.

The two outliers are Viva Engage Communities and Channels.

Viva Engage Communities - Do not allow Template Creation; they can only be requested and approved, but still fall under your Governance Policies.

Channels - Are created within a given Team, and thus do not require any sort of Template. The request process simply serves as a way to reduce the number of unnecessary Channels.