Microsoft Viva Engage

What is it?

Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) is an enterprise social networking platform application available to staff and postgraduate researchers for mainly communities of interest within the organisation.

It provides both public and private communities for internal use across our University. Public communities are open to all, and private communities are by invite (if they are discoverable, you can request an invite). Community members can post messages and replies, including image and video, and ‘like’ and re-share content. Yammer communities are managed by the person who created them, they can add and remove owners and members.

Support

The help available within each application should be the first place to visit for ‘how to’ questions. The help function can be accessed by pressing the F1 key or going to the ‘Help’ menu on the top ribbon in most Microsoft 365 (M365) applications.

We also encourage you to watch our bitesize videos explaining how to use the key features of Yammer (Viva Engage)

Viva Engage is supported by IT Services. If you are unable to resolve your query or if you appear to have a technical issue, you can contact the IT Support Centre

Instructions for staff and postgraduate research students on how to install Microsoft 365 are available here:

Viva Engage has comprehensive in-app support via the help and guidance menus. In some circumstances, if you are not able to resolve through the available guidance, you may need to raise a ticket through the Connect Portal.

Learning about Viva Engage

Microsoft provide a number of written resources, with supporting videos which tell you more about Viva Engage:

Information handling

Information classified as Very Sensitive must not be processed or stored on M365 and advice must be sought from the Information Governance Office if you handle this type of information.

If you’re processing/storing information or data classified as Highly Restricted in M365, follow the information handling minimum controls set out in the Information security classification examples and handling guidance for confidential information.

Continue to adhere to the Information Governance Office Best practice guidance on sharing and storing information and Records Retention Schedule whenever you’re working with data.

Need help on information handling? Contact your Information Governance Guardian.

Limitations

Viva Engage is only available to staff and postgraduate researchers. Viva Engage communities need to be requested via IT as they are no longer available via self-service creation since the platform was modernised in December 2024 and now follows the same governance as other M365 Group based sites.

Please note all newly created communities will be private by default. You are welcome to advertise them in the All Company channel and colleagues wishing to join can opt in and community owners can approve or reject membership.

To request a new Viva Engage community please use this form until such time as there is a specific one: