Microsoft Yammer

What is it?

Yammer is an enterprise social networking service used for private communication within organisations. Yammer is predominantly for use by colleagues with @manchester.ac.uk identities.

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.

For further help with Yammer, please visit the M365 Help and Support site. Here you will find:

  • Bitesize videos explaining how to use the key features of Yammer

Yammer 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:

Yammer 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 IT Services Support Portal.

Learning about Yammer

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

  • To explore the basics, and to familiarise yourself with Yammer, try Microsoft’s Get started with Yammer resource.

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

Our University has several Yammer networks. The Yammer network considered to be the ‘the’ Yammer network is the one accessed by colleagues with @manchester.ac.uk identities.

Global limitations:

Yammer has some limitations to be aware of, like working with attachments.

University of Manchester limitations:

The self-service addition of apps and add-ins for Microsoft 365 Office and associated products is still under review by the IT Service Security Working Group as to how they can be risk assessed and supported. This process should be completed in the near future at which time information will be updated and communications will be sent out to staff.

The version of Yammer used by the University is not the most up to date version and there are no current plans to update. As such some videos not fully applicable to our tool usage.

Share your thoughts and feedback

You can browse the University’s current Yammer communities for ideas.