What does your supplier need to do in Teams?

Describe the work before choosing access

A project lead asks IT to give a supplier Teams access. Before sending an invitation, ask what the supplier needs to do: speak to a colleague, join ongoing project work or use particular documents. Our recommendation is to write down the intended task and the person responsible for approving it. The product name alone is not an access requirement.

Microsoft distinguishes external access, which supports finding, calling and chatting with people who have Microsoft identities, from guest access, which invites people into a team and supports collaboration on files. These are two options, not a complete catalogue of Microsoft 365 collaboration routes. Ask your administrator to select the approved arrangement for the actual work.

Make the request specific enough to approve

Name the partner contact and have the business owner confirm their identity through an established route. List the project space or material they should use, and identify anything that must stay outside the engagement. Avoid treating an unfamiliar message asking for access as its own authorisation.

For a fictional UK design practice, a supplier needs to discuss delivery dates with the project coordinator. The initial request does not include editing project files. Later, the project owner requests a shared working area for selected drawings. IT records that as a separate access decision instead of assuming the first conversation authorised wider collaboration.

Our suggested request also includes an end date or review point and a named owner. If the engagement changes, that owner should revisit the scope. This is a practical approval record, not a substitute for your organisation’s information-handling rules.

Check the identity used in the test

Microsoft says invited guests receive a Microsoft Entra B2B collaboration guest account in your directory. Its guidance also explains that people who normally use another Microsoft 365 organisation need to switch organisations in Teams to interact as your guest.

When testing an approved arrangement, ask the partner to show which account and organisation they are using. Use harmless sample material and check the agreed task with the project owner. Record what actually worked; do not conclude that an invitation email alone proves the working arrangement is ready. Keep credentials and sensitive document contents out of support notes.

Leave a clear route for changes and closure

Give the project owner a short record of the access purpose, the approved location and the review date. Ask them to report when the supplier’s work finishes or their contact changes. The administrator can then apply the organisation’s normal access-review and removal process.

If the test fails, capture the account context and symptom for support. Do not enable broader organisation-wide access just to get past one blocked task. The useful outcome is a partner who can do the agreed work, with a business owner who understands what was approved and when to review it.