On this page, you will find the Terms of Use for M365 and Microsoft Teams for RWTH employees.

• Preamble
• Requirements and permitted use
• User obligations
• Recommendations for use
• Lifecycle
• Terms of Use for Microsoft Teams
• Data protection
• Changes to the Terms of Use

Preamble

Microsoft 365 (M365) is a suite of subscription services (including Microsoft Office) offered by Microsoft. These services are provided to RWTH students and employees with varying scopes and licenses. The M365 licenses are obtained through the Microsoft Federal Contract and are available for use for the duration of that contract. The services offered here are hosted on servers that are not located in RWTH data centers and to which RWTH has no physical access. However, RWTH Aachen is responsible for implementing authentication and managing the licenses. These are implemented via the RWTH Single Sign-On Account (Shibboleth).

By using M365, you agree to the following Terms of Use:
 

Requirements and permitted use

A Microsoft account is automatically created for all RWTH employees. This account enables you to use M365 and the Microsoft products licensed for you, as long as and to the extent that these are made available by RWTH or as long as you are an RWTH employee.

M365 has been limited to the following apps:

• M365 Apps for Enterprise (local installations) and
• MS Teams
   

User obligations

The following obligations apply to the use of the service:

• The use of M365 is intended for activities in the context of RWTH Aachen University. The software and services may be used exclusively for official purposes or for official projects, in compliance with statutory retention periods and archiving laws. Use for private or commercial purposes is not permitted.
• When using M365, applicable laws and regulations (licensing law, data protection law, personnel records law, tax law, copyright law, telemedia law, archival law, retention periods, U.S. export control law, etc.) must be observed.
• The use of Microsoft software and services is governed by the currently valid version of the Product Terms (PTs) and the Online Services Terms (OSTs). These are available on the Microsoft website (opens in new tab).
• You are authorized to use the software and services only during the licensed period. All software must be deleted and services may no longer be used if RWTH Aachen terminates the Microsoft Federal Agreement or, prior to the expiration of the licensed period, fails to submit an application for enrollment or renewal or fails to acquire perpetual licenses, whichever event occurs first.
• The use of BitLocker keys by employees is not permitted. The use of BitLocker must be monitored and, if necessary, disabled on all devices on which Windows has been activated via the M365 tenant. If encryption via BitLocker or a similar solution is desired, please contact your institution’s IT administration.
• Additional terms apply to the use of Teams (see below)
   

Recommendations for use

We also recommend the following guidelines for using the service:

• When processing and storing research data, please observe the existing FDM processes and solutions at RWTH Aachen University.
• Do not store or synchronize data on personal devices. In the event of data loss on the device, RWTH Aachen University cannot provide any guarantees or support.
   

Lifecycle

When using M365, the following lifecycle applies to user data:

• Employee accounts are removed from the M365 environment upon loss of employee status (i.e., users are no longer visible to others and can no longer log in). The account and the data associated with it are permanently deleted 30 days later.
• Guest accounts are automatically removed from the M365 environment after 3 months without a login (i.e., the users are no longer visible to others and can no longer log in). The account is permanently deleted after 30 days.
   

Terms of Use for Microsoft Teams

When using Microsoft Teams, the following requirements and terms of use apply in addition to the above-mentioned terms of use for M365:

• MS Teams is limited to basic functions. This means that communication via chat messages or calls between individuals or groups is possible. However, due to the deactivation of OneDrive at RWTH, files cannot be sent in direct chats.
• The use of apps in MS Teams is disabled, such as the calendar function.
• Employees may only use Microsoft Teams if it is absolutely necessary for collaboration with external partners.
• This necessity is confirmed by checking the box in Self-Service. If the necessity no longer applies, the check must be removed here. This will automatically revoke the Microsoft Teams license after a processing time of up to 24 hours.
• The IT Center has established the following lifecycle for the use of Microsoft Teams:
  • Accounts: 30 days after the Microsoft Teams license is revoked, data associated with the Microsoft Teams account will be deleted. Group memberships and content already published in groups will not be deleted when the license is revoked. Within these 30 days, the account can be reactivated to continue accessing the data. The synchronization time with the systems, which can take up to 24 hours, should be taken into account when checking or unchecking the checkbox.
  • Groups/Teams: 60 days after a group in Microsoft Teams no longer contains any members from RWTH Aachen University, it will be deleted. Guest accounts are not considered members of a group for this purpose. This also applies if none of the members has a Teams license.
  • Groups/Teams without owners: If a group no longer has an owner, a new owner must be designated. To do this, all current members (excluding guests) must approve the new owner. To initiate this process, a member of the team should first contact the IT ServiceDesk via (Send an email to:) email. The IT Center will then explain the next steps.
  • For SharePoint sites, notifications are sent to the administrators after 3 months of inactivity. If no activity is detected after three reminders sent at two-week intervals, the respective site will be removed and permanently deleted after 30 days.
    Use of SharePoint Online:  When a Microsoft Teams group is created, a SharePoint Online site is automatically created and linked to the group. The use of SharePoint Online is not permitted for RWTH employees. We recommend using sciebo as an alternative for collaborative document editing within a group.

By using Microsoft Teams, you accept the above-mentioned regulations and are obligated to comply with them.
 

Data protection

The Privacy Policy regarding the use of the service is available on IT Center Help.
 

Changes to the Terms of Use

The IT Center at RWTH Aachen reserves the right to modify these Terms of Use at any time, with or without prior notice.

Users will be informed immediately of any material changes to the Terms of Use. This information may be provided via email or by publication on the RWTH Aachen IT Center website.

Upon taking effect, the currently valid version of the Terms of Use will be available on the RWTH Aachen IT Center website and supersedes all previous versions. All users should check for changes regularly.