University Achieves Collaboration Success with SnapOn Software’s Microsoft 365 Governance Solution

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a globally recognized institution located in the UK, welcoming students from over 185 countries. With four campuses and a wide array of undergraduate and postgraduate programs in fields like technology, business, design, law, and life sciences, ARU has earned recognition as one of the top 40 universities in the UK and was ranked among the world’s top 350 universities by Times Higher Education in 2021. 

Organizational Goals: A Modern, Unified Collaboration Environment 

Launched in 2018, ARU’s “Better Working Together” program aimed to overhaul the university’s IT environment and enhance cross-campus collaboration. 

“Our goal was to align student and staff systems under one cloud environment to create a more agile and collaborative university,” explains Mladen Kirilov, Senior Cloud Engineer at ARU. 

At the time, students were using Microsoft 365 for email, while staff remained on a legacy on-premises system. The student Microsoft 365 tenant lacked governance, resulting in uncontrolled SharePoint and Teams usage—a digital "Wild West." 

To fix this, ARU launched a new Microsoft 365 tenant, consolidating all staff and students in one platform to ensure structured, compliant collaboration moving forward. 

Before rolling out Teams across the new Microsoft 365 tenant, ARU wanted to establish strong governance, structured provisioning, and lifecycle controls. 

An independent consultant recommended SnapOn Software’s Workspaces Governance Platform, which was embedded into Teams to manage service types like Projects, Organizational Unit Teams, and Virtual Teams for multi-functional groups. 

Instead of exposing the tool directly to all users, ARU’s IT Customer Support Team serves as the centralized gatekeeper. Staff submit requests through a form, and SnapOn Software’s structured approval workflows ensure compliant workspace creation—eliminating IT chaos and enforcing governance. 

Why ARU Chose SnapOn Software 

“As a public university, cost was a major consideration,” Mladen notes. “SnapOn Software provided a transparent, affordable pricing structure perfectly suited for the education sector.” 

Other key benefits included: 

• Customizable URL templates 
• Built-in request forms and approval workflows 
• SharePoint site linking for seamless navigation 
• Lifecycle management with lease-based expiration 
• Easy-to-use interface with minimal training required 
• Fast implementation with feedback-responsive development 

“In just a 30-minute session, our team learned everything needed to use the system. SnapOn Software even implemented small feature requests based on our feedback,” Mladen adds. 

When ARU launched Teams with SnapOn Software’s governance in place, they created 10 Teams in February 2020. A month later—due to the COVID-19 lockdown—they created 224 Teams, a staggering 1020% increase.

“SnapOn Software enabled us to handle that explosive growth. Everything was ready ahead of time—Teams adoption accelerated without the usual governance headaches.” 

Key Outcomes

• Unified cloud tenant 
• IT-driven provisioning model 
• Custom service definitions 
• Effortless scalability 
• Improved governance & visibility 

Impact of Outcomes

• Brought staff and students under one platform 
• Reduced sprawl, maintained central control 
• Matched Teams to real academic use cases 
• Handled 10x+ growth during lockdown 
• No duplication, full compliance maintained 

Future Plans 

As remote learning continues to evolve, ARU plans to expand its Teams usage to support virtual class delivery, tutor collaboration, and content sharing. The university has built a Teams sandbox to help educators test and learn best practices—ensuring governance and security remain strong. 

“SnapOn Software helped us realize our collaboration vision,” Mladen concludes. “It’s become an essential part of our digital strategy.” 

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