Viva Engage FAQs

ACU will move to Microsoft Viva Engage in June. Please see our FAQs below for more details.

Why is ACU moving from Workplace to Viva Engage?

ACU currently uses Workplace as our enterprise social network. However, Meta announced last year that Workplace would be discontinued. We will have standard access to Workplace until 31 August 2025 and then read-only access until 31 May 2026.

Following the announcement, the Internal Communications team, in collaboration with IT, undertook an assessment of available enterprise social networks to determine a suitable replacement.

As a result, it was determined that Viva Engage was the preferred replacement for Workplace. Viva Engage has a similar user interface and features to Workplace, which will assist with the transition. It also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams, ensuring a more cohesive experience across different communication platforms.

Additionally, ACU already has access to Viva Engage as part of our existing licensing agreement with Microsoft.

What are the differences between Workplace and Viva Engage?

Workplace and Viva Engage are very similar platforms. While Workplace is centered around ‘groups’, these are known as ‘communities’ on Viva Engage and operate in a very similar way. Like Workplace groups, Viva Engage communities can be private (new members must be approved and only members can view content) or public (any ACU staff member can join or view content in the community).

Like your Workplace newsfeed, content from the groups you are a member of will appear in your Viva Engage newsfeed.

However, Viva Engage is a Microsoft product and integrates more effectively with our existing infrastructure. You will even be able to access Viva Engage, make posts and create comments from within Microsoft Teams.

What will happen to my content on Workplace?

Content on Workplace will not be migrated to Viva Engage.

Workplace was never intended to be used for formal record-keeping or for storing documents. If you have important documents, images or posts on Workplace it’s recommended you download or make a copy of these and store them appropriately, in line with ACU’s Records Retention and Disposal Schedule.

How much longer will ACU have access to Workplace?

The timeline for the deprecation of Workplace is as follows:

• Until 3 June 2025: We will have access to Workplace as usual.
• 3 June 2025 – 31 May 2026: Workplace will only be accessible to read and download existing data.
• 1 June 2026: ACU’s Workplace instance and all data will be deleted.

How do I manage Viva Engage notifications?

The first thing you should do in Viva Engage is set your notification preferences.

Notifications are not centrally managed, they are managed by each user.

Viva Engage notifies you via email, in app or via push notification. You can adjust your settings to discern how and when you receive your notifications.

To set your notifications in Viva Engage, take these steps:

• Open Viva Engage
• In the left-hand navigation, click on the ellipsis beside your name
• Choose Settings (this will launch the online version of Viva Engage and you will be prompted to sign in)
• Underneath Account Settings, select NOTIFICATIONS
• Check or uncheck the boxes according to how and when you wish to receive notifications
• If you don’t want to receive any notifications from Viva Engage, uncheck all the boxes*
• Click Save to save your changes

Please note, if someone makes a formal announcement via the Announcement button on Viva Engage (this is different to a regular discussion post), you will be notified via email regardless of your notification settings. This is because an announcement is considered critical information. For this reason, only certain users will have the ability to make announcements.

*We recommend you keep the weekly digest email checked as this means you will receive a wrap-up email each week.