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My Coast Guard
Commentary | April 26, 2021

CG Teams is now DoD365 Teams - and it's coming to your desktop

By Shana Brouder, MyCG Staff

The DoD365 Teams desktop application (currently branded as USCG Teams) will soon be pushed out to all Coast Guard workstations.  

While it may be a change of pace, using DoD365 Teams (the more secure version of CVR Teams) will let you stop clicking between multiple tabs, windows, and applications and simply use one streamlined application for your collaboration needs.  

“DoD365 Teams is your one-stop shop for document collaboration, instant messaging, video conferencing, and more from within the Coast Guard network,” explained Lt. Edward Costa, the assistant CG-6 project manager for the DoD365 rollout.

“Currently, DoD365 Teams is limited to collaboration between the Coast Guard and [Department of Defense] only," Costa said. "At maturation, it will offer more than CVR, with a fully integrated and secure suite of capabilities including phone bridge, with accessibility from the commercial internet, including personal devices. The ability to collaborate with and conduct video conferences with external entities operating off the .mil network remains a key objective, yet many other milestones must be achieved before its feasibility can be fully realized.”

You’ll be able to log on to DoD365 Teams from either the new desktop app or the “Applications” section of PIXEL. (The PIXEL link is the same, Teams is just moving from “Links” to “Applications.”) 

The application and the web instance look nearly identical. But if you’re on the app, you can’t accidentally close the wrong internet tab and leave a meeting too early. 

RIP CVR Teams 

It is important to note that DoD365 Teams is different than CVR Teams—which will be decommissioned on June 15. CVR Teams was provided by Microsoft and the DoD as a temporary solution during the pandemic, but we are now moving to the more-secure DoD365 Teams in a large-scale collaborative effort in lock-step with the entire other Department of Defense (DoD) services. 

Today, DoD365 Teams (USCG Teams) has limitations due to the higher security environment and many engineering solutions going on behind the scenes. Initially, you will not be able to invite external stakeholders to your meetings held via DoD365 Teams. CG-6 has announced stop-gap solutions and amplifying information in ALCOAST 156/21, since collaborating with external partners is critical to mission success.   

“Moving to DoD365 Teams is part of adopting the DoD’s version of Microsoft 365 —the game changer that all military branches will be moving towards and using for the foreseeable future,” explained Costa.  

Resources

  • CG-6 is partnering with MyCG to make sure you know when we’re approaching a new milestone. We’ll also soon be sharing tips, ideas, case studies and trainings to help you take advantage of all these new tools! (Do you have a case study to share? Please tell us! E-mail MyCG@uscg.mil.) 
  • DoD365 Office Home (aka "O Home") is your landing page for all the new apps.
  • Coast Guard's DoD365 Portal Page includes a training hub, document library, FAQ, welcome videos, links to MyCG articles and ALCOAST messages, user guides and quick-start guides.
  • ALCOAST 156/21 outlines your virtual collaboration options.
  • For support learning how to use DoD365 Teams, please visit the Help Me kNow Hub until June 30.