eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Microsoft’s MyAnalytics workplace activity tracking tool is now available to users of Office 365 or the Office 365 Enterprise and Business suites with Exchange Online after only being offered previously in high-end subscriptions or as an extra-cost option.
MyAnalytics, which Microsoft refers to as a “fitness tracker for work,” aims to help users get a visual report on how they spend their time at work, according to a recent post by Natalie McCullough, the general manager of workplace analytics and MyAnalytics for Microsoft, on the Microsoft 365 Blog. The MyAnalytics tool also offers advice on how users can work smarter by cutting unproductive meeting time and by reducing the time they spend working after hours, she wrote.
The feature is available to all users of the Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Enterprise and Business suites that also include Exchange Online services, according to Microsoft. MyAnalytics was previously not available to basic Office 365 users and was only included in Enterprise E5 Office 365 service plans or as an add-on to the available E1 and E3 plans.
MyAnalytics is designed to help users summarize how they spend their time at work and shows that time usage via a personal dashboard, an Outlook add-in and through weekly emails, wrote McCullough. “It even uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help you stay on top of your to-dos by flagging commitments you’ve made in email.”
More Complete Picture of Activity
The idea for MyAnalytics is to give users a more complete picture of how they use their hours at work, she wrote. Presently, that includes insights on time spent on Outlook emails and meetings as well as during Skype for Business calls and chats.
New insights are being added in January to provide insights about time users spend on Microsoft Teams calls and chats, as well as on documents being worked on in Microsoft OneDrive and in SharePoint, she added. “With 329,000 organizations and 87 of the Fortune 100 using Teams, this takes us one step closer to providing you with a more complete picture of how you’re spending time at work,” wrote McCullough.
The additional features for MyAnalytics come after a recent Gallup study was released that found that two-thirds of full-time employees say they experience burnout at work, according to McCullough. “Multiple factors are contributing to burnout—such as the increased pace of work, a rise in collaborative work-like chats, emails and meetings, and the continuing trend of technology blurring the lines between work and life.”
The use of MyAnalytics could help resolve some of those life-work issues, she wrote, by helping employees visually see how they are using their time at work so they can make productivity improvements that could benefit them.
“Our customers tell us they’re looking for ways to address these challenges by helping employees find time to focus, improve work-life balance, build better meeting habits and create deeper connections with their colleagues,” wrote McCullough. “By making MyAnalytics features more broadly available to our millions of customers, it is our goal to make work days around the world a little more balanced and fulfilling.”
The broader MyAnalytics insights from Microsoft Teams and documents saved in OneDrive or SharePoint will begin rolling out to existing customers starting this month, while the MyAnalytics features will start rolling out to the new suites in the next few months, according to Microsoft.
With the addition of the MyAnalytics features to other Office 365 products, the feature will now be included with the Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites and the Business Essentials, Business Premium E1, E3 and E5 plans.
