Requesting Guest Access to Microsoft Teams/OneDrive (External Collaborators)

Joe Burris

Updated February 20, 2026 22:54

Use this guide if you need to give someone outside of Kaiser Permanente (an external collaborator) access to your Microsoft Teams/OneDrive space.

This process is for Teams/OneDrive Owners who want to add external guests to a team. Internal KP users (with a KP email address) do not need this process.

For detailed KP-wide guidance, see the KP Collaboration Solutions reference page: Guest Access Reference (KP Collaboration Solutions).

Before you start

Make sure all of the following are true before you submit a request:

You are the Owner of the Microsoft Team/OneDrive folder where the guest will be added.
You are inviting people from a corporate or institutional email domain (for example, @universityname.edu or @companyname.com).
You are not inviting anyone with a personal email address (for example, Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com).

If your Team contains Protected Health Information (PHI), you must get prior approval. Email External-MSTeams-Access-Requests@kp.org with your business justification and a copy of the signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA).

You may submit one request for multiple guest users as long as they are all from the same corporate domain (for example, everyone has an email ending in @partnerorg.org). Personal email domains such as Gmail, Yahoo, or similar are not allowed.

Submit a guest access request in ServiceNow

The Teams Owner submits the request in ServiceNow.

Go to the Application Support Request in ServiceNow.
In the Select Application field, search for "Guest".

You should see an option related to guest access, similar to this:

ServiceNow Application Support Request form with the Select Application field showing a search for Guest

Complete the request form with the required details, including:
- The corporate email domain for the guest(s) (for example, @partnerorg.org).
- Names and email addresses of all guests you are requesting access for.
- Your Team name and a brief business justification for why they need access.
Submit the request in ServiceNow.

What happens after approval

After your request is reviewed and approved, an external account will be created for each guest in the Kaiser Permanente environment.
Each guest will receive an email with instructions to set up their KP guest account.
Once the guest completes their account setup, the Owner can add them to the appropriate Team/Folder using their email address.

The approval email to the Team/OneDrive Owner will include step-by-step instructions for adding the guest user. The process looks similar to this:

Microsoft Teams interface showing how to add a guest member by entering their email address

Need help?

If you are unsure whether your Team includes PHI, or you are not sure how to complete the ServiceNow request, please reach out to our KPSOM IT Client Services team at kpsomit@kp.org.

We would rather you ask early than get stuck later—reach out anytime if something here is unclear!