Enabling Microsoft Teams in a chatbot application by registering inline with Microsoft App Studio

As an administrator in BMC Helix Virtual Agent and Microsoft Office 365 (Teams), you can use Microsoft Office 365 Teams as a communication channel for your chatbot application. 

You can enable Microsoft Teams in the following ways:

• By using the Microsoft Azure Portal—Use this method if you want to troubleshoot the issues in your chatbot application by using Microsoft Azure Portal. For more information, see Enabling-Microsoft-Teams-in-a-chatbot-application-by-using-Microsoft-Azure-Portal.

• (Deprecated) By registering the chatbot application inline with Microsoft App Studio—Follow the instructions in this topic to enable Microsoft Teams by using this method.

Supported and unsupported features with Microsoft Teams

• End users can use Microsoft Teams only for one-to-one instant messaging.
• Features that are supported by BMC Helix Virtual Agent such as localized chatbot messages and live chat are available in Microsoft Teams.
• Other features such as group conversations and conference calls are not supported.

Sample BMC Helix Virtual Agent Microsoft Teams package

You can leverage the BMC Helix Virtual Agent Microsoft Teams sample package to build and test your chatbot application package for Microsoft Teams. The sample .zip package includes the following files:

• BMC Helix Virtual Agent icon.png
• manifest.json
• BMC Helix Virtual Agent outline.png

Download the BMC Helix Virtual Agent Microsoft Teams sample package.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have completed the following tasks:

• Subscribed to Microsoft Office 365.

• In Microsoft Teams, allow interaction with custom apps, as shown in the Microsoft documentation. 

• Installed Microsoft App Studio.

• Created the chatbot application that you want to configure to work with Microsoft Teams. For more information, see To create a chatbot.
• Configured the IBM Watson service credentials. For more information, see To configure the Skill ID for a chatbot.
  
• You have the endpoint URL of your chatbot application. To get the URL, log in to navigate to BMC Helix Innovation Studio, select the chatbot application and select Channels > Office 365 > Webhook URL.
  
• If you want to use the colors and icons provided by BMC for branding your chatbot, ensure that you have downloaded the BMC Helix Virtual Agent Microsoft Teams sample package.
  

Process for enabling Microsoft Teams by inline registration

The process of enabling Microsoft Teams for a chatbot application comprises of the following tasks:

Task 1: To create the chatbot application package for Microsoft Teams

1. Log in to Microsoft Teams. 
2. From the Store, open Microsoft Teams App Studio. 
3. On the App Studio page, click Open. 
4. In the App Studio is now available for you page, click Open corresponding to Bot option. 
5. Click Manifest Editor, and perform one of the following actions:
   
   • If you want to use the  BMC Helix Virtual Agent Microsoft Teams sample package, click Import an existing app. 
   • If you do not want to use the sample package, click Create a new app.
6. (Only if you imported an existing app), click Edit on the chatbot application. 
7. In Short name, provide a meaningful name for your bot.
   Example: HR Bot

8. In App ID, click Generate. 
   
   

   Note

   If you imported the BMC Helix Virtual Agent Microsoft Teams sample package in the earlier step, the application ID is populated automatically. You must still generate a new App ID.

   A unique identifier is automatically generated as shown in the following example:
   
   
   

9. In the Branding section, if you want to use BMC branding colors and icons, upload the icons and colors from the sample package. 

Your settings are saved. 

Task 2: To register your chatbot application in Microsoft App Studio

1. In Microsoft App Studio, select Manifest Editor > Capabilities > Bots. 
2. Click Setup and perform one of the following actions: 
   • If you want to register your chatbot inline (without registering on the Microsoft Azure Portal), click New bot and enter a name for the chatbot. 
   • If you have registered your chatbot with Microsoft Azure Portal, click Existing bot. 
3. (If you have registered your chatbot with Microsoft Azure Portal) In Bot ID, if you have registered your chatbot in Microsoft Azure Portal, select Connect to a different id and enter the Microsoft Application ID that you received after registering your chatbot with Azure Bot Service.

4. To enable the uploading and downloading of files, in the Messaging bot section, select the check box corresponding to My bot supports uploading and downloading files. 

   Note

   In Microsoft Teams, a support agent can send an attachment through a live chat session as a downloadable item. The attachment is displayed in the Files section of Microsoft Teams. A user can download the attachment without having to log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio. If you want to display the attachment as a link, contact BMC SaaS Operations. However, the user has to log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio (if not already logged in) to download the attachment from a link. If the user reloads the browser, the attachment link is not visible.
   For information about the ways in which users can receive attachments from support agents, see Using-live-chat-to-escalate-issues-to-support-agents.

5. In Scope, select Personal. 
   The Personal option implies that end users can use Microsoft Teams for one-to-one instant messaging only and not for group conversations.
   

   Example of registering a new bot

   

   Example of registering an existing bot

   

6. (For New bot) Click Create bot.
   In the Bots page, the Bot ID is populated automatically. Note down this Bot ID for future reference.
   The following image is an example of the Bots page:
   
   
7. (If you are creating a new bot or registering inline) In App passwords, click Generate new password and note it down for future reference. 
8. (If you are creating a new bot or registering inline) In Bot endpoint address, enter the Webhook URL as described in the Before you begin section. 

Task 3: To download the Microsoft Teams application package

1. In Microsoft Teams App Studio, select Manifest Editor > Finish > Test and distribute. 

2. Click Download, as shown in the following example:
   
   The Microsoft Teams application package is downloaded as appname.zip in the default download directory. For more information, see Test and distribute in Microsoft documentation. 

Task 4: To upload the Microsoft Teams application package

1. Log in to Microsoft Teams and navigate to Store.
2. Click Upload a custom app.
3. Select Upload for enterprise name, and upload the application package, as shown in the following example:
   
4. Click Install.

Task 5: To configure a chatbot application

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
2. On the Workspace tab, click the application in which you want to configure a chatbot to work with Microsoft Teams. 
3. Click the Chatbots tab, and click the chatbot that you want to enable for Microsoft Teams.
4. Click the Channels tab and select New > Office 365. 

5. In the Office 365 Settings section, enter values for the following fields, and click Save.

   Field	Description
   Description	Enter the description that provides details about the setting.
   Microsoft App ID	Enter the Bot Id that is generated after you register your chatbot with Microsoft App Studio. Note: Do not enter the App ID in which chatbot is created.
   Microsoft App Password	Enter the Microsoft application password that is generated after you register your chatbot with Microsoft App Studio.
   Webhook URL	(Information only) This field is populated automatically. Webhook URL is the messaging endpoint URL that you provide when you register a chatbot with App Studio.

The process to configure your chatbot application to work with Microsoft Teams is now complete.

To ensure that end users can chat by using Microsoft Teams, from Microsoft Apps Studio, each end user must add the chatbot application for self. 

To update the chatbot version

After you make changes to the chatbot in Microsoft Apps Studio, ensure that you update the version by performing the following steps:

1. Log in to Microsoft Teams. 
2. Open Microsoft Teams App Studio and click Manifest Editor. 
3. On the App details page, in Version, enter the appropriate version number of the chatbot application, as shown in the following example:
   
4. Download the updated version of the Microsoft Application package, as described in To download the Microsoft Teams application package.
5. In Microsoft App Store, click the chatbot that you want to update, and click Update, as shown in the following example:
   
6. Upload the updated version of the chatbot. 

Related topics

Formatting-chatbot-responses-to-be-displayed-in-communication-channels

Configuring-a-chatbot-to-work-with-a-communication-channel