Enabling Microsoft Teams in a chatbot application by using Microsoft Azure Portal

You can use Microsoft Office 365 Teams as one of the communication channels for your chatbot application so that end users can connect to a chatbot by using this channel. The configuration for BMC Helix Virtual Agent to work with Office 365 is a tenant-level configuration.

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. Follow the instructions in this topic to use this method.
(Deprecated) By registering the chatbot application inline with Microsoft App Studio.
Important
Microsoft has deprecated the Microsoft Teams App Studio from January 1, 2022, and moved its functionality to a new Developer Portal.
BMC is validating the steps to integrate BMC Helix Virtual Agent with MS Teams by using the new Developer Portal.
Meanwhile, you can continue to follow instructions in this topic to integrate your chatbot application with MS Teams.

Before you begin

You must be subscribed to Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Azure Bot Service.
Ensure that you have created the chatbot application that you want to configure to work with Microsoft Teams.
Ensure that you have configured the IBM Watson service credentials.
For more information, see To configure the Skill ID for a chatbot.
Ensure that you have the endpoint URL of your chatbot application.
To get the URL, navigate to the chatbot application and select Channels > Office 365 > Webhook URL.

Process for enabling Microsoft Teams by using Microsoft Azure Portal

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

Task 1: To register a chatbot with Azure Bot Service

Log in to Microsoft Azure.
In the Azure Bot Service portal, register your chatbot with the Azure Bot Service.
See Register a bot with Bot Service in Microsoft documentation.
When you register your chatbot with the Azure Bot Service, you must enter the following field values:
1. Pricing tier: F0 (10K Premium Messages)
2. Application Insights: Off
3. Messaging endpoint: Enter the endpoint URL (Webhook URL) of your chatbot application.
  https://{{serverName:port}}/api/rx/application/chat/event/skype/{{TenantID}}
  Important
  To ensure that the chatbot is not deregistered from Azure Bot Service, you must not modify the endpoint at any later stage.

After you register the chatbot, you receive a Microsoft Application ID and password that you can use to configure your chatbot application by using BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

Task 2: To enable the Microsoft Teams channel in Microsoft Azure Portal

To enable the connection between you chatbot and Microsoft Teams, you must enable the Microsoft Teams channel in Microsoft Azure Portal.

For the steps to enable Microsoft Teams, see Connect a bot to channels in Microsoft documentation.

Task 3: To configure a chatbot application

For the steps to configure a chatbot application in BMC Helix Innovation Studio, see To configure a chatbot application to work with Microsoft Teams.

Task 4: To test a chatbot with web chat

After you configure your chatbot application in BMC Helix Innovation Studio, you can test if your chatbot is working with web chat. Ensure that the messaging endpoint URL is correct by using Azure Bot Service. For more information, see Test a bot in the Azure Portal with Web Chatin the Microsoft documentation.

Task 5: To register a chatbot in Microsoft App Studio

Register your chatbot application with Microsoft App Studio by specifying the App password and the messaging endpoint URL of your chatbot. When registering your chatbot, in Microsoft Apps Studio, select Manifest Editor > Capabilities > Bots > Setup > Existing bot.

For more information about the procedure, see To register your chatbot application in Microsoft App Studio.