Integrating BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix AIOps with Microsoft Teams for incident collaboration

An administrator can integrate BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix AIOps with Microsoft Teams. This integration enables service desk agents and incident response teams to initiate Microsoft Teams chats directly from incidents.

This integration is used during incident triage and resolution, especially for major incidents, to ensure faster coordination and reduce resolution time. It improves cross-team communication, accelerates incident handling, and minimizes business disruption.

Architecture diagram for integrating BMC Helix ITSM and AIOps with Microsoft Teams for incident collaboration

Before you begin

Process overview

Task	Action
1	Configure an integration tool
2	Create a Microsoft Teams bot
3	Create a Microsoft Teams application
4	Configure the Microsoft Teams bot in the Microsoft Azure portal
5	Configure MS Graph connection
6	Publish the application from the Microsoft Azure portal
7	To update MS Teams channel
8	Add collaboration room configurations
9	Add bot ID for group chat integration

Task 1:  To configure integration tools

Before creating a Microsoft Teams bot, you can configure either PagerDuty or xMatters, depending on what you are using in your environment, to automate incident response and access Microsoft 365 data and services for improved collaboration and resolution.

(Optional) To configure the PagerDuty connection

With a valid PagerDuty license, configure the PagerDuty connection to automatically manage on-call schedules and quickly send critical alerts to the right person. If you configure a PagerDuty connection, you cannot configure an xMatters connection.

Click here to view the PagerDuty configuration

​

1. Make sure that in HelixGPT Agents Studio, a PagerDuty connection is configured. 
   For more information about adding a connection, see Adding data sources in BMC HelixGPT.
2.  If the BMC Helix ITSM support group names differ from the group names in PagerDuty, perform the following steps to map the support groups:
   1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
   2. On the Workspace tab, click HelixGPT Agent Studio. 
   3. In the Records tab, click Toolkit > Edit data.
   4. Select the Collaboration Tool record and in the Configuration field, enter the following details to map the ITSM support group to PagerDuty schedule:
          "pagerduty": {
            "enabled": true,
            "pagerduty_schedule_mapping": {
              "AU Support 1": "Asia-Pac Schedule",
              "CA Support 1": "Americas Schedule",
              "DE Support 1": "Europe Schedule",
              "IN Support 1": "Asia-Pac Schedule",
              "LA Support 1": "Americas Schedule",
              "GB Support 1": "Europe Schedule",
              "US Support 1": "Americas Schedule"
            }
          }
3. Click Save.    

​

(Optional) To configure the xMatters connection

 An administrator can configure the xMatters connection to send notifications and recommend participants. If you configure an xMatters connection, you cannot configure a PagerDuty connection.

Click here to view xMatters configuration

​

1. Make sure that in HelixGPT Agents Studio, an xMatters connection is configured. 
   For more information about adding a connection, see Adding data sources in BMC HelixGPT.
2. If the BMC Helix ITSM support group names differ from the group names in xMatters, perform the following steps to map the support groups:.
   1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
   2. On the Workspace tab, click HelixGPT Agent Studio. 
   3. In the Records tab, click Toolkit > Edit data.
   4. Select the Collaboration Tool record and in the Configuration field, enter the following details to map the ITSM support group to xMatters group:
         "xmatters": {
             "enabled": true,
             "xmatters_group_mapping": {
                 "AU Support 1": "DSOM Helix Communication Managers APAC Weekdays DL",
                 "CA Support 1": "DSM Support SaaS Weekend Americas DL",
                 "DE Support 1": "ARC/Quickstart EMEA-AP on-call",
                 "IN Support 1": "24x7 DSM Helix ITSM Manager OnCall APAC DL",
                 "LA Support 1": "Wintel Disruption Group",
                 "LA Support 3": "AMI for Security DL",
                 "GB Support 1": "DBA-DS-AMERICAS-Evening-WEEKEND-DL",
                 "US Support 1": "DBA-DS-AMERICAS-Evening-WEEKEND-DL",
                 "US Support 3": "DBA-DS-AMERICAS-Evening-WEEKEND-DL",
                 "BMCOpsMonitoring Support Group1": "DBA-DS-AMERICAS-Evening-WEEKEND-DL"
              }
          }
3. Click Save.

​

Task 2: To create a Microsoft Teams bot

Perform the following steps in Microsoft Teams:

1. In the Microsoft Teams account, click the View more apps  option. 

2. Search for the Developer Portal and launch it. Add the Developer Portal if it is not available.
3. Select Tools >  Bot Management > New Bot.
4. In the Add bot dialog box, enter the bot name.
5. In Bot management, select Configure.
6. To get the endpoint details, log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and launch BMC Helix Agent Studio application.
7. From the Application list, select BMC Helix Ops Swarmer Agent.
8. Select the Collaboration Agent skill.
9. Click Channels, select MS Teams channel for Ops Swarmer agent, and click Edit.
10. Copy the Webhook URL.
    
11. In the Endpoint address field, copy the Webhook URL.
12. The bot you have created is listed in the Bot management list. Copy the Bot ID.
    Use the Bot ID at the following locations:
    • On the Edit channel dialog box, in the Microsoft Bot ID field.
    • In Mid Tier, on the CFG:CR_ConfigurationSetting form, and in the Collaboration Settings field.
    • In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, in the Connection_MSGraph record definition.
       

Task 3: To create a Microsoft Teams application

 Perform the following steps in Microsoft Teams:

1. In the Developer Portal, click Apps and then click New app.
2. Enter the application name and click Add.
   
    
3. Review and update the Basic information screen to include the following information:
   • Short name - 30 characters or less
   • Full name - up to 100 characters (optional)
   • Short description - 80 characters or less
   • Long description - 4,000 characters or less
   • Developer or company name
   • Website (must be a valid HTTPS URL)
   • Privacy policy
   • Terms of use
     Note down the App ID. The App ID is required for BMC Helix ITSM integration. 
     In Mid Tier, the App ID is populated in the chatbot_id parameter on the AR System Generic UI form.
     
     
      
4. In Configure, click App features and then click Bot.
5. From the Select an existing bot list, select the bot you have created in Task 2.
6. In Scope, select one of the following options:
   • Personal
   • Teams
   • Group Chat
7. From Publish, select Publish to org.
8. Click Publish your app.

Task 4 To configure the bot in the Microsoft Azure portal

1. Access the following URL with your administrator credentials:
   https://portal.azure.com/#home 
2. Click App registrations.
    
3. Click All applications and search for the bot you have created.
   
4. Click on the bot you have created. 
5. Expand the Manage option and click Authentication (Preview).
   
6. Click Add Redirect URI, select Web, and enter the URL as shown in the example below:
   Example: https://<server name>.bmc.com/arsys/pwa/assets/swarm/swarm.html
   
7. Click Configure. 
8. From the Supported account types, select Account in any organizational directory (Any Microsoft Entra ID tenant - Multitenant). 
9. Click Manage and then click API permissions.
   
10. Click Add a permission and then click Microsoft Graph.
    
11. Click Delegated Permissions and select the following permissions.
    • Chat.Create
    • Chat.ReadWrite
    • User.Read
    • User.Read.All
12. Click Application Permissions and select the following permissions.
    • Chat.ReadBasic.All
    • ChatMessage.Read.All
    • User.ReadBasic.All
13. Click Add permissions and then click Grant admin consent for ***.
14. Select Yes to grant permissions for all the permissions.
15. Click Certificates & Secret and then click New client secret and add the required details.
    
16. Click Add and copy the highlighted value.
    The New client secret value is populated in the following locations:
    • On the Edit channel dialog box, in the Microsoft Bot ID field.
    • In Mid Tier, on the CFG:CR_ConfigurationSetting form, and in the Collaboration Settings field.
    • In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, in the Connection_MSGraph record definition.
      See the following screenshot:
      
17. Click Overview and note the following details:
    • Application (Client) ID
    • Directory (Tenant) ID
      

Task 5: To configure the MSGraph connection

An administrator can add the details of the Microsoft Teams application to the MSGraph data connection to enable the Microsoft Teams bot to fetch details such as the incident ID from the chat title.

Click here to view the MS Graph configuration

​

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
2. On the Workspace tab, click HelixGPT Agent Studio.
3. Select Records > Connection_MSGraph and click Edit data.
4. Click the record definition to open the Edit record window.
5. In the Edit record window, modify the following fields:

   Field name	Description
   Client ID	The client ID used to access Microsoft Teams.
   Client Secret	The client secret used to access Microsoft Teams
   Tenant ID	The Tenant ID used to access Microsoft Teams.

    

6. Click Save.

​

Task 6: To publish the application in the Microsoft portal

Perform the following steps in Microsoft Teams:

1. Access the following URL:
   https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/policies/manage-apps
2. Select All apps and identify the application you have created.
   Your application might be in a blocked status.
3. Select your application and click Publish.
   
4. Open All apps and verify that the Status is set to Unblock.
5. To provide consent for using the application, click the following link and specify the client ID and Redirect URL obtained from the earlier steps:
   https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/adminconsent?client_id=<clientID>&state=12345&redirect_uri= https://<host name>/arsys/pwa/assets/swarm/swarm.html
   The application is published.
    

Task 7: To update MS Teams channel

1. Open HelixGPT Agents Studio.
2. Click Channels, select Microsoft Teams, and click Edit.
   1. In the Edit Channel dialog box, enter the following details:

      Field name	Description
      Channel	Office 365: Microsoft Teams
      Name	Enter agent name
      Microsoft Bot ID	Microsoft Bot ID obtained in Task 2, step 12.
      Microsoft app password	Test secret value.

       

3. Click Update.
   
    

Task 8: To launch ChatOps for collaboration

1. In Mid Tier, select Administrator Console > Application Administration Console.
2. On the Custom Configuration tab, expand the Foundation option.
3. Expand the Advanced Options, and then click Collaboration Room Configuration.
4. Specify the following details in the Collaboration Room Configuration Settings form:

   Field name	Description
   Company	Select the company name, or select Global if the configuration is the same for all companies
   Tenant ID	Directory (tenant) ID value obtained in Task 4, step 17.
   Client ID	Application (client) ID value obtained in Task 4, step 17.
   Secret Key	Test secret value.
   Chat type	MS Teams
   Mid Tier Base URL	Mid Tier URL ending with a forward slash (/)

    

5. Click Save.
   For more information, see Launching ChatOps for collaboration.

Task 9: To add bot ID for Group chat integration

1. In Mid Tier, open the AR System Configuration Generic UI form.
2. In the Component Type dropdown, select com.bmc.arsys.server.shared and locate the field labeled ChatBot-Id.
3. Enter the value of the application ID that you have obtained in task 3, step 3.
4. Click Save.

The Launch ChatOps button is enabled for the Incidents. 
 

Where to go from here

Using the BMC Helix Ops Swarmer agent with Microsoft Teams to help resolve situations

Related topic

BMC Helix Ops Swarmer