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

BMC Helix Ops Swarmer agent enables administrators itegrate BMC Helix ITSM and AIOps with Microsoft Teams, so that service desk agents and incident response teams can 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.

Before you begin

• You must have a Microsoft Azure account with an active subscription and have application administrator permissions in Microsoft Azure.

Process overview

The following image shows the process of integrating Microsoft Teams with BMC Helix ITSM in your environment:

Task 1: (Optional) Configuring integration tools

Before creating a Microsoft Teams bot, administrators can use the following integration tools to automate incident response and access Microsoft 365 data and services for improved collaboration and resolution.
You can configure a connection with either PagerDuty or xMatters.
 

To configure PagerDuty

With a valid PagerDuty license, configure PagerDuty integration 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.

To configure xMatters

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

To configure MSGraph

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.

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. In the Endpoint address field, copy the Webhook URL you have added in the Webhook URL field while adding Microsoft Teams as a channel through the HelixGPT Agent Studio.
   For more information, see  Enabling Microsoft Teams as a communication channel.
   The bot is successfully created.
    

Task 3: To create a Microsoft Teams application

 Perform the following steps in Microsoft Teams:

1. In the Developer Portal, click Apps > New app.
2. Enter the application name and click Add.
   
    
3. Review and update the Basic information screen.
   Note down the App ID. The App ID is required for BMC Helix ITSM integration.
   
4. In the Configure option, click App features > Bot.
5. From the Select an existing bot list, select the bot you have created in the previous task.
6. In Scope, select 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.
   Or
   Perform the following steps if you do not see the App resigration option in the new Microsoft UI:
   1. Click Microsoft Entra ID.
   2. Click the number link displayed next to the Application.
      
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.
   
6. Select Web.
7. Add the Redirect URIs and click Configure.
   Make sure that the URL is displayed as shown in the following screenshot.
   
8. From the Supported account types, select Account in any organizational direcotry (Any Microsoft Entra ID tenant - Multitenant). 
9. Click Manage and then click API permissions.
   
10. Click Add a permission and 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 Overview and note the details highlighted in the following screenshot:
    
16. Click Certificates & Secret > New client secret and add the required details.
    
17. Click Add copy the highlight string.
    
18. Click Overview and note the following details:
    • Application (Client) ID
    • Directory (Tenant) ID
      
19. Open Mid Tier and Map the following values on the CFG:CR_ConfigurationSetting form:
    • Application (Client) ID  to the Client Id field
    • Directory (tenant) ID to the Tenant Id field
       

Task 5: 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 the blocked status.
3. Select your application and click Publish.
   
4. Open All apps and verify that the Status as Unblock.
5. To provide consent for using the application, click the following link:
   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 6: To add a channel in HelixGPT Agents Studio

For information about adding Microsoft Teams as a channel, see Enabling Microsoft Teams as a communication channel
 

Task 7: To add collaboration room configuatios

For more information, see Launching ChatOps for collaboration.

Related topic

BMC Helix Ops Swarmer