Integrating Insight Finder with Microsoft Teams

Administrators can integrate the Insight Finder with Microsoft Teams to help users to access the Insight Finder capabilities provided in the BMC Helix Dashboards through Teams chat. With this integration, users can ask questions and receive responses that include insights and visualizations derived from Helix Dashboards, without switching to the BMC Helix Dashboard user interface. The integration is a one‑time administrative setup.

Limitations

The Microsoft Teams integration for Insight Finder has the following limitations:

The integration supports Insight Finder sub-agents for BMC Helix ITSM and ServiceNow. Other sub-agent types are not supported.
Microsoft Teams–specific message formatting and interaction features are not supported.
Large tables might not display correctly in Microsoft Teams.
Message request cannot be stopped after it is sent.

Important

Responses larger than 100 KB may not display fully in the chat, and users can download the full response instead.

Before you begin

The Insight Finder bot follows the standard Microsoft Teams security and permission model. So, make sure it can access only the chats and channels where it is added, cannot access private user chats or unrelated group chats, and operates in compliance with Microsoft Teams administrator security restrictions.

Make sure you have the following access and permissions:

A Microsoft Azure account with an active subscription
Access to Microsoft Teams Developer Portal
Access to BMC Helix Innovation Suite
Insight Finder Supervisor Skill configured in HelixGPT Agent Studio

Important

If the Microsoft Teams version is earlier than 1.23, the Insight Finder agent does not appear in Teams.

Process overview

Task	Action (Ignore the broken links)
1	Create a Microsoft Teams bot
2	Configure the messaging endpoint
3	Create a Microsoft Teams application
4	Publish the Microsoft Teams application
5	Verify the integration

Task 1: To create a Microsoft Teams bot

This task creates the bot identity that Microsoft Teams uses to communicate with Insight Finder.

Open Microsoft Teams Developer Portal.
1. Go to https://dev.teams.microsoft.com.
2. Sign in using a Teams administrator account.
Open bot management.
1. Select Tools.
2. Select Bot management.
3. Select + New bot.
4. Type the bot name and click Create bot.
5. Copy and save the generated Bot ID.
  Use this Bot ID while configuring the messaging endpoint.
Create a client secret.
1. Select Client secrets.
2. Select +Create your first client secret. If you have already created a client secret, click + New client secret.
3. Click Create client secret
4. Copy the generated value and save it securely.
  Use this Client secret while configuring the messaging endpoint.

Task 2: To configure the messaging endpoint

This task connects Microsoft Teams to Insight Finder by configuring the webhook endpoint.

Get the webhook URL from Innovation Suite.
1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Suite.
2. From the application launcher, launch HelixGPT Agent Studio
3. From the application, select BMC Helix Dashboards.
4. Select Insight Finder Supervisor Skill.
5. Select Channels tab, click + Add channel.
6. On the Add channel page, select Microsoft Teams and click Add.
7. Enter the channel name, description, Microsoft Bot ID, and client secret.
  Use the Bot ID and Client secret created in task 1, step 2 and 3.
8. Copy the generated webhook URL.
9. Click Save.
Add the mandatory configuration.
1. Open your custom Insight Finder Supervisor Skill in the HelixGPT Agent Studio.
2. Add the following details in the Configure tab:
  
  {
    "isAzureBot": true,
    "enableFeedbackInTeams": false,
    "enableStreamingInTeams": false,
  }
  
  The isAzureBot parameter is required for Microsoft Teams bot integration and supports communication between Microsoft Teams and the skill configuration.
  For more information about this parameter and other supported configuration options, see Updating the configuration parameters of a skill.
3. Click Apply.
Configure the endpoint address in Teams.
1. Open Bot management in Teams Developer Portal.
2. Select the bot you created.
3. Paste the endpoint address under the Configure Endpoint address field.
4. Click Save.

Task 3: To create a Microsoft Teams application

This task creates the Microsoft Teams application package that users install in Microsoft Teams.

Create a new application using the Microsoft Teams Developer Portal.
Provide the following basic configuration information:
- Application name
- Short and full descriptions for the application
- Developer information
- URLs of your privacy policy and terms of use
Configure the application feature with the Microsoft Teams bot that you created in task 1.
Select the scopes where people in your organization can use your bot
- Personal
- Team
- Group chat
Preview your application in Teams.

For more information, see Create a new Teams app in the Microsoft documentation.

Task 4: To publish the Microsoft Teams application

After you create and preview the Microsoft Teams application, you must publish it so that users in your organization can access it.

Check that the application you created appears in the apps list.
Your application might be in the Submitted or Blocked state.
Select and publish the Microsoft Teams application that you created.
Open All apps and verify that the Status is set to Unblock.
The application is published.

For more information about publishing your Microsoft Teams application, see Manage your apps in Developer Portal in the Microsoft Documentation.

Important

App availability depends on Microsoft Teams app permission policies and setup policies.
Publishing the app does not require any changes to Insight Finder configuration.

Task 5: To verify the integration

Open your application in Microsoft Teams.
Send a message.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Scope	Resolution
Users cannot send messages to the Insight Finder bot	This issue occurs when the Only send notification option is selected while creating the Microsoft Teams application during Task 3 (defining application features). When this option is selected, the application is configured only for notifications, and users cannot initiate or send chat messages to the Insight Finder agent.	Make sure the following conditions are true: Only the send notification option is not selected when defining the application features. The application is configured to support chat interactions with the bot.
The Insight Finder agent does not appear in Microsoft Teams	This issue occurs in Microsoft Teams when the Teams client version is not supported. If the Teams version is earlier than 1.23, the agent might not appear.	Perform any of the following actions to resolve the issue: Check the Microsoft Teams desktop or web version. Update Microsoft Teams to version 1.23 and restart Teams.
The three-dot indicator does not appear after sending a message in the chat	This issue occurs in Microsoft Teams chat with the bot. The three-dot processing indicator is the primary validation signal. If the indicator does not appear, it usually means the request did not reach BMC Helix Innovation Studio or failed early because of authentication or configuration issues.	Make sure that the following conditions are true: The Teams bot is configured with the correct endpoint address. The Bot ID and client secret used in the channel configuration are correct. The skill configuration includes the correct value for isAzureBot; if you are unsure about the bot version, temporarily set isAzureBot to false to validate behavior, and then update it to the appropriate value. A new test message is sent to confirm that the indicator appears.
Messages are sent, but the request does not receive any responses	This issue typically occurs due to configuration mismatches, such as an incorrect Bot ID, an invalid client secret, or an incorrect endpoint address. In these cases, users might not see the three-dot indicator, indicating the request did not reach the backend.	Make sure that the following conditions are true: Bot ID used while configuring a messaging endpoint (task 2) is correct. Regenerate the client secret if the original value was not saved or is incorrect, and update the configuration accordingly The webhook endpoint provided while configuring a messaging endpoint (task 2) is correct.