Integrations - Setting Up the Microsoft Teams Integration

Introduction

Setting up the Microsoft Teams integration is a great way to make it easy for your users to send recognition messages within a communication channel they are already using daily.

Benefits of installing the Microsoft Teams integration include:

• Giving the capability to send recognition alerts and blog posts to a channel of your choice, as they happen on your platform.
• Enabling a bot (the Connect+ bot) within your Microsoft Teams instance, that your users can then use to send recognition to other users within your programme.

To use the Reward Gateway & Microsoft Teams integration, your company must be a Reward Gateway customer and provide our benefits technology to your employees or members. If you’d like to offer your employees exclusive benefits and engagement products, visit the Reward Gateway Website to find more.

Prerequisites

The Microsoft Teams integration requires clients to have the Social Wall enabled on their platform. Clients who do not have this feature enabled will not be able to send recognition through Microsoft Teams.

Installation Guide

Step 1: Log In to Reward Manager and Find the Microsoft Teams Integration

1. To begin, log in to Reward Manager

2. Select Integrations > Integrations Dashboard from the menu on the left

3. Under the Explore tab, scroll down to FEEDS AND SHARING and select Microsoft Teams:

This will take you to the configuration page.

Step 2: Give Your Integration a Name

> Add a name that you will be able to remember or identify later:

Step 3: Authorize your Microsoft Access

To enable sending messages to Microsoft Teams, and to allow the installation of the bot, you must link your Microsoft Azure Tenant to your programme. 

Please note that this may require Administration privileges on your Microsoft Tenancy.

1. If you have the necessary permissions, click on the Authorize you Microsoft Teams Account button:

2. This will redirect you to an Admin Consent screen within Microsoft that you must grant access to. 

The scopes requested to install the integration are listed below:

• AppCatalog.Read.All - Allows Reward Gateway to access the App Catalog to verify that the Connect+ Bot is currently not installed.
• Channel.ReadBasic.All - Allows Reward Gateway to read a list of channels needed during the integration setup
• ChannelMessage.Send - Allows Reward Gateway to send a message in a channel (Recognition posts)
• offline_access - Allows Reward Gateway access to the information previously granted but offline. This is needed so the Administrator does not have to keep re-authorising app each time to make changes within their Reward Manager setup.
• openid - Allows Reward Gateway to sign in to the app with your work or school account and allows the app to read your basic profile information.
• Team.ReadBasic.All - Allows Reward Gateway to read the names of all available teams needed during the integration setup
• TeamsAppInstallation.ReadWriteforTeam - Allows Reward Gateway to automatically install the application in the relevant team after the installation within Reward Manager is complete.
• User.Read.All - Allows Reward Gateway to read information about users on the Teams instance

Step 4: Select a Trigger

Now you can select which trigger within your programme will initiate an alert to Microsoft Teams. 

> From the Select a Trigger dropdown, choose an option:

The dropdown menu gives options to select specific blog feeds:

Step 5: Select a Team

Next, select which Microsoft Team you would want these alerts to go out to. 

1. Select the team from the Select a Microsoft Team to post to dropdown:

2. Select Continue

Step 6: Select a Channel

Next, you can select which specific channel you want these alerts to go out to. Don't worry you can setup any amount of these integrations with your programme, so you can send alerts out to any of your channels simultaneously.

1. Select the channel of your choice from the Select a MS Teams channel to post to dropdown:

2. Select Continue

Step 7: Review and Publish

You should now be ready to put the integration live.

1. Check over the settings to ensure they are correct:

2. Click the Publish button to enable the integration.

Your setup on Reward Manager should now be complete! 

Step 8: Test the Integration on Microsoft Teams

Now it's time to ensure that the integration was set up correctly, by accessing your Microsoft Teams account.

1. To do this, go to https://teams.microsoft.com/ and login to your account

2. Once logged in, access the Team you installed the MS Teams integration on, in Step 5 above

3. Click on the three-dot icon (i.e. More Options) then Manage team:

4. Select the Apps tab:

Here you should see your newly installed Connect+ bot that is ready to be used by members within this Microsoft Team. 

Now for the fun part! To find out how to use the bot, please read: Sending Recognition using MS Teams.

Further Information About the Connect+ Bot

Installing the Connect+ Bot on Another Team

You can install the bot on other Teams, within your Microsoft Teams Tenant, more easily once the integration is set up:

1. To do this, simply go to your App Catalog and search for Connect+. 

2. Connect+ should appear as an option. Click to select it:

3. Select the arrow next to Add > then Add to a team 

4. Select your Team of choice and then install. 

That's it! Now your new Team can use the Connect+ bot.

Alerts in a Channel

Based on your set up on Reward Manager, we will send real-time alerts to the team/channel of your choice. They would be sent as Adaptive Cards on Microsoft Teams, that include the image of the Recognition Moment or Blog post, with a summary text next to it.

Example:

Users can click the View Recognition Moment button to access the specific recognition moment and be able to interact with it. 

Removing the MS Teams Integration

Removing the integration is very easy to do. Simply go to your App Catalog and remove the app from your Microsoft Teams instance. This will revoke all access Reward Gateway has to your Teams account.

Alternatively, to stop any alerts going into channels (without removing the app completely) you can go to Reward Manager > Integrations > Integrations Dashboard to find the existing integration. You can select and disable it.

Best Practices to Improve Usage of the Teams Integration

To encourage usage of the Connect+ bot, we recommend making it visible at all times. Here are some ideas that you could explore:

• Communicate to all users about the new integration, and link to our user guide: Sending Recognition using MS Teams.
• Install it on a team/channel that is available to all users across your organisation.

• Ask someone with Administrative privileges to Pin the Connect+ bot to all users' sidebars. This will increase the visibility of the integration across your organisation, and is a great way to get more usage onto your platform). 

  

See the Microsoft guide for information on how to do this: Teams App Setup Policies.