Microsoft Teams

Objective:

This document will show you how to create chatbots in Microsoft teams and use them to interact with Custom Apps in ixHello.

Goal:

ixHello can define different types of apps such as custom apps, search app, survey skills and QA skills. Our goal is to demonstrate how a Microsoft Teams custom chatbot can be set to interact with ixHello and interact with these apps. Please note that as at the time of this documentation, a Microsoft Teams chatbot can only interact with custom apps that do not require account linking.

Steps to Create the Chatbot

The following shows the general steps/activities that will be carried out in setting up this integration. Note it is assumed you have the appropriate permissions that allow you to create an app in Microsoft Teams

1. Open Microsoft Teams and click on Apps

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1. In the resulting page search for Apps Studio and click on the app studio tab

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1. Click open button in the resulting modal page

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1. Select Manifest Editor in the Menu bar and click the Create New App Button

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1. Fill in the following details

   • Short name: A short descriptive name for your app e.g., VWQA.

   • Full name: e.g., Voiceworx Q A.

   • App ID: Click on the “Generate” button

   • Package Name: Use a reversal of your domain e.g., ai.voiceworx.test

   • Short description: Question and Answer

   • Full Description: Voiceworx question and answer Microsoft Teams skill

   • Developer Company Name: Enter your company name e.g., Voiceworx

   • Website: Your company website e.g., www.voiceworx.ai

   • Privacy Policy URL: Your company privacy policy e.g., http://www.voiceworx.ai/privacy.html

   • Terms of use url: Your company privacy policy e.g., http://www.voiceworx.ai/termsofuse.html

   • For the branding ensure your images are in dimension 192 x192 px and 32 x 32 px. The smaller image must have a transparent background. You can find one sample for 193 x 192 here and you can use this for 32x32.

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Graphical user interface, application, Teams Description automatically generated

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1. Under the “Capabilities” section of the menu, click on “Bots” -> “Set Up”

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1. On the resulting Bot Setup Modal add a name for your bot. Set the name to your desired bot name, e.g., Voiceworx QA Bot and set the Scope. For this exercise we are using the minimal permission and capabilities which is just setting Scope as Personal

2. Click “Create Bot”

3. In the resulting Edit Bot Page click “Generate Password”

4. Set “Bot Endpoint Address” to https://teamstest.voiceworx.ai/api/messages

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1. Now, let’s install the App.

Steps For Installing a Bot

1. ensure you are on the “Manifest Editor Tab”. In the view body, click the vertical ellipse in the skill you want to publish and select “Edit”.

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1. On the edit page, scroll down on the submenu pane on the left to the Finish section. Select the “Test and Distribute” option

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1. Click on Install and click on Add on the resulting screen.

Now the app shall be available for testing.

Before that, let’s integrate the app in VoiceWorx portal to this Microsoft Teams Bot. Save the App Id that has been generated in Step 5. Follow this document to complete the integration. The user has to create a publish profile in VoiceWorx and provide the above App Id as reference to the Teams Bot.

Make sure that the integration has been performed before you head to the next step i.e., Test the App.

Test The App

You need to contact the VoiceWorx support team to help you set up a dedicated service to link up your VoiceWorx custom app and Teams Bot. After you have ensured that the setup is done from VoiceWorx side, you can continue with testing your app using following steps as guide.

1. Click on the 3 horizontal dots in the menu

2. Select the newly created app

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1. Invoke a custom app.

Steps For Publishing a Bot

1. Click the horizontal ellipse on the menu bar and select “App Studio” from the options

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1. In App studio, ensure you are on the “Manifest Editor Tab”. In the view body, click the vertical ellipse in the skill you want to publish and select “Edit”

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1. On the edit page, scroll down on the submenu pane on the left to the Finish section. Select the “Test and Distribute” option

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1. Select the “Publish” option

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1. These are publishing options.

   • Publishing to your organization app catalog

   • Publish to Microsoft App Source

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1. If you want to publish to your organization’s app catalog, use the first option. This will make the Bot only visible to people with your organization. If you want the skill visible in the global Microsoft App store, use the second option

   • Note: If you are not the organization admin for the Teams platform, your skill will need to be approved by the admin. The approval flow occurs in the Microsoft Office 365 platform. The admin can follow this official documentation for the approval flow. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/app-permissions-admin-center

2. Once the Bot is approved by your admin any user in your organization can access the bot by clicking on the “Apps” Icon at the base on the side menu. The skill will be visible in the resulting options as shown in the image below