You can add Microsoft Teams as a delivery channel to your Kore.ai Virtual Assistant to allow it to interact with end-users using Microsoft Teams.

Prerequisites

• Ensure you have an account with the Microsoft Bot Framework.
• Create a Bot Channel Service and register it in Azure.
• Enable a webhook for the platform to receive messages.
• Purchase an active subscription to Azure services with Admin access; required to subscribe to a new Azure service.

Step 1: Create an Azure Bot

Create an Azure Bot and configure it on the Kore.ai XO Platform to establish a communication channel between Microsoft Teams and the platform.

1. Log in to the Azure portal, and click + Create a resource from the portal menu.
2. Search and select Azure Bot on the page, and click Create.
   
3. Fill in the required details, select the Single Tenant or Multi Tenant option in the Type of App field, and then click Review + Create.
   
4. On the next page, review the details and check for the Validation status. Click Create to proceed.
   
5. Associate the Azure Bot with a Microsoft App ID and Password. You can choose the default option: Auto create App Id and password. You can also choose to Create a new Microsoft App ID or Use existing app registration. For more information, see Microsoft Bot Framework documentation.
   
6. Once the deployment is completed, click Go to resource to view details of your resource.
   

Step 2: Configure the Resource App Id and Password

Generate a new App Password and Client Secret to configure the Azure Bot on the Kore.ai XO Platform.

1. On the Configurations tab, click the Manage option next to the Microsoft App ID field.
   
2. Choose Certificates & secrets in the left navigation bar, and create a new client secret on the page:
   • Click the + New client secret option.
   • Provide the necessary details, and then click the Add option.
3. Copy the Value of the new client secret and provide it in the App Password field present on the Configurations tab of the Kore.ai XO Platform. Refer Step 3: Enable Microsoft Teams Channel.
   
4. Close the Certificates and secrets section to return the Configuration section of the resource using the breadcrumbs.
   Note: Make a note of the Microsoft App Id in the Azure Bot configurations page and provide it in the Configuration tab of this window.

Step 3: Enable Microsoft Teams Channel

Configure the MS Teams credentials on the Kore.ai XO Platform to establish communication between both.

1. 1. On the platform, select the assistant, and then go to the Deploy menu.
   2. Select the Microsoft Teams channel, click the Configuration tab, and then enter the following details: Multi Tenant Apps Configuration
      • Microsoft App ID – The app ID of your Azure Bot resource.
      • App Password – The App password value that you find in the Certificates & Secrets page of the Azure bot.
      • Enable Proactive Notifications (optional) – Toggle to enable the Proactive Notification.
      • Enable Modal Dialogs (optional) – Toggle to enable the Modal Dialogs. Learn more.
        • Enter the Custom URL to which the platform forwards Modal Dialog messages for processing.Note: The platform maintains the conversation context when handling Modal Dialog messages. It forwards these messages with pre-context to the Custom URL for processing, then relays responses back to the user, maintaining a seamless interaction.
      • Application (Client) ID – The app ID of your Azure Bot resource.
      • Client Secret – The client secret value that you find on the Certificates & Secrets page of the Azure bot.
      • Delivery (tenant) ID – The subscription ID that you can find on the Overview page of the Azure bot.
      • Select Yes for the Enable Channel option.
        

Single Tenant App Configuration

1. Select the Single-Tenant option and enter the App Tenant ID value.
   
2. Click Save.
3. Copy the Webhook URL from the tab and paste it in the Messaging endpoint field on the Configurations module in Azure bot.
4. Click Apply to save the entered value.
5. Once the Configuration is completed, select the Channels option from the left menu and then select the Microsoft Teams channel.
   
6. Select the I Agree checkbox on the Terms of Service dialog and then click Agree.
   
7. Select the Microsoft Teams Commercial (most common) option to enable the Teams as per your commercial business requirements. If you want to enable the Azure bot for Government Community Cloud (GCC) organizations, select the Microsoft Teams Government option. Click the Learn more link next to the option on the screen for more information.
   
8. Click Apply to complete the channel setup.
   Note: The Web Chat option of Bot Framework is not supported.

Step 4: Publish Your Bot in Teams

You can now publish the Azure bot on your MS Teams account so that your users can discover and converse with the bot.

To do so, create an MS Teams app, associate the bot with it, and then publish the app.

1. Log in to the MS Teams account with admin credentials.
2. Click Ellipsis […] in the left navigation bar and then select the Developer Portal icon to launch the Apps builder.
   
   Note: The Developer Portal view is only available on the Microsoft Teams Desktop client.
3. On the Developer Portal page, select the Apps tab and then click the New App button.
   
4. On the New App dialog, enter a name for the app, copy and paste the App ID of your Azure Bot in the App ID field, and then click Publish.
   
5. On the Publish dialog, select the Publish to your org option.
   
6. Grant the desired permissions to your MS Teams app.
   
7. Click Publish your App and complete the publishing process.
   

Step 5: Approve the MS Teams App Publish Request

The request to publish the MS Teams App must be approved by an MS Teams Admin. Log in to the MS Teams Admin Portal and proceed to Teams apps > Manage apps. Search for the app that you published in the earlier step. Select the app and change the Publishing status to Published. This completes the process for publishing your bot for your Teams users.

Step 6: Configure Proactive Notifications [Optional]

If you want to send Proactive Notifications to your users, you need to perform a few more actions.

Note: You can skip the following sections and proceed to the Configurations tab if you do not intend to send Proactive Notifications.

To enable Proactive Notifications, follow these steps:

1. Capture the App ID associated with the MS Teams App that is approved in Step 3. You can find this information on the details page of the app.
2. Provide this App Id in the channel Configurations tab.
   
3. The bot requires additional app credentials for sending the Proactive Notifications. Go to the Azure portal, and click the More Services link.
   
4. On the More Services page, search and select the App registrations.
   
5. On the App registrations page, click New registration.
   
6. Provide the required information and click Register.
   
7. You are redirected to the details page of the newly registered app.
8. From the Manage menu, select the API permissions section and then click the Add a permission option. From the Request API permissions, select Microsoft Graph and choose Application Permissions.
   
9. From the permissions list, select the following permissions and click Add permissions.
   • TeamsAppInstallation.ReadForUser.All
   • TeamsAppInstallation.ReadWriteSelfForUser.All
   • TeamsAppInstallation.ReadWriteForUser.All
   • User.Read.All
     
     
10. Click on the Grant admin consent for <domain name> option to complete the granting of the permissions.
11. Proceed to the Certificates & secrets section and select the New client secret option. 
12. Copy the Value of the newly created certificate and provide it on the Configurations tab of MS Teams Channel on the Kore.ai XO Platform.
13. Overview section of the app and capture Application (client) ID, Directory (tenant) Id and provide them on the Configurations tab of this page.
14. Navigate to the Configurations tab to review and enable the Microsoft Teams channel for your bot.

MS Teams Chat Features

Ability to Update or Delete Delivered Bot Messages

Developers can now update or delete bot messages in Microsoft Teams even after they have been delivered to users. This feature provides greater flexibility and control, allowing developers to disable or remove template messages after a user has taken action on them.

New Channel Metadata Object: channelActionMetadata

The platform has introduced a new metadata object called channelActionMetadata, which captures the necessary metadata for bot messages on the MS Teams channel. This metadata is essential for performing update or deletion actions on the messages.

Captured Meta Fields in channelActionMetadata

• MsTeams ActivityID
• MsTeams ConversationID
• KoreMessageID

Note: The above fields are captured exclusively for bot messages. These values are refreshed with each new bot message, and it is the developer’s responsibility to capture and manage the metadata for any bot messages that need to be updated or deleted.

Why Only the Latest Bot Message Metadata is Tracked?

To prevent an increase in the size of the context object, only the metadata for the most recent bot message is retained. This approach ensures efficiency, even in sessions with a large number of exchanged messages.

Channel Utility Function

We have introduced two new channel utility functions: one for retrieving metadata from the channelActionMetadata object and another for updating or deleting delivered bot messages. Currently, these functions are supported for the MS Teams channel and will be extended to other third-party channels as needed.

channelUtil.getActionMetadata()

This function allows you to retrieve the metadata stored in the channelActionMetadata object.

Example Script: Fetching and Saving Metadata for Future Actions

let channelActionMetadata = channelUtil.getActionMetadata();

if(channelActionMetadata){

    let actionMetadata = {

        activityId : channelActionMetadata.activityId,

        conversationId : channelActionMetadata.conversationId,

        koreMessageId : channelActionMetadata.koreMessageId

    }

}

 

channelUtil.executeAction()

This function enables you to execute actions on bot messages that have been delivered in the MS Teams channel. With this function, developers can update or delete messages that have already been sent to the MS Teams channel.

Example Script: Updating the bot message

let channelActionMetadata = channelUtil.getActionMetadata();

if(channelActionMetadata){

    let actionMetadata = {

        activityId : channelActionMetadata.activityId,

        conversationId : channelActionMetadata.conversationId,

        koreMessageId : channelActionMetadata.koreMessageId,

        message : "Showing update message"

    }

    channelUtil.executeAction("update_message", actionMetadata);

}

 

Example Script: Deleting the bot message

let channelActionMetadata = channelUtil.getActionMetadata();

if(channelActionMetadata){

    let actionMetadata = {

        activityId : channelActionMetadata.activityId,

        conversationId : channelActionMetadata.conversationId,

        koreMessageId : channelActionMetadata.koreMessageId

    }

    channelUtil.executeAction("delete_message", actionMetadata);

}

Note:

• When an existing bot message is updated using this function, the platform will automatically update the message in the chat history.
• By default, the platform will emit message tags for any messages that are updated or deleted using this function.

Tag Values

• For updated messages: <Key>:<Value>
  channel_action: update_message
• For deleted messages: <Key>:<Value>
  channel_action: delete_message

 

Related Links

• Once the channel is enabled and all configurations are verified, you can optionally publish the assistant to make it available to end-users. Learn more about Publishing your Virtual Assistant.
• To learn more about working with Channels within the Kore.ai XO Platform, see Channel Enablement.