Self Configured / Pre Published : ServiceNow Virtua agent with Teams integration

[BattuLakshmi]

Hi All,

We are planning to integrate ServiceNow Virtual Agent with Microsoft Teams so that users can create tickets directly from Teams instead of contacting the IT team and then manually creating a ticket.

Our requirement is:

• Users interact with the Virtual Agent in Microsoft Teams.
• Based on the user's input, the Virtual Agent should present the appropriate catalog item or request form.
• Users should be able to submit incidents or service requests directly from Teams.
• We already have Virtual Agent configured in our ServiceNow instance and are looking to integrate it with Microsoft Teams.

We are unsure whether we should use the Pre-published App or Self-configured App approach for this integration.

Could you please advise:

1. Which approach would be recommended for this use case and why?
2. Are there any limitations or considerations with either approach?
3. Is there any setup guide, implementation document, or best practice documentation available for configuring Virtual Agent with Microsoft Teams?

Any guidance or documentation would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[naziyabegum]

Hello @BattuLakshmi Currently I'm working on this Integration but with Different requirements.

Initially i did the Prepublished Configuration, we got bot and developed the requirement, and we wanted to advance it to our Next instance, but as we did the pre-configured bot, it will only support one instance to One Tenant configuration at a time. So, if you advance it to Testing Environment the Dev instance will be Disconnected. This is the disadvantage of the Pre-configured Bot I see. 

On the Other hand, if you choose Self configured bot, you will be able to Connect multiple ServiceNow instances to Single Tenant at a time without any Disruptions.  

Attaching a Clear Doc Here Please Go through it. 

https://www.servicenow.com/community/ms-teams-articles/integrate-multiple-servicenow-instances-with-...

https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/zurich/conversational-interfaces/virtual-agent/create-bot-msteams....

https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/zurich/conversational-interfaces/virtual-agent/teams-install-custo...

[nataliya_b]

Hi , @naziyabegum 

Can you share how you switched from pre-published config to self-configured set up? Detailed steps will be very much appreciated.

thank you!

[naziyabegum · Accepted solution]

Hi @nataliya_b 

I have two ways depending on which Integration path you are choosing.

If we are strictly going with Self configured bot only without employee Center in the Bot, Follow this method below.

1)Navigate->Conversational Interfaces->Channels and Integrations->Microsoft Teams->Open it

->You need to remove the Pre-configured Bot by clicking 3 dots remove integration.

2)Reach out to your Azure teams admin and ask them to Create Bots for each instance if you want separate bots for each instance, Let's say SN VA-DEV, SN VA-TEST as bot names in the azure teams.

->if you are looking to connect only one instance then tell them to create only one bot in their platform and then ask azure team to provide you with that bot details like, Client ID, Tenant ID, Client Secret, Bot name.

3)Steps to configure the Self configured bot

->Navigate->Conversational Interfaces->Channels and Integrations->Microsoft Teams->Open it

Now Click on self-configured (+) and fill in the details which was provided by the azure team accordingly->Save it

->Next step->Click those 3 dots for your Self Configured bot and choose->Manage Bot

You will now the bot details like Name, Full Name, Short Description, Versions, Accent color something like this, make sure you change the version always to Higher than what is there

Let's say if the Version is 1.0.0 then Change it to 1.0.1 and save the Record.

4)Now on that page itself you will get the manifest download it and give it to your azure team admin and tell him to upload it on the Bot he created for you.

5)Repeat the same for other instances too

->Tell him to give required permissions and add the users and Groups you want that bot to show up to the people in teams.

->Give it 3,4 hours the Self Configured bot will show up in teams.

Note: This Bot will not the Employee Center tab within the Bot chat

Process to get the Enhanced Self Configured Bot with Employee Center Tab as well:

1)Remove the pre-configured bot the same way I explained above.

2)Again, same Ask Azure team to create Bots as per your Requirement, Let's say if you wanted to connect you Dev, Test to Single Tenant then Tell them to create two bots for you and ask them to Share the Bot details Like Client ID, Client Secret, Bot Name, Tenant ID.

3)Steps to configure the Self configured bot

->Navigate->Conversational Interfaces->Channels and Integrations->Microsoft Teams->Open it

Now Click on self-configured (+) and fill in the details which was provided by the azure team accordingly->Save it

->Next step->Click those 3 dots for your Self Configured bot and choose->Manage Bot

You will now the bot details like Name, Full Name, Short Description, Versions, Accent color something like this, make sure you change the version always to Higher than what is there

Let's say if the Version is 1.0.0 then Change it to 1.0.1 and save the Record.

4)Important Step:

->Navigate->ServiceNow for Teams->Open->New or if you see the Self Configured Bot open it, Don't Open preconfigured Bot, which is Named as Virtual Agent something like that.

->If you don't see anything create New, Provide the details in the Generic Info Tab->Save

->Click Next->Configure Virtual Agent Tab

Here you will see two Options

a) Connect a single ServiceNow instance to your Microsoft Teams tenant

->Choose this option if you only want your single instance to get connected to your Microsoft Single tenant.

->Once you Select that Option you will Now see the option to Select the bot you created in Channels and Integrations and Click Next

->Configure Tab->Toggle ON

Enable tabs and Enable activity feed and Fill the Client ID and Tenant ID details and Tab Name should be Whatever your organization follows like Employee Center, Employee Hub something like that

->Click Next->Verify all the Details->Download the manifest and give it to your Teams admin

->Tell him to Upload this as a standalone manifest Not in the Bot he created

b) Connect multiple ServiceNow instances to your Microsoft Teams tenant

->Choose this option if you want your Dev, Test, Prod instance to get connected to your Microsoft Single tenant.

Repeat the Same steps

->Once you Select that Option you will Now see the option to Select the bot you created in Channels and Integrations and Click Next

->Configure Tab->Toggle on Enable tabs and Enable activity feed and Fill the Client ID and Tenant ID details and Tab Name should be Whatever your organization follows like Employee Center, Employee Hub something like that

->Click Next->Verify all the Details->Download the manifest and give it to your Teams admin

->Tell him to Upload this as a standalone manifest Not in the Bot he created

Note: Don't upload this manifest directly into the Bot you created, tell them to upload the app as standalone.

->Give it a3,4 hours you will see the Bot.

->If you don't see the bot cache the teams or in teams you will see a [+] Icon on the left-hand side

Open it and search for the Bot Names and Interact with Bot saying Hi, bye anything then it will start showing up in the chats for you

Important Point: ->Navigate->Conversational Interfaces->Channels and Integrations->Microsoft Teams->You will see two Tabs

a) All Integrations where you did the Self Configured Bot

b) Settings->Open Make sure Enable Notification for all users is Toggled ON

Please Accept the solution if it assisted you with your question & Mark this response as Helpful.
Regards

[nataliya_b]

Hello @naziyabegum , thank you so much for the detailed answer. I marked it helpful. How can i accept it as solution?