Take your employee experience to the next level with ServiceNow for Microsoft 365
Capabilities that help drive employee self-service and productivity:
1. Embed Employee Center and employee profile in Microsoft Teams
With ServiceNow for Microsoft 365 you can embed the entire Employee Center portal within Microsoft Teams. Employees will be able to perform all their tasks and access all the portal pages within Microsoft teams itself.
How to get access?License Required – To integrate Employee Center with Microsoft Teams if you are an HRSD customer you will need HRSD or above, or if you are an ITSM customer you will need ITSM Std or above. To embed Employee Center Pro, you will need either HRSD Pro OR EC Pro stand-alone SKU Plugins required – You will need at least either one of the three mentioned below applications to integrate Employee Center in Teams
All the dependent plugins will be auto installed, please remember to select demo data checkbox, while you install these applications. Technical Details- If you are not on Employee Center, you can embed Service Portal or any other portal you are using today. Embed a custom portal Employee Center can be embedded in Teams without Virtual Agent chat feature as well by manually removing virtual agent bot from the manifest. Customize Manifest - Remove Chat Tab or Reorder Tabs There are two approaches to integrate ServiceNow with Microsoft 365:
Read more about Employee Center on: Introduction to Employee Center Refer to ServiceNow for Microsoft 365 product documentation for step wise implementation guide. |
2. Engage employee with Employee Communication on Microsoft Teams
Streamline employee communications and foster a more connected, informed workforce for your employee and keep them informed through:
- Actionable notifications that prompt employees to take action
- Multimedia-rich targeted campaigns and reminders
- Company news and announcements
How to get access?License required – For Employee communications via Teams you will need HRSD Pro OR EC Pro stand-alone SKU. Along with Employee communications configurations in Employee Center Pro portal, additional configurations will required to be able to leverage employee communications via Teams Plugins Required- Along with Employee Center pro and Virtual agent related plugins, additionally you will need these two plugins as well:
Technical Details – Administrators have the flexibility to tailor communications to their specific needs, They can set up and translate communications in their preferred language, schedule automated Teams communications to target specific audiences. Refer to Sending notifications to employees using Microsoft Teams Product documentation for step wise implementation. To know more about employee communications refer to the ‘Employee Communications’ section in Employee Center Features & Capabilities on community. |
3. Enable ServiceNow’s Virtual Agent and Now Assist in Microsoft Teams
ServiceNow’s Virtual Agent provides a conversational interface powered by artificial intelligence, that makes it easy for employees to easily get help, find information, and complete tasks. With the ServiceNow for Microsoft 365 integration, employees can access the complete ServiceNow’s Virtual Agent capabilities directly from Microsoft Teams.
With Virtual agent in Teams (with or without Now Assist) employees can receive actionable notifications for key updates such as:
- Approvals – for Request, Change Request
- Ticket comments: Employees can respond to notifications on the tickets from within Microsoft Teams: Incident, Requested Item, and Change Request.
- Incident: Resolved, Updated
- Requested Item: Completed, Approved, Rejected, Updated
How to get access?License Required – To integrate full Virtual Agent in Teams if you are an HRSD customer you will need HRSD Pro or above, or if you are an ITSM customer you will need ITSM Pro or above. Only Virtual Agent Lite is available with ITSM Standard. For Now Assist, you will need an ITSM Pro Plus or HRSD Pro Plus License and depending on ITSM or HRSD specific use case you will need the specific SKU for e.g.: Now Assist for ITSM or Now Asist for HRSD Plugins required – Install Conversational Integration with Microsoft Teams (sn_va_teams) application from ServiceNow store and Glide Virtual Agent [com.glide.cs.chatbot]. For Now assist capabilities install Now Assist Core (com.now_assist_core) plugin, Now Assist In Virtual Agent (sn_nowassist_va) Technical Details- You can integrate Virtual Agent with Microsoft Teams either with your Now Virtual Agent bot or the Self-configured bot.
If you are already using Now Virtual Agent app in MS Teams, disable Now Virtual Agent app to avoid duplicate notifications from Microsoft Teams when you install and integrate ServiceNow for Microsoft Teams with your ServiceNow instance. (this is applicable when you integrate using OOB available bot) Disable Now Virtual Agent app Refer to Integrating Virtual Agent with Microsoft Teams and Using Now Assist in Virtual Agent conversations with Microsoft Teams for additional details. |
4. Live Agent Chat via Virtual Agent:
Deliver instant support with Live Agent Chat, connecting service desk agents with employees in real-time, directly within their Microsoft Teams workspace.
Initiating a live chat is easy:
- Employees simply type or select 'Live Agent Support' in the Virtual Agent
- Their request is instantly routed to available agents
Once accepted, agents can continue the conversation seamlessly from their own workspace, providing a smooth and efficient support experience.
How to get access?License required - Agent Chat is available with HRSD std or above, ITSM std or above. Plugins required – Agent Chat Plugin id: com.glide.interaction.awa Technical details – Admins have a lot of flexibility while configuring agent chat: · Automatic assignment of chats and work items to agents based on criteria that you define, such as agent availability, capacity, skills, Agent Affinity, and variable work item sizing. · Automatic queue overflow handling · Chat timeout reassignment If you are still on classic service desk UI, you can still leverage Agent Chat features. Refer to Agent Chat Product Documentation |
5. ServiceNow in Microsoft Outlook
Within ServiceNow integrations with Outlook we have three capabilities :
a. Employee Center in Outlook
Unlock seamless employee experiences with Employee Center fully embedded within Microsoft Outlook, enjoy the full range of Employee Center capabilities without leaving Outlook, boosting employee productivity and self-service
b. Actionable messages in Outlook
Elevate user experience with ServiceNow's Microsoft 365 integration, powered by Outlook Actionable Messages. This enables users to take action directly within email notifications, without ever leaving the Outlook application.
Streamline workflows and boost productivity with various actions available within Outlook:
- Employees and agents receive instant notifications about request submissions
- Managers and approvers get summaries and detailed reports for approval requests, with the ability to approve or reject directly within Outlook.
- Employees can provide feedback and participate in surveys, within Outlook.
How to get access?License: Outlook actionable message is available with HRSD std or above, ITSM std or above. The customers also need to be licensed for Microsoft Outlook. Plugins required – Install Outlook Actionable Messages(sn_ms_oam) plugin to configure actionable messages. Technical Details- Admin configuration will be required to customize the body message for a request, change, and request item approval sent in Microsoft Outlook. Admins can integrate SAP concur expenses approvals, for that Approvals hub integration with SAP Concur (sn_ex_cnc) plugin must be installed. Refer to Outlook Actionable Messages for additional details. |
c. ServiceNow Add-in for Microsoft Outlook
Boost employee efficiency and self-service with the ServiceNow Add-in for Microsoft 365 in Outlook. This powerful tool provides customizable experiences, streamlining workflows through quick links and reducing time. ServiceNow add-in provides an extensible framework to invoke any form or any navigation link in Outlook:
- Incident and case submission: Create new incidents directly from Outlook
- Catalog requests: Easily request gadgets and services
- Workspace management: Book internal and external meeting and conference rooms
- Navigation link: Navigate your employees to the link of your choice.
How to get access?License required - The ServiceNow add-in is a baseline platform feature and is available with all the ServiceNow products. For ServiceNow and Microsoft 365 integrations you will require HRSD std or above, ITSM std or above. The customers also need to be licensed for Microsoft Outlook Plugins required – Install ServiceNow add-in for Microsoft 365 plugin (version 7.1.2) for all the latest capabilities which is available from Yokohama and above. This must be manually activated for new and existing customers. This plugin includes demo data and activates related plugins Technical details – Admins have flexibility to setup different types of forms in ServiceNow Add in for Outlook. Admins can also configure a separate version of ServiceNow Add-in for different work departments, eg: HR, IT, Legal etc. Once the ServiceNow Add-In manifest is generated admin can configure email fields to the form/catalog fields to get those auto-populated when the Add-in form/catalog is invoked in outlook. Refer to ServiceNow Add-in for Microsoft 365 product documentation for additional details. |
6. Viva Connections
ServiceNow is now seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Viva Connections, bringing a unified employee experience directly into the Viva Connections dashboard.
Employees can now access a personalized ServiceNow card, showcasing their pending tasks in a clear and concise manner. With just one click, they can navigate to the Employee Center portal within Teams, enabling them to take immediate action on their tasks without ever leaving the app.
How to get access?License required - Employee Center for Microsoft Viva Connections is available with HRSD std or above, ITSM std or above. The customers also need to be licensed for Microsoft Office, Teams and SharePoint. Plugins required – Install Employee Center for Microsoft Viva Connections (sn_now_ms_viva) for this integrartion. Technical details – Admin configuration will be required to set this up to allow cross-domain requests to REST APIs by creating a record in CORS rules and Microsoft Viva integrations package needs to be deployed in the Microsoft SharePoint admin center to enable the display of card details in the Microsoft Viva dashboard. Refer to Employee Center for Microsoft Viva Connections product documentation for additional details. |
FAQs on Employee productivity
1. What do I get ‘ServiceNow for Microsoft 365’ app in Microsoft Teams?
With ServiceNow for Microsoft 365 app you get 2 tabs:
- Chat – Full Virtual agent embedded, given you are licensed for it
- Employee Center – You get complete employee center portal embedded in Teams.
And with this integration you not only get this app on Microsoft Teams, but you get it on Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365 app as well. Refer to the articles below for more:
Getting Started! 3 Simple Steps to Integrate Microsoft Teams and ServiceNow!
Enable Employee Center in Microsoft Teams! (Part 1 of 2)
Enable Employee Center in Microsoft Teams! (Part 2 of 2)
2. Are both Employee Center and Employee Center Pro available on Microsoft 365?
Yes, customers will see the version they have implemented available on Microsoft Teams, as well as Microsoft Outlook and the Microsoft 365 App for both web and mobile applications.
3. Do customers need to install the latest ‘ServiceNow for Microsoft 365’ app to access Employee Center from Microsoft Teams, Outlook or M365?
No, just a post-Rome release that supports Employee Center
4. Do we need additional HRSD Pro or ITSM pro license to access Employee Center Pro from Microsoft Teams?
No. There are no extra checks for licenses made for the integration. The customer would need to download “IT Service Management for Microsoft Teams” or “HR Service Delivery for Microsoft Teams”, and if they have Employee Center Pro implemented, they will be able to access it via Microsoft Teams.
This means, an ITSM customer with standalone Employee Center Pro license can access Employee Center Pro from Microsoft Teams.
5. How is Employee Profile in Employee Center integrated with Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams is integrated with the employee profile page to show presence as well as to enable employees to initiate a Microsoft Teams chat with co-workers.
6. What happens when a customer has chosen to not implement Employee Center and they are on any other portal eg: Service Portal?
Customers who don’t have Employee Center implemented can point the portal on the ServiceNow custom app on Microsoft Teams to any other Service Portal application (e.g. /sp or a custom portal) in their instance.
You just need to change sn_now_teams.portal.suffix property value to point to your portal Find the details here to Embed a custom portal dashboard.
7. Is the experience of Employee Center online portal in sync with what is visible in Microsoft Teams?
Yes, customers will not be required to maintain two separate portals.
8. Why is Virtual Agent required for Integrations with Microsoft Teams?
Virtual Agent is not required to integrate with Microsoft Teams; however, if customers want to use ITSM and/or HRSD OOTB topics, they will need Virtual Agent plugins installed.
9. Is it possible send employee communication via Microsoft Teams?
Yes you can send employee communication via Microsoft Teams, you will have to configure those separately for MS Teams and they will come as an activity feed in MS Teams. Once the user clicks on the communication, the communication will open in embedded Employee Center in MS Teams.
Refer to Sending notifications to employees using Microsoft Teams Product documentation for step wise implementation.
10. What's the family version and license that we need to be on for the Activity Feed to Teams?
It is available from Washington and you need to EC Pro or HRSD Pro license for this.
11. Can we send actionable notifications (such as Approval cards) to end users through methods aside from VA? Such as sending the actionable notification using a Teams spoke action in a Workflow Studio Flow?
You can send using action in flow designer by using Microsoft provided API’s. We already have implemented As part of IT Service management for Microsoft 365.
12. When requesting a catalog item through VA in Teams, are we able to tell VA to open the catalog item link within Employee Center in Teams so the entire interaction takes place within the Teams UI?
Yes, that is possible. https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/washingtondc-servicenow-platform/page/administer/virtual-agen...
13. Where can I read more about Outlook integrations like actionable messages and ServiceNow Add-In?
Refer to the Outlook integrations within ServiceNow for Microsoft 365 for more details.
14. Is this possible to have multiple integration from different SN instances to connect to a single MS tenant?
Yes it’s possible using self-configured apps approach. You will have to create your own app on Azure portal, refer to the documentation for more.
15. If I already have Virtual Agent on Teams (self-configured bot), is there a way I can migrate it to ServiceNow for Microsoft 365 so I can have a tab for Employee Center?
Yes simply need to follow either Pre-published apps approach or self-configured apps approach setup based on your requirement. Please go through the documentation for more details
