Documentation

Connecting Civagent to Microsoft Teams

Civagent can meet people where they already work by receiving and sending messages inside Microsoft Teams. This guide walks through the simple setup so staff and residents can chat with your agent directly in Teams.

What this allows is for government employees to use Microsoft Teams to chat with an agent managed by Civagent. Suddenly, Teams can be the user interface to accessing ArcGIS, Socrata or nearly any other application.

Overview

  • Connect an existing Teams bot (Azure Bot Service) to your Civagent agent.
  • No code changes required—copy credentials and paste a secure URL.
  • Works in Microsoft 365 and US Government (GCC) tenants.

What You’ll Need

  • A Bot resource in Azure with a published Teams app.
  • The Microsoft App ID and Client Secret for that bot.
  • Permission to edit the bot’s Messaging endpoint in Azure.
  • Access to your Civagent dashboard (Channels tab).

Step-by-Step Setup

  1. Open Civagent Channels
    In your agent’s dashboard, open Channels and choose Microsoft Teams.

  2. Add Bot Credentials
    Paste the App ID and Client Secret from your Azure Bot resource. Save.

  3. Copy the Messaging Endpoint
    After saving, Civagent shows a secure URL ending with /channels/teams/messages. Copy this URL.

  4. Update Azure Bot Configuration

    • Sign in to Azure Portal.
    • Open your Bot resource → Configuration.
    • Paste the Civagent URL into “Messaging endpoint” and save.

  5. Publish/Update the Teams App
    If prompted, update the Teams app so the new endpoint is active (via Teams App Studio or your existing deployment process).

  6. Confirm the Channel
    Back in Civagent, the Teams channel shows as “Ready” once Teams starts sending webhooks to the new endpoint.

How It Works (Plain English)

  • Teams sends each new chat message to the secure Civagent URL you provided.
  • Civagent validates the request using your App ID, then has the agent generate a response.
  • Civagent replies through the Bot Framework, so the user sees the answer inside the same Teams chat or channel thread.

Testing

  • In Teams, open the bot and send a short question (e.g., “What are today’s office hours?”).
  • You should see a reply within a few seconds in the same thread.
  • If nothing arrives, re-check the Messaging endpoint in Azure for typos and confirm the App ID/Secret are current.

Security & Compliance Notes

  • OAuth tokens from Microsoft are validated on every request; only your bot can reach the endpoint.
  • Messages stay within your Civagent project boundary; no data is shared for training.
  • GCC/GCC High tenants are supported because Civagent accepts the Bot Framework government issuers.

Troubleshooting

  • 401/Not authorized in Azure logs: the App ID or Client Secret is wrong—paste fresh credentials.
  • Messages not reaching Civagent: verify the Messaging endpoint URL matches exactly and uses https.
  • Multiple channels per agent: each agent can have one Teams connection; adding again updates the existing one.

Support

Need help aligning this with your IT change control or security review? Your Civagent customer team can provide the endpoint details, data flow diagrams, and a short security summary for procurement files.