Installing the TechAssist app in Microsoft Teams

NOTE: The TechAssist app for Microsoft Teams is undergoing approval by Microsoft's team, and will be released in the (very) near future. We'll be making the app and all of the wonderful functionality it will offer available as soon as we can.

Context:

Many MSPs work exclusively in their PSA, but there are also a lot of MSPs who use Microsoft Teams for internal communications, and don't want their technicians to have to switch back and forth between their PSA and Teams just to get their job done.

The TechAssist app is a Microsoft Teams app that has been designed to help MSPs do more within Teams. The initial version will allow for messages to be sent directly to a technician in Microsoft Teams, instead of just posting content into a Teams channel. Subsequent versions of the app will allow your technicians to use AI to query the deep pool of information you have in your PSA, and will also allow your technicians to work on tickets - changing statuses, adding notes, and having conversations - right from an adaptive card in a Teams channel of your choosing.

Required Licensing

To use the TechAssist app, you must be on the Pro plan within MSP Process, as the TechAssist app is tightly linked to the Monitor & Notify module.

Installing the TechAssist App 

There are two ways you can install the TechAssist app - directly into your Microsoft Teams app, or using the Teams Admin website to deploy it to all of your technicians using a Setup Policy.

Deploying the TechAssist app into your instance of Microsoft Teams

NOTE: The app isn't yet available through the Teams Marketplace. These steps don't yet work.

  1. Open your Microsoft Teams app, and then open the Apps module
  2. Search for TechAssist
  3. Install the application

 

Sending a Direct Message to a Technician in Microsoft Teams

Scenario: You want to send a direct message in Microsoft Teams to a technician, whenever a ticket in the Escalated status is assigned to that technician. For details on how to ingest that data, please refer to this KB article

  1. Login to MSP Process (https://app.mspprocess.com) as an Admin-level user
  2. Navigate to the Monitor & Notify -> Notifications page
  3. Click the Create button to create a new Notification
  4. Specify a name for this Notification (for example, "Notify on Escalated Tickets"), and configure the Input of the notification to be the Data View you created in the KB article referenced above
  5. Enable the MS Teams output option, and click on the gear icon to configure it
  6. Configure things as outlined below:

 

Receiving a Direct Message from the TechAssist app in Microsoft Teams

The technician receiving the direct message in Microsoft Teams will see it come from the TechAssist app: