Integrate internal/external applications or tools with Teams bot

Question

Integrate internal/external applications or tools with Teams bot

Santosh Vasudevan 0

Greetings,

I’m currently developing a Teams chatbot designed to answer basic questions and guide employees to a centralized resource hub. I’m looking to take this a step further by integrating the bot with the actual applications and tools our employees use daily. My goal is for the chatbot to recognize similar patterns and then provide tailored solutions or actionable guidance on how to work on a similar case/similar work. Is it possible to integrate such internal/external applications or tools with a Teams bot? If so, could you please share any best practices, guidelines, or examples of similar implementations? Thank you for your time and insights in advance!

Prasad-MSFT 8,841 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-21T06:14:16.88+00:00

Hi Santosh Vasudevan, thanks for raising your issue. Could you please let us know what applications or tools you want to Integrate with MS Teams? Please provide more details.
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-21T15:57:09.65+00:00

Hi @Prasad-MSFT - thanks for your swift response. I'm trying to integrate our internal platform/tool that our employees use to perform background checks. The idea is if one of the employee gets a similar scenario, and they type the situation, the bot should be able to suggest answers based on previous records. In a simpler term, I want to make this bot an interactive tool for the employees to find answers by integrating the platform so that the bot recognizes the history of a similar scenario and tells the employees on what to do next or where to go to, to find the answers like referring the SOPs, rules etc. Please let me know if you need any further details. Thanks for your time in advance! Internal Platform we use: https://verification-portal.us.backgroundcheck.com/
Prasad-MSFT 8,841 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-24T09:25:33.4066667+00:00

Setting Up Data Access

Ensure data from your background check platform is accessible through APIs. If historical records are stored in a database, expose relevant endpoints to fetch them.

Developing the Bot

Using the Microsoft Bot Framework, create a bot capable of processing natural language queries and interfacing with your internal platform.

Implementing NLP and Contextual Understanding

Integrate NLP libraries like Microsoft LUIS to enhance the bot's capability to understand and process natural language queries accurately.

Authentication and Security

Implement OAuth or other authentication methods for secure data access. Ensure user-specific actions are tracked appropriately.
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-24T15:18:45.1366667+00:00

Thank you very much @Prasad-MSFT . My background is L&D and I'm new to this stuff. I'll work on the suggestions you shared with me. Thanks for your support here!
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-24T15:26:25.9566667+00:00

Also on a side note, I created a bot last year. That one was created to help trainees to find relevant documents, program videos, FAQs etc. Also the Bot would answer some simple questions the trainers would have. The first message the Bot would say is, "How can I help, if you're not sure, trying clicking on these cards. Some of them noticed that, regardless of what they type, the Bot was attaching the cards for every questions they ask (please see screenshot below). Is there a way to make sure that the bot gets them what they need and nothing extra. Sometimes it give them something irrelevant. Sometime the teams make changes to some of the answers and when I go back, update and republish the bot (which was already published). The updated notes wouldn't show-up. Is there a way to tackle these two issues. Thanks again for all that you do!
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-25T13:48:56.3+00:00

Thank you very much @Prasad-MSFT . My background is L&D and I'm new to this stuff. I'll work on the suggestions you shared with me. Thanks for your support here!

Also on a side note, I created a bot last year. That one was created to help trainees to find relevant documents, program videos, FAQs etc. Also the Bot would answer some simple questions the trainers would have. The first message the Bot would say is, "How can I help, if you're not sure, trying clicking on these cards. Some of them noticed that, regardless of what they type, the Bot was attaching the cards for every questions they ask (please see screenshot below). Is there a way to make sure that the bot gets them what they need and nothing extra. Sometimes it give them something irrelevant. Sometime the teams make changes to some of the answers and when I go back, update and republish the bot (which was already published). The updated notes wouldn't show-up. Is there a way to tackle these two issues. Thanks again for all that you do!
Prasad-MSFT 8,841 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-28T17:26:15.9033333+00:00
1.To ensure that the bot only provides relevant responses and does not attach cards to every message, you can implement conditional logic in your bot's code. This logic will check the user's input and determine whether to attach cards or provide a direct answer.

2.When you update and republish your bot, the changes should reflect immediately. If the updated notes are not showing up, consider the following steps:

Sometimes, the issue might be due to caching. Clear the cache in your Teams app and try again.

Ensure that the updated bot code is correctly deployed to the Azure Bot Service. Verify that the deployment was successful and that there are no errors.

After republishing, manually verify that the changes are reflected by interacting with the bot.
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-04-16T15:21:15.3533333+00:00

Thank you very much for your support @Prasad-MSFT . I'll be working on this bit this week. I'll reach out here if I have any further questions. Thanks again for all that you do!

Your answer

Prasad-MSFT 8,841 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-21T06:14:16.88+00:00

Hi Santosh Vasudevan, thanks for raising your issue. Could you please let us know what applications or tools you want to Integrate with MS Teams? Please provide more details.
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-21T15:57:09.65+00:00

Hi @Prasad-MSFT - thanks for your swift response. I'm trying to integrate our internal platform/tool that our employees use to perform background checks. The idea is if one of the employee gets a similar scenario, and they type the situation, the bot should be able to suggest answers based on previous records. In a simpler term, I want to make this bot an interactive tool for the employees to find answers by integrating the platform so that the bot recognizes the history of a similar scenario and tells the employees on what to do next or where to go to, to find the answers like referring the SOPs, rules etc. Please let me know if you need any further details. Thanks for your time in advance! Internal Platform we use: https://verification-portal.us.backgroundcheck.com/
Prasad-MSFT 8,841 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-24T09:25:33.4066667+00:00

Setting Up Data Access

Ensure data from your background check platform is accessible through APIs. If historical records are stored in a database, expose relevant endpoints to fetch them.

Developing the Bot

Using the Microsoft Bot Framework, create a bot capable of processing natural language queries and interfacing with your internal platform.

Implementing NLP and Contextual Understanding

Integrate NLP libraries like Microsoft LUIS to enhance the bot's capability to understand and process natural language queries accurately.

Authentication and Security

Implement OAuth or other authentication methods for secure data access. Ensure user-specific actions are tracked appropriately.
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-24T15:18:45.1366667+00:00

Thank you very much @Prasad-MSFT . My background is L&D and I'm new to this stuff. I'll work on the suggestions you shared with me. Thanks for your support here!
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-24T15:26:25.9566667+00:00

Also on a side note, I created a bot last year. That one was created to help trainees to find relevant documents, program videos, FAQs etc. Also the Bot would answer some simple questions the trainers would have. The first message the Bot would say is, "How can I help, if you're not sure, trying clicking on these cards. Some of them noticed that, regardless of what they type, the Bot was attaching the cards for every questions they ask (please see screenshot below). Is there a way to make sure that the bot gets them what they need and nothing extra. Sometimes it give them something irrelevant. Sometime the teams make changes to some of the answers and when I go back, update and republish the bot (which was already published). The updated notes wouldn't show-up. Is there a way to tackle these two issues. Thanks again for all that you do!
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-03-25T13:48:56.3+00:00

Thank you very much @Prasad-MSFT . My background is L&D and I'm new to this stuff. I'll work on the suggestions you shared with me. Thanks for your support here!

Also on a side note, I created a bot last year. That one was created to help trainees to find relevant documents, program videos, FAQs etc. Also the Bot would answer some simple questions the trainers would have. The first message the Bot would say is, "How can I help, if you're not sure, trying clicking on these cards. Some of them noticed that, regardless of what they type, the Bot was attaching the cards for every questions they ask (please see screenshot below). Is there a way to make sure that the bot gets them what they need and nothing extra. Sometimes it give them something irrelevant. Sometime the teams make changes to some of the answers and when I go back, update and republish the bot (which was already published). The updated notes wouldn't show-up. Is there a way to tackle these two issues. Thanks again for all that you do!
Prasad-MSFT 8,841 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-28T17:26:15.9033333+00:00

1.To ensure that the bot only provides relevant responses and does not attach cards to every message, you can implement conditional logic in your bot's code. This logic will check the user's input and determine whether to attach cards or provide a direct answer.

2.When you update and republish your bot, the changes should reflect immediately. If the updated notes are not showing up, consider the following steps:

Sometimes, the issue might be due to caching. Clear the cache in your Teams app and try again.

Ensure that the updated bot code is correctly deployed to the Azure Bot Service. Verify that the deployment was successful and that there are no errors.

After republishing, manually verify that the changes are reflected by interacting with the bot.
Santosh Vasudevan 0 Reputation points

2025-04-16T15:21:15.3533333+00:00

Thank you very much for your support @Prasad-MSFT . I'll be working on this bit this week. I'll reach out here if I have any further questions. Thanks again for all that you do!

Share via

Integrate internal/external applications or tools with Teams bot

Your answer