Microsoft Teams is a nifty team communication app that was designed to make your life simpler. Integrating Microsoft Teams with your Genea system can be beneficial for several reasons, including :
Audit Log Notifications - Genea can notify you via MS Teams when changes are made to your Genea access system, including when users are created or deactivated, keys are issued or revoked, or changes are made to schedules or door groups, etc.
Access Control Notifications - Genea can notify you via MS Teams when important events occur on your property such as Card Access Denied, Controller Offline issues, AC Power Failure, Battery Backup Failure, Held Open Alarms, Door Forced Alarms, etc.
Visitor Log Notifications - Genea can notify you via MS Teams when visitors arrive at your property.
How to Integrate with Microsoft Teams
Follow the steps below to set up your integration.
1) Click on the 'Integrations' tab in your Genea admin dashboard. Find the Microsoft Teams integration and click 'Install.'
2) Copy the installation token that appears on your screen.
3) Within your Microsoft Teams instance, find and install the Genea app. To install, you will need to select a team channel to which you would like your Genea notifications to be sent.
4) Refresh the page to review the configuration settings.
5) Select the Microsoft Teams channels to which you would like your system notifications to be sent. We recommend creating separate private channels (i.e. #access-control, #audit-logs, #visitor-logs) for better readability and log type segregation. Which ever channels you select, these will be the channels in which you will receive your notifications.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The bot will only be able to direct message users who are present in the channel(s) to which the integration is directed.
6) Select your notification filters. When you click on a filter, a blue check mark will appear in the filter box. This means you have enabled the filter and will be notified when the given event occurs on your access control system. When a filter is selected, it is automatically saved and will go into effect immediately.
Managing app permission policies within Microsoft Teams
In case users are unable to search Genea app in the app store, it is required to verify app permission policies assigned to the users. App permission policies for the users can be managed from Microsoft Teams admin center. For Genea app to be available for searching and installing to users in the app store, you must ensure :
3rd party apps are allowed under Org-wide app settings.
Genea app is allowed under 3rd Party apps in app permission for individual users.
Allow 3rd party apps under Org-wide app settings.
Org-wide app settings govern the behavior for all users and override any other app permission policies assigned to users.
To make changes in org-wide app settings, login to Microsoft Teams admin center. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Manage apps. On the Manage apps page, select Org-wide app settings. Make sure that the “Allow third party apps” setting is set to ON.
Allow 3rd party apps in app permission for individual users.
As an admin, you can use app permission policies to control what apps are available to Microsoft Teams users in your organization. So, unlike Org-wide app settings which govern the behavior for all users, the app permissions for individual users determines the behavior on user level.
Even if the org-wide policy setting has “Allow third party apps” set to ON, you should ensure if the individual app permission for users also allows Genea app to be searched and installed from app store.
The app permission for a user can be a global (Org-wide default) policy or a custom policy. Note that making changes in a particular permission policy will apply to all users under that policy.
If you want to permit only selected users to be assigned with the Genea app, create and assign custom policies to individual users or users in a group. More about creating custom policies for users can be found at Microsoft Teams help document.
To view or change the current policy assigned to the user using the Microsoft Teams admin center, follow the steps below:
1) In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users, and click “View policies” of the user.
2) Locate the “App-permission policy”
3) To view the status of “Third party apps” installation of the user policy, click on the policy name. It will redirect to the “Permission Policies” setting page.
4) Under Third-party apps, the selected option should be one of the followings
Allow all apps : This option will allow all third party apps.
Allow specific apps and block all others : If you do not want your users to be permitted with a 3rd party app but Genea, then select this option and add Genea to be allowed.
Note: After you edit the global policy or assign a policy, it can take up to 24 hours for changes to take effect. So, wait for 24 hours before you verify the applied policy.
Once the policy is successfully applied onto the user accounts, users should log off from their account and re-login to be able to search and install Genea app from app store.
For more details on Microsoft Teams app policies, visit Microsoft Teams Documentation page.
Sample MS Teams notifications
Access Control Notifications
Audit Log Notifications
If you have any questions about the Microsoft Teams integration, please reach out to Genea Support at acsupport@getgenea.com, or via Live Chat in your Genea admin dashboard or mobile app.