Employee channels

Nexthink Employee channels enable IT teams to automate communication with employees through the Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot applications.

Depending on your current licensing model, this capability may require an additional license. Contact your Nexthink representative for more information

Employee channel for Spark

Configure an employee channel to allow access to the Spark application in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot. This enables employees to resolve issues through an AI-driven IT agent that leverages device context and Nexthink DEX data. Spark can execute IT-approved diagnostic and remediation actions when applicable.

For more information on Spark configuration, refer to the Setting up and managing Spark documentation.

For more information about Spark Microsoft Teams and M365 Copilot app security and architecture, refer to Spark Microsoft 365 app security.

Employee channel for Workflows

Configure an employee channel to send notifications and ask questions to employees within workflows. This enables:

• Non-disruptive, asynchronous communication: Employees can respond when it suits them.
• User-friendly: Uses Microsoft Teams, a familiar and widely adopted platform.
• Single channel: Provides a centralized history for tracking and reference.

This capability complements existing campaign mechanisms:

• Collaboration tool messages: Best for non-urgent information or self-help workflow questions.
• Campaigns: Ideal for critical communications, surveys or urgent remediations.

Refer to the Message thinklet documentation for more information.

Prerequisites

To enable an employee channel via the Nexthink Microsoft Teams application, ensure you:

1

Collect User Principal Name (UPN)

• Use the Collector Option to gather the UPN for each user in clear text. Refer to the Configuring Collector level anonymization documentation for more information.

2

Configure Entra ID connector

• Obtain your Microsoft Entra tenant ID, which is required for configuring the application in Nexthink. Refer to the Microsoft Documentation to learn more about how to find your Microsoft Entra tenant ID.
• Configure the Microsoft Entra ID inbound connector for your Microsoft tenant. Refer to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) connector for more information.

3

Verify permissions

• Ensure you have the necessary permissions to install custom applications in your Microsoft Teams environment. Refer to the Microsoft Documentation to learn more.
• Liaise with your Microsoft Teams Administrator to verify the installation process for custom applications in your organization.

Accessing Employee channels

1. Select the Administration module from the main menu.
2. Select Employee channels under the Integrations section.

Managing Employee channels

The table on the Employee Channels page contains the following fields:

• Connector: The Microsoft Entra ID connector selected for this configuration
• Type: Type of employee channel. Currently, only Entra ID is supported, allowing communication with Microsoft Teams and Copilot.

Hover over the employee channel to reveal icons on the right side of the selected item:

• Click Edit to open the configuration page.
• Click Delete to delete the employee channel.

If you delete the employee channel, employees will no longer be able to use the Nexthink Teams application. In this case, you must uninstall the application from all employee devices in your organization.

Creating a new employee channel

To configure the employee channel:

1. Go to Administration > Employee Channels.
2. Click New channel configuration in the top-right corner of the Employee Channels administration page.

1. Enter the configuration details in the input fields:

   • Entra ID connector: Select the Microsoft Entra ID connector for this configuration.
   • Tenant of the selected Entra ID: The system displays the Tenant ID associated with the selected Microsoft Entra ID connector.
   • Welcome Message: The message users see each time they install the application. The label and scope depend on your configuration:

     • If only Workflows or only Spark is enabled, the field label may reflect the corresponding product.
     • If both Workflows and Spark are enabled, the message applies across both products.
2. Save to create the new employee channel. Once saved, install the custom application package.

A single Microsoft Tenant ID can only be associated with one Nexthink tenant, meaning:

• Multiple Nexthink tenants—e.g., development and production—require separate Microsoft Tenant IDs to configure employee channels successfully.
• A single Nexthink tenant can include users from different Microsoft Tenant IDs under multiple employee-channel configurations. In these cases, the system automatically selects the correct channel based on each user’s UPN.

Installing application

To ensure proper user mapping between Microsoft Teams and your Nexthink tenant, set up a new employee channel in Nexthink before installing the related application package.

Once you have configured a new employee channel, install the custom application package for your organization's Microsoft Teams application:

1. Log in to Nexthink Community to download the custom Nexthink application package from Nexthink Infinity Release notes > Downloads.

   • If both Spark and Workflows are enabled, install only the Spark application package. Workflows will then use the same Spark channel to communicate with employees within Microsoft Teams.
   • If only Spark or only Workflows is enabled, pick the corresponding application: either the Nexthink Microsoft 365 App for Spark or the Nexthink Microsoft Teams App for Workflows.
2. (Optional step for Spark) Customize the Nexthink Microsoft 365 App for Spark to create a consistent, organization-branded experience for your employees. This will not affect Spark's functionality. Extract the .zip package and modify the application name, description, and icons.

Replacing the logo

• In the extracted .zip package, locate the two icon files: color.png and outline.png.
• Replace them with your custom images, keeping the original dimensions:

  • color.png: 192 × 192 px
  • outline.png: 32 × 32 px

Do not rename color.png and outline.png. Spark recognizes the logo images by these file names.

Changing the display name and descriptions

• Open the manifest.json file in a text editor, for example, Visual Studio Code.
• Edit the following fields as needed:

  • name: Replaces the Spark application name displayed in Microsoft Teams or Microsoft 365.
  • short: Replaces the short description shown in application details.
  • full: Replaces the full description shown in application details.
• Save the file.

1. Install the Nexthink application package as a .zip file manually in your organization’s Microsoft Teams environment. Once all steps are completed, depending on your use case, you can:

   • Use Microsoft Teams in your message thinklets to contact employees as part of an automation flow.
   • Allow employees to use Spark in Microsoft Teams and Copilot to resolve IT incidents.

If you previously installed the Nexthink Microsoft Teams App for Workflows and later install the Nexthink Microsoft 365 App for Spark, the Workflows app will be overridden by the Spark app. Your existing conversation history will be preserved in the Spark app.

Refer to the Microsoft Manage custom apps documentation for more information.

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