Through Awardco's integration with Viva Engage, organizations can seamlessly share public Awardco recognitions within their communities. To accomplish this, you will need to create a bot user, add that user to any communities where you want recognitions to post, create a Viva Engage application to impersonate that user, and connect that application to Awardco. You must have a Microsoft 365 admin to create the user, ensure the user has a valid license to access Viva Engage, and be logged in as an Awardco admin to connect the bot user’s account to Awardco. Follow the steps outlined in the article below to configure the integration successfully.

Note: This integration allows you to view the recognition feed for spot recognitions in Viva Engage. However, it does not support sending recognitions directly through Viva Engage, including recognitions from automated programs, or displaying images and videos in the feed.

 

1. Register an Application in Microsoft Entrata ID
2. Get the Client ID and Client Secret
3. Configure API Permissions
4. Creating a Bot User
5. Adding a Bot User to a Community
6. Connecting the Viva Engage Application to Awardco
7. Setting Up Metadata for Recognition Posting
8. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

 Register an Application in Microsoft Entra ID

1. A Microsoft 365 Admin (or someone with the appropriate permissions, like Application Developer or Cloud Application Administrator) needs to log in to the Microsoft Azure Portal (http://portal.azure.com).
2. Select Microsoft Entra ID (or search for it).
3. Under Manage, select App registrations, and then click + New registration.
4. Fill in Registration Details:
   1. Name: Give it a meaningful name (e.g., "Awardco Viva Engage Integration").
   2. Supported account types: Select "Accounts in this organizational directory only" (Single tenant).
   3. Redirect URI: Enter the following replacing [your-subdomain] with your company’s https://[your-subdomain].awardco.com/viva-engage/auth.
5. Register the application.

Get the Client ID and Client Secret

1. Once registered, you'll be taken to the app's Overview page. The Application (client) ID is the Client ID. Save this for later
2. Client Secret: In the left navigation, go to Certificates & secrets. Click + New client secret, give it a description, select an expiration time, and click Add. IMMEDIATELY copy the Value of the secret.
   • Note: This is your new Client Secret, and you cannot retrieve it after you leave this page.

Configure API Permissions

1. In the left navigation, go to API permissions.
2. Click + Add a permission.
3. Add the following permissions
   • Under Microsoft Graph
     • openid
     • profile
     • User.read
   • Under Yammer
     • user_impersonation
4. Grant Admin Consent: After adding the permission, an admin must click Grant admin consent for [Your Organization]

Creating a Bot User

To create your bot user to post recognitions:

1. Log into the Microsoft 365 Admin Center as a Microsoft 365 admin. https://admin.microsoft.com/Adminportal/Home#/users
2. Click “Add a user”.

3. Name the user as you’d like. For example, you could make their display name “My Company Recognition”.
4. Give it a username and a password. You can also have the password emailed to you. Make sure to save the username and password because you will need it later!
5. Select a license to give the user. Make sure the user has access to Viva Engage.
6. You can skip optional settings unless you want to make any edits.
7. Review the information and, if it looks correct, click “Finish adding”.
8. Make sure to save the username and password because you will need it later!

Adding a Bot User to a Community

1. Use the new bot user to log into Viva Engage https://web.yammer.com/ . You may want to do this in an incognito window of your browser.
2. Have the user create and/or join any communities to which you would like to post recognitions

An optional way for admins to give bot permissions to post in any community:

1. Log in to Viva Engage (Yammer) as a global administrator.
2. Go to the Yammer Admin Center (Settings > Network Admin).
3. Select Admins from the menu.
4. Find your Bot user
5. Grant them Verified Admin status. 
    

Connecting the Viva Engage Application to Awardco

To connect the Viva Engage application to Awardco:

1. Navigate to https://[you-subdomain].awardco.com/settings/integrations/viva-engage
2. Select the Admin button at the bottom of the left navigation menu.
3. Select “Platform”, then “Integrations”, then click into the Integrations Library within the admin portal.
4. Find and select "Microsoft Viva Engage"
5. Click Begin Setup
6. Click Next
7. Enter in the Client ID you saved earlier
8. Enter the Client Secret you saved earlier
9. Sign into the bot you want to have posting the recognitions in the new page that opens
10. Click Continue
11. Select a Community you want the bot to post to
     

Setting Up Metadata for Recognition Posting

To set up Metadata Rules so that users from different locations or departments can see recognitions pertaining to people they know (i.e. :

1. Access Community Settings.
2. Select a metadata field on which to base the rules.
3. Click “Add Rule”.
4. Select one or more metadata value(s).
5. Select which Viva Engage Community you would like to post recognitions for those metadata value(s).
6. Click “Save Rule”.
7. Continue to add and save rules as needed.
8. You can turn off the “Default Community” if you do not want any recognitions to post for users that do not have one of the listed metadata values.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What if I do not see any communities in Awardco?
   • Add the bot user to all the communities to which you want to post recognitions
2. What if recognitions are not posted in Viva Engage?
   • Ensure that the integration is not paused in “Pause Integration”
   • Make sure that the default community is set or the metadata rules apply for the recipient of the recognition.
   • Check that you are looking at the right community
   • Ensure that the recognitions are public.
3. Can I customize how the recognitions look in Viva Engage?
   • Due to the limitations of the Viva Engage API, we cannot format the recognition text or allow any customization.
4. Will comments and reactions in Viva Engage appear in the Awardco feed?
   • No, this is not currently possible.
5. Am I able to connect Sharepoint with Viva Engage to show recognitions?
   • You can set this up by following the steps in our Showing Recognition in SharePoint Using the Viva Engage Integration support article.

If you have any questions, please contact Awardco Admin Support.