Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams Capabilities Roadmap

Today Microsoft has released the roadmap to help organizations plan when they can move to Microsoft Teams. A summary of all the information looks something like:

• Q2 2018 will bring current Skype for Business Online Phone System (aka Cloud PBX) feature parity to Microsoft Teams.
• Interop Calling between SfB <-> Teams

But peruse in detail the features you need to move to Microsoft Teams yourself below.

Article on Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/Roadmap-for-Skype-for-Business-capabilities-coming-to-Microsoft/ba-p/119636

Download the PDF:
https://skypeandteams.blob.core.windows.net/artefacts/Skype%20for%20Business%20to%20Teams%20Capabilities%20Roadmap.pdf

Messaging Roadmap

Meetings Roadmap

Calling Roadmap

If you are interested in Teams, you may want to attend tomorrows AMA:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-AMA/Announcing-a-Microsoft-Teams-AMA/m-p/117032?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral#M1007

Skype for Business User Tip #50: Using Microsoft Flow to Send a Skype4B IM or Create Online Meeting

Today’s Skype for Business user tip comes from @ErwinBierens.

Microsoft Flow now gives access to send instant messages and create a new online meeting. Here is how:
https://erwinbierens.com/microsoft-flow-skype-for-business-connector/

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/skypeforbiz/

For a ton more cool User Tips, get the Skype for Business User Tips & Tricks for Anyone Free eBook

See the other Skype for Business User QuickTips (formerly known as Lync)
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search/label/Skype4BUserTip

Office 365 Phone System (aka Cloud PBX) Call Queues Get Basic Call Statistics via PowerShell

Just noticed that the Microsoft is adding more Contact Center (lite!) functionality to Office 365 “Phone System” (formerly known as “Cloud PBX”) Call Queues. Call Queues just got a new feature that allows administrators to use PowerShell to see how many callers are in each Call Queue.

This is in addition to the Agent “Opt Out” commandlet, reported by us on 9/12/2017, and announced at Microsoft Ignite 2017. (but still not available yet.)

If you use the Get-CsHuntGroup Powershell commandlet you will see a new property called “Statistics”.

So, with no calls in the Call Queue the value Current queue size = 0:

If another caller calls into this Call Queue at the same time and the cmdlet is run again we get 1:

And 2

In my testing the cmdlet reports the queue size immediately. (no 1 minute delay like Skype for Business Server RGS).

There also seems to be reference to a hunt Group API, namely “HuntGroupServiceCallBackuri”. For the Call Queue in our example it is: https://noam.acd.services.skypeforbusiness.com/api/rgs/incomingcall. When I plug that in a browser I get “{"Message":"The requested resource does not support http method 'GET'."}” as a response, so perhaps that is not working yet?

The Statistics PowerShell property seems to already work in our customer tenants, but is not listed in the Microsoft web documentation for Get-csHuntGroup.

Microsoft Teams User Tip #20: How to Grab a Screenshot of Shared Content without Navigation & Button Overlap?

Meeting attendees regularly want to do a screenshot of meeting shared content. Two items that can be on top of the content you want to screenshot is the menu on the left of the Microsoft Teams client and the call controls. (shown below). In this short article we will give the steps to get rid of these two items quickly.

The call controls

To get rid of the meeting content partially being behind the navigation menu on the right of the Teams client and get rid of the call controls, just right click twice in black area outside the red border around the meeting content.

Just right click twice in black area outside the red border around the meeting content.

Now you can use OneNote clipping (Windows + Shift + S) or your favorite screenshot app (I used Greenshot)

To see more Microsoft Teams User Tips:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search/label/MicrosoftTeamsUserTip

.[Video] Learn Microsoft Teams in 5 Minutes:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2016/11/learning-microsoft-teams-in-5-minutes.html

Planned Features in Skype for Business Server 2019

Below is my Tech Community article on the features that are planned for Skype for Business Server 2019 and how to plan for it from Microsoft Ignite 2019 session BRK2035.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Ignite-Blog/MVP-Live-Blog-BRK2035-Plan-Your-UC-Refresh-Correctly-Skype-for/ba-p/111380

Photo credit

Landis Technologies Announces Microsoft Teams Attendant Console

Orlando, Florida Sept 25, 2017 - Landis Technologies is announcing and demonstrating Attendant Pro for Office 365 Phone System is now enabled as a Microsoft Teams Attendant Console by using the new Graph API for Microsoft Teams at Microsoft Ignite 2017. Attendant Pro enables receptionists and operators to efficiently transfer calls to Microsoft Teams users using the coming Skype to Teams interop.

Attendant Pro for Microsoft Teams is the first Microsoft Certified attendant console to integrate Microsoft Teams into the receptionist console client using the new Microsoft Graph API's. Operators can easily transfer callers to users in Teams, Skype for Business groups or Exchange Lists with 1 Click. The Attendant Pro user interface is a clean & familiar Microsoft Teams user experience.

• Familiar Microsoft Teams User Experience
• Handle Calls destined for Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams users
• Microsoft Teams, are now seamlessly integrated into Attendant Pro allow 1 click transfers to Teams, Skype for Business Groups or Exchange Distribution List Users
• Efficiently Search for Teams or Skype for Business users in simple, unified user interface

1-Microsoft Teams User Interface. 2-Handle calls destined for Teams users 3-Microsoft Teams are integrated into the attendant experience 4-Efficiently search and transfer to Teams users.

Attendant Pro seamlessly handles incoming calls that need to be transferred to Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams users, allowing you to use Attendant Pro for Skype for Business now and transition to Microsoft Teams when you are ready. Your investment in Attendant Pro for Skype for Business & Office 365 is future proof because it can be used for Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business contacts.

See a demo of Attendant Pro for Microosft Teams and Skype for Business at Booth #1456 or email paul@landiscomputer.com.

https://www.landiscomputer.com/attendantpro/

Matt’s MSIgnite 2017 Skype for Business & Microsoft Teams Notes

Here is where I’ll be keeping my notes about important announcements around Skype for Business & Microsoft Teams. You can always browse to http://bit.ly/mattignite17 for this article.

Will try to answer your burning questions about Skype for Business & Microsoft Teams

• What New with Teams and Skype for Business?
• What’s Microsoft’s story about Skype for Business & Microsoft Teams?
• What Do I say about Skype for Business & Microsoft Teams?
• What’s up with “Microsoft Phone System”?
• etc.

Some Skype4B/Teams Resources:

• Satya Vision Keynote Monday, Sept 25 9M EST LiveStream https://ignite.microsoft.com
  #GS10 - Microsoft 365: Transform your communications with Microsoft Teams & Skype for Business Sept 25, 2017 at 2:15pm EST LiveStream: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Ignite-Content-2017/Microsoft-365-Transform-your-communications-with-Microsoft-Teams/m-p/106055
• SfB Broadcast: Skype for Business & the Vision for Unified Communications https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa2pTWYmhtE 
  
• Praveen Maloo’s What’s Happening Around Teams & SfB at Ignite

Notable Microsoft Announcements/News

• Monday – 25th
• Microsoft Teams Will Evolve as the primary client … in Office 365 and replace Skype for Business Over Time” Click Here
• Microsoft Teams Gets PSTN Calling Click Here
• “Microsoft Teams Meeting Recording & Transcription in Preview for release soon…” – Session GS10 Click Here
• UC Vision Keynote GS10 Indicates vNext Features (Join me in session BRK2035 Tues for more)
• Refreshed Mainstream Support
• Quality, Security & Performance Fixes
• Refreshed Skype for Business Client
• IT Pro & Voice centric release
• Cloud Connected Analytics & Voice Apps
• Improved Teams Interop
• Tuesday – 26th
• Microsoft will Deliver Skype for Business Server 2019. Here are the Features click here
• Graph API Will Do Call Control & Media Eventually BRK2197 click here
• Same Platform Used to Build CQ & AA Coming to Microsoft Teams Eventually. BRK2197 click here
• Wednesday – 27th
• Call Queues & Auto Attendants New Features Summary click here
• Renaming Cloud PBX to Phone System & Other name changes click here
• My Microsoft Tech Community Article on New Features in Skype for Business Server 2019 click here
• Microsoft Teams Doesn’t Use SIP click here
• Thursday - 28th
• Friday – 29th

Interesting Microsoft Teams & Skype for Business Vendor Announcements

• Embrava / Byrne Power & Data Busy Light in Outlet Click Here
• Sonus Cloudlink for Microsoft Teams Announced Click Here
• Polycom VoxBox USB/BT Speakerphone Video First Sighting Click Here
• Audiocodes 445HD IP Phone Color Screen, LCD Button Click Here
• Lenovo Introduces Skype Room System Video First Sighting Click Here
• Polycom Indicates Hardware To Work With Microsoft Teams
• Landis Technologies Introduces Attendant Console for Microsoft Teams Click Here

What I will be doing at Ignite 2017!

• Doing a Discussion in BRK3370 on: What Microsoft Teams Means for Skype for Business Partners & Customers” – Sign up here.
• Official MVP Blogger on several sessions: (see articles here)
• Skype for Business vNext,
• Call Queues & Auto Attendants
• Microsoft Teams Adoption
• Landis Technologies is Showing Attendant Pro at booth #1456
• Complete article on what we’ll be doing here.
• Meetings & Live Podcast Sessions
  
• Seeing what’s new!

Microsoft Teams User Tip #19: Teams SnapChat Feature: Skype for Business IM’s Disappear After a Period of Time

It appears like Skype for Business instant messages entirely disappear after a certain amount of time. (appears like 24hrs to me, but thats a rough estimate)

Take a looks in Chats after 24hrs, and presto, Gone!

So, just be aware, if you use Teams to Skype for Business IM Chats, they will not be saved or searchable in Teams. (Teams makes this clear). Also, they entirely disappear like a SnapChat photo!

Microsoft Teams Get PSTN Calling & Becomes 1 Stop Communication App: How It Works

Microsoft Teams, with Guest Access and now PSTN Calling now reveals Microsoft’s ambition that Microsoft Teams can serve as a complete communication system for internal and external communications.

What does v1 of Teams calling look like?

Call | Contacts Tab

Can make calls. Notice the once window design. The call position indicates a call is on hold or the user has navigated away from the active call.

end.

Calls | History Tab

Call history is a simple list of calls. Very clearly indicated missed calls. A “More Actions” menu gives contextually relevant actions. (Chat for Teams users, Call Back for PSTN Calls)

end.

Calls | Voicemail Tab

test

1 shows the Visual Voicemail playback. 2 shows the transcription right inline without jumping to Outlook.

Dial Pad

It can be minimized.

Expanded

End.

Active Conversation Panel

Full screen by default.

“More Actions” button provides Hold, Transfer and Dial Pad (for DTMF).

How to Transfer

More Actions | Transfer |

Search and select a Contact and then Transfer.

end.

Changing USB Devices

Can only be done during a call at this time.

Configuration Options

Teams Avatar(lower left) |  Options | Calls

The options are around “Call Answering Rules” (aka call forwarding) and “Preferred calling Application”.

FAQ

Can Team “Calls” Handle more than one call at a time? Not at this time. It will disconnect to answer or make another call.

Summary

PSTN Calling in Teams effectively makes Microsoft Teams one client users can live in for internal and external communication. Perhaps more importantly for some, without Skype for Business.

Microsoft Teams User Tips #18: Keep Multiple Microsoft Teams Accounts / Tenants Open Simultaneously

Several things conspire to make it ideal to be able to keep multiple Microsoft Teams Accounts/Tenants open simultaneously. Unfortunately, just opening several Browser windows and switching to the appropriate Accounts/Tenants doesn’t seem to work since all the browsers switch to the same Account/Tenant.

But we can achieve this using Chrome “People” feature. Essentially Chrome People seems to make separate browser sessions, which allows us to stay in multiple separate Accounts/Tenants.

Let’s get going…

Using Chrome, click on the “People” button beside the Minimize/Maximize/Close button in the upper right of Chrome.

Add Person

Type in a Name (to identify the Account/Tenant). Assign an avatar to identify it in your task bar if you wish.

No need to create additional Google Account, “No Thanks”

Now sign into Microsoft Teams

And switch to the Account/Tenant you want this “Person”/Session to show.

Repeat this for each Guest Accounts/Tenants you interact with regularly and you should be able to interact with all the Guest Accounts instantly.

How to Have this Session (Person) StartUp in Correct Account/Tenant

Now we want to assign this “Person” (Account/Tenant browser sesssion) an URL that opens the correct tenant.

An Account/Tenant URL like like this.
https://teams.microsoft.com/_?tenantId=72f988bf-86f1-41af-91ab-2d7cd011db47

When you switch between Accounts/Tenants in Microsoft Teams this URL is shown briefly and you can copy it. We want to copy this URL and make it the default startup web page for this Session.

So let’s switch the Account/Tenant we want to work with. Do this in Teams:

Now copy that URL…

Now go to Chrome, then Customize & Control Chrome | Settings |

Go to On startup | Open a specific page or set of pages | Add a new page | and copy the URL we got above.

Summary

Now you can stay in in multiple Accounts/Tenants simultaneously.

What this solution does:

• Be in multiple Accounts/Tenants at the same time
• Keep Presence (roughly) Correct.

What this solution does not (yet) do:

• Automatically sign-in using correct credentials
• Allow users to make audio/video calls
• Windows are not tabs in one browser
• etc.

If you have any ideas on how to make this solution even better, please comment!

To see more Microsoft Teams User Tips:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search/label/MicrosoftTeamsUserTip

.[Video] Learn Microsoft Teams in 5 Minutes:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2016/11/learning-microsoft-teams-in-5-minutes.html

Microsoft Teams User Tip #17: Moderation & How to Delete Other User’s Messages

Things are great, users are really making use of Microsoft Teams and then…you would like to “cleanup” some messages in a Team channel. How do you do that?

By default users can only delete their own messages.

But not other users.

If you would like to configure Microsoft Teams so Team Owners can delete other user’s messages, you are going to have to nicely ask your Administrator to make a change in the Office 365 Admin Center. (NOTE: this is a Microsoft Teams wide setting)

This is what they will need to do:

In the Admin Center

Admin Center | Settings | Services & add-ins | Microsoft Teams.

Now expand Messaging and turn “Allow owner to delete all messages” = ON. Save.

In the Team

In the Microsoft Teams client, go to Teams.

Now select More Options | View USers | Settings | & enable “Owners can delete all messages”.

Now Owners should be able to delete other user’s messages. Let’s Check:

Sure enough! Great.

To see more Microsoft Teams User Tips:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search/label/MicrosoftTeamsUserTip

.[Video] Learn Microsoft Teams in 5 Minutes:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2016/11/learning-microsoft-teams-in-5-minutes.html

Cloud PBX Call Queues Get Additional Contact Center Feature PowerShell Commands: Serial Routing & Agent Opt Out

It is not currently on the Office 365 Roadmap, but my alert colleague, CJ Martin, notified me that it looks like some work is being done to add some new functionality to Skype for Business Cloud PBX Call Queues (aka Hunt Groups) based on the Microsoft Set-CsHuntGroup documentation, which includes new PowerShell parameters to configure Serial Routing and Allow [Agent – see below] Opt Out.

Both of these features are highly anticipated by those using Cloud PBX Call Queues in Attendant console and light contact center scenarios.

Below are the commands.

And apparently to allow agent Opt Out.

We weren’t sure if we missed something in all the Microsoft Teams buzz, so we went right over to Office 365 and checked, and sure enough the commandlets are there so we gave them a whirl:

The commandlet response was:

The AgentOptOut feature is not available yet.

When will “yet” be? No guarantees here, but looking forward to this type of functionality quite eagerly!

Sources: https://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/mt796457.aspx
Office 365 Roadmap: https://products.office.com/en-us/business/office-365-roadmap

Microsoft Teams User Tip #16: Guest Access & Searching Chat History

The Problem

If you have 1 to 1 chats with Users who are a guest in your Account and you are a Guest in their Account and you both are Guests in other Accounts. You could conceivably have 1 to 1 Chats with one Contact scattered among many different accounts: You could have a chat with the user as a guest in your Account, you as a guest in their account, or you both are a guest in unlimited numbers of other Accounts.This will make searching for a past conversation history very difficult, since users cannot search across all accounts.

Searching for Your Conversation History for User (in 1 or more Accounts)

So if you want to search for history for a specific user it means switching to each of the Accounts a conversation might have happened with a particular user and searching for the contact. So switch to an Account and then type the search string in the Search of that Account and click Search.

Most likely you will now need to filter the search string by user. Click on the Filter button.

Now reenter the search string and type in the user. (sadly you can’t copy and paste the user name! you need to let Teams “build up” the name, so you need to be paying attention you select the correct user!)

How to Work Around the Problem

I’m not really sure if there is a good solution to this problem. One way to go about it is to have a personal practice of only initiating Chats (1 to 1 conversations that aren’t related to a specific Team) in your own Account. This would mean adding them as a Guest even if you are already a Guest in their Account. But this forces the other user to have their history spread among various accounts.

I suppose another practice is to not use Teams for 1 to 1 Chats and use Skype for Business instead. Once again, not a great solution.

Summary

This is definitely a significant challenge for Chat / 1 to 1 / Adhoc conversations in Microsoft Teams.

To see more Microsoft Teams User Tips:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search/label/MicrosoftTeamsUserTip

.[Video] Learn Microsoft Teams in 5 Minutes:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2016/11/learning-microsoft-teams-in-5-minutes.html