User Guide: Embed Widgets on Microsoft Teams

Last updated on May 31, 2024

This user guide explains how to embed a Dashboard Widget on Microsoft Teams.

Guide for Portal Admins and Dashboard Owners.

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Introduction

Is your organization using Microsoft Teams? Integrating your InfoDesk Dashboard or selected Dashboard widgets on Teams is a smart way to ensure that your stakeholders don’t miss any news from your portal. You can integrate the full Dashboard or select specific Dashboard widgets to share on Teams. This article and the attached User Guide explain how to embed a Dashboard Widget on Microsoft Teams.

You can also integrate InfoDesk Dashboards and Dashboard Widgets on other platforms. Reach out to your InfoDesk Account Manager or Customer Success to discuss your needs and explore all possibilities.

Integration Prerequisites

When embedding Dashboard widgets on other websites, you need an authentication mechanism. The recommended authentication mechanism is single sign-on, SSO. An alternative authentication mechanism is Key Authentication.

SSO Single sign-on

The easiest way to integrate is to use single sign-on (SSO). SSO allows viewers to seamlessly access the Dashboard Widgets from your intranet without the need for a username and password. The viewer is not required to have an account in Wide Narrow, and it can be created automatically.

Note that if you don’t have SSO in place, you will get a message that “SSO is not configured for this portal” when embedding the widget.

Contact your InfoDesk Account Manager or Customer Success for more information and assistance with the SSO implementation.

Machine Users/Key Authentication

If you don’t have SSO implemented, you can use Key Authentication to give your stakeholders access to the Dashboard Widgets on Teams. A prerequisite is that a dedicated Dashboard user with a generated authentication key, a so-called Machine user, is created on the User page in Admin.

To create the machine user, you need help from InfoDesk Support.

When the Machine user is created, Portal Admins can prepare the embedding by copying the Machine User Authentication Key on the User page in Admin. 

Contact InfoDesk Support for more information and assistance.

How to embed a Dashboard Widget on Teams

In your Wide Narrow Portal

STEP 1

Option 1. Select widgets from the Shared widget page:

1. Navigate to Dashboards and click on the Go to Widgets tab at the top of the page.
2. Click the Embed widget button on the widget you want to embed.
   Please note that only widgets with a visible embed button can be embedded.

Option 2. Select widgets from a specific Dashboard:

1. Navigate to the Dashboard overview page.
2. On the Dashboard card, click the More button (three dots) and select Manage Widgets.

3. Mouse over the widget you want to embed. Click the More button and select Embed Widget.

STEP 2

Copy the dashboard widget URL for use on Teams by choosing the SSO or Key Authentication tab on the Embed widget pop-up. If you need assistance, contact InfoDesk Support.

With SSO implemented

1. Select the Single Sign-on (SSO) tab on the Embed widget pop-up.
   
2. Copy the embed widget URL starting with 'https://api.ciportal' on the upper text bar and save it to paste on Teams.
3. Proceed with the instructions under the "In Microsoft Teams" section below.

Machine User/Key Authentication

You can use Machine Users/Key Authentication to give your stakeholders access to the Dashboard Widgets on Teams. To create the machine user, you need help from InfoDesk Support. 

When the Machine user is created by InfoDesk Support:

1. Go to the User page in Admin and select Machine Users.
2. Open the Machine User account and click the Display Key button.
3. Copy the Machine User Key.

Follow the instructions in STEP 1 above to open the Embed widget pop-up and continue with the following:

1. Select the Key Authentication tab on the Embed Widget pop-up.
2. Replace “REPLACE_WITH_KEY” in the URL displayed in the upper text bar with the generated Machine User Key.
3. Copy the entire URL from the upper text bar in order to use it on Teams and follow the instructions under the "In Microsoft Teams" section below.

In Microsoft Teams

1. Open the Teams channel where you want to embed the dashboard widget.
2. Click the Add a tab button (+ icon) and select the Website app.
3. Under Tab name: Enter the name of the widget you want to integrate.
4. Paste the copied widget URL from the embed widget pop-up.
5. Click Save.

The widget is now displayed as a new clickable tab on top of your Teams channel, ready to be shared with the Team members on Microsoft Teams.

User Access: Portal Admins and Superusers with Owner or Writer access to Dashboards can manage and embed dashboard widgets. Portal Admins have access to the User page in Admin.