Introduction
The Onset of the global pandemic back in 2020 had put forth many challenges for the Organizations ranging from digitizing their operations to remotely managing their workforce. One of these major hurdles had been upskilling of their workforce and managing the organization wide L&D operations in a remote yet effective fashion.
SAP responded to this new global business requirement by enabling an integration of Successfactors with MS Teams which is one the most widely used Messenger in large scale organizations.
This solution enabled several Organizations across the globe manage their Virtual learning with a seamless User experience as well as L&D operation management.
The Solution
SAP has released standard Integration with MS Teams to enhance the Virtual Learning. This provides below advantages -
- Learning admins have the ability to select the Teams VLS server for the classes which are planned to be delivered virtually during the class creation process. This automatically creates the virtual meetings in Teams.
- As admins update the time slots at the class level, this also updates the virtual sessions in Teams. This eliminates the need to perform these tasks in Teams and lessens the admin burden on training delivery.
- Ability for instructors to launch the virtual sessions on teams directly from their My Classes area.
- Ability for users to join the virtual sessions directly from their My Assignments tile.
- Ability to automatically record learning events for the virtual trainings based on the attendance in the virtual sessions. Admins must enable this on the class level and the VLS Attendance Processing APM must be scheduled in the Client’s LMS.
The configuration consists of two phases as specified below
- Configuration on MS Azure which generates client ID and Key.
- Configuration on LMS which includes configuration of VLS file along with scheduling the relevant APMs.
SAP has issued a Public documentation which covers the basic configuration for setting up the Integration between LMS and Microsoft Teams.
Please find below SAP Resources which cover the Azure configuration steps in detail.
In this article, We cover the secondary aspects of effectively using MS Teams VLS in the LMS Administration. This can also be applicable on other VLS Servers such as Zoom.
Step 1 : Additional Configuration on LMS
Once the above integration configuration is complete, We need the further configuration for utilising the most of the MS Teams VLS.
- Navigate to the Entity Configuration under System Administration -> Configuration. Select the Class from the Entity Dropdown. And Enable the visibility for all the VLS Settings
As per the process requirements, We can make it mandatory by marking the first checkbox.
Fig1. Entity Configurations for VLS
This would make these options available under Details , while creating a Class.
- Navigate to Process VLS Attendance APM under System Administration -> Automatic Processes.
Fig 2. Process VLS Attendance APM
The above APM is to be scheduled so LMS automatically marks the Learning History as per the attendance in the Teams Application. This is further controlled by the VLS Settings options available under Class Details.
Fig 3. VLS Settings as available under Class Details
The minimum percentage attendance is calculated basis the duration an Instructor runs a session. For e.g. A session is run for 100 minutes by an Instructor while this option is set at 70. So any User who attended the session for atleast 70 minutes would be given a completion for this class.
- If a Class is part of a scheduled Program wherein a User is supposed to be enrolled. Then in that case , We need to also schedule the Program VLS Enrollment/Withdrawal APM from the Automatic Processes.
This needs to be triggered so the System can trigger the Program VLS Enrollment for the Users.
Fig 4. Program VLS Enrollment/Withdrawal APM
- Once the Integration has been successfully made, We would also be able to see the VLS settings option available under the Instructor. To enable any particular Instructor to launch VLS , we need to make the below configurations. Keep the Account ID as Instructor’s mail ID with which he/she logs into the MS Teams and keep the password as blank.
Under the actions tab, Select the radio button to Use Existing Account.
Fig 5. Instructor VLS Settings
This step might vary depending on the MS Azure configurations of the Customer.
Summary
Microsoft Teams VLS provides a very seamless experience of Virtual Learning for both the Users and the Administrative Team.
With minimal interference needed from the Admin or the Instructors in terms of maintaining attendance and User tracking, This has been a very efficient substitute for the traditional classes conducted in an Offline manner.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the above and check out SAP resources listed below for more understanding on the topic.
SAP Community on Implementing MS Teams VLS Integration
Check out other interesting topics posted by Members below.
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References:
1, KBA reference from SAP Launchpad
2, We have used all the Screenshots from our Demo system.
3, SAP Documentation from https://help.sap.com/
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