New Microsoft Teams PowerShell version 4.9.3 released with new features and bug fixes

It's time for IT admins to install the new Microsoft Teams PowerShell module to manage more Teams Call Queue, Validating Voicemail, DialPlan & Normalization rules.

- Adds Certificate parameter to Connect-MicrosoftTeams.
- Adds WelcomeTextToSpeechPrompt parameter to [New|Set]-CsCallQueue.
- Fixes issues with pipeline input for Test-CsEffectiveTenantDialPlan & Test-CsVoiceNormalizationRule cmdlets.
- Releases [Get|Set]-CsOnlineVoicemailValidationConfiguration cmdlets.
- Releases [Get|Set|Grant|Remove|New]-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingPolicy cmdlets.
- In CsTeamsMeetingBrandingPolicy cmdlets, there is a known issue that prevents using the 'Remove' list modifier when trying to delete a TeamsMeetingBrandingTheme or a NdiAssuranceSlate. To remove all elements from MeetingBrandingThemes, the workaround is setting the values to null, example: Set-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingPolicy -Identity <Identity> -MeetingBrandingThemes $null -DefaultTheme "".
 To update the MeetingBrandingThemes, use the [Set]-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingPolicy cmdlet and pass the list of desired MeetingBrandingThemes created with the [New]-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingTheme cmdlet. Example:
 $exampleMeetingBrandingTheme = New-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingTheme -DisplayName "exampleTheme" -LogoImageLightUri "https://contoso.com/light.jpg" -LogoImageDarkUri "https://contoso.com/dark.jpg" -BackgroundImageLightUri "https://contoso.com/backgroundlight.jpg" -BackgroundImageDarkUri "https://contoso.com/backgrounddark.jpg" -BrandAccentColor "#000000" -Enabled $true -Identity "exampleTheme"
 And then set the themes using the Set cmdlet:
 Set-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingPolicy -Identity <Identity> -MeetingBrandingThemes @($exampleMeetingBrandingTheme) -DefaultTheme "exampleTheme"
 Use the same approach for removing elements from NdiAssuranceSlate, using the [New]-CsTeamsNdiAssuranceSlate cmdlet and then using Set-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingPolicy to properly set the values.
 This will be fixed in the next TPM version.
- Releases [New]-CsTeamsMeetingBackgroundImage cmdlet.
- Releases [New]-CsTeamsMeetingBrandingTheme cmdlet.
- Releases [New]-CsTeamsNdiAssuranceSlate cmdlet.
- Contains a new implementation of [New|Get|Set|Remove]-CsTeamsCallHoldPolicy, [New|Get|Set|Remove]-CsTeamsEmergencyCallingPolicy, [New]-CsTeamsEmergencyCallingExtendedNotification. Functionality remains the same as previous implementation.

Lenovo extended their Microsoft Teams Room Solution Portfolio with ThinkSmart View Plus, ThinkSmart One & Lenovo IP controller

ThinkSmart View Plus

Exciting news today from Lenovo is that they are expanding their Microsoft Teams Room portfolio ThinkSmart View Plus to empower the solutions for hot desking, Phone boots, executive's desks, and home office use cases. It's an all-in-one Microsoft Teams Display that includes premium audio, video, and whiteboarding features.

ThinkSmart View Plus is an integrated device with a 27-inch multi-touch display, premium video and audio, and built-in computing for powerful productivity and collaboration. It provides access to Teams chat, calendar, and files, while also enabling workers to join meetings through the device.

You can connect the device to a PC and share/view content and presenters simultaneously. Also, you can extend it as an additional monitor if you connect through a USB-C cable.

THINKSMART VIEW PLUS
Processor	QUALCOMM® QCS8250 System-on-Chip
Operating System	Android
Monitor Size	27” FHD
Camera	1 x 4k FOV(D/H/V) >= 100°/90°/ 50°) Detachable and upgradable
Microphones	4-mic array
Speakers	Stereo Speaker (5W x 2) (detachable/upgradable)
I/O Port	Ethernet x 1 HDMI Display Port x 1 in / 1 out USB A x 2 USB C x 1 3.5mm
Vesa Mount	Yes
Collaboration Platforms	Teams display

Lenovo ThinkSmart One -

It's one of the first Windows-based collaboration bar designed for small and medium meetings. The device comes with 8 microphone arrays with echo and noise cancellation and 15-Watt stereo speakers and an integrated high-resolution camera.

THINKSMART ONE
Processor	Intel® Core™ i5-1145G7E IoTG vPro® Processor
Operating System	Windows 10 IoT Enterprise
Memory	8GB DDR4
Storage	256GB SSD
Graphics	Integrated Intel Graphics
Controller Display	10.1” (1280×800) 10-point touch display with 16:10 aspect ratio
Audio	Stereo speakers, 15-watt typical power output 8 x Microphones with 180-degree coverage and echo and noise cancellation
Camera	FHD camera with 100-degree horizontal FOV, 68-degree vertical FOV, 125-degree diagonal FOV
Security	Windows 10 IoT Enterprise security Intel vPro security
Ports	2 x HDMI out 1 x HDMI In 2 x USB Type-A 2 x USB Type-C 1 x RJ45 with indicator LED 1 x RJ45 (vPro) with indicator LED
Wireless LAN	Wi-Fi 2x2AX
Dimensions	700x889x110mm
Weight	3.55kg

Lenovo IP Controller -

Lenovo is adding a new room controller for ThinkSmart Core and ThinkSmart One to empower the collaboration bars. It's an AV over-IP display with HDMI pass-through that features easy-to-use ethernet connectivity over POE.

It allows up to 100 meters of HDMI cable from the PC without the hassles of extenders.

LENOVO IP CONTROLLER
Features	Wall mountable CAT5e with PoE connection Installation up to 100 meters from compute
Display	10.1” 10-point touch 89/89/89/89 viewing angle 1280x 800 (350nits) resolution
Ports	PoE HDMI (in)
Security	Human Presence Sensor Kensington™ Lock Slot
Integrated Audio	USB input for optional USB accessories such as a speaker/mic

New Microsoft Teams features added into Microsoft Teams Chat to improve collaboration and inclusiveness

1) Video Clip -  Microsoft Teams has a new feature that allows users to create and share short videos. Lets you record, edit, and send short video messages. You can create the 60-sec long video and edit /review the message.

The video clip is stored on Azure storage like other chat messages.

2)  Schedule Chat Message -

Now, you can schedule a chat message and send it to meet your colleagues, which helps you communicate better with team members in different time zones.

Note: - 

• You can schedule a message to be sent in increments of 30 minutes.
• You cannot schedule a message in the custom time window.
• You cannot schedule a message greater than 7 days.
• You cannot put the messages in urgent/important priority.
• You can attach the files, but they will only be accessible after the message is delivered.

3) Chat Reactions -

Expanded Reactions, which gives you more ways to express yourself by expanding the range of possible reactions beyond love and laughter.

Microsoft Teams Room on Windows Updates makes new UI improvements to alien with MTRoA Devices. So, users will have the same experience across the room platforms.

Microsoft is improving the user interface across Microsoft Teams Room on Windows & Android to make it a better user experience. With Teams Room on Windows Update 4.16, there are new UI changes and improvements to make the room better used for it.

Currently, the calendar invites are shown only on the Room console on MTRoW devices (this is already available in MTRoA rooms). However, post the client upgrade, the Front Room Display will show the calendar invites for the 24 hours window (currently, you have only a few invites shown on the console, not the complete 24 hours window).

New UI on the Front Room Display -

New UI & Features added on the Room Console -

With the new update, the Room Console has more options now. The moved "Join via ID" option from More option and added Invite this room

• Meet: Start a new meeting from the room

• Call: Make a call to a phone number or add a person from the directory

• Share: Share local HDMI content

• Join via ID: Enables this Teams Room to join a Teams meeting using the meeting ID, with Direct Guest Join for Zoom & WebEx interoperability functionality (coming later this year).

• The "More" menu gives options below, 

• Invite this room: Use the Room audio and video for a Teams meeting initiated on your companion device.
• Accessibility: Enable accessibility features to enable high contrast.
• Report a problem: Report a problem to your IT admin. The Distribution Group or Individual IT Teams Shared mailbox via XML file if you have configured it. The logs will be sent to them.
• Restart device: Restart the device functionality.
• Settings: Access settings to login MTRoW App settings to modify Login credentials, modify the hardware peripherals, or even to login Windows OS for troubleshooting.

Now, when the MTR room has any Teams Login issue, you will get general information, and you need to access more options to restart the device. After the update, error states and associated messages have been simplified to help allow for quicker resolution with the restart button.

There are new options in addition to Gallery, Front Row & Large Gallery. Now it supports Together mode, Focus on content options.

During the meeting, you can switch whether you need content & people or Content Only. Along with it, you can now enable/disable the Meeting Chat option.

In Front Row layouts, now you can choose where your meeting chat/people raise hands should show.

There are lots of updates coming to the Teams Room experience. Stay tuned.

Microsoft Teams Store App Update Experience is improved to keep all the apps updated.

The admin must configure the application permission policy for users to use apps. Admin can configure the policy to allow/block all or allow only specific Microsoft/3rd Party apps for users to consume the service.

The updates are applied automatically when the updates are available to these apps in Microsoft Teams Store. However, a few specific changes in the new version of the app require user permission again. This repeat user acceptance ensures awareness about the changes, such as functionality or access to personal information.

Current Update behavior - 

1. You can update the apps by "Manage your apps."

• Login to Teams Select Apps on the left pane.
• At the bottom of the Apps pane, select Manage your apps. On the Apps tab, check the available Update indicator. Select the app and click update.

2. Teams Meeting tab, 

3. Teams Group under the Apps tab.

4. Teams Group Chat

5. Teams 1:1 chat.

New App Update Experience -

Microsoft Teams now maintains an index of all of the apps, Using this index, an app is automatically updated in real-time everywhere it is installed for the user. After the user updates the app in any one context, the updated version is available in all other installed contexts, without any other user action.

The Index will show how many apps have an update pending, sorted by the updates on the app store.

Microsoft is changing the Teams Phone number routing logic used for RNL (Reverse Number Lookup) for specific matching for users with extensions.

How does the Inbound/Outbound call routing work in Microsoft Teams?

When you receive a call from PSTN to Teams, the Teams check whether the number is assigned to anyone in the organization by looking at LineRUI attributes. If the LineURI finds the dialed number, the call will be routed to the destination user. Similarly, when the outbound call is made, it checks the LineURI using RNL (Reverse Number Lookup), so you don't need to route the internal call to PSTN and get it back e.g. Hair-Pin mode instead, the dialed number is checked and routed internally.

What is Reverse Number Lookup?

Reverse number lookup is a method of obtaining Caller information via their phone number from Active Directory.

You can update the phone number information in Azure Active Directory under Office Phone Number. In Skype, the AD information is synced and stored on the address book database, and each call is lookup against the LineURI to identify the caller name.

What's changes are coming to Microsoft Teams Call Routing?

There is a big change coming to Microsoft Teams how the called number is routed if you have your base number (10 digits) that also includes in your extension. 

There are two number patterns are impacted by this change,

• If you have a LineURI that includes your base number as an extension  e.g +13035557334;ext=334
• If you have configured Extension based dialing e.g,

•         User Alice is assigned +17205557000;ext=111
•         User John is assigned +17205557000;ext=112

Current Call Routing behavior with extension configured -

If you have a user configured their LineURI with tel:+13035557334;ext=334 and you dial a call into Teams for the number +13035557334 and NO user LineURI is configured, then it will do RNL lookup to tel:+13035557334;ext=334 and route the call to the destination.

Upcoming changes in the call routing -

Post Feb/March'2023, Microsoft Teams will accept only when the exact match with the user's assigned number, including the extension number. If the user number is assigned in the format of tel:+13035557334;ext=334 and the call is coming via direct routing, the SBC must be configured with a normalization rule to include the extension that exactly matches the destination configured on the user profile else, the call will not be accepted e.g +13035557334.

Teams Admin Action required -

To prevent any call failure, remove the extension number from user LineURI if a unique DID is assigned to the user.

If you want to keep the extension format, configure your inbound routing gateway to include the explicit routing format.

Which environment is not impacted?

If you are using Operator Connect or Calling Plan, this change will not impact you.

• Current Behavior:
• If a call is made to +13035557334;ext=334, we will find the user configured with the phone number +13035557334;ext=334
• If a call is made to +13035557334, and there is no user configured with +13035557334, we will find the user configured with the phone number +13035557334;ext=334.
• This can be an issue in situations where the same base number is used for multiple users.  For example: 
  User Alice is assigned +13035557000;ext=111
  
  User John is assigned +13035557000;ext=112
• If a call is made to +13035557000, and there is no user configured with +13035557000, we would match to the first user found with +13035557000 as a base number (Alice in this case).
• Upcoming change:
• Unless the SBC sends an exact match, the RNL service will not return a result.
• If SBC sends +13035557334
• User is configured with +13035557334;ext=334 => NO MATCH*
• *assuming no user is configured only with +13035557334
• If you have a unique LineURI configured for all users with tel:+13035557334;ext=720334, the RNL will find the MATCH, and the call will be routed.
• If the SBC sends +14025557334;ext=334
  
• User is configured with +14025557334;ext=334 => MATCH

Does the DRaaS environment impact?

If you are using Direct Routing as your operator's service, you should work with them to configure the normalization rule to match your user LineURI.

How to disable taking a voicemail messages in Microsoft Teams but allow users to lesson default company greetings

There are some use cases where you need to disable taking voicemail messages in Microsoft Teams. However, the user wants to leave an announcement to callers.

There are a couple of solutions based on the configuration,

• If you have a company board number or front desk who takes the calls and forwards them to an internal user extension, then you can configure a voicemail call answering rule to play a company announcement and disconnect the call. 
• User/Admin can configure the same settings in a couple of ways.

Admin Configuration option via TAC/PowerShell -

Set-CsOnlineVoicemailUserSettings -CallAnswerRule "PromptOnly" -DefaultGreetingPromptOverwrite "Leaving Voicemail option is disabled for user. User will get back to you if needed" -identity "Gengaiyan"

You can also do bulk configuration.

Use Get-CsOnlineUser to filter users based on the Dial-Plan, VoicePolicy, PhoneNumber etc (see the below filter options available in Teams).

$UserData = Import-Csv C:\Temp\Users.csv

ForEach ($Users in $UserData.UserUPN) {

Set-CsOnlineVoicemailUserSettings -CallAnswerRule "PromptOnly" -DefaultGreetingPromptOverwrite "Leaving Voicemail option is disabled for user. User will get back to you if needed" -Identity $User

}

Configure through the TAC: -

As an admin, you can configure voicemail call answering rules in the Teams Admin Center under the voicemail tab.

• Call answering mode - Play an outgoing message to the caller.

• Default greetings prompt - Update the voicemail announcement message for callers.

Configure the Voicemail settings at the client level -

Login to Teams, select Settings, and select "Calls", navigate to the Voicemail section and select "Configure Voicemail"

Under the call answering rules, select "Play your greeting and end the call" and "OK" to save the configurations.

Teams Mobile Update - 4.23.1

Teams Mobile client's first update for this year is released with new features below.

• With the new Teams mobile client update 4.23.1, you can start the meeting recording and transcript and use that for meeting recap and create action items.

• View Teams meeting and Webinar attendee's report.

• Teams live audio language interpretation.

How to block anonymous calls in Teams at the tenant level

In the last article, we looked at how to configure to block the range of internal numbers from spoofing and how to block calls at the client level. There are scenarios where you want to block anonymous, Unknown calls or calls that come with no caller-id.

New-CsInboundBlockNumberPattern - adds a blocked number pattern to the tenant level. Inbound PSTN calls are checked from a number that matches the blocked number pattern before routing the calls to users, and if the blocked pattern is found, it will be blocked.

Once you have configured the block number pattern, you can validate it on the "Get-CsTenantBlockedCallingNumbers"

In this example, I have configured it to block Anonymous calls. 

You can validate the configuration by dialing *67 followed by the number.

On the client side, if it's a regular call with caller-id, you can able to call back or add the number to your contact list or block the caller (see below), but for Anonymous calls, you will get only the "Remove from view" option. 

Microsoft moving some of the standard features that are part of E3/E5 moving into Premium License SKU

As part of the Teams Premium announcement, these standard features are moved to Teams Premium SKU. This is unfair, and not why would they want to move these features when the organization is already using them?  Still unclear about it.

• Live translation of captions during Teams meeting –This feature allows attendees to enable live translation in a different language e.g Chinese, Hindi etc. This is available to all until 60 days after Teams Premium General availability.
  
  
  

• Custom together mode scenes turn a group video call into a shared experience. With Together Mode, users can turn any regular video call into a shared virtual environment, which will help them feel like they are in the same space to improve productivity, and natural conversation. This feature is available to all until 30 days after Teams Premium General availability.
  
  
  

• Timeline markers in Teams meetings recordings (join/leave meetings)- available to all until 30 days after Teams Premium General availability.

• Virtual Appointments - Today, you can use Microsoft Booking to create a booking mailbox and share with external/internal users to share your availability for easy calendar management. You can check virtual appointment usage in Teams Admin Center. This feature is available to all until 30 days after Teams Premium General availability.

• SMS notifications - For Booking SMS notification is included by default on E5 license SKU.

I'll update this article if there are any changes to these feature licensing models.

Microsoft Teams Phone Feature Roadmap

Microsoft recently released the below features on Teams Phone and continues to extend the feature,

• Early media support for compliance recording through a certified compliance recording solution.
• Remove a call from your call history.
• Block inbound federated VOIP calls.
• Teams Phone mobile to seamlessly integrate your mobile identity with Microsoft Teams.
• Detailed Call history.
• Teams Phone device UI changes and performance improvements.