neat Microsoft Teams Implementation Guide User Guide
- June 3, 2024
- neat
Table of Contents
neat Microsoft Teams Implementation
Microsoft Teams Room Licensing
In preparation for set up of a Neat device as a Microsoft Teams Room (MTR), make sure that an appropriate license is on hand to apply to the resource account assigned to the device. Depending on the in-house process for acquiring Microsoft licenses, the purchase and availability of licenses can take a significant amount of time. Please confirm that licenses are available before the intended date of setup and testing of the Neat device.
Neat MTR devices implemented in a shared space will need to be provided with a Microsoft Teams Room license. Microsoft Teams Room license can be purchased in two levels. Pro and Basic.
- Microsoft Teams Room Pro: provides a full rich conferencing experience including intelligent audio and video, dual screen support, advanced device management, Intune licensing, phone system licensing, and more. For the best conferencing experience, MTR Pro licenses are recommended to use with Neat MTR devices.
- Microsoft Teams Room Basic provides a core meeting experience for MTR devices. This is a free license but provides a limited feature set. This license can be assigned up to 25 MTR devices. Any additional licenses would need to be a Teams Room Pro license.
For additional information on Microsoft Teams Licenses and a comparison matrix of features between the Basic and Pro licenses, visit https://learn.microsoft.com/enus/microsoftteams/rooms/rooms-licensing.
If you have Teams Rooms Standard or Teams Room Premium legacy licenses, these can continue to be used until their expiration date. Using a Neat MTR device with a personal account using a user license (for example an E3 license) will currently work but is not supported by Microsoft. Microsoft has announced that this use of personal licenses on MTR devices will be disabled July 1st, 2023.
If you plan to use your MTR device to make/receive PSTN calls, additional licensing may be needed for PSTN connectivity. PSTN connectivity options – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/pstn-connectivity
Neat Frame is in a category of Teams Devices known as a Microsoft Teams Display. Being a different category of device, Frame runs Microsoft Teams Display-specific software from Microsoft. For more information on Microsoft Teams Display and the device, license requirements see https://learn.microsoft.com/enus/microsoftteams/devices/teams-displays.
Creating a Resource Account for Neat Microsoft Teams Room
Every Neat MTR device requires a resource account that will be used to login to Microsoft Teams. A resource account also includes an Exchange Online mailbox to enable calendaring with the MTR.
Microsoft recommends using a standard naming convention for resource accounts associated to Microsoft Teams Room devices. A good naming convention will allow for administrators to filter for resource accounts and create dynamic groups that can be used to manage policies for these devices. For example, you could prefix “mtr-neat” to the beginning of all resource accounts associated with Neat MTR devices.
There are several methods to create a resource account for a Neat MTR device. Microsoft recommends using Exchange Online and Azure Active Directory.
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Create a Resource Account via Microsoft 365 Admin Center –
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/rooms/with- office-365?tabs=m365-admin-center%2Cazure-active- directory2-password#tabpanel_1_m365-admin-center -
Create a Resource Account via Exchange Online Powershell –
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/rooms/with-office-365?tabs =exchange-online%2Cazure-active-directory2-password#tabpanel_1_exchange- online.
Configuring the Resource Account
Below are resource account configuration considerations that can improve the experience for Neat MTR devices. Turn off password expiration – if the password for these resource accounts expires, the Neat device will not be able to sign in after the expiration date. The password will then need to be reset by the administrator since self-service password resets are typically not set for shared device passwords.
Assign a meeting room license – assign the appropriate Microsoft Teams License that was discussed previously. Microsoft Teams Room Pro (or Microsoft Teams Room standard if available) will provide a full-featured MTR experience. Microsoft Teams Room Basic licenses can be a good choice to quickly test/evaluate MTR devices or if only core conferencing features are needed.
Configure mailbox properties (as needed) – resource account mailbox calendar processing settings can be modified to provide the calendar experience desired. The Exchange Online administrator should set these options via Exchange Online PowerShell.
- AutomateProcessing: this configuration describes how the resource account will automatically process room reservation invites. Typically [AutoAccept] for MTR.
- AddOrganizerToSubject: this configuration determines if the meeting organizer is added to the subject of the meeting request. [$false]
- DeleteComments: this configuration determines if the message body of incoming meetings remains or is deleted. [$false]
- DeleteSubject: this configuration determines if the Subject of the incoming meeting request is deleted. [$false]
- ProcessExternalMeetingMessages: Specifies whether to process meeting requests that originate outside the Exchange organization. Required to process external meetings. [confirm desired setting with security administrator].
Example:
Set-CalendarProcessing -Identity “ConferenceRoom01” -AutomateProcessing
AutoAccept -AddOrganizerToSubject $false -DeleteComments $false -DeleteSubject
$false -ProcessExternalMeetingMessages $true
Test Resource Account
Prior to logging into the Neat MTR device, it is recommended to test the resource account credentials on a Teams web client (accessed at http://teams.microsoft.com from an internet browser on a PC/laptop). This will confirm that the resource account is generally working and that you have the correct username and password. If possible, test logging in on the Teams web client on the same network where the device will be installed and confirm you can successfully participate in a Teams meeting with audio and video.
Neat MTR Device – Log-In Process
The login process on Neat MTR devices begins when you see the Microsoft device
login screen with a nine-character code displayed on the screen. Each Neat
device will need to be logged in to Teams individually including Neat Pads.
So, if you have a Neat Bar, a Neat Pad as a controller, and a Neat Pad as a
scheduler, you will need to log in three times using the unique code on each
device. This code is available for approximately 15 minutes – select Refresh
to get a new code if the previous one has expired.
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1. Using a computer or mobile phone, open an internet browser and go to:
https://microsoft.com/devicelogin -
Once there, type in the code displayed on your Neat MTR device (the code is not caps-specific).
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Select an account to log in from the list or select ‘Use another account to specify login credentials.
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If specifying login credentials, enter the username and password of the resource account that was created for this Neat MTR device.
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Select ‘Continue’ when asked: “Are you trying to sign into Microsoft Authentication Broker”.
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If you are logging into a Neat Bar/Bar Pro and a Neat Pad you will need to also pair the Neat Pad to the Bar/Bar Pro.
- Once both devices have been successfully registered to a Microsoft Teams account via the device login page, the Pad will ask you to select a device to begin the Teams-level pairing process.
- Once the correct Neat Bar/Bar Pro has been selected, a code will appear on the Neat Bar/Bar Pro to enter on the Pad and complete Microsoft Teams level pairing between the Neat Pad and the Neat Bar/Bar Pro.
For additional information regarding the Neat and Microsoft Pairing process on Neat MTR devices, visit: https://support.neat.no/article/understanding-neat- and-microsoft-pairing-on-neat-devices/
The following video shows ‘Signing into Microsoft Teams with Neat and getting started. To see an example of the login process, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGD1xGWVADA.
Understanding the Microsoft Teams Room and Android Terminology
During the sign in process for a Neat MTR device, you may see some verbiage on-screen that may not be familiar. As part of this process, the device is registered within Azure Active Directory and security policies are evaluated by Microsoft Intune via the Company Portal Application. Azure Active Directory – a cloud-based directory that houses identity and access management elements for the Microsoft cloud. Some of those elements correspond to both the accounts and physical MTR devices.
Microsoft Intune – controls how your organization’s devices and applications are used by the configuration of specific policies to ensure that devices and applications are compliant with corporate security requirements. Company Portal – an Intune application that resides on the Android device and allows the device to do common tasks such as enrolling the device in Intune and securely accessing company resources.
Microsoft Endpoint Manager – an administrative platform that provides services and tools to manage and monitor devices. The Microsoft Endpoint Manager is the primary location to manage Intune security policies for Neat MTR devices within Office 365.
Compliance Policies – rules and settings that devices must meet to be considered compliant. This could be a minimum operating system version or encryption requirements. Devices not in compliance with these policies may be blocked from accessing data and resources. Conditional Access Policies – provide access controls to keep your organization safe. These policies are essential requirements that must be satisfied before gaining access to company resources. With a Neat MTR device, conditional access policies secure the sign-in process by ensuring all security requirements have been met.
Authentication & Intune
Microsoft recommends a specific set of best practices when considering authentication for Android-based devices. For example, multi-factor authentication isn’t recommended/supported with shared devices as shared devices are tied to a room or space rather than to an end user. For a full explanation of these best practices please see https://docs.microsoft.com/en- us/microsoftteams/devices/authentication-best-practices-for-android-devices.
If Intune is currently set up for only Android mobile phones, Neat MTRoA
devices will likely fail on current mobile device conditional access and/or
compliance policies. Please see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/microsoftteams/rooms/supported-ca-and-compliance-policies?tabs=mtr-w for
specifics on supported policies for MTRoA devices.
If your Neat MTRoA device does not login with credentials that login correctly
on Teams web client, this can typically be an element of Microsoft Intune that
is causing the device to not successfully login. Please provide your security
administrator with the documents above. Additional troubleshooting for Android
devices can be found here:
https://sway.office.com/RbeHP44OnLHzhqzZ.
Updating Neat Device Firmware
By default, Neat-specific firmware (but not Microsoft Teams-specific software) is configured to update automatically when newer versions are posted to the Neat over-the-air update server. This occurs at 2 AM local time after the update is posted to the OTA server. Microsoft Teams Admin Center (“TAC”) is used to update Teams-specific firmware.
Update Neat Device’s Teams Software via Teams Admin Center (TAC)
- Login to the Microsoft Teams Admin Center with an account with at minimum Teams Device Administrator rights. https://admin.teams.microsoft.com
- Navigate to the ‘Teams devices’ tab and select
- Teams Rooms on Android…Teams Rooms on Android tab option for Neat Bar or Bar Pro.
- Teams Rooms on Android…Touch consoles tab option for Neat Pad used as controller.
- Panels for Neat Pad as a scheduler.
- Displays for Neat Frame.
- Search for the appropriate Neat device by clicking the magnifying glass icon. The easiest method may be to search for the Username logged into the device.
- Click on the device that you would like to update.
- From the bottom section of the device screen, click on the Health tab.
- In the Software Health list, confirm if the Teams App is showing ‘See available updates.’ If so, click on the ‘See available updates’ link.
- Confirm that the new version is newer than the Current version. If so, select the software component and then click Update.
- Click on the History tab to confirm the software update has been queued. You should see the Neat device begin the Teams update shortly after it has been queued.
- After the update is completed, click back on the health tab to confirm that the Teams App is now showing Up to date.
- The update via TAC is now completed.
- If you need to update other Microsoft Teams software types on a Neat device such as Teams Admin Agent or Company Portal App the same method will work.
Note:
The Teams Administrator can set up Neat MTRoA devices to Auto-update
automatically with a frequency of: As soon as possible, Defer by 30 days, or
Defer by 90 days.
References
- checking your credentials..
- Sign in to your account
- Microsoft Teams displays - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
- Create resource accounts for rooms and shared Teams devices - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
- Create resource accounts for rooms and shared Teams devices - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
- Sign in to your account
- Understanding Neat and Microsoft Pairing on Neat devices - Neat Support