Depending on how new services are provisioned in Nimbus, the user Role Access Concept assignment handles slightly different. In general, the following user assignment types are used:
User assignment types
INC User Assignment Types
Each Nimbus service can be of a different user assignment type that determines how users are associated to this service:
- MS Teams-based: Directly tied to your MS Teams "Teams" as determined during Service Provisioning. Users get automatically added and synced to a Nimbus service.
- Skill-based: Applies for manually created services via Service Administration. Requires skill-assignment from users you assign to the service from within your tenant directory.
- None: Has no users, but can be configured by any administrator. Used for IVR or first-level redirection services.
☝ Important to know: The user assignment type is fixated when a service was either provisioned via MS Teams or manually created via Service Administration, e.g. for IVR or skill-based distribution purposes. A switch between MS Teams-based and Skill-based services is not possible due to how individual users are configured and how Nimbus Features operate.
🤔 Is user assignment tied to licensing?
The method of user assignment per Service type, and related feature licenses not co-dependent on a technical level. However certain ways of managing user permissions may be preferrable, depending on your requirements and how you provision new services in future.
| User Assignment | Advanced Routing | Enterprise Routing |
Contact Center |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Teams-based | ✅ | ✅ | 🔍 Relevant if you want to stick to MS Teams-based user sync but use Contact Center Features |
MS Teams-based user assignment is the most common scenario for new Advanced Routing and Enterprise Routing licensed services. Permissions are automatically determined by the role in the MS Teams channel, minizing the administrative effort to onboard and configure new users. |
| None | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Services with user assignment type "none" are generally used for IVR or automated redirection. They can be created manually and out outside of an MS Teams channel restriction |
| Skill-based | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
The main use case for Contact Center services is setting up Distribution Policies to escalate calls based on Skills and Responsibilities. The Distribution Order guarantees that users get selected in a very targeted manner. With adjustments of their skills and Duty Profiles users can opt-in or out of certain distribution policies, e.g. based on time of day, workload, current responsibilities. Adding and removing of users is very flexible, e.g. accross departments and outside of MS Team-based constraints. |
🤔 How does this affect my service operation?
Yes the user assignment greatly determines how a service (and its users) are managed and interact with each other in future.
💡 MS Teams-based services are tied to one dedicated channel in the Teams client.
The Service name and all channel users are in sync with and actively used by Nimbus for task distribution. Most interaction is tied to the channels within that team, e.g. Voice Messages, General chat.
💡 Skill-based services allow users to participate in multiple services simultaneously.
- The individual services are NOT tied to using MS Teams channels as central point of communication and user management. The removal of a dedicated Teams channel also removes the possibility for a single channel for Voice Messages, also opening up potential data access and GDPR compliance risks.
-
Skill-based services also add configuration complexity:
- Users on skill-based services are managed via Agent Service Settings per service. This can be done by any team owner.
- Optionally users can get Skills and Responsibilities assigned for escalated service task distribution. A Distribution Policy assigned to each service determines how new incoming tasks are distributed among users, depending on their responsibility and expertise.
- 💡 Good to know: Users are also not "Active" on skill-based services per default. Instead, they control their own service availability via configurable Responsibility Profiles.
💡None - Services with no users assigned
These services do not have users nor a specific MS Teams channel, and therefore don't use most of the abovementioned features. They only act as “gateway”, e.g. to route customers to actual services via IVR.
🤔 Does user assignment affect available features?
Yes, because certain features cannot operate “outside” of a given MS Teams channel context. While technically independent from the chosen service type (license) the user assignment type mandates which Nimbus Features are available. Here are some examples:
| Feature | User Assignment Type ► | MS Teams based | Skill- based | None |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workflow configuration | Adaptive Cards | ✅ | - | - |
| Voice message | ✅ | - | - | |
| Service Settings | Voice message channel | ✅ | - | - |
| Extensions tab | ✅ | ✅ | - | |
| Conversations Distribution section | ✅ | ✅ | - | |
| Setting of a Distribution Policy | - | ✅ | - | |
| New users immediately active | ✅ | - | - | |
| Reporting section | ✅ | ✅ | - | |
| Editable "Name" field on Service Settings | - | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Frontend UI | "Active" toggle for users | ✅ | - | - |
| Users switching Duty States / Responsibility Profiles | - | ✅ | - |
Service users / permission tab overview
GENERAL PRECONDITIONS
- Users need to be added to Nimbus first before you can search for them in the UI and grant permissions accordingly.
- Depending on the User assignment types of your service the following tabs are shown:
- For MS Teams-based services a "Members" tab is shown. Members and Owners are in sync with your MS Teams Channel.
- For Skill-based services a "Permissions" tab is shown. Here you can manually add users as service Agents and Owners.
💡 Depending on how your service was provisioned, the user assignment type comes predefined and cannot be changed.
💡 Please note that the tabs below are showing Service Administration from within the Admin panel.
MS Teams-based (Users Tab)
Users associated with a MS Teams-based Service Type are managed in the "Users" Tab as follows :
|
|
Skill-based (Permissions Tab)
|
Contact Center ✅ Users need a Contact Center license applied, after which they can be assigned to a service via "Permissions" Tab as follows:
|
|
Follow-up actions
☝ Don't forget that users may also need Responsibility Profiles as well as Skills and Responsibilities applied via the User Administration to be considered for skill-based routing in this this service. Learn more about this by reading Skills and Responsibilities.
💡 Good to know: Once assigned, users can now be managed in the Frontend via Agent Service Settings, so you can delegate individual skill assignment tasks to their responsible service owner / manager.
User Permission Effects on the Nimbus Portal
After getting service owner- or membership User Roles granted, users can login to either Nimbus Teams Tab and their Nimbus Personal App and see service data in the various Nimbus tabs.
| Area | Agents View | Notes and Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Services Overview |
|
|
| My Overview |
|
|
| Attendant Console |
|
|
| Assistant |
|
|
| Dashboard |
|
|
| Reporting |
|
|
Additional Notes
- Agents and Service Owners get a slightly different Nimbus Portal UI experience, refer to Portal Roles for more details.
- Service-Assigned “Contact Center” Agents get access to additional features. Not just in the Portal, but within the Nimbus Administration. Refer to Nimbus Features > “Features by User” for a comprehensive overview.