Hello everyone… long time no see.

Writing this post to let you all know about the latest updates on CC community version. I hope those will be the last updates to the code before we all start leveraging the upcoming Viva Amplify (see more ahead in this article) to build and deliver more advanced communication campaigns.

With the end of support of .Net 3.1, Teams engineering released the v5.3 update last December to update the CC official version to .Net 6. I just incorporated those changes to community version and updated the master.dev repository in the GitHub repo at cristianoag/microsoft-teams-apps-company-communicator at master.dev (github.com)

I decided not update the master repo with the updated code yet as there are many customers still using the previous version and sometimes they just resync against the default master repo. I’ll be finishing additional tests and when everything is ok, I’ll label the branch as master-v5.3 and leave the master branch untouched.

So if you are using CC Community Version 5.13 and want to update to 5.3, remember you must use master.dev at this moment and then master-v5.3 as soon as it becomes available on the repo.

What changed?

Basically two things:

  1. The update of the .Net Framework from 3.1 to 6.
  2. Inclusion of the name of the CSV file uploaded on the draft notification, pre-send, and sent screens.

The .Net framework update is due to the end of support for the 3.1 version and the inclusion of the CSV file name is a small change to allow authors to know which file was used when the notification was created using the authors app.

Viva Amplify

What is Viva Amplify? It is a new app being developed as we speak that will empower leaders and communicators to elevate their message and reach employees where they are, with consistency and impact. The app will centralize communications campaigns, offers writing guidance to improve message resonance, enables publishing across multiple channels and distribution groups in Microsoft 365, and provides metrics for improvement.

Through orchestration and automation tools you will be able to plan and schedule organization wide campaigns and manage its lifecycle, including approval process using Power Automate and advanced insights via campaign reporting.

It will leverage AI-driven tools such as writing guidance, offering tips, tricks, and advice on communicating your message best.

The universal publisher will help you to understand what endpoint to use, when and tailor the message to that specific set of endpoints and audience. And the tool will also offer the possibility to create follow-up messages, amplifying the impact even more.

Microsoft is investing a lot in the overall employee experience and I really believe Viva Amplify will be the heart of that. It is a multi-year investment with multiple releases planned to start on H1 2023.

At this moment we have the private preview application open and you can apply by filling the form available at Viva Amplify Private Preview Application (office.com). Please be aware that if your company is selected you will receive a message by February 2023 with details.

Cristiano

Disclaimer – The information contained in this blog post doesn’t represent the official Microsoft guidance or best practices. It is just the view of the author on current alternatives, implementations and workarounds for common issues and/or business needs. Please refer to official Microsoft documentation and evaluate carefully any steps, code or procedures documented herein. The author doesn’t offer any warranty. Use this information at your own risk.