Microsoft Teams: how to use the Empuls app

Learn all about using Empuls app on your teams account.

Overview

The Empuls integration with Microsoft Teams connects everyday collaboration with your organization’s engagement, recognition, and feedback workflows. Employees can appreciate teammates, redeem rewards, complete surveys, and view insights - all from within Teams, without switching tools.

Quick Links: • Click here to add Empuls to your Microsoft Teams account\

1. User Guide

This section explains how employees can use Empuls inside Teams both on the Home Tab of Empuls as well as on chat.

This section explains how employees can use Empuls inside Teams.

1.1. Using Empuls on Empuls Home Tab The Home tab in Empuls gives employees a quick snapshot of everything they can do inside Teams - recognize colleagues, redeem rewards, view feeds, celebrations, insights, and more. Below is a walkthrough of each Home Page section with visuals.

1.1.1. Hero Banner & Points Overview

At the top of the Home page, users see a banner and their current points summary.

Here you can:

• View how many points you can use for recognizing others
• See how many points you can redeem in the rewards store
• Quickly take action using:
  • Go to shop
  • Recognize

1.1.2. Feeds

This section shows the latest activity happening across your organization.

You will see:

• Recognitions posted
• Company updates
• Team announcements
• Social interactions from Empuls web

Users can click on each feed item to view details.

1.1.3. Recommendations

Empuls smartly surfaces things that need your attention, such as:

• Polls to participate in
• Team discussions needing input
• Suggested actions or alerts

1.1.4. Celebrations

This section highlights people celebrating:

• Work anniversaries
• Birthdays

Users can click Wish to send a message or appreciation instantly.

1.1.5. Recognition Rally (Leaderboard)

Shows a list of top performers or most appreciated employees in the current cycle. You can:

• Track appreciation momentum
• See who is contributing actively to the culture

1.1.6. Employee Discount Program

Shows exclusive deals your company has enabled through Empuls, this includes discounts from popular brands.

Click Explore to see the entire catalog of offers.

1.1.7. Wall of Fame

Highlights top performers of the month. You can:

• See who made it to the wall
• Celebrate team wins
• Get inspired by organizational achievements

Click See who’s on the wall for full details.

1.1.8. Reports & Insights

This section provides personal and team-level insights.

Users can:

• See how often they recognize or get recognized
• Compare with team and org averages
• Understand recognition patterns and activity

Click View Reports & Insights to open the detailed insights dashboard.

1.1.9. Quick Navigation Tabs On top of Empuls inside Teams, employees can switch between:

• Home – For feeds, insights, recognitions, features
• Chat – For bot interactions: redeem points, respond to surveys, reminders

**1.2 Using the Chat Tab in Empuls **

The Chat tab in Empuls is where users interact directly with the Empuls bot. It enables quick actions without navigating through the Home page — such as recognizing teammates, redeeming points, responding to surveys, and receiving notifications.

Below are the key experiences available under the Chat tab.

1.2.1. Welcome Message & Quick Actions

When you open the Chat tab for the first time, you’ll see a welcome message from the Empuls bot.

From here, you can immediately:

• Appreciate a colleague
• Learn more about Empuls
• Start interacting by typing a message

1.2.2. Recognize Teammates from Chat

Users can recognize colleagues directly from chat using the Appreciate button or by typing “Recognize”.

When you select Appreciate, a recognition flow opens:

• Search for a teammate by name or email
• Select the person to appreciate
• Proceed to choose a value card/award, add a message, and submit

Recognition via Chat is one of the three ways Empuls supports recognition inside Teams (Chat → Message Extension → Home Page).

1.2.3. Redeem Reward Points via Chat

Users can redeem points from chat using:

• The Redeem Points command
• Automated reminders sent by Empuls

Empuls will show:

• Your current points balance
• A Go To Store button to open the full rewards catalog

1.2.4. Surveys, Nudges, and Notifications

Empuls uses the Chat tab to send timely updates:

• Survey & quiz invites
• Recognition alerts
• Approval notifications
• Nudges to participate or respond

Users can open and complete surveys directly from the chat thread.

1.2.5. Commands & Prompts

At the bottom of the Chat screen, users can view available shortcuts by clicking View prompts.

Popular commands:

• Recognize
• Redeem Points
• Help
• Survey Responses

1.2.6. Appreciate & Reward your team

Give value cards, monetary awards, or nominate co-workers on Teams in 3 simple steps.

• Open a channel or chat.
• Click the Empuls icon from the message extension.
• Select the teammate, choose an award/value, write your message, and submit.

If approval is required, the post is published after it is reviewed.

You may be asked to add the Empuls app to the selected channel.

More features are coming soon. For all features, explore the Empuls web app: https://www.empuls.io/

2. HR Admin Controls & Advanced Configuration

2.1. Publish events on a Teams Channel

This feature allows Admins to automatically publish all events like award, appreciation, birthday, and work anniversary messages posted on Empuls Home Page to a dedicated channel/group chat on MS Teams.

Here are the steps for setting this up

• Select a public channel on MS Team where you want all Empuls messages published. Install Empuls app on it.
• Go to Admin Dashboard by clicking on “Reports and Settings”.
• Navigate to **Integrations > **Microsoft Teams to start the setup.
• Click on Click Here button. If you don’t see this button, move on to the next step.

• Once downloaded, you may review the permissions in the respective tab, attached in the image below.

• Click on Select Team or Group Chat button to view a full screen pop-up with the title Edit Configuration.

• In the Edit Configuration Pop-up, select a Team or a group chat where you wish to publish all Empuls messages.

• Select the type of messages to be published on your team channel and click on Save.

Voila! The setup is complete. Empuls app will start publishing messages on selected channel whenever they are published on Townhall or any other group.

2.2. How to add MS Teams on Chat?

• Click on three dots on your Teams group to add Empuls.

• Click on Continue and Empuls will be added to your chat.

2.3. Add or Manage Users

Use this to add new employees, update user details, or make bulk edits to user accounts. ​

Options available:

• Add new user:

Use this option to manually add one employee at a time.

Basic Details

• Fill in the required fields: First Name, Last Name, Work Email ID (used for login), User Access Role (User, Manager, Admin, Finance, etc.)

Professional Details (Optional)

• Expand this section to add extra info such as Employee ID, Department, Designation, Manager Email, Date of Joining, or Location.

Save

• Import All Users – Upload a complete user file for bulk updates.

Use this option when you want to add several employees at once using a CSV file. The bulk import follows a guided 5-step process.

1. Choose Bulk Upload

   • Go to Admin Settings → New User.
   • Select Add multiple user accounts.
   • Click Proceed to begin the bulk upload flow.
2. Pre-Import Data Settings

   • Review the guidelines before uploading your file:
   • Only .csv files are supported.
   • Required fields are: First Name, Last Name, and Email Address.
   • You can upload up to 1000 users at a time.
   • You may upload your own CSV, or download a sample template provided on the screen.
   • Once your file is ready, continue to the next step.
3. Upload Employee Data File

   • Drag and drop your CSV file into the upload box or click Browse file to select it manually.
   • After the file uploads, confirm whether your CSV contains column headers (e.g., First Name, Last Name, Email ID).
   • Check the box Yes, my file contains column headers if applicable.
4. Define Your Employee Data (Field Mapping)

   • You will now map columns from your CSV to the correct Empuls fields.
   • Review each column detected from your file.
   • For every field you want to import, ensure the toggle is selected.
   • Map each column to the correct Empuls Data Field (e.g., Email → Email, First Name → First Name).
   • Verify sample data displayed on the right to ensure accuracy.
   • Required fields: First Name, Email Address
   • Click Next when mapping is complete.
5. Data Upload Preview

   • A preview screen will show whether the uploaded records are valid.
   • If all records are correct, you will see a success message (e.g., “3 user(s) data mapped without any errors”).
   • If any errors exist, the system will highlight problematic rows and allow you to download them for correction.
   • Click Next to proceed.
6. Invite Users to Empuls

   • Choose when to send account invitations:
     • Yes, send invites now — Users will immediately receive an email to activate their accounts.
     • No, send invites later — User profiles will be created, and invites can be sent from the user management screen at any time.
     • Click Add Users & Send Invites Now or Add Users to complete the process.

   2.4. How to pre-pin Empuls app on Teams?

   The pre-pin option ensures that employees can easily find Empuls app on their Teams account. Here are the steps for Pre-pinning Empuls app.

   • Log in to Microsoft Teams admin center.
   • Click on Teams Apps> Setup Policies.
   • Click on Global (Org-wide default) option to edit the policy
   • Click on **Add Apps **option under ​​the Installed App section,
   • Click on Add Apps option under Pinned App section, this allows you to pin the Empuls app in messaging extensions and Teams app bar.

   2.5. Configure Messages (Publish Events to Teams)

   Use this option to publish all Empuls events — awards, appreciations, birthdays, work anniversaries, and other automated updates — directly to a selected Microsoft Teams channel or group chat.

   Steps:

   • Go to Admin Settings inside Empuls.
   • Under Configure messages, click Select Team or Group Chat.
   • Choose the Teams channel or group chat where messages should be published.
   • Save your selection.

   Empuls will now send updates automatically to the chosen channel.

   2.6. Explore More Admin Features

   If you need additional controls such as detailed reports, budget tracking, gift activity, employee management, or catalog setup, click Explore Other Admin Features at the bottom of the Admin Settings page.

   This will take you to the Admin Hub, where you can access:

   • Reports
     • Recognition report
     • Budget report
     • Redemption report
     • Gift report
     • Raw data exports
   • Gifts
     • Festive gift ideas
   • Employees
     • Manage employees (add, edit, remove accounts)
   • Manage Shop
     • Configure and manage the rewards catalog

   The Admin Hub contains all advanced settings and administrative tools for managing your Empuls account.

   2.7. How to get support?

   Reach out to us at [e-mail], or you can send us a message on Empuls Web app messenger.

FAQs

I am unable to find the Empuls app in the Microsoft Teams app store. How do I proceed?

A: You’ll not be able to find the Empuls App if your Microsoft Teams Admin has blocked users from accessing public (Third-party) apps from the store. Please ask your Admin to enable Empuls on the Microsoft Teams app store. Refer to the Installation guide for more information.

How do I uninstall the Empuls app from a Microsoft Teams channel?

You can uninstall the app from a channel by navigating the Apps section from the Manage Team option.

How do I uninstall the Empuls bot from my chat section?

You can uninstall the Empuls bot from your account by following these steps:

• Navigate to the chat section.
• Hover on the Empuls app.
• Right-click on the app and select Uninstall.

Why does this happen?

This page appears if the Microsoft Admins at your organization have added controls to prevent users from installing or using apps on Microsoft Store.

How to solve it?

A) In the input box, Enter your reason for using the Empuls app and click on **Request Approval. **This will submit your request to your Microsoft Admin.

B) Your Microsoft Admin can see your request in the Azure portal under the Enterprise applications section. (URL:https://portal.azure.com/#view/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/StartboardApplicationsMenuBlade//AppAppsPreview/menuId/null)

Make sure to nudge your Microsoft Admin, as your request may get lost among the plethora of similar requests.

C) The Microsoft Admin can allow the Empuls app to enable all users to sign in without any additional permissions from the administrators. Sample image below:

Once completed, all users can log in and start using the Empuls app.