How to add Microsoft Teams to ECI JobBOSS2
Short answer
To bring JobBOSS2 into Teams, run a bot or workflow service that reads job, PO and quote data from the JobBOSS2 SQL Server database, posts adaptive cards to channels or people, and sends approvals back as reviewed actions. Entra ID handles who can click what.
Many JobBOSS2 shops already live in Microsoft 365. Estimators, planners and the owner use Teams all day, but the ERP is a desktop client on the shop network. So decisions that depend on JobBOSS2 data, like approving an overtime run or releasing a PO, still happen by walking over or calling.
Teams gives you a place where an alert and its decision can sit together. An adaptive card can show the job, the customer and the slipped date, with buttons for the person who owns the answer. The effort is mostly in choosing which events deserve a card, because too many alerts get muted within a week.
This page focuses on that design: the events worth surfacing, how the bot reaches an on-prem database, and where a human approval must sit.
What teams use it for
Late job channel
Post a card to a production channel when an open job's projected completion passes its promised ship date, with customer, part and the blocking operation.
PO approval cards
Send purchase orders over a threshold to the approver as a card with vendor, lines and total, and record who approved.
Quote desk requests
Let a salesperson ask in Teams for the status of a quote and have the bot reply with the estimate state, owner and last update.
Material shortage alerts
Notify the buyer when a released job needs material with no inbound PO, listing job and item.
End of day shipping summary
Post what shipped, what is due tomorrow and what is at risk to a leadership channel.
On-call quality notes
When a nonconformance is logged against a job, notify the quality lead with a link to the record.
ECI JobBOSS2 integration surface
- JobBOSS2 SQL Server database: read jobs, operations, purchase orders and quotes through views, with names mapped from your own version's schema.
- ECI JobBOSS2 API: where licensed, a supported route for creating or updating objects instead of direct SQL writes. Confirm scope with ECI.
- Windows services and the shop server: a scheduled service on the same network can reach SQL Server without opening it to the internet.
- Microsoft Graph and Bot Framework: the Teams side, using an Entra ID app registration for posting and receiving card actions.
- Power Automate: an option for simple notifications, with the on-premises data gateway reaching SQL Server.
How it works
- 1
Pick five events
Choose a small set, such as late jobs, PO approvals over a limit, shortages and shipped orders. Resist alerting on everything.
- 2
Register an Entra ID app
Create an app registration for the bot, assign it only the Teams permissions needed, and restrict installation to your tenant.
- 3
Expose data through read-only views
Create SQL views for each event and a read-only login for the service. Keep the service outside the ERP application server.
- 4
Build the card templates
Design adaptive cards with the fields a decision needs and buttons tied to opaque action IDs, not raw SQL parameters.
- 5
Run the event service
Poll or schedule checks, keep a high-water mark per event, deduplicate, and post to the right channel or user chat.
- 6
Handle card actions
Verify the signed-in user via Entra ID, check they are on the approver list, and log the action with timestamp.
- 7
Apply the decision safely
Write approvals to a staging table or the API as a proposal, and let JobBOSS2 users complete the transaction or have an automated step do it once a policy allows.
Example flows
PO over threshold
Trigger: A purchase order above a set value is created in JobBOSS2.
- The service reads the PO header, vendor and lines.
- It posts a card to the approver with total and the jobs the PO supports.
- The approver taps Approve or Reject, optionally adding a comment.
- The decision is stored with their Entra ID and flagged for the buyer.
Result: Approval takes minutes and leaves an audit trail outside someone's inbox.
Slipped job triage
Trigger: The nightly check finds a job projected past its promised date.
- The service pulls the job's open operations and the work center holding it.
- A card goes to the planner channel naming the constraint.
- The planner replies with a new target or marks the customer for a heads-up.
- The note is attached to the job for the sales owner.
Result: Sales hears about a slip before the customer does.
Keeping data on-prem
The database can stay inside your network. The service runs on a server that can reach SQL Server locally and make outbound HTTPS calls to Microsoft; Teams reaches your bot through a public endpoint or a relay you control. Cards should carry identifiers and short facts, not drawings or priced BOMs. If you want natural language questions in Teams, route the question to a model hosted on your own GPU so job and customer data are not sent to a third-party API.
Security checklist
- Restrict bot installation to your tenant and verify the Entra ID identity on every card action.
- Keep an approver list per action type, checked server side rather than inside the card.
- Use a read-only SQL login and a separate, narrowly scoped path for any writes.
- Log each alert and action with user, time and record identifier.
- Avoid putting customer pricing or controlled technical data in channels with broad membership.
Ways to get it done
Power Automate with the on-premises data gateway
Effort: Days, with licensing costs to check
Simple alerts and approvals on a few queries
Custom Teams bot
Effort: Three to six weeks
Shops that want richer cards, user lookup and approval rules
Partner build with Netray
Effort: Scoped after reviewing your version and access model
Teams wanting conversational queries on a local model plus governed write-back
Pitfalls
- !Alert fatigue from too many cards; start with a handful and measure what people act on.
- !Letting the approve button write straight into production tables.
- !Relying on channel membership as the permission model instead of an explicit approver list.
- !Missing the data gateway's maintenance and update needs when using Power Automate.
- !Hard-coding SQL names that change after a JobBOSS2 upgrade.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a certified JobBOSS2 Teams app?
We are not aware of one. Check with ECI or your reseller for current marketplace options, since offerings change. Otherwise the practical routes are Power Automate or a custom bot.
Can the bot create jobs or orders?
Technically yes through the API or a staging process, but we recommend starting read-only plus approvals. Creating records from chat should go through review until you trust the rules.
Do I need to open SQL Server to the internet?
No. The service runs inside your network and only makes outbound calls. Teams reaches the bot through a public HTTPS endpoint that forwards to it, and the database itself stays private.
Can people ask questions in plain English?
Yes, if you add a language model layer that translates a question into a safe, read-only query. Running it on a local model keeps job and customer data inside your environment.
What licensing is involved?
Teams bots themselves are generally included in Microsoft 365, but Power Automate premium connectors and gateways may need extra licenses. Confirm with your Microsoft reseller.
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