How to add Microsoft Teams to MRPeasy
Short answer
Add Teams to MRPeasy by polling the MRPeasy REST API for events, posting adaptive cards to a Teams channel through a workflow or bot, and sending button clicks back as API calls. Power Automate is enough for alerts; a bot is needed for approvals and questions.
Many MRPeasy shops are small companies that already run on Microsoft 365. The planners and managers sit in Teams all day, while MRPeasy is a separate browser tab they check when they remember. Late purchase orders, stock shortages and quote approvals get noticed late for that reason.
Teams can be the place where MRPeasy exceptions surface and where simple decisions are made. The data comes from the MRPeasy API; the identity and permissions come from Entra ID; the glue is either Power Automate or a small bot.
This guide is about choosing between those two, what to put on the cards, and how to avoid turning a channel into noise.
What teams use it for
Late purchase order channel
Post a card for each purchase order past its expected date with vendor, item, quantity and a link to the record.
Production shortage alert
When a manufacturing order cannot start for lack of material, notify the planning channel with the missing items.
Quote or order approval
A manager approves a large customer order or a discount from an adaptive card before a planner releases it.
Low stock watch
A daily card listing items below reorder level, with a button to create a draft purchase order for review.
Ask MRPeasy in Teams
A bot answers 'stock of item X' or 'status of order Y' with live API data for the person asking.
Shipping desk handoff
Notify the dispatch channel when orders become ready to ship so the packers see them without opening MRPeasy.
MRPeasy integration surface
- MRPeasy REST API authenticated with an API key and secret from the integration settings; availability depends on plan, so confirm first.
- Customer orders, purchase orders, manufacturing orders, items and stock lots as the main readable resources; field names vary by API version, so check the current documentation.
- Notification emails from MRPeasy can be a fallback trigger: a Teams channel email address or a mail flow rule can turn them into messages, though structured data is better.
- Change detection by scheduled polling with a modified-since filter, as outbound webhooks may be limited.
- Hosted SaaS only, so the connector sits outside MRPeasy; it can run in Azure, Power Automate cloud, or an on-prem runner.
How it works
- 1
Decide alerts only or approvals
Alerts can use Power Automate with an HTTP action and the Teams post card action. Approvals and questions need a bot registered in Azure with Teams channel enabled.
- 2
Create an MRPeasy integration user
Generate API credentials for a dedicated user with read access and, only if needed, narrow write access for notes or status.
- 3
Schedule the query
A recurrence flow or small service calls MRPeasy for late purchase orders, shortages or ready-to-ship orders and keeps a cursor of what was already posted.
- 4
Design adaptive cards
One card per exception type with the key fields, a link to the MRPeasy record and at most two actions. Resist adding every field.
- 5
Handle button clicks
The bot or flow receives the action, checks the Entra ID user against an allowed approver list, then calls MRPeasy and updates the card with the outcome.
- 6
Add a question handler
Optionally map typed questions to a few read-only API queries, answering from live data rather than a cached copy.
- 7
Tune channels and frequency
Route by owner or product line and batch low-priority items into a daily digest to keep the channel readable.
Example flows
Discount approval
Trigger: A salesperson raises a customer order with a discount above a set threshold.
- Poll finds the order awaiting approval.
- Bot posts a card to the managers channel with customer, total and discount.
- Manager clicks Approve or Reject.
- Bot adds a note to the order and tells the salesperson in Teams.
Result: The decision is recorded against the order and nobody waits for an email reply.
Shortage triage
Trigger: A manufacturing order is scheduled to start tomorrow with missing components.
- Query lists the missing items and open purchase orders for them.
- A card lists shortages and the next expected receipts.
- Purchaser replies in thread with an action.
- Planner reschedules in MRPeasy.
Result: The conversation about the shortage sits next to the data that triggered it.
Keeping data on-prem
MRPeasy is hosted, so the question is where the connector and any language model run. For companies that keep data inside their network, host the bot or runner on a local server or private Azure tenant and keep MRPeasy credentials there. If you add a model for natural language questions, serve an open-weight model locally so order and customer data are not sent to a public API; Teams only carries the final text.
Security checklist
- Use Entra ID single sign-on and map Teams users to MRPeasy approvers explicitly.
- Limit the bot to named teams and channels; do not allow it in every chat.
- Keep the MRPeasy key out of flow definitions by using a secret store or connection reference.
- Avoid posting prices or customer contacts in broad channels.
- Log every approval with user, time and the exact card version.
Ways to get it done
Power Automate flows
Effort: A few days
Good for alerts and basic digests if you already license it for your tenant.
Custom Teams bot
Effort: 3 to 5 weeks
Needed for approvals, questions and per-user permissions.
Partner build such as Netray
Effort: 3 to 6 weeks
Makes sense when you want questions answered in plain language with an on-prem model and tighter controls.
Pitfalls
- !Flooding a channel with every late line trains people to mute it; batch and prioritise.
- !Approval buttons without checking the clicking user allow anyone in the channel to approve.
- !Cards that show stale data after the order changes confuse readers; update or lock the card on action.
- !Power Automate premium connector licensing can change the cost of a simple flow.
- !Polling without a cursor repeats the same alert every cycle.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official MRPeasy app for Teams?
You should not assume one exists. The practical route is the MRPeasy API combined with Power Automate or a custom bot. Check your MRPeasy plan and current integration list in case that has changed.
Can I approve MRPeasy orders from Teams?
Yes if you build a bot or flow that reads the order, shows an adaptive card and writes the decision back through the API. Check who clicked and keep the write limited to a note or status you have tested.
Do I need a developer?
For simple alerts, a power user with Power Automate can manage. For approvals, per-user permissions and questions, expect a developer comfortable with Azure bots and REST APIs.
How real-time can it be?
As real-time as your polling interval, typically a few minutes. If MRPeasy offers webhooks for the event you care about, use them, but plan for polling as a safe fallback.
Can Teams users ask MRPeasy questions in English?
Yes, by adding a question layer that translates requests into read-only API calls and returns the answer. A small fixed list of queries is more reliable than open-ended questions to start.
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