1. Managers can view approval requests and approve or reject them within Microsoft Teams.
2. Instantly check-in & check-out for the day directly from Microsoft Teams.
3. Check your leave balance or see a list of upcoming holiday.
4. Apply for leave with ease or raise an attendance regularization request when needed.
   
5. Raise hourly permission requests.
6. Search and see details on a project.
7. Check the time sheet approval status for submitted requests. 
8. Search for a colleague, see if they are on in/out or on leave, and see their contact info.
9. Remind your manager about a pending approval request.
   
10. Get answers to any of your Zoho People-related queries using Zia (Read the topic below)

Access Zoho People Zia AI Assistant from Microsoft Teams

To access Zia from Microsoft Teams, Zia must first be enabled in your Zoho People web account. Click here to learn more about enabling Zia and its features. 

Zia is Zoho People’s AI-powered HR assistant designed to help employees and HR teams interact with the platform using natural language. It acts as an intelligent workplace assistant that can answer HR-related questions, generate insights, automate routine actions, analyze workforce data and more.

Here are the key highlights of Zia:

1. Built as a self-hosted AI assistant for Zoho People users.
2. Answers HR policy and employee-related queries by referencing organization policy documents uploaded to the Files service.
3. Supports conversational and contextual follow-up interactions.
4. Assists with queries related to pending approvals, assigned tasks, and LMS progress tracking.
5. Enables users to perform actions through chat, such as sending reminders or sharing employee feedback.
6. Provides guidance on configuring Zoho People by referencing the Zoho People Knowledge Base.
7. Answers analytical and trend-based questions, while also providing insights and summaries.
8. Access is controlled through role and permission-based, ensuring secure access (Configured through Zoho People web).

All text-based interactions are supported directly within Microsoft Teams chat. For advanced features such as graph generation, visual reports, chat-based UI navigation, and voice input, use Zia in Zoho People web. 

Just type in your query in the chat window and Zia AI will respond to you directly in the Microsoft Teams - Zoho People chat space. 

Installing and using Zoho People for Microsoft Teams

Tip: If you want to directly intimate all employees to install Microsoft Teams from Zoho People by sending a feed/email alert with a link to install, then start from step 5.

1. From your web browser access this direct link to Zoho People in Microsoft Teams app store or visit https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps and search for Zoho People.
2. Install Zoho People for Microsoft Teams by clicking on Get it now. 
   
   
   
   
3. Click Authorize in the welcome card to get started.

   
   

   Note: Authorization must be done at a user level (all users using Microsoft Teams in your organization must individually authorize). Approval notifications will be received in both Zoho People and Microsoft Teams.

   
   

   
   
4. Sign in using your Zoho account or the Microsoft account linked to Zoho. Once logged in, you can use Zoho People within Microsoft Teams. To receive approval notifications directly in Teams, you must enable the required permissions by following these steps:
5. Go to Zoho People (people.zoho.com) and sign in using your Zoho People account.
   
6. Now go to Settings and select Others below Integrations.
   
7. Click on Configure / Show Details on the Microsoft Teams tile.

   
   
   
   
8. Enable the required notifications using the switches and click Save.
   

   

   Note: You will need to be an administrator or have the required permissions to receive approval notifications.
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   You will now start receiving Zoho People approval notifications directly in Zoho People for Microsoft Teams. Additionally, you can send out a notification to all your employees to install Microsoft Teams so they can benefit from using these features as well. 
   
   To send notifications to all employees to install Microsoft Teams follow the steps below:
9. Enable the required methods to send out the notification Feeds and Email or enable both. 
10. Click Save.

This will now send out a notification to your employees with a link to install Microsoft Teams.

How to use Zoho People for Microsoft Teams

If Zia is configured in your Zoho People web account, read this section to learn how to chat directly with Zia for any Zoho People–related queries.

If you have multiple chatbots or conversations in your Microsoft Teams chat space, scroll and click on Zoho People. (Individual chat only, actions cannot be performed from group chat spaces) this is where you will receive notifications and issue actions.

1. You can directly start performing actions. Here are some keyword examples:
   Attendance, Search Employee, Leave, Shift, Timelogs, Project Search, Holidays, Checkin, Checkout, My shift, Leave balance.
2. Use the command "help" anytime to list all possible actions.
   
   
3. Additionally, managers and administrators can perform additional actions using the following commands: "view and approve leave requests", "view and approve timesheets", "view and approve regularization", "view and update team shift details"