About Slack
Slack is a messaging app for business that connects people to the information they need. By bringing people together to work as one unified team, Slack transforms the way organizations communicate.
The Slack integration makes it easy for employees to use Envoy features in the app they use most. Employees can register to come on-site, book desks, get notified when their visitors and deliveries arrive, and check in to meeting rooms. Connecting Slack to Envoy will also update employee’s location status within Slack, making it easier for colleagues to know who is working on-site.
Benefits
Register to come on-site
Book or cancel a desk reservation
Create visitor Invites
Get notified when visitors and deliveries arrive
Check into pre-booked meeting rooms
Share where you’re working in your Slack status
Reply to notifications with just one click
Reach employees where they are—on Slack desktop or mobile
How does this app work?
Envoy will send a Slack direct message to your employees every time a visitor arrives to see them. Learn more about inviting visitors from Slack. If you use Envoy Deliveries, your employees will receive a direct message when their delivery arrives.
If you’d also like to post all visitor notifications to a Slack channel, you can do that too! Learn more about channel notifications below. Your team can also use the /envoy slash commands in Slack to complete actions in Envoy. Learn more about slash commands below.
Enabling Envoy + Slack
Note: You’ll need to be an admin on your Slack account to complete this setup. Either become an admin or ask your admin for help before completing these steps:
Go to Apps > All Apps.
Search for Slack. Click Install.
Select or sign in to your team.
Review the information, and click Allow.
Optionally, under Workspaces, choose the workspace to block from messaging.
Select Next step, and Complete Setup.
Back on your dashboard, you’ll see that the app has been enabled.
To receive notifications from the Envoy bot, an employee must be listed with the same email address both in your Envoy employee directory and on your Slack team.
We recommend testing new features before engaging your whole team. On the Envoy iPad, sign yourself in as a test visitor, select yourself as the host, and check out the notification you get from the Envoy bot.
Important Notes:
To receive Slack notifications, each employee and administrator must make sure Slack notifications are enabled in their personal notifications settings. Follow the instructions in this article and feel free to share it with your team.
If you do not see the Envoy App in Slack you may have to install it from the Apps section.
Choosing Slack as the notification method for your location
Locate Notification methods
To enable Slack, toggle it to the “on” position.
To disable a Slack, toggle it to the “off” position.
Note: Remember, as the Envoy administrator, you're choosing the default host notification preferences for your location.
Any employee can log in on the web or Envoy Mobile App to customize their personal notification preferences. They can only choose notifications that are on for the location.
As an admin, you cannot reset an employee's personal notification settings if they have been changed after the initial setup.
Navigating Slack + Envoy
Home tab
From the Home tab you can:
Send visitor invites
View your work schedule
Register/Schedule for today or in advance
Sync your slack status.
Messages Tab
In the Messages tab you can type in slash commands to view your desk, check in/out, create an invitation and register or schedule to come into the workplace.
Slash Commands
Type /envoy-desk into slack to view your desk.
Type /envoy-in into slack to check in with Envoy.
Type /envoy-invite into Slack to create an invitation in Envoy.
Type /envoy-out into Slack to check out of work via Envoy.
Type /envoy-register into Slack to register to come into the workplace.
Type /envoy-schedule into Slack to view your schedule.
About tab
The About tab gives you more information about Envoy and Slack as well as different links to configure this integration.
Envoy + Slack channel notifications
Once you’ve enabled the application via the steps above, it’s easy to have the Envoy bot list all visitors in one or multiple channels. If your company has multiple locations with Envoy, please note that channel notifications will show all visitors at all locations.
Note: Once the Envoy bot is installed in Slack, all users can invite the bot to any public or private channel. If you prefer to have the Envoy bot only send direct messages, please reach out to Envoy support.
How to create a new channel for notifications
We recommend creating a new channel to display visitor sign-ins. To do so, start by creating a new channel.
When creating the new channel, invite Envoy, and any other team members as desired.
All employee’s visitor notifications will now appear in the channel.
Note: In order to limit the Slack bot to send notifications to specific channels, please see the following instructions.
How to get notifications in an existing channel
You can invite Envoy to any existing channel to see notifications there. Just type the /invite command and invite @envoy.
How to remove notifications from an existing channel
You can remove Envoy from any existing channel. Just type /remove and @envoy.
Envoy + Slack host replies
With the Slack app enabled, you can optionally allow hosts to reply with a single click.
To enable host replies:
Click Edit next to Slack.
Toggle on Host replies.
Note: Once host replies are toggled on, all Front Desk Admins at the location will receive each host reply via slack. A Front Desk Admin needs to be assigned to the location in order for host replies to work.
Envoy + Slack host approval
If you have an invite-only visitor policy, your employees can use Slack to acknowledge that they're expecting an uninvited visitor, or flag them to your admin. When an employee selects "On my way," or "Few minutes late" the visitor will instantly be approved. If they select "Not my visitor," that guest will be flagged to an admin to approve or find them a more suitable host.
To enable Host approval
Enable Host replies.
Go to Visitors > Settings > Pre-registration and enable Approval required for unexpected visitors.
Toggle on Let hosts approve unexpected visitors via Slack.
Sync Slack statuses with Envoy
Envoy can automatically update an employee's Slack status whenever they sign into the workplace or check-in to a desk.
✨ Note: Slack cannot update the status of Slack Admins.
To enable Slack status syncing
Enable Host replies.
Navigate to your Envoy Dashboard > App
Search for Slack
Read over Workspaces and click Next Step
Connect your Slack account by clicking Allow under the permissions.
Note: you may need to re-authenticate the first time to allow Envoy permission to Edit profile information and status.
Complete the configuration steps based on preference:
Enable Status Updates
Select Status Emoji
Status Workplace Name
Include Location Name
Include employee's desk location
Status expiration
Click Next Step.
Finally, click Complete Setup.
When Employees sign in to the workplace, their status will be automatically updated in Slack.
Disable your slack status as an employee
Some employees may not want to display when they're at the office or where they're sitting, Envoy has built in the option for employees to disable the sync to update their status when signing in.
Go to the Envoy app within Slack.
Click the Home tab.
Click Disable next to sync status.
FAQ
If you are not seeing the new Slack + Envoy features such as desk booking, scheduling, etc, you will need to re-authenticate the permissions between Envoy and Slack which should popup when you first open the Slack Envoy App.
Click Authorize.
As a last resort, if you still do not see the features and are not prompted to authorize, then you can uninstall, then reinstall the Envoy app in Slack by following these instructions.
