Microsoft continues to innovate and expand its capabilities, bringing more functionalities into Microsoft Graph. Viva Engage, a powerful community tool within Microsoft 365 and a very good option for replacing Workplace by Meta, now supports generally available (v1.0) APIs via Microsoft Graph, making it even more robust and reliable for developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) to build production applications. Previously, this API was released in public preview in December 2023.

In this blog post, I’ll cover what Viva Engage is, why you should integrate with it, and its latest developments in Microsoft Graph.

What is Viva Engage?

Viva Engage, formerly known as Yammer, is a social networking tool from the Microsoft Viva suite of apps, designed for employee engagement within organizations. It allows users to create communities where they can share ideas, ask questions, and collaborate on projects. If you haven’t used it yet, think of Viva Engage as Facebook for organizations. Integrated seamlessly with Microsoft 365, Viva Engage enhances communication and collaboration, creating a more connected and engaged workforce.

Why Integrate with Viva Engage?

Integrating with Viva Engage using Microsoft Graph APIs unlocks numerous possibilities for enhancing organizational workflows and communication. The following are three potential integration scenarios:

  • Automated community management: Automate the creation and management of communities based on specific triggers or workflows. For example, a new project kickoff can automatically generate a dedicated community for team collaboration.
  • Intranet community display: Increase community visibility and boost engagement by displaying Viva Engage communities on your SharePoint intranet. This integration can help employees easily discover and join relevant communities, enhancing collaboration and communication across the organization.
  • Reporting and analytics: Understand the total amount of Viva Engage communities in your organization. For advanced insights and analytics on community engagement and activity, see Working with Microsoft 365 usage reports in Microsoft Graph.

New beta API additions in July 2024

In July 2024, Microsoft introduced three new beta APIs to enhance the Viva Engage community capabilities further. These APIs, now also generally available, enable developers to:

  • List communities: Get a list of all Viva Engage communities in your organization.
  • Update a community: Update properties of existing communities, such as changing the name (displayName) or description.
  • Delete a community: Delete communities that are no longer needed, ensuring better management and organization.

Viva Engage community API: Now generally available

The Viva Engage community API, which was in beta at the time of my previous blog post, are now generally available (v1.0). This transition to a supported stage indicates the readiness of the APIs for production environments, ensuring stability, reliability, and support for developers.

Using generally available APIs in Microsoft Graph for building production solutions is crucial because it guarantees ongoing support and compatibility.

Use the Viva Engage community API (v1.0) to programmatically manage the following scenarios with Viva Engage communities:

Conclusion

The Viva Engage community API has been in beta for almost nine months. Within these nine months the API was extended with new scenarios (list, update, and delete) and is now generally available. I understand this as a result of an active usage and increasing interest in further extending Viva Engage use cases.

I look forward to seeing more and more Viva Engage use cases covered in Microsoft Graph, for example, the overall scenarios around posts. In any case, the transition of the Viva Engage community API to general availability marks a significant milestone, making them reliable for production use. I’m confident that this is just the beginning 💪

Stay tuned for more updates on Microsoft Graph APIs.

Thanks for reading,
Jarbas