Technology Architecture
The VisualSP backend is fully deployed within the Microsoft Azure cloud for maximum scalability, availability, and support. Backend processing is provided by Microsoft Azure App Service, data is stored in a Microsoft Azure Cloud SQL Database, and analytics are provided by Microsoft Azure HDInsight.
The end user experience is provided by a browser extension. The extension is available for the latest version of Google Chrome and the latest version of Edge.
Content produced by VisualSP is served via Microsoft Azure Media Services. Content created by Microsoft may be served from any of Microsoft’s online properties as well as YouTube.com.
The extension recognizes when a user is visiting an Microsoft 365 application, a SharePoint On-Premises deployment, or any other web-based application where VisualSP has been deployed.
Data Flow Architecture
The user visits a page in Microsoft 365, SharePoint On-Premises, or other web-based application.
The browser extension requests the Help Items the current user has access to on that page. If the plugin has not been registered, only content that has been flagged as visible to Anonymous Users will be returned. If the plugin has been registered, Help Items data is returned from the Content Packs the organization has purchased, along with any custom Help Items created by the organization.
If the user is in a Group with an Editor, Application Administrator, or Organization Administrator role, the interface is also customized to support the user’s elevated permissions.
Help Item Architecture
Help Items are rendered in the browser plugin where they can be easily accessed via the VisualSP Help Tab slide out panel. The Panel initially displays Help Item groups, which expand when clicked on to show the icons and titles of the Help Items in that group.
When a Help Item is clicked on, a dialog opens displaying the referenced Help Item media (this may or may not be applicable to Walkthroughs, depending on how that particular walkthrough is configured). Linked media may exist on any server anywhere, but users must have read access to all media that is referenced. A list of allowed media types is included at the end of this document.
Help Items and Help Item Groups are defined at the App Scope level. The currently defined App Scopes are listed at the end of this document.
Each App Scope has its own unique set of Help Items and Help Item groups. They are not shared with other App Scopes. Help Items are displayed in the VisualSP Help Tab on every page the user visits within that App Scope if the Help Item’s target page has not been more granularly refined. Each Help Item may be filtered to only display on pages where the URL matches a specified pattern.
For Help Items in the SharePoint Online and SharePoint On-Premises App Scope, one or more SharePoint Scopes may be selected as well. The available SharePoint Scopes are listed at the end of this document.
Organization and Permissions Architecture
When an organization is initially set up, one group is created as the Organization Administrators group at least one organization member is added to the group. This member can add other users to the Organization Administrators Group if needed and also create and manage other permission groups.
Permissions within VisualSP for Microsoft 365 are managed on a Group basis. Each organization can create as many groups as they need. Each group will be given a Role of either Organization Administrator, App Administrator, or Editor.
If a Group has a role of App Administrator Editor, one or more App Scopes must also be selected. Users are then added as Members of the group. Users are always added by their organization email address. If they have not yet registered a VisualSP browser extension, the user’s name will show as “Unknown, Unknown.” Permission changes take effect as soon as the changes are saved. If a user was added to a group before registering a VisualSP browser extension, the user will be able to use the elevated permissions which were granted immediately after registration is complete.
A user may also be a member of multiple Groups. If a user is a member of multiple groups, all the permissions for all groups are granted to the member.
Users with elevated permissions will see additional options in the VisualSP Help Tab slide-out menu. If the user is an Editor or App Administrator for the App Scope the page is in, or the user is an Organization Administrator, an additional menu will be available in the VisualSP Help Tab slide out panel where the user can Enable Edit Mode and Disable Edit Mode.
When Edit Mode is Enabled in the VisualSP browser extension, the user can edit existing Help Items and Help Item Groups and create new Help Items and Help Item Groups. All editing of Help Items is done in the VisualSP Management Panel which slides up from the bottom of the browser window. This panel can also be ‘popped out’ as a separate browser window.
For any Help Item, if the “Is Published” field is set to “No”, only users with Editor and Administrator permissions for the Help Item’s App Scope will be able to see it. All other users will be able to see the Help Item as soon as “Is Published” is set to “Yes”.
App Administrators and Organizational Administrators will see a menu options for Manage My Organization. Selecting either of these options opens the VisualSP Management Dialog. This dialog can be ‘popped out’ into a separate browser window.
Organization Administrators can choose to Delete access for a particular user, which is helpful to maintain a particular level or participants for a certain license level or to keep employees who have left the organization from being able to access organization specific Help Items after leaving the organization.
Organization Administrators can also access Analytics for the organization.
| Media Types and Viewers | App Scopes | SharePoint Scopes |
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Banners Custom EMBED Tags Custom OBJECT Tags Documents (.pdf, .docx, etc...) Images (.png, jpg, .gif, etc…) Rich HTML Videos
WebPages YouTube Videos |
Microsoft Azure Microsoft CRM Admin Center Microsoft Excel Online Microsoft Exchange Admin Center Microsoft 365 Admin Microsoft 365 Calendar Microsoft 365 Delve Microsoft 365 E-Mail Microsoft 365 Forms Microsoft 365 Power Automate Microsoft 365 My Account Page Microsoft 365 OneDrive Microsoft 365 OneNote Microsoft 365 People Microsoft 365 Planner Microsoft 365 PowerApps Microsoft 365 PowerBI Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online Admin Center Microsoft 365 SharePoint Site Directory Microsoft 365 Start Page Microsoft 365 Store Microsoft 365 Sway Microsoft 365 Tasks Microsoft 365 Video Microsoft Lists Microsoft PowerPoint Online Microsoft Teams Microsoft Word Online Microsoft Yammer Admin Center Nintex Workflow Cloud SharePoint On-Premises Yammer |
Access Request List Announcements List App Data Catalog Asset Library Blog Categories List Blog Comments List Blog Post Blog Posts List Calendar List Contacts List Custom List Data Connection Library Data Sources Library Design Catalog Discussion Board Document Library External List Form Library Gantt Tasks List Issue Tracking List Library Settings Page Links List List Settings Page List Template Gallery Maintenance Logs List Master Page Gallery My Site Document Library My Sites About Me Page My Sites Newsfeed Page No Code Workflows Library People and Groups Page Permissions Page Picture Library Project Sites Page Promoted Links List Publishing Page Publishing Pages Library Recycle Bin Report Library Site Columns Site Content Types Site Contents Page Site Settings Page Site Template Catalog Slide Library Solution Gallery Survey Survey List Settings Page Tasks List Term Store Theme Gallery User Information List Web Part Gallery Wiki Page Wiki Page Library Workflow History Library Workflow Process Library |