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Anywhere365 SharePoint UCC Site Creator

Note: As with the installation/update of any component, it is important to make sure it is compatible with the version of the Bundle being used! Learn More
 Tip: A NEW quicker install method for creating OneUCC Available since UCC.Creator v8.2.0.7. The model (preferred by Microsoft) in SharePoint on Microsoft 365 where no subsites are allowed. In this model each Anywhere365 UCC will need its own separate SharePoint site (formerly known as site collection). This does allows for more granular user access and template updates per UCC. sites with App-only and certificate sites using PnP.Powershell and restricted local permissions (selected sites only) can be found under additional configuration.
See page: New method for OneUCC Site Install using PnP.PowerShell.

Supplemental Announcement 1 (late 2022): Microsoft SharePoint limits and subsites:

Update 25-january-2023: Starting in February 2023 Microsoft will start enforcing hard limits in SharePoint Online when creating new SubSites, lists and libraries in a Site Collection to overcome their growing performance challenges. See Microsoft Message Center MC405984 (only visible to Microsoft 365 Administrator accounts or see our FAQ for a copy of a recent text.)

To see how this may impact your (future) deployments and what remedies we have added since UCC A Unified Contact Center, or UCC, is a queue of interactions (voice, email, IM, etc.) that are handled by Agents. Each UCC has its own settings, IVR menus and Agents. Agents can belong to one or several UCCs and can have multiple skills (competencies). A UCC can be visualized as a contact center “micro service”. Customers can utilize one UCC (e.g. a global helpdesk), a few UCC’s (e.g. for each department or regional office) or hundreds of UCC’s (e.g. for each bed at a hospital). They are interconnected and can all be managed from one central location..Creator v8.2.0.7

The enforced limits are:

  • 2000 SubSites per Site Collection

and

  • 2000 lists and libraries per SubSite.

This means our customers (unless they exceed the 2000 UCC's in a single Site Collection) can continue using the below mentioned "Legacy" model of our Ucc.Creator (albeit with the extra parameter -UseSubsites when running the .ps1 scripts).

NOTE! Ucc.creator scripts earlier then v8.2.0.7 do not have this capability!

Secondly and separate from the above hard limit enforcement, there is also a recommendation by Microsoft to eliminate the use of SubSites altogether to improve on SharePoint performance and as they state: "each unit of work should get a separate site collection". This will not yet be enforced by Microsoft by February 2023, but may be at a later date. (with SubSites disabled, grouping different Site Collections together for functional and/or administrative reasons (which for UCC's is a common practice), Microsoft already suggests to prepare/use Hub Sites. Learn More - Microsoft)

Anywhere365, a consumer of subsites, lists and libraries, has prepared for both the recommendation and limits and has made adaptations on their UCC Site Creator tool:

Starting with Ucc.Creator 8.2.0.7 the default behavior is that every new UCC (Site) will be built in its own Site Collection (root site) without the necessity, or even option, for subsites (because this may already have been disabled by your administrator or tenant subscription if you need to adhere to Microsoft’s recommendation).

It is also still possible to work with SubSites enabled and use our new Ucc.Creator in a Legacy SubSite model with an additional parameter for the .ps1 scripts (-UseSubsites).

Due to the new insights on Microsoft's approach to hard limit enforcement, what previously we called "Preferred" model is now renamed to "OneUCC" model.

Supplemental Announcement 2 (late 2023): Microsoft SharePoint Azure-ACS retirement:

On November 27th 2023 Microsoft announced the impending retirement of Azure Access Control Services "as auth platform for SharePoint online" in Message Center announcement MC693863.

In short you should start planning to move your UCC SharePoint authorization methods away from AppId and AppSecret credentials to a Microsoft Entra ID Formerly known as Azure Active Directory (or Azure AD, or AAD) App Only model before the retirement dates mentioned by Microsoft.

Our advice is to use the existing Anywhere365 OneUCC model already described on this site. Further guides to help you out will follow in due time.

Because MC's are only visible to Microsoft 365 admins, for your convenience please find a copy of the text (at time of writing) of the Microsoft announcement below:

Message Summary

Since the first use of Azure ACS (Access Control Services) by SharePoint in 2013, Microsoft has evolved the authorization and authentication options for SharePoint Online via Microsoft Entra ID Formerly known as Azure Active Directory (or Azure AD, or AAD) (a.k.a. Azure AD). Using Microsoft Entra ID as auth platform for your SharePoint Online customizations will provide your applications the most secure, compliant and future proof model. With our continued investment in Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft is retiring the use of Azure ACS as auth platform for SharePoint Online.

Key Points:

Major: Retirement

Timeline:

Starting November 1st, 2024, new tenants will not be able use Azure ACS.

Starting April 2nd, 2026, Microsoft will remove the ability use SharePoint ACS for existing tenants.

Action: Review and assess impact

How this will affect your organization

If your organization still uses Azure ACS to grant custom developed or third party applications access to SharePoint Online, they will no longer have access after April 2nd, 2026. We recommend customers to update their customizations to use Microsoft Entra ID and ask their solution vendors to do the same.

What you need to do to prepare

You will want to notify your Azure ACS users and developers. Update your user training and prepare your help desk.

For admins

Use the Microsoft 365 Assessment tool to scan your tenants for Azure ACS usage.

Review the guidance for migrating from Azure ACS to Microsoft Entra ID.

There will not be an option to extend Azure ACS usage for SharePoint Online beyond April 2nd 2026.

Learn more

Support update for the retirement of Azure ACS for SharePoint Online in Microsoft 365.

Step 1: Prepare your SharePoint

Time to execute: approx. 10 min.

 Tip: A NEW quicker install method for creating OneUCC sites with App-only and certificate sites using PnP.Powershell and restricted local permissions (selected sites only) can be found under additional configuration.
See page: New method for OneUCC Site Install using PnP.PowerShell.

1. Supported SharePoint environments

UCC Creator for Anywhere365 On-Premise can be installed on the following environments:

  • SharePoint Online
  • SharePoint Server 2019 (July 2019 CU or higher installed)
  • SharePoint Server 2016
  • SharePoint Server 2013 (SP1 with March 2015 CU or higher installed)
  • SharePoint Foundation 2013 (SP1 with March 2015 CU or higher installed)

We recommend keeping your SharePoint Server environments up to date with the latest SharePoint Service Packs and Cumulative Updates.

2. Global SharePoint Online Prerequisites

  • Custom App Authentication should be enabled

    For example:

    • Install SPO Management Shell from within Powershell (version 5.0 and higher)

    Copy
    PowerShell
    Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

    • Connect to your SPO Service

    Copy
    PowerShell
    Connect-SPOService

    • When prompted connect to the Url of your SharePoint Admin site (Like https://<your-company>-admin.sharepoint.com), and login with your administrator credentials.

    • Enable Custom App Authentication by running the below PowerShell:

    Copy
    PowerShell
    Set-SPOtenant -DisableCustomAppAuthentication $false

    • Resulting output should look similar to:

  • Internal and external URL for SharePoint needs to be the same.
  • If installing on Skype for Business 2019 server, then install Core v 6.5 or higher first.

Note: (Optional) Subsite creation can still be enabled in SharePoint Online. But beware, Microsoft is increasing limitations on the use of subsites, and discouraging its use. For more information about still allowing subsite creation please visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/manage-site-creation#manage-detailed-site-and-subsite-creation-settings-in-the-classic-sharepoint-admin-center

Step 2: Create new Site Collection(s)

Time to execute: approx. 5 min.

 Tip: A NEW quicker install method for creating OneUCC sites with App-only and certificate sites using PnP.Powershell and restricted local permissions (selected sites only) can be found under additional configuration.
See page: New method for OneUCC Site Install using PnP.PowerShell.

The model for SharePoint on Microsoft 365 without subsites requires each Anywhere365 UCC to be created and managed in its own Site Collection. (Available since UCC.Creator v8.2.0.7)

Note: Ucc.Creator was developed when, what is now called, a Teams site (classic experience) was the default or only choice. This manual has been written and kept up-to-date with that in mind.

It is also possible to create a Site as a Team site or Communication site, however some additional steps (disable "Deny Add and Customize Pages feature") will have to be taken and some Microsoft 365 resources will be created which may never be used (like a new mailbox per site and a new Microsoft 365 group) which may pollute your AD and further measures may need to be taken to clean these up Learn More
If you want to use a modern site, we suggest creating Team Site (without Microsoft 365 Group).

1. Create a new site

  • In “SharePoint admin center”

  • Navigate to “Active Sites”

  • Click “+ Create”

  • Click “Other options” (bottom of page)

2. Select a template

  • In “Other Options”

  • Expand “Choose a template” dropdown

  • Select “More Templates” (Next page will open in a new browser tab!)

3. Enter Site Collection details

  • Populate “Title” with the name of your UCC

  • Populate the “Web Site Address” with the name of your UCC (just small letters, numbers and hyphens)

  • Select “Teams Site (classic experience)” as template

  • Select the a correct “Timezone” for this site and UCC. (This will be used by the UCC Business Hours for example Learn More)

  • Select at least one Administrator account for this Site Collection

  • Click “OK”

  • The new Site Collection(s) will now be created and visible in the Active sites overview in the “SharePoint admin center”.

  • The URL column will display the direct URL of each new Site Collection (for your single UCC).

 Tip: TIP: Share these URLs with the intended Anywhere365 UCC Manager(s) of your company.

Time to execute: approx. 5 min.

The legacy model for SharePoint Online with subsites allows each Anywhere365 UCC site to be created and managed in one Site Collection as a subsite per UCC.

Note: Ucc.Creator was developed when, what is now called, a Teams site (classic experience) was the default or only choice. This manual has been written and kept up-to-date with that in mind.

It is also possible to create a Site as a Team site or Communication site, however some additional steps (disable "Deny Add and Customize Pages feature") will have to be taken and some Microsoft 365 resources will be created which may never be used (like a new mailbox per site and a new Microsoft 365 group) which may pollute your AD and further measures may need to be taken to clean these up Learn More
If you want to use a modern site, we suggest creating Team Site (without Microsoft 365 Group).

1. Create a new site

  • In “SharePoint admin center”

  • Navigate to “Active Sites”

  • Click “+ Create”

  • Click “Other options” (bottom of page)

2. Select a template

  • In “Other Options”

  • Expand “Choose a template” dropdown

  • Select “More Templates” (Next page will open in a new browser tab!)

3. Enter Site Collection details

  • Populate “Title” with the name of your Anywhere365 Site Collection

  • Populate the “Web Site Address” with the name of your Anywhere365 Site Collection (just small letters and hyphens)

  • Select “Teams Site (classic experience)” as template

  • Select the a correct “Timezone” for this site and Anywhere365 Site Collection. (This will be used by the UCC Business Hours for example Learn More)

  • Select at least one Administrator account for this Site Collection

  • Click “OK”

  • The new Site Collection will now be created and visible in the Active sites overview in the “SharePoint admin center”.

  • The URL column will display the direct URL to the Site Collection (for your multiple UCC's).

 Tip: TIP: Share this URLs with the intended Anywhere365 UCC Manager(s) of your company.
Time to execute: approx. 15 min.

  1. Open the SharePoint Central Admin (to choose from start)

  2. Choose Application Management

  3. Choose View all site collections

  4. See if there is a site collection you want to use, if not. Create one and continue with step 5.

  5. Go back to the Central Admin page and this time, choose "Create site collections"

  6. Fill in the details and follow the steps. But make sure you create a "Team Site" for SharePoint Server 2013 and 2016 or a "Team Site (classic experience)" for SharePoint Server 2019.

    SharePoint Server 2013 / 2016

    SharePoint Server 2019

  7. Finished

Step 3: Generate first App Credentials or Microsoft Entra ID App-Only Certificate and Grant Consent

Time to execute: approx. 5 min.

Note: A separate ClientID and ClientSecret will be created per Site Collection. This could grow into a substantial management task if you need to maintain many Site Collections (each ClientSecret expires over time, for example, and needs to be manually renewed). To overcome this please opt for Option 2: below (AzureAD App-Only Certificate Trust) as that mechanism allows for a single authentication method for creating all Site Collections.
See our New install and create Site instructions.

1. Generate your first ClientId and ClientSecret

Note: Microsoft has recently (late 2023) enhanced security restrictions around this feature for SharePoint site collection administrators. Learn More - Microsoft

  • In browser, navigate to your UCC Site Collection

  • Transform your UCC Site Collection URL to:

Copy
URL
<Site Collection URL>/_layouts/15/AppRegNew.aspx

  • Click “Generate” to generate a new Client Id

  • Click “Generate” to generate a new Client Secret

  • Populate “Title” with ,we suggest, the name of your OneUCC or Anywhere365 Site Collection.

  • Populate “App Domain” with ,we suggest, the namespace of your corporate domain (can be anything except for the URL of this SharePoint site)

  • Populate “Redirect URL” with ,we suggest, the URL of this SharePoint site.

  • The final result should look like below:

  • Click “Create” to Register this new App in your SharePoint’s app registry (a summary of app details will be given for your convenience and safeguarding on a next page after you click create).

Warning: The auto-generated client secret will expire after one year. Schedule renewal ahead of time.
 Tip: For the procedure to renew this, or optionally extend this to 3 years, Learn More

2. Grant permissions to the Anywhere365 App for your Site Collection

Note: Microsoft has recently (late 2023) enhanced security restrictions around this feature for SharePoint site collection administrators. Learn More - Microsoft

  • In a browser, transform your UCC Site Collection URL to:

Copy
URL
<Site Collection URL>/_layouts/15/AppInv.aspx

  • Populate the “App Id” field with the “Client Id” generated in the previous step.

  • Click “Lookup” to auto-populate the three consecutive fields entered in the previous step.

  • Populate the “Permission Request XML” with the exact xml code below:

Copy
XML
<AppPermissionRequests AllowAppOnlyPolicy="true">
<AppPermissionRequest Scope="http://sharepoint/content/sitecollection" Right="FullControl"/>
</AppPermissionRequests>
Warning: Please don’t modify the Permission Request XML at all. Not even the URL.

  • The final result should look like below:

  • Click “Create” to request these specific permissions for this app.

  • A new page will appear to confirm and grant permission to this app by clicking the “Trust it” button

  • The final result should look like below:

Time to execute: approx. 30 min.

 Tip: A NEW quicker install method for creating OneUCC sites with App-only and certificate sites using PnP.Powershell and restricted local permissions (selected sites only) can be found under additional configuration.
See page: New method for OneUCC Site Install using PnP.PowerShell.

Note: To allow an application access to SharePoint Online, using Microsoft Entra ID App-Only with a certificate is Microsoft's preferred method. It allows for this single authentication method to allow an application (like Anywhere365 Ucc.Creator) to access all UCC Site Collections in your tenant. This is especially useful when opting for the OneUCC model (i.e. SubSites are disabled in your tenant) where you potentially have to build/maintain/update many separate site Collections.

Warning: The method described on this page allows you to create SharePoint site(s) and upload our template with your own App and certificate, as a prerequisite for creating one or more UCC's.

Please follow Microsoft's instructions on setting up your Microsoft Entra ID App-only with certificate, Learn More - Microsoft

  • When a name is asked for your App registration we suggest "Anywhere365 Ucc Site Creator".

  • Where Application permission are requested please follow the example exactly (i.e. SharePoint, Application permissions, Sites, Sites.FullControl.All)

  • Remember to copy and safeguard the ApplicationID

  • Remember to copy and safeguard the Password you entered during certificate creation (.pfx and .cer file).

  • Remember to copy and safeguard the certificate .pfx and .cer file.

  • You should know your Microsoft 365 TenantID

Step 4: Run Anywhere365 Site Collection Creator PowerShell script

Time to execute: approx. 15 min.

A new Site Collection will have a several default components without Anywhere365 assets.

1. Adding Anywhere365 base Assets to your Site Collection

Anywhere365 site assets (images and JavaScript files) will be uploaded to the Site Collection and the UCC Creator List will be created.

Note: Installation files can be obtained from Anywhere365 or an authorized Partner.

 Tip: When receiving the installer as a .zip file please check whether the .zip file is “Unblocked” in the file properties BEFORE extracting the installer

Warning: UCC.Creator 8.2.0.7 uses the latest PnP Powershell instead of SPO Management Shell used in earlier versions of UCC.Creator. Please check your installed Microsoft versions and latest updates if faced with issues running the scripts.

  1. Extract UCC.Creator.v8.x.x.x.zip

  2. Navigate to folder UCC.Creator.v8.x.x.x

  3. Edit configuration.xml

    • SiteCollectionUrl = URL of the site collection
      example: https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/ucc

    • SPversion = online, 2019, 2016, 2013 or foundation

      Option 1: Using Username and Password (only available for SharePoint Server)

    • Username = Username site collection admin (Only for SharePoint Server)

    • Password = Password site collection admin (Only for SharePoint Server)
      If Password encrypted ="True", encrypt the password by running "encryptpassword.ps1" script first. The PowerShell window should be executed with the credentials of the user that needs to use the encrypted password (i.e. the one running the ucc.creator script).

       

      Option 2 : Using AppId and AppSecret (only available for SharePoint Online)

    • AppId = Your Client Id (Only for SharePoint Online)

    • AppSecret = Your Client Secret (Only for SharePoint Online)

      Option 3 : Using Azure-AD-App and certificate (only available for SharePoint Online)

    • CertificateAppId = The Application ID of your Azure-AD-App with certificate, Learn More - Microsoft

    • CertificateTenantId = The TenantID of your SharePoint Online tenant.

    • CertificatePassword = The password of your certificate,
      If CertificatePassword encrypted ="True", encrypt the password by using the included "encryptpassword.ps1" script. The PowerShell window should be executed on the machine that needs to use the encrypted password (i.e. the one running the Ucc.Creator script).

    • CertificatePath = The path to the location where your certificate (.pfx) file is located on machine running this script.

  4. Open PowerShell

  5. Navigate to folder: UCC.Creator

  6. Run "UCC.SiteCollection.Creator.ps1" and wait until the task is completed.

After Uploading the Anywhere365 Site Collection Assets, the Site Collection has more artifacts. Most important of which is the Anywhere365 UCC Creator list.

Time to execute: approx. 15 min.

A new Site Collection will have a several default components without Anywhere365 assets.

1. Adding Anywhere365 base assets to your Site Collection

Anywhere365 site assets (images and JavaScript files) will be uploaded to the Site Collection and the UCC Creator List will be created.

Note: Installation files can be obtained from Anywhere365 or an authorized Partner.

 Tip: When receiving the installer as a .zip file please check whether the .zip file is “Unblocked” in the file properties BEFORE extracting the installer package.

Warning: UCC.Creator 8.2.0.7 uses the latest PnP Powershell instead of SPO Management Shell used in earlier versions of UCC.Creator. Please check your installed Microsoft versions and latest updates if faced with issues running the scripts.

  1. Extract UCC.Creator.v8.x.x.x.zip

  2. Navigate to folder UCC.Creator.v8.x.x.x

  3. Edit configuration.xml

    • SiteCollectionUrl = URL of the site collection
      example: https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/ucc

    • SPversion = online, 2019, 2016, 2013 or foundation

      Option 1: Using Username and Password (only available for SharePoint Server)

    • Username = Username site collection admin (Only for SharePoint Server)

    • Password = Password site collection admin (Only for SharePoint Server)
      If Password encrypted ="True", encrypt the password by running "encryptpassword.ps1" script first. The PowerShell window should be executed with the credentials of the user that needs to use the encrypted password (i.e. the one running the ucc.creator script).

       

      Option 2: Using AppId and AppSecret (only available for SharePoint Online)

    • AppId = Your Client Id (Only for SharePoint Online)

    • AppSecret = Your Client Secret (Only for SharePoint Online)

      Option 3: Using Azure-AD-App and certificate (only available for SharePoint Online)

    • CertificateAppId = The Application ID of your Azure-AD-App with certificate, Learn More - Microsoft

    • CertificateTenantId = The TenantId of your SharePoint Online tenant.

    • CertificatePassword = The password of your certificate,
      If CertificatePassword encrypted ="True", encrypt the password by using the included "encryptpassword.ps1" script. The PowerShell window should be executed on the machine that needs to use the encrypted password (i.e. the one running the ucc.creator script).

    • CertificatePath = The path to the location where your certificate (.pfx) file is located on machine running this script.

  4. Open PowerShell

  5. Navigate to folder: UCC.Creator.v8.x.x.x

  6. Run "UCC.SiteCollection.Creator.ps1 -useSubsites" and wait until the task is completed.

After Uploading the Anywhere365 Site Collection Assets, the Site Collection has more artifacts. Most important of which is the Anywhere365 UCC Creator list. (Notice the capability to add subsites)

Step 5: Run Anywhere365 UCC (Site) Creator PowerShell script

Time to execute: approx. 20 min.

Note: Without subsites it is only possible to use one item in the Ucc.Creator list. Multiple items can be added, but will never be processed.
Warning: UCC.Creator 8.2.0.7 uses the latest PnP Powershell instead of SPO Management Shell used in earlier versions of UCC.Creator. Please check your installed Microsoft versions and latest updates if faced with issues running the scripts.

1. Add UCC details to the UCC Creator List:

  1. Go to the Site Collection that you have created

  2. Navigate to Site Contents

  3. Click on the list Anywhere365 UCC Creator

  4. Enter values for the form fields and click on Save.

Note: If the UCC_Creator.ps1 is scheduled to run automatically as a scheduled task, these steps could be skipped.

  1. Open the regular PowerShell command window, run UCC.Creator.ps1. It connects to the Anywhere365 UCC Creator list with the credentials provided in configuration.xml and creates and populates items in the Anywhere365 UCC Site Collection for the UCC you just added to the list.

  2. As you can see the site is created in the root of the Site Collection. (Note: UCC lists like "Agents" are in the same root/site as the "Anywhere365 UCC Creator" list):

  3. If you go back to the list you will see that the added item has a URL now.

    The Provision Status is changed to Provisioned.

    Click on Site URL to open the UCC that is created.

     Tip: TIP: Share this URL with the intended Anywhere365 UCC Manager(s) of your company.

Continue

Continue reading on how to start the UCC.

Configure UCC

Time to execute: approx. 20 min.

1. Add UCC details to the UCC Creator List:

  1. Go to the site collection that you have created

  2. Navigate to Site Contents

  3. Click on the list Anywhere365 UCC Creator

  4. Enter values for the form fields and click on Save. (Notice the existence of a "Parent" field to allow for sub-subsite models)

Note: If the UCC_Creator.ps1 is scheduled to run automatically, these steps can be skipped.
Warning: UCC.Creator 8.2.0.7 uses the latest PnP Powershell instead of SPO Management Shell used in earlier versions of UCC.Creator. Please check your installed Microsoft versions and latest updates if faced with issues running the scripts.

  1. Open the regular PowerShell command window, run UCC.Creator.ps1 -useSubsites. It connects to the Anywhere365 UCC Creator site with the credentials provided in configuration.xml and a whole new UCC SharePoint subsite is created from the item you just added to the list.

    As you can see the sub site is created:

  2. If you go back to the list you will see that the added item has a URL now.

    The Provision Status is changed to Provisioned. (Notice a second site request is pending)

    Click on Site URL to open the UCC that is created.

 Tip: TIP: Share this URL with the intended Anywhere365 UCC Manager(s) of your company.

Continue

Continue reading on how to start the UCC.

Configure UCC