Microsoft 365 or Outlook Integration Overview

This guide is for users with Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Outlook email providers. This document explains how Momentum interacts with Outlook, the permissions Momentum requires, how to grant them, and the functionality you can expect.

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Functionality
3. Permissions and Controls
4. Authentication and Granting Permissions

Overview

Momentum integrates with Outlook and connects to your CRM so that all emails sent to records that match a known record ID are recorded in your CRM. 

Momentum's functionality revolves around sending emails on behalf of the fundraiser, so it requires access to their email inbox. Emails are sent so that recipients cannot tell they were sent through a third-party application, which is why direct access to the fundraiser's inbox is required.

Nylas Overview

Momentum uses Nylas, a third party tool, to handle the technical integration of Outlook emails. Nylas offers a more secure, robust infrastructure around email integration than Momentum intends to build itself. For more information on Nylas and how their systems operate, please visit https://developer.nylas.com/.

Functionality

1. Email Sending: Momentum allows you to compose and send emails directly from our dashboard. The first draft of all messages will be written by Momentum’s AI Fundraising Assistant. However, when you send an email, it is sent from your Outlook account. The integration ensures that the sent email appears in your Outlook Sent folder, maintaining a consistent record of your communications.
2. Email Sync Time: The synchronization of emails between our platform and Outlook is nearly instantaneous. Emails sent from our system will appear in your Outlook Sent folder within a minute, providing you with real-time tracking of your communication activities.
3. Drafts Handling: Drafts are not synced between our platform and Outlook. Any drafts created within our platform will not be mirrored in your Outlook Drafts folder. 

Permissions and Controls

Microsoft Permissions

The first time you sign in to Momentum with Microsoft, Microsoft displays a consent screen asking you to approve the following permissions:

There are two primary controls of Momentum’s permissions:

1. Momentum will only access email addresses provided by the client
   • Momentum will only access emails from addresses provided by the client. Provided addresses are typically a list of a fundraiser’s specific portfolio individual addresses.
   • Momentum does not access all emails in the inbox, including internal emails, personal emails, or any other email that is not to/from a provided email address.
   • The client has full control over what addresses Momentum will access, and can modify the list at any time.
2. Momentum requires human-in-the-loop interaction to send any email
   • Momentum requires a human-in-the-loop for all emails sent and will never send any email in an automated way.
   • All emails sent from Momentum are sent by a user pressing Send on an individual message. While there is functionality that intends to speed up the ability to send emails to multiple recipients quickly, there is no functionality that enables bulk sending of more than one email at a time.

Authentication and Granting Permissions

When you connect Momentum to your Microsoft account, a one-time authentication is required. This is what allows Momentum to send emails from your Outlook account.

Whether you can approve the permissions yourself depends on your organization's Microsoft (Entra ID) settings:

• Users can approve permissions themselves. You are prompted to approve the permissions when you sign in. No admin action is needed.
• An administrator must approve. You see a message that approval is required. An admin must approve Momentum before you can finish signing in. See Administrator Approval below.

Signing in to Momentum with Microsoft

1. Navigate to Momentum, and select Outlook or Microsoft Office 365, depending on your account.

   

2. Enter your email address and password.
3. When Microsoft prompts you to allow permissions, select Accept. If your organization requires admin approval, see the next section.

Once permissions have been granted, you will be redirected to your Inbox. 

Administrator Approval

For many organizations, a Microsoft administrator must approve Momentum before anyone can use it. It is a Microsoft tenant setting whether users can approve permissions themselves or an admin must do it. When an admin approves Momentum permissions, they can do so for the whole organization at once, so each user is not prompted individually. This is usually the best option.

An admin can approve Microsoft Permissions for Momentum by either granting admin consent in the Entra Admin Center, using a Momentum consent link, or requesting approval from the sign-in screen.

Option 1: Grant Admin Consent in the Microsoft Entra Admin Center.

Use this option if Momentum already appears in your organization's applications, for example after a user has attempted to sign in.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as an administrator with permission to grant consent (such as a Global Administrator, Cloud Application Administrator, or Application Administrator).
2. Go to Entra ID and Enterprise applications.
3. Find and select Momentum.
4. Select Permissions.
5. Select Grant admin consent for [your organization] and confirm.

For more detail, see Microsoft's guide: Grant tenant-wide admin consent to an application.

Option 2: Use the Momentum Admin Consent Link

Another option to grant consent is using the admin consent link provided by Microsoft. 

1. Send your admin this URL exactly as it is written: https://login.microsoftonline.com/organizations/adminconsent?client_id=e221bf8e-1b40-4986-9246-c0d5a70d81c4
2. Admin opens the link and signs in with their Microsoft admin account.
3. The admin reviews the permissions and selects Accept.

This approves Momentum for your entire organization.

Option 3: Request Approval from the Sign-In Screen

If you would rather not pre-approve Momentum, a user can sign in to Momentum with Microsoft and select Request approval when prompted. The request is sent to your admins and appears under Enterprise applications > Admin consent requests in the Entra admin center. An admin can review and approve it there.

The Request approval option only appears if your organization has enabled the admin consent workflow.

Revoking Access

Access can be revoked quickly and easily at any time. Any Microsoft administrator can revoke Momentum’s access through their admin panel.

Likewise, you can always open a support ticket in Momentum to help handle the removal of authorization.