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Using Solutions and Creating Email Templates

Solutions and Templates objects can be used as templates in Siebel Email Response. They can provide answers to frequently asked questions. To help you determine when to use solutions, when to use templates, and how each compares to a free-form reply, see Solutions and Templates Decision Table.

Using Solutions

Solutions appear to customers over the Web through Siebel eService, and to employees through products such as Siebel Call Center. They should be used for answers to questions that can be shared across customer communications channels. For information about creating and storing solutions, see Applications Administration Guide.

You may discover that some questions received in email and service requests have been asked and answered many times. Storing responses to frequently asked questions allows you to reuse the answers without having to perform duplicate research. See Applications Administration Guide for information about creating and storing solutions.

Siebel Email Response uses solutions as a type of template that does not have substitution fields. Solutions should contain information and instructions for customers that are shared across departments or channels. When you maintain information in one place, maintenance is kept to a minimum and customers receive the most current information.

Solutions can be imported into the body of a Siebel Email Response reply when you associate them with a category. An agent can use solutions when responding to telephone, email, and service requests.

NOTE:  If your solutions are going to be shared between Siebel Email Response and eService, and if they contain URLs or other HTML tags, be sure to enable HTML formatting for Siebel Email Response. HTML formatting is enabled in the User Preferences screen, Outbound Communications view. For more information about enabling HTML formatting for Siebel Email Response, see Applications Administration Guide.

Creating Email Templates

There are Simple templates and Advanced templates. Siebel Email Response only uses Simple templates. Therefore, this guide provides information about creating a Simple template.Templates can include template substitution fields that bring in data directly from your database. For information about using substitution fields, see Using Substitution Fields in Siebel Email Response Templates. For information about templates, see Siebel Communications Server Administration Guide.

Templates are shared by many Siebel products, including the following:

• Siebel Email Response
• Siebel Marketing
• Siebel Business Process Designer
• Send Email
• Send Fax
• Send Page
• Send Wireless Message

This section focuses on creating templates for use in Siebel Email Response.

Creating a Simple Template

Complete the following procedure to create a Simple template.

To create a Simple template

1. Navigate to the Administration - Communications screen > All Templates list view.
2. In the Templates list, click New.

   NOTE:  See Table 7 for default values and descriptions of template fields.

3. In the Templates list, complete the Name, Channel Type, and Description fields.
4. Click the Advanced view tab and in the Templates form use the template information gathered from Performing a Business Analysis for Your Siebel Email Response Deployment to complete the necessary fields.

   Table 7 lists the default values and descriptions of template fields.

   NOTE:  Be sure to notify agents whenever a template has been added or modified and provide instructions on how to use the new or revised template.

   Table 7.  Template Field Default Values and Descriptions

   Field Name	Default Value	Description
   Name		Required. Name of the template. Choose a name that clearly identifies the template's purpose.
   Channel Type	Email	Required. Communications channel that will use this template. Always use Email for Siebel Email Response. Other channel types are Fax, Wireless, and Page.
   Subject	Do not use for Siebel Email Response.	System-filled. In Siebel Email Response, if you put a value in this field when creating the template, the value will be overwritten with the subject of the incoming email in the reply. This field is used for Send Email and Send Fax templates only.
   Template Type		Required. Possible values are Greeting, Body, and Closing. Agents use these templates to tailor each area of a reply to a customer. Greeting or Closing. Used only for Siebel Email Response. You may want formal and casual greeting and closing templates. Other situations might call for a more detailed greeting or closing. Greeting and closing templates should be generic across the application and should not be associated with a category. Body. Used for Send Email, Fax, Wireless Message, and Page templates. It is not needed for Siebel Email Response templates unless you want to make the templates available for Send Email, Fax, Wireless Message, and Page. Only templates intended to be used as body templates should be associated to a category.
   Recipient Group		Required. Selecting a group determines the values that appear in the Available Substitutions list. The Recipient Group drop-down list contains all business objects that have a primary business component. In many cases, this will map to specific customer screens. After choosing a recipient group, the available substitutions for the selected group appear in the Available Substitutions selection box. In any greeting or closing templates that are set up as defaults in the Outbound Communications view in the User Preferences screen, only field substitutions from the Action recipient group will appear correctly. For more information about setting user preferences, see Applications Administration Guide.
   Public checkbox		Optional. Not used by Siebel Email Response.
   Available Substitutions		Optional. Substitutions are variable fields that take the place of actual information that will vary from one email to another. Values come from the business components and are added using Siebel Tools. For example, the available substitutions for the Action business component appear when you choose the Activity Contact recipient group.
   Template Text		Required. Template Text can be free-form text with or without substitution fields. Type the text for the template type you choose, copying and pasting available substitution fields where you want the value to appear. For example, when the casual greeting template is: Dear [First Name], The email reply shows: Dear Bob,