Bookshelf v7.5: Planning eMail Response Set Up

Planning eMail Response Set Up

In this section, you specify additional system information you need for setting up eMail Response. In this section, your goal is to gather system setup information.

Do you have a working Siebel Systems environment installed and configured by the system administrator? (Prerequisite.)

For more information, see the Siebel Server Installation Guide for your operating system.

Has your email server been installed and configured? (Prerequisite.)

The email server should have been set up by the Communications Server administrator.

What communications drivers and profiles will you use for email response?

NOTE: You should use the Internet SMTP/POP3 Server driver for connecting to all supported email servers.

Create communications profile names that correspond to all the mailboxes that you will monitor. For example, support@siebel.com and sales@siebel.com.

To obtain communications driver parameters (settings), see Siebel Communications Server Administration Guide. Values assigned to driver parameters apply to every profile that uses that driver unless you add a profile parameter override value to a profile. Profile parameter overrides allow you to make each profile unique. These will be explained later in this checklist.

See Siebel Communications Server Administration Guide for more information about communications drivers, communications driver parameters, and communications driver profiles.

What profile parameter overrides and values need to be established for each profile (email address) assigned to the communications driver?

A profile parameter override is a setting that overrides the values on the driver used by the profile.

If you do not supply a profile parameter override, the default parameter value is taken from the driver. Some required parameters do not have a default value, such as POP3 Account Name. You must provide values for all required parameters.

If you supply a profile parameter override, the override value will be used instead of the parameter value on the driver.

Each profile has its own parameter overrides that are necessary to connect to the email server account. For example, a common parameter override is From Address. The From Address parameter is passed to the SMTP server as the address that will show in the From field in an email reply. Values you assign make each profile unique. You add profile parameter overrides during eMail Response setup procedures. For more information about driver profiles and parameter overrides, see Siebel Communications Server Administration Guide.

Which email profiles (mailboxes) will receive Web-form messages and which will receive free-form messages?

Separate your email profiles into two groups, one to receive Web-form messages (such as, service requests) and one to receive free-form messages.

Take each of these two groups of email profiles and separate the profiles into groups that have the same types of email behaviors (input arguments). Each of these profiles will be associated with a single response group. Assign a meaningful name to each group.

These groups will be response groups and their associated profiles that you will create in Completing Typical Setup Tasks. Choose the following values for each group:

Name. Choose a meaningful name for each response group.

Administrator email address. Choose the email address to which you want to direct unprocessed email (email that cannot be processed due to database error, routing error, and so on) that is sent to profiles in each response group.

Description. Describe the types of email behaviors each response group controls. This information prepares you to set up input arguments for each response group.

What email behaviors (input arguments) are needed for each profile type?

Input arguments provide information to a business service so it can process incoming email. Because input arguments control the way email is handled, all profiles in a response group must have the same input arguments.

Using the response group description from Step 5, assign the input arguments for each group of email profiles. For a list of available input arguments, see Siebel eMail Response and Business Services.

Do you need to modify the workflows included with eMail Response?

Even if you decide not to modify the predefined workflows, you must activate them in the Business Process Administration screen before starting Siebel Server and receiving incoming email. For additional information about predefined workflows, see eMail Response Workflow Processes in Understanding eMail Response Workflows.

CAUTION: If you modify a workflow, it will not be upgraded when you upgrade your Siebel application. You will need to recreate all modifications in the prebuilt workflows in the new version of your application.

For information about creating and modifying workflows, see Siebel Business Process Designer Administration Guide.

Which routing and queuing method will you use to route incoming email to agents?

By default, email messages are recorded in your database as activities or service requests.

Identify the routing and queuing methods you will use: manual assignment, Siebel Assignment Manager, Siebel Universal Queuing, or custom routing and queuing. See Routing and Queuing Methods Comparison Table for a description of the advantages and disadvantages of each.

See Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide and Siebel Universal Queuing Administration Guide for information about creating routing and queuing rules for each system.

Do you need to set up Siebel Smart Answer?

If you have purchased the Siebel Smart Answer module (optional), use Siebel Smart Answer Administration Guide to implement it.