Defining Display Templates

This chapter provides an overview of the recommendation experience and discusses how to:

Note. This chapter gives dialog creators a sense of the recommendation experience at runtime. It focuses on how display templates determine the runtime experience, and it discusses the effect of selections in the Advisor Workbench tool.

Click to jump to parent topicUnderstanding the Recommendation Experience

Real-Time Advisor integrates directly with several other PeopleSoft applications. It can be invoked directly from PeopleSoft Enterprise Order Capture, Order Capture Self Service, Mobile Order Capture, CRM Catalog, and industry-specific CRM solutions that rely on order-entry functionality or the CRM catalog.

With the addition of the Prescriptive Analytic Framework (PAF), Real-Time Advisor can also be indirectly invoked from PeopleSoft Enterprise Support and HelpDesk cases, the 360-degree view, PeopleSoft Enterprise Marketing activities, Lost and Stolen Handsets, Offer Management, and PeopleSoft CRM Accounts through PAF actions.

The Real-Time Advisor recommendation experience connects dialog creation with user presentation. You can run a session in Quiet mode to generate recommendations by using information already known about a user. Alternatively, you can run a session in Interactive mode, so that the user is asked a series of questions to gather information. Each page that is presented to a user contains elements such as questions and answers, explanations, recommendations, and actions. Depending on the action type, either the action itself or transition rules determine the subsequent page. Real-Time Advisor segments users based on their responses to questions and conditions, and it places them in target groups that determine the aspects of the recommended product users are most likely to favor. If a user is not part of a target group and a recommendation is requested, the recommendation engine uses the default target group. Display controls enable the dialog creator to define varied and relevant display templates to influence the user experience.

Style Class Definitions

Style classes enable you to change the appearance of HTML objects. They can control the colors, font, and display size of HTML objects. Real-Time Advisor, through display templates, uses style class definitions to control the appearance of dialog pages. You create style classes in PeopleSoft Enterprise Application Designer. The more style classes that you create before creating Real-Time Advisor display templates, the better. This provides a wide variety of options when designing runtime pages.

You can use the Advisor Workbench Test Dialog functionality (in Interactive mode) to test the style classes and display templates and ensure that the pages are displayed as desired.

Action Handling

Several actions are available at runtime. Actions appear on the page at runtime. These action types are defined while preparing the Real-Time Advisor environment:

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: PeopleSoft Application Designer

Defining Actions

Click to jump to parent topicDefining Display Templates

This section provides an overview of display templates and discusses how to:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicUnderstanding Display Templates

Display templates control the look of the runtime pages. Templates also dictate the information that appears for the recommended objects. Even dialogs in Quiet mode require display templates, because the templates define several key controls, such as the recommendation thresholds and the display characteristics. Presentation according to templates enables the interface to vary by dialog or by page, depending on the dialog and page settings. The presentation requires no coding by the user who sets up the dialog. Templates can control these five areas of the interactive experience:

Page Controls

Page controls are based on how the dialog presents questions and explanations to users at runtime. These pages constitute the bulk of the user experience; therefore, page controls are important. You can use them to create a custom look for either the dialog or the page, depending on the dialog setup.

When you use the Advisor Workbench tool to add a display template to a page, you can override the dialog template with a page template. You can use this functionality if, for example, you want a particular question-and-answer page to look different from the rest of the dialog.

See Creating Pages.

Display Characteristics

Display characteristics determine the aspects of the recommended object that are displayed to the user. Because templates can be used across multiple advisor types, and each advisor type has a different set of characteristics associated with it, you can select the characteristics to show for each advisor type. Therefore, you can use a template to create a particular look, and then you can use that template for a variety of dialog types.

The recommendation engine only works with characteristic keys of an object. The template determines the information regarding the object that is valuable to show users. For example, when the dialog recommends products, the dialog uses the setID and product ID to indicate which product to recommend. However, you may want to show the product description as well. You can map the description as a display characteristic and add it to the recommendation grid; the description then appears to the user as relevant information about the product. This same functionality can be applied to any display-type characteristic. You can also determine which characteristic to show as a link. Links can transfer users to the product details in an application such as the CRM catalog.

Note. You must define the characteristic mappings for display characteristics and the link behavior when you prepare the Real-Time Advisor environment.

See Defining Characteristic Mapping.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPages Used to Define Display Templates

Page Name

Object Name

Navigation

Usage

Define Display Template

RAD_TEMPLATE

Marketing, Advisor Dialogs, Define Display Template

Define display templates that control the look of the dialog presentation.

Define Page Controls

RAD_TMPL_PAGE

Click the Page Controls link on the Define Display Template page.

Define page control options to change the look of the individual question-and-answer pages at runtime.

Define Recommendation Controls

RAD_TMPL_RECOM

Click the Recommendation Controls link on the Define Display Template page.

Define recommendation controls to configure the way in which the system presents recommendations and the thresholds used to generate the recommendations.

Define Compare Controls

RAD_TMPL_COMP

Click the Compare Controls link on the Define Display Template page.

Define compare controls to change the look and feel of the comparison page. At runtime, you can use this page to view compared recommendations.

Define View Answer Controls

RAD_TMPL_VIEWANS

Click the View Answer Controls link on the Define Display Template page.

Define the view answer controls to change the look of the View Answers page. At runtime, you can view or edit previous answers to questions on this page.

Choose Display Characteristics

RAD_TMPL_CHARA

Click the Choose Display Characteristics link on the Define Display Template page.

Select the display characteristics for the recommendation and comparison pages.

Clone Current Template

RAD_TMPL_CLONE

Click the Clone Current Template link on the Define Display Template page.

Clone the current template so that a new template can be created without having to reenter options.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Display Templates

To define display templates, use the RAD_TEMPLATE component.

Access the Define Display Template page.

Template Details

Status

Select either Active or Inactive. Only active templates are available in the Advisor Workbench tool when you create a dialog.

Template Setup Steps

Page Controls

Click to set up page controls for question-and-answer pages, including page control preferences, path guide options, and style classes.

Recommendation Controls

Click to access the Define Recommendation Controls page and define recommendation control options, recommendation options, style classes, and score display details. At runtime, this information is used to display recommendations. This step must be done even for dialogs that run only in Quiet mode because this step determines the recommendation thresholds.

Compare Controls

Click to access the Define Compare Controls page and change the look of the Compare Selected page. At runtime, users access the Compare Selected page to compare recommendations returned by PeopleSoft Real-Time Advisor.

View Answer Controls

Click to access the Define View Answer Controls page and change the look of the View Answers page. At runtime, users can view or edit previous answers on the View Answers page.

Choose Display Characteristics

Click to control which display characteristics are shown to users with regard to recommendations and comparisons. This step must be done even for dialogs that run only in Quiet mode because this step determines the characteristics returned with the recommendation.

Clone Current Template

Click to clone the current template to create a new template without reentering options.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Page Controls

Access the Define Page Controls page.

Page Controls

Page Title

If the page does not have navigation text (as defined in the Advisor Workbench tool), the text entered here appears by default. There is a 30-character limit.

Default Explanation

Enter a default explanation to use if none is associated with a given page.

Number Questions

Select to number the questions sequentially for this page only.

Show Dialog Title

Select to display the dialog title on the page. The dialog title is the navigation text defined for the dialog.

Show Page Title

Select to display the Page Title field for this page. If selected, either the page navigation text or the page title appears on the page.

Path Guide Options

Show Path Guide

Select to display the path guide in the upper right-hand corner of this page. You can view the names of all of the completed pages, as well as all of the questions and answers from the previous page.

Include Break Line After Page

Select to provide a break row between each page listed in the path guide, using style classes.

Edit Link

Select the type of edit link that enables users to review and edit answers on specific pages.

Values are:

  • Answer Only

  • Both Page and Answer

  • Neither Page nor Answer

  • Page Only

Page Name

Enter a style class for the page name in the path guide. The page name that appears is either the navigation text of the page or the page title.

Question Text

Enter a style class for the question text in the path guide. The question text that appears is the navigation text for the question.

Answer Text

Enter a style class for the answer text in the path guide. The answer text that appears is the navigation text for the answer.

Page Edit Link

Enter a style class for the edit link of a page in the path guide.

Page Row

Enter a style class for a page row in the path guide.

Question Row

Enter a style class for the question row in the path guide.

Break Row

Enter a style class for a break row in the path guide. Use this row if you select Include Break Line After Page.

Style Classes

Dialog Title

Enter a style class for the title of the dialog, if used.

Page Title

Enter a style class for the page title, if used.

Question Box

Enter a style class for the question box. This is the framed box that surrounds the question and answers on the page.

Question

Enter a style class for the questions.

Explanation

Enter a style class for the explanation text.

Action Buttons

Enter a style class for action buttons.

Action Button Box

Enter a style class for the framed box that surrounds actions in the runtime.

Question Explanation

Enter a style class for text explanations for questions.

Even Row Answer

Enter a style class for even row answers for both single-type or multiple-type answers.

Odd Row Answer

Select a style class for odd row answers for both single-type or multiple-type answers.

Error Text

Select a style class for the error text.

Flagged Question

Select a style class for the color of the text when a question is flagged because it is required.

Default Page Image

Upload Image

Select an image to use on a page.

Delete Image

Delete the image that is being used on the page.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Recommendation Controls

Access the Define Recommendation Controls page.

Recommendation Controls

Page Title

Enter the page title to use for recommendation pages. There is a 75-character limit.

Default Explanation

Enter a default explanation to use for the Recommendation page.

Image Location

Select where to place the image. Values are: Right of Explanation and Left of Explanation.

Characteristic Default

Enter a value to specify what an empty characteristic shows, if the characteristic value for the recommended object is empty. Use a self-explanatory value such as NA or -.

Allow Compare

Select to enable users to compare recommended objects.

Show Passed Information

At runtime, the calling application may provide Real-Time Advisor additional display information about the recommended objects that does not appear in the database. Select this check box to allow this information to appear in Real-Time Advisor when the object is recommended. For instance, the passed information might be the calculated price.

Show Dialog Title

Select to display the dialog title on the page. The dialog title that appears is the navigation text of the dialog.

Show Page Title

Select to display the Page Title field.

Score Display Details

Score Presentation

Select a score presentation. Values are Image Range, Normalized List(out of 100), Ranking, and Raw Score.

Note. A normalized list takes the highest score to 100 and the lowest score to 0. All of the other scores are then adjusted accordingly. A ranking ranks the score, and the raw score is the score as it is calculated by the recommendation engine.

From Score and To Score

Enter a score to determine the raw score range for this image.

JPG Image

Displays the image if a recommended objects score falls within the designated range.

Browse

Click to obtain the image for the range.

Note. If there are recommendations whose raw scores do not fall within any of the defined image ranges, the score image for that recommend object is empty.

Score-range information is used only if the score presentation is set to Image Range.

Recommendation Options

Number to Return

Enter the number of recommendations to present on the Recommendation page. This entry is required for dialogs run in Quiet mode as well as Interactive mode.

Minimum Score

Enter a number to filter recommendations under a certain raw score. For instance, you may only want recommendations with at least a 50 score. This entry is required for dialogs run in Quiet mode as well as Interactive mode.

Control Results

Use Both

Select to use both the number of recommendations and the minimum score to determine the number of recommendations that appear on the Recommendation page.

Use Score Only

Select to use only the score as the limiting factor to determine the number of recommendations shown on the Recommendation page.

Use Number Only

Select to use only the number of recommendations as the limiting factor to determine the number of recommendations shown on the Recommendation page.

Note. Control results, the number-to-return, and the minimum score are used by dialogs in Quiet mode.

Style Classes

Dialog Title

Enter a style class for the dialog title, if used.

Page Title

Enter a style class for the page title, if used.

Score

Enter a style class for the score display column in the recommendation control. This style class is not used when the Image Range option is selected.

Recommendation Box

Enter a style class to use for the framed box around the list of recommendations.

Even Row

Enter a style class for even row recommendations in the recommendations control.

Odd Row

Enter a style class for odd row recommendations in the recommendations control.

Detail Link

Enter a style class for the details link column in the recommendation control.

Details Label

Enter a style class for the details label column in the recommendation control.

Compare Button

Enter a style class for the Compare button.

Explanation

Enter a style class for the explanation text.

Action Buttons

Enter a style class for the action buttons.

Action Buttons Box

Enter a style class for the framed box that surrounds actions in the runtime environment.

Default Page Image

Upload Image

Click to select the default image to use on the Recommendation page.

Delete Image

Click to delete the default image that is being used on the Recommendation page.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining Compare Controls

Access the Define Compare Controls page.

Comparison Controls

Page Title

Enter the page title that is used for comparison pages. There is a 75-character limit.

Default Explanation

Enter a default explanation to use for the comparison page.

Image Location

Select where to place the image. Values are Right of Explanation and Left of Explanation.

Characteristic Default

Enter a value to specify what an empty characteristic shows if the characteristic value for the recommended object is empty. Use a self-explanatory value such as NA or -.

Show Dialog Title

Select to display the dialog title on the page. The dialog title that appears is the navigation text of the dialog.

Show Page Title

Select to display the Page Title field.

Show Passed Information

At runtime, the calling application may provide Real-Time Advisor additional display information about the recommended objects that does not appear in the database. Select this check box to allow this information to appear in Real-Time Advisor when the object is recommended. For instance, the calculated price may be the passed information.

Style Classes

Dialog Title

Enter a style class for the dialog title, if used.

Page Title

Enter a style class for the page title, if used.

Comparison Box

Enter the style class that applies to the box surrounding the compared objects grid.

Detail Link

Enter a style class for the details link column in the compare control.

Even Row

Enter a style class to use for even row comparisons in the compare control.

Odd Row

Enter a style class to use for odd row comparisons in the compare control.

Criteria

Enter the style class that applies to the first column of the comparison grid where the various aspects of the object are listed. The criterion might be the price of a product.

Explanation

Enter a style class for the Explanation button.

Action Buttons

Enter a style class for the action buttons.

Action Button Box

Enter a style class for the framed box that surrounds actions in the runtime environment.

Default Page Image

Upload Image

Click to select the default image to use on the Comparison page.

Delete Image

Click to delete the default image that is being used on the Comparison page.

See Also

Defining Page Controls

Defining Recommendation Controls

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicDefining View Answer Controls

Access the Define View Answer Controls page.

View Answer Controls

Page Title

Enter the page title that is used for the View Answers page. There is a 75-character limit.

Default Explanation

Enter a default explanation to use if none are available for a page.

Image Location

Select where to place the image. Values are Right of Explanation and Left of Explanation.

Show Page Title

Select to display a page title when the Page Title field is empty.

Show Dialog Title

Select to display the dialog title on the page.

Style Classes

Dialog Title

Enter a style class for the dialog title, if used.

Page Title

Enter a style class for the page title, if used.

Page Box

Enter the style class that applies to the box surrounding the grid.

Page Navigator Text

Enter the style class for the page navigator text.

Question

Enter the style class for the question text.

Answer

Enter the style class for the answer text.

Action Buttons

Enter a style class for the action buttons.

Action Button Box

Enter a style class for the framed box that surrounds actions in the runtime environment.

Explanation

Enter a style class for the Explanation button.

Default Page Image

Upload Image

Click to select the default image to use on the View Answers page.

Delete Image

Click to delete the default image that is being used on the View Answers page.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicChoosing Display Characteristics

Access the Choose Display Characteristics page.

Display Characteristics for Advisor Types

This scroll area may have multiple advisor types listed. Set up the display characteristics for each advisor type that can use this template. Display characteristics defined here are used by dialogs in Quiet mode. The first 10 advisor types are displayed; use the scroll area controls to move to others. The information that you set up here is also needed for dialogs that run in Quiet mode because it determines the recommendation set that the system returns.

Characteristic Mapping

Select display characteristics for the advisor type.

Recommendation

Select to use this characteristic for recommendations. This characteristic appears in the Details column on the recommendation page, or it is returned with recommendations when the dialog is run in Quiet mode.

Comparison

Select to use this characteristic for comparisons. This characteristic appears on the comparison page, or it is returned with recommendations when the dialog is run in Quiet mode.

Detail Link

Select to use this characteristic as the detail link. At runtime, detail links are used by the system to determine which characteristic to enable as a drillable link. This is usually the title or description characteristic of the recommended object. This characteristic is also returned with recommendations when the dialog is run in Quiet mode

Note. Only one display characteristic can be identified as the detail link on the comparison and recommendation pages.

Show Label

Select to display the label for the characteristic in the Details column of the recommendation page.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicCloning Current Templates

Access the Clone Current Template page.

Cloned Template

Template Name

Enter a new template name for the template. There is a 30-character limit.

Status

Displays either active or inactive status.

Clone Template

Click to clone the current template.

Selected Options

Select the following check boxes to copy specified items: Page Controls, Recommendation Controls, Compare Controls, View Answer Controls, and Display Characteristics.

Click to jump to parent topicUsing Real-Time Advisor

This section provides an overview of the Real-Time Advisor runtime environment and discusses how to:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicUnderstanding the Real-Time Advisor Runtime Environment

You can run Real-Time Advisor from a variety of PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM applications, such as Order Capture, Order Capture Self Service, and industry-specific CRM applications, and from catalogs. You can also run Real-Time Advisor in Debugging mode from the Advisor Workbench tool.

In Debugging mode, an additional group box appears on the runtime page to identify the activity that has occurred. The information that appears is useful in correcting unforeseen problems that may arise when the system returns data or during the flow of the dialog. The group box appears on every runtime page. It may also appear in other calling applications, depending on the mode in which Real-Time Advisor is called.

Note. Order Capture enables the customer service representative (CSR) to activate Real-Time Advisor session information. This feature enables the CSR to view session debugging information when running a dialog for a customer. By default, session information is disabled. This option is available on the Order Capture Business Unit Definition page.

See Defining Order Capture Business Units.

When you run Real-Time Advisor, a start page containing questions appears. Users answer questions and have several available options; these are determined by the dialog creator, who adds actions to the page during dialog creation. Users can view or edit previous answers, ask for a recommendation, go to the next page, go back a page, or compare objects that are recommended. They can save the dialog interaction at any point, or they can continue to access information about the object by viewing the details of the recommended object. The Real-Time Advisor runtime engine determines the next page depending on the user action and transitions, and it may perform calculations relevant to the recommendation model. You determine such calculations when you use the Advisor Workbench tool during setup.

Four key runtime page types rely on template information. Each page has its own set of template controls that affect the appearance of the page independently:

See Defining Display Templates.

When you first initialize the runtime engine, Real-Time Advisor checks some characteristics of the dialog before allowing it to run. First, it verifies that a deployed version of the dialog is active. Next, the system verifies that the current date is within the start date and end date for the dialog. If either of these are invalid, the dialog does not run, and the system returns an error. If you are running PeopleSoft Real-Time Advisor from the Test Dialog link in the Advisor Workbench tool, the system verifies that the dialog status is Testing or Deployed before running the dialog.

In Quiet mode, the dialog is run immediately using information about the user from the system or from the PAF, and it delivers recommendations to the calling application. In Interactive mode the dialog is run and the user is presented with the Real-time Advisor runtime environment as determined by the dialog settings and the display templates.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPages Used to Run Real-Time Advisor

Page Name

Object Name

Navigation

Usage

Introduction

<Question-and-Answer>

RAD_ADVISOR_RUN

  • Click the Product Advisor links in one of the calling applications. Examples include, the link labeled Need help choosing a product? in Order Capture Self Service, and the Get Recommendations link in Order Capture.

  • Run Real-Time Advisor from PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM applications.

  • Test the dialog from the Advisor Workbench tool.

Answer questions and proceed through a dialog. Depending on the dialog, you may be able to access a recommendation or view debugging information.

View Answers

RAD_ADVISOR_RUN

  • Click the Product Advisor, PeopleSoft Advisor, or Advisor link in PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM self-service applications.

  • Run Real-Time Advisor from CRM applications.

  • Click the View My Answers button.

  • Test the dialog from the Advisor Workbench tool.

View previous responses to questions and change the answers.

Recommendations

RAD_ADVISOR_RUN

  • Click the Product Advisor, PeopleSoft Advisor, or Advisor link in PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM self-service applications.

  • Click the Recommend button.

  • Test the dialog from the Advisor Workbench tool.

View recommendations returned by the Real-Time Advisor recommendation engine.

Compare Selected Products

RAD_ADVISOR_RUN

  • Click the Product Advisor, PeopleSoft Advisor, or Advisor link in PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM self-service applications.

  • Run Real-Time Advisor from CRM applications.

  • Click the Recommend button, make multiple selections, and then click the Compare Selected button.

  • Test the dialog from the Advisor Workbench tool.

Compare two or more recommended products, services, or solutions.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicRunning Real-Time Advisor

 

Access the Introduction page.

Depending on the template controls for the dialog and the page contents, the following information may appear:

Note. Session information may appear at the bottom of the page, depending on how Real-Time Advisor is called. The session information appears if the session is run from the Advisor Workbench tool or if the calling application requests the session information.

See Understanding the Recommendation Experience.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicNavigating Question and Answer Pages

Access a question-and-answer page.

Users can navigate through the entire collection of pages, answering the questions that appear.

Note. The page title is variable. You determine it while working with the Advisor Workbench tool in the Layout Pages and Transitions step. If you do not set it there, it is defined in the template.

Recommend

Click to access the Recommendations page. You can compare two or more selected products, or you can drill into a selected product, service, or solution.

Save

Click to save the current session information to the database. Enter a name for the saved session.

Start Over

Click to return to the start of the dialog. This clears the question and answer lists, as well as the path guide.

Exit

Click to exit the runtime process and return to the calling application. If there has been a save during the session, the calling application is given a session ID to return to the session at a later time. For example, suppose that users run Real-Time Advisor from Order Capture; they would return to the order-entry form within that application. If the user was a dialog creator who was testing the runtime activity, that person would return to the main Advisor Workbench page.

View My Answers

Click to review and modify answers in the path. If you make modifications, the system updates the path guide to the selected page, and it updates the recommendation and question-and-answer list. The dialog then restarts from selected page using the transitions of the page, as well as the action designated by the users. Any answers to questions further into the dialog are saved and used if the question appears again. However, these answers do not influence a recommendation; they are for viewing purposes only and are not used to determine user target groups.

Back

Click to return to the page that appeared before the current page.

Note. This automatically updates the path and the question-and-answer lists.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicViewing and Editing Answers

Access the View Answers page.

Click the page link that appears beneath the question that you want to change to edit answers. Click Back to return to the preceding page.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicViewing Recommendations

Access the Recommendations page.

Recommendations

Compare

Select the check boxes for each recommended object that you want Real-Time Advisor to compare.

Description

Displays the Detail Link characteristic as set up in the display template, such as a product ID or short description.

Details

Displays object details. The characteristics that appear in this column are determined by the recommendation characteristics selected in the dialog template.

Score

Displays a score based on the settings in the recommendation controls for display templates.

Compare Selected

Click this button after you have selected two or more recommended objects. The Real-Time Advisor engine compares the recommended objects using a variety of data.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicComparing Recommended Products, Services, or Solutions

Access the Compare Selected Products page.

The Compare Selected Products page displays a side-by-side comparison of the recommended products that were selected on the Recommendations page. The displayed characteristics and their format are determined by the display template for the dialog.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicSaving Dialogs

Access the Save Dialog page.

Enter a name for the dialog session, and then click the Save button to save the dialog in its current state. Later, you can resume the session where you left off. This functionality is not available while running from the Advisor Workbench tool with the Test Dialog functionality.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicExiting Real-Time Advisor

Click the Exit button at any point in the dialog session to exit and return to the calling application, or to the Advisor Workbench tool if you are in Test mode.