Working with Chat in PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM

This chapter provides an overview of the chat workspace and discusses how to:

Work with the customer chat window.
Work with the chat workspace.
View chat logs and reports.

Understanding the Chat Workspace

This section discusses:

Unified Agent Desktop.
Agent chat window.
Agent popup page.
Chat session categorization.

Unified Agent Desktop

After a customer submits a chat request from a self-service page, the request is routed to an appropriate queue and then an available agent. Usually, a notification about the task appears (depending on the agent setup) on the Unified Agent Desktop (UAD) with some information about the requester. Upon accepting the chat task, the UAD provides:

Chat-specific action buttons that the agent can use during the session to perform actions, such as inviting another agent to join the chat, transferring the chat session to another queue for a new agent to take over, and terminating the chat session.
Statistics of the chat session, including the customer wait time before the agent accepted the session and the duration of the ongoing session.
Agent-to-agent chat, which can be initiated during a chat session with customers for consultation purposes. A consultation chat is different from a conference chat because the dialog between agents is unavailable to the customer.
A task navigation list in which the agent can switch among accepted tasks that are currently in working progress.

See Understanding Multichannel Toolbar Functionality.

Agent Chat Window

The agent chat window, along with the agent popup page, appears after the agent accepts a chat request. The window contains a history box that captures the entire chat conversation as it proceeds and a field in which the agent enters text messages to interact with the participants.

To help agents monitor the activities of multiple chat sessions that they work on concurrently, the agent chat window lists all the active chat requests in the Open Customer Chats field. If any one of the sessions receives a response, a visual cue appears to alert the agent of the activity.

Text Tray

The agent can use the text tray feature to include predefined messages automatically in the Input Text field by pressing quick keys or selecting the messages from the Text Tray link. This link contains a list of static quick keys that are defined in the system. The agent can modify the populated text before sending it.

See Working with the Text Tray.

Quick Actions

The agent chat window provides a list of actions that the agent can perform for customers while interacting with them. PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM (Customer Relationship Management) delivers these common actions:

Email password to the customer.

This action resets the customer's user password to password.

Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM delivers this feature, and customers need to implement their own password retrieving mechanism (for example, asking users personal questions) and send the user ID as part of the payload. This effort requires code change on PeopleTools. Specifically, implementers must change the TriggerQAction function on HTML.RB_AGTCHAT_FUNCTIONS2 to obtain the user IDs using their own implementations.
Email chat log to the customer.
Push web pages to the customer.

Web pages can be any external websites or CRM self-service pages.

Be sure to give your customers security access to the pages that agents can push to them. For example, if you want to push a page with solution information to the customer, you may want to use the customer solution search rather than the helpdesk solution search.
Display the initial screen of the agent popup page.

This is useful after the agent navigates in different pages for a while and wants to returns to the initial agent popup page.

Agent Popup Page

The agent popup page is a CRM transactional page that is associated with the self-service page from which the chat request originates, and it appears next to the agent chat window when the agent accepts the chat request. The purpose of this page is to assist agents in finding relevant information about the customer or the transaction about which the customer inquires.

The agent can resize or minimize the agent chat window to view the agent popup page in full while researching information for the customer.

See Also

Application Data in the Chat Workspace

Configuring Agents for Unified Agent Desktop

Chat Session Categorization

When the agent chooses to end a chat session, all the fields in the agent chat window and buttons on the Multichannel Toolbar are disabled. The agent must categorize the session on the toolbar before closing the chat workspace browser window.

CRM delivers a chat-specific category set that you can use to categorize chat sessions.

See Also

Defining Category Sets

Working with the Customer Chat Window

This section discusses how self-service customers:

Send chat requests.
Use the customer chat window.

Sending Chat Requests

Access any CRM self-service page that is enabled for the chat feature.

This chat portion is unavailable if ERMS (Email Response Management System) is not licensed or the chat feature is disabled. When users first access a self-service page, only the Subject, Question, and Get Auto-answer fields appear.

Subject	Select the subject of the question from values that are defined in the Contact Us Subject page. The CRM system uses the subject information for routing chat requests to corresponding queues.
Question	Enter the specific customer question. Natural Language Processing (NLP) analyzes the content in this field and returns auto-suggested solutions to customers (if applicable). You can make this a required field in the chat profile.
Get Auto-answer	Click to invoke NLP to return auto-suggested answers based on information that the customer enters. Note. If NLP is not available or if chat automation is disabled for the self-service page on the Chat Profile Setup page, the Get Auto-answer button becomes the Start Chat button. The CRM system routes the chat request directly to the appropriate queue based on the selected subject. A self-service customer clicks this button to access the customer chat window and to send a request to start a chat session. The system sends the request to the universal queue server, which routes the request to the queue that you defined on the Chat Enabled Page Setup page. When an agent who belongs to that queue accepts the chat request, the customer and the agent can use chat functionality to communicate with each other in real time over the Internet.
Start Chat	Click to submit a chat session to the queue server. If the queue server receives the chat session, it returns a chat ID for the session, which automatically gets updated on the Chat Details page. The CRM system creates an interaction for the chat session if the requester is a registered self-service user.

Auto-suggested answers to your question

This grid lists the solutions that are returned by NLP that may answer customer questions. Each role of returned solution includes its actual relevance score, solution description, and a button that customers click to indicate that the given solution solves their issues. If customers click the Yes button, the feedback is logged in the Chat Details page and is sent back to the NLP system in real time for knowledge-base teaching and learning purposes. Click the description link to view the solution in detail.

If NLP doesn't return any solutions, the CRM system displays a message to inform customers that the chat request is submitted to the queue server automatically.

See Also

Sending Contact Us Messages

Understanding NLP

Using the Customer Chat Window

Access the customer chat window by clicking the Start Chat button on a chat-enabled self service page.

A customer uses the customer chat window to chat with the agent who accepted the chat request. The customer chat window provides only simple chat functionality, not the more extensive capabilities of the agent chat window.

The customer chat window is common to all PeopleTools chat implementations. You can find more detailed information about the customer chat window in your PeopleTools documentation.

See Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework

Working with the Agent Chat Workspace

This section discusses how to:

Process chat requests.
Push pages to customers.
Email passwords.
Email chat logs.
Transfer chat sessions to other queues.
Conference with other agents.
Chat with other agents.
End chat sessions.

Page Used to Work with the Agent Chat Workspace

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Push Web Page	RB_CHAT_WIZARD	Select the Push web page action on the chat workspace.	Displays the pages that you've defined to show here so that you can select a page whose URL you want to push to the customer.

Processing Chat Requests

Access the chat workspace.

Depending on the accept and popup modes that are selected for agent-to-agent and agent-to-customer chat window types in the agent configuration, the agent may not be required to click the chat task notification that appears on the Multichannel Toolbar to accept the chat request. Typically, if both modes are automatic, the chat workspace appears with information about the new chat request that the system automatically accepts for the agent. If the popup mode is manual, a notification appears, and the agent can preview, click to accept, or reject (by not clicking) it.

The chat workspace consists of three sections where agents research, interact with customers, and perform chat-related actions: the Multichannel Toolbar, the agent chat window, and the agent popup page.

Unified Agent Desktop (UAD)

The UAD provides action buttons for agents to invite another agents to join the customer-to-agent chat (conference), initiate an agent-to-agent chat, transfer the session to another queue as needed, and end the session. It also displays statistics about the chat session for reference.

Agent Chat Window

Conversation History	Displays the ongoing chat dialog. Each response has a time stamp and is color-coded by participant for easy recognition. The system makes note in the dialog box when a chat action is performed (for example, when the password or chat log is sent to the customer, a web page is pushed to the customer) or the session is being transferred to another queue.
Input Text	Enter the agent's response. In addition to entering text manually, agents can use the text tray feature to populate predefined messages by typing quick keys or using the Text Tray link.
Text Tray	Click to open the Text Tray window to review a list of available messages and select one to use in the response.
Push Page	Click to push the page that currently appears on the right of the chat workspace (agent popup page) to the customer. For example, the agent can push the Case search page to the customer who needs to look up a case during the chat session. Note that customers can view only those pages that they are authorized to see.
Actions	Select an action to perform on the chat session. Options are: Email password. Email chat log. Push web page. Display initial screen.
Open Customer Chats	Displays all active chat sessions that the agent is currently processing. If any one of the sessions receives a response, a visual cue appears to alert the agent of the activity.

Agent Popup Page

This section displays a CRM transactional page that is associated with the self-service page from which the chat session originates. Typically, it is the 360-Degree View page or the mini navigation page on which agents can search for multiple CRM objects. The page can also be the main page of any CRM object (for example, case, if the self-service page that it associates with pertains to that object).

Pushing Pages to Customers

When the agent selects the action to push a web page to the customer, the Push Web Page page appears:

In addition to performing the push web page action, agents can also push a transactional page to customers by clicking the Push <transaction> button that's available (if agents are navigating transactions on the agent popup page section, for example, order). Currently, CRM supports the pushing of case and order pages using buttons.

After the URL has been pushed to the customer, a confirmation message appears in the Conversation History field.

URL	Enter the URL of a website to push to the customer. The page appears in a new browser window on the customer's workstation. Remember to enter http:// at the beginning of the URL.
Static URL	Select a predefined URL to push to the customer's workstation. Define static URLs under the Chat Setting section on the Configure Agent - Multichannel Configuration page. See Configuring Agents.
Self-service Pages	Select a self-service search page from the list to push to the customer's workstation. You establish the list of search pages on the Self-Service Page Mapping page.
Select and URL	The URL of the corresponding page appears in the URL field automatically. You can edit the URL if you already know the application keys (such as an order ID) to the URL; the URL with keys directs the customer to the exact CRM transaction.
Description	Click to access the search page of the corresponding CRM object. From the search page, agents can look up transactions that relate to the customer and select one that the customer would be interested in viewing.
Copy URL	Click to copy the URL of the corresponding search page in the clipboard. The agent can paste the copied URL on a browser window or text file and modify it as needed.
Push	Click to send the URL to the customer's workstation without closing the Push Webpage window.
Push and Close	Click to send the URL to the customer's chat workstation and close the Push Webpage window.

Emailing Passwords

When the agent selects the action to email the user password to the customer, a window appears. The agent enters the user ID of the customer:

The Send Password window then appears:

Click the customer email address to which the password is sent. This action resets the user's password to password. After the password has been mailed to the customer, a confirmation message appears in the Conversation History field.

Note. This implementation is delivered as an example on how user passwords can be retrieved. Customers should come up with their own design to obtain the user ID and make the modification in PeopleTools accordingly. Refer to this see reference for guidelines.

See Agent Chat Window.

Emailing Chat Logs

When the agent selects the action to send the chat transcript to the customer, the Email Chat Log window appears:

Select or enter the customer email address to which the chat log is sent. The agent can enter multiple email addresses in the field and separate them by commas. After the log has been mailed to the customer, a confirmation message appears in the Conversation History field.

Transferring Chat Sessions to Other Queues

When the agent clicks the Transfer Chat button, the Transfer Chat to Queue window appears:

The agent selects a queue from the list to transfer the chat session. When the transfer is completed, the current session ends automatically, and the agent must categorize it on the Multichannel Toolbar before closing the chat workspace for that session.

Conferencing with Other Agents

When the agent clicks the Conference button, the Conference Chat window appears:

During a chat session, the agent can invite an available agent to join the chat. The invited agent can interact with all participants to exchange ideas and discuss issues.

Available agents have a green circle next to them. Click the agent's name to initiate the conference chat. Unavailable agents also appear, but the agent cannot choose them to join the chat.

Chatting with Other Agents

When the agent clicks the Agent Chat button, the Agent Chat window appears:

In addition to inviting an agent to start a three-way chat, the agent can initiate a chat session with another agent without the customer's knowledge. When the second agent accepts the chat session, the chat history between the first agent and the customer appears for reference. The agents can discuss the customer's issue and later relay the information back to the customer.

Because two agents are involved in the session, the system generates two chat IDs and separate interactions. Each agent can categorize the session individually when it closes.

Ending Chat Sessions

When the agent ends a chat session, all fields on the agent chat window and chat buttons on the Multichannel Toolbar are disabled. The agent must categorize the session in the Category field that appears on the toolbar.

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework

Viewing Chat Logs and Reports

To view chat details, use the Chat Detail (RB_CHAT_DETAIL) component.

This section discusses how to:

View chat logs.
View chat details.
View chat reports.

Pages Used to View Chat Logs and Reports

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Chat Log	RB_CHAT_LOG	Correspondence, Chat Detail, Chat Log	View chat transcripts and related transactions.
Chat Details	RB_CHAT_DETAIL	Correspondence, Chat Detail, Chat Details	View system information about the chat session and chat automation results (if NLP is available).

Viewing Chat Logs

Access the Chat Log page.

Related Transactions

This grid displays CRM application objects that are associated with the selected chat session (if applicable). These objects are subinteractions of the chat interaction.

Chat Log

This area records the dialog between the agent and chat requester. The time that corresponds to each line in the conversation changes based on the time zone that is selected on the toolbar. The right column displays the content of the dialog. Customer's name appears in red and agent's name appears in black.

Viewing Chat Details

Access the Chat Details page.

Detail Summary

CRM Chat ID	Displays the unique identification number of the chat request.
View System Chat Detail	Click to access the Chat Log component in PeopleTools in a new browser window.
Initial Queue and Final Queue	Displays the first queue to which the chat session was submitted and the last one to which it belonged. These values are different if the chat request was reassigned.
Source Page	Displays the self-service page where the chat was initiated.
Question and Subject	Displays the question (if available) and subject that was entered by the customer in the chat request.
Agent Name	Displays the agent who was last assigned to the chat request.

Chat Automation

This grid lists solutions that returned from NLP as suggested answers to customer's questions. It appears only if NLP is installed and if autosuggestion was available in the chat session.

Solution ID	Displays the ID of the suggested solution.
Resolved Chat Question	Displays whether the solution answers the customer's question successfully.
Problem Summary	Displays the solution summary.

Viewing Chat Reports

See PeopleSoft Multichannel Communications Reports.