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Setting Up Contact Us


The Contact Us feature of Siebel eService allows a business to present its customers a variety of communications channels including face-to-face, telephone, email, online chat, Voice over IP, fax, or postal mail. Contact Us makes these channels readily available on one Web site, with a Contact Us link displayed on every Siebel eService view.

Contact Us includes the following functionalities:

  • Branch Locator. Customers can locate the nearest sales or service locations and driving directions to conduct face-to-face business transactions.
  • Telephone or Fax. Customers can view a list of telephone and fax numbers to communicate with the people in an organization.
  • Email. Customers can submit inquiries through the Siebel eService site by filling out a form with required information (to whom the request should be directed, the nature of the inquiry, and so on). The contents of this form are then converted into an email message or routed to an email address in your existing email system.
  • eCollaboration. Customers can submit requests to initiate a live Web-based collaboration session with a customer care representative using the regular telephone line, Voice over IP, or text chat technology.
  • Mail. Customers can view a list of the organization's postal addresses if they need to mail letters or packages to the company.

Setting Up Branch Locator

Branch Locator allows customers to identify the stores and branches of an organization that are closest to a specified location, such as their home or work. Users (salespeople, customer care representatives, or Siebel eService users) can perform branch location searches based on a city, state, or ZIP Code query. In the result of the search, branches are displayed in order of proximity, along with relevant information such as location names, addresses, operating hours, telephone numbers, and distance. Customers can click on the Directions button, which will open a new browser displaying a third-party interactive direction or map service such as MapQuest.

To deploy Branch Locator functionality, you:

  • Import the geocode data for your region.
  • Create searchable branch locations.
  • Optionally, link branch results to third-party map services.

Importing Geocode Data

The geocode data acts as a location reference for your region.

You can import Geocode data in one of two ways:

  • Using the Import command on your Siebel application-level File menu.
  • Using Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM).

The imported geocode data resides in the database table (S_ZIPCODE). Table 2 shows the six columns within this database table that must be filled with data.

Table 2. Data Model for S_ZIPCODE Table
Column
Description

ZIP Code

Postal ZIP Code in alphanumeric text.

City

Name of city.

State

Name of state or province. This field may be left empty as applicable to certain countries.

Country

Name of the country.

Latitude

Latitude number (0 to +/- 90; '+' for the Northern Hemisphere and
'-' for the Southern Hemisphere).

Longitude

Longitude number (0 to +/- 180; '+' for the Eastern Hemisphere and
'-' for the Western Hemisphere).

You can import a maximum of 2,000 geocode data records per invocation Import command on the Siebel Call Center Web client. Make sure that your geocode data is stored in a CSV or tab delimited text file that contains the column heading information shown in Table 2.

NOTE:  Oracle makes no guarantees or warranties about the accuracy of the geocode data used by Branch Locator. For the latest and most up-to-date geocode data, consult a geocode data vendor of your choice. The geocode data included in Siebel eService is sourced from the ZipInfo Web site with the July 2001 issue of the ZIPList5 Geocode TM product:

http://www.zipinfo.com/

To import geocode data with the Import command

  1. From the application-level menu, chose View, Site Map, Application Administration, and then ZIP Code Administration.
  2. In the ZIP Geocodes list, click the menu button, and then click Import.

    The Import dialog box appears.

  3. Click Browse to select an Input File.

    This entry will be your geocode data file.

  4. For the Input Format field, select CSV or Tab Delimited text format for your geocode data file.
  5. Select Auto Mapping as the Input Source.
  6. Select Overwrite Existing Records and click Next.
  7. Make sure your Import Fields are matched with Siebel Fields and click Next.

    A view log appears when the import process is complete.

You can also import geocode data using Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM). In its default state, Siebel eService supports the (S_ZIPCODE) data model table with at least the six column fields being filled in with data. See Table 2 for data model table descriptions.

To import data with Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM), see Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager Administration Guide.

Creating Searchable Branch Locations

To create searchable branch locations, you must:

  • Create divisions for the branch locations.
  • Enter the searchable branch locations for existing divisions.

To create a division for a branch location

  1. From the application-level menu, chose View, Site Map, Group Administration, and then Divisions.

    The Divisions list appears.

  2. In the Divisions list, click New.
  3. Complete the fields as needed.
  4. Select the appropriate organization or channel partner.

    NOTE:  For organizations, make sure that the Organization flag is checked. For channel partners, make sure that the Channel Partner flag is checked.

Entering Branch Locations

You can create searchable branch locations manually.

To add new branch locations manually

  1. From the application-level menu, chose View, Site Map, Application Administration, and then Branch Locator Administration.

    The Branch Locations list appears.

  2. From the Branch Locations list, click New.
  3. In the Division field, click the select button.

    The Pick a Division dialog box appears.

  4. Select an existing internal division or channel partner and click OK.
  5. Complete the remaining fields. The fields are described in the following table.
    Field
    Description

    Branch

    The name you want to display to the user in the results view.

    Category

    The type of category for the branch location.

    Division

    The Division select button will pull the internal divisions and channel partners created in the previous step.

    Address

    This field will be populated automatically by the primary address of the division. You can also select an address other than primary.

    Longitude

    If you do not enter a value, the longitude value for your ZIP Code will be used from the S_ZIPCODE table, based on the ZIP Code you provide in the Address-ZIPCode field.

    Latitude

    If you do not enter a value, the latitude value for your ZIP Code will be used from the S_ZIPCODE table, based on the ZIP Code you provide in the Address-ZIPCode field.

To make other changes to branch location records

  • Edit branch location information in the Branch Location view by selecting the field containing the information you want to edit.
  • Delete a branch location by selecting the record you want to delete, clicking the menu button, and then selecting Delete Record.

To create new categories for branch locations

  1. From the application-level menu, chose View, Site Map, Application Administration, and then List of Values.
  2. Click New.
  3. In the Type field, click the select button.

    The Pick Value Type dialog box appears.

  4. Query for BUSINESS_CATEGORY, and then click OK.
  5. Complete the following fields as needed.
    Field
    Description

    Type

    The name of value type that must match the existing Branch Location Category Type, which is BUSINESS_CATEGORY.

    Displayed Value

    The name of category value that will be displayed to the end users.

    Language Independent Code

    The language independent field value that will be used to search for the category. For example, in the Spanish version of Siebel eService, you may see Oficinas de Ventas as the Displayed Value while the Language Independent Code value would still be Sales Offices.

Linking Branch Results to Third-Party Map Services

You can link your Siebel eService Web site to free, third-party, map service providers, such as:

  • MapQuest. LinkFree is a free service of MapQuest that allows you to link directly to the MapQuest site, allowing your users to view maps for any address they choose. When users click on the Direction link icon on the Branch Locator results view, Mapquest's free direction/map service page is loaded. Users must submit a brief registration form to Mapquest before making the free link available on their Web sites.

    NOTE:  For legal terms, contact Mapquest.

  • Yahoo!. You can link to Yahoo!'s Map or Direction service as long as you comply with Yahoo!'s Terms of Service agreement when using its services.

To link branch results to any third-party map service provider, you must change the user property values in the Service Provider Search Engine business service in Siebel Tools. The URL address format and variable values depend on the third-party service providers' URL call. Consult the map providers' latest URL syntax. For information on Siebel Tools, see Siebel Tools Reference.

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