Siebel Chat Guide > Overview of Siebel Chat > Siebel Chat Process Flows >

Customer-Facing Chat Process Flow

The steps involved in a typical customer-facing chat process flow are shown in Figure 1 as follows:

1. A customer, looking for an answer to a problem, requests a chat with an agent from any non-Siebel self-service Web application.

   The customer can request a chat as an anonymous user, or can log in to the self-service Web application first and then request a chat (for example, as a follow up to a service request). In both cases, the customer can do one of the following to request a chat:

   • Click Contact Us, then Chat (or navigate to Support, Contact Us, and then Chat).
   • Click the Chat with a Live Agent shortcut in the Need more Help? frame.
2. The customer fills out the chat request form by entering personal information (name or user ID, email address, address), product type details (product name or product category), problem summary, problem description, then clicks Submit and waits in the queue. For identified customers, the self-service Web application prepopulates as many of these values as possible. An example chat request form is shown in Figure 3.
3. Using the information on the chat request form as search parameters, the self-service Web application executes a search against the Oracle Knowledge Base, and returns a list of suggested knowledge base articles and solutions for the customer to review.

   Customers can review these articles without losing their position in the queue.

4. If still not satisfied, then the customer clicks Chat and waits to be connected to an agent.

   If set up accordingly during chat project setup in Oracle Contact On Demand, then customers can be pushed Oracle Contact On Demand predefined URLs under the following circumstances:

   • While waiting to be connected to an agent
   • When no agent is available
   • When the contact center is closed
   • When the customer connects to an agent
   • When the agent disconnects from the customer

     Based on configuration, pushed URLs are visible to the customer in one of the following ways:

   • In a frame alongside the customer's chat UI in the same browser, or
   • In a new browser window

     For more information about push URL configuration and chat project setup, see Configuring the Behavior of the Push URL Functionality and Setting Up a Chat Project in Oracle Contact On Demand Administration Manager.

5. When the customer is connected to an agent, the customer engages in a chat conversation with the agent.
6. The customer releases the chat session.

   If configured for Siebel Chat, then when a customer releases a chat session, the customer can:

   • Be prompted to fill out a feedback form
   • Receive an email from the agent with the chat transcript attached

Figure 1 describes a customer-facing chat process flow.

Figure 1. Customer-Facing Chat Process Flow