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Siebel Chat Interface

The Siebel Chat interface (or chat pane) is a part of the communications panel.

You access the communications panel by clicking Communications on the menu toolbar in your client application. The communications panel contains the following elements: a header area, the communications toolbar, the customer dashboard, and the chat pane. Depending on the deployment of your client application, the communications panel might not contain all of these elements.

The communications panel appears on either side of your Siebel Call Center application, depending on configuration. The main Siebel Call Center application area appears next to the communications panel.

The communications panel, which includes the Siebel Chat pane, can appear in a docked position or as a floating pane in your client application. You can dock or undock the panel by clicking Dock or Undock. When the communications panel is floating (undocked), you can move and position it anywhere within the confines of the main application client area. In addition, you can do the following:

• Control the size of the communications panel by choosing a wide or a narrow display for the panel.
• Modify the display of the communications toolbar by choosing to display more or less of the toolbar.
• Customize the appearance of the communications toolbar.

  To do this, customers must create their own customized CSS file in which custom icons are specified and then associate this CSS file to the application theme for which these customizations are to be enabled. For more information about performing this type of customization, see Configuring Siebel Open UI.

• Developers can modify the display of the communications panel and its elements.

  For example, by modifying the applicable style sheet, developers can modify which items appear when an agent displays more or less of the toolbar. Or, by modifying the Siebel Web template file CCFrameContentHI in the database, developers can modify the order of the elements within the communications panel.

• Close the communications panel by clicking Close (X).

For more information about the communications panel and the communications toolbar, see Siebel CTI Administration Guide. For more information about the chat pane and customer dashboard, see Accessing Siebel Chat in Siebel Call Center and About the Chat Dashboard.

Agents can engage in multiple chat sessions with many users simultaneously. If more than one chat session is open, the chat sessions are represented by tabs in the chat pane. For more information, see Handling Multiple Simultaneous Chat Sessions.

Siebel Chat Interface

Figure 4 shows the Siebel Chat interface or chat pane.

Figure 4. Siebel Chat Interface (Chat Pane) 

The callouts in Figure 4 show the following:

• Dashboard. The chat dashboard in the chat pane displays details about the problem that the customer is having. Agents can carry out a number of popular actions quickly using the chat dashboard. For more information about the chat dashboard, see About the Chat Dashboard.
• Transcript area. The transcript area in the chat pane is where agents view the transcript of the chat conversation so far. Each part of the chat conversation is clearly labelled with either the agent's or the customer's name, is dated, and time stamped. When a chat session ends, the chat transcript is attached to an activity. For more information about accessing chat transcripts and attachments, see Reviewing Inbound Siebel Chat Activities.
• Message input area. The message input area in the chat pane is where an agent enters the responses to a chat request, executes a search, and smart shares service request and solution information. For more information about these tasks, see Responding to an Incoming Chat.
• URL area. The URL area in the chat pane is where an agent can enter a Web URL to share with a customer, which is then automatically displayed in the customer's browser. To do this, enter the URL, and then press enter to push the URL to the customer. This eliminates the need for the customer to manually copy and paste the URL into a browser window. Agents can also click the URL Library button to access a global list of predefined URLs, which they can push to customers as required. For more information about push URL, see Pushing a Web URL.