1. Smart Answer Guide
  2. What’s New in This Release

6Troubleshooting Siebel Smart Answer

Troubleshooting Siebel Smart Answer

This chapter provides tips for troubleshooting Siebel Smart Answer. It includes the following topics:

Troubleshooting the Performance of Siebel Smart Answer Knowledge Base

The following table lists some of the problems you may encounter when working with Siebel Smart Answer knowledge base catalog files and provides suggested solutions.

Table Problems and Solutions

Problem Solution

You do not get the desired results from your knowledge base.

Analyze the performance of your knowledge base file using Siebel Smart Answer Administration Tool. For more information, see Troubleshooting the Performance of Siebel Smart Answer Knowledge Base.

What happens to my existing categories when I import a new knowledge base that has some of the same categories as the one I already use?

After you import a new knowledge base, new categories are appended to the categories list in the Categories Administration screen. Existing categories are not overwritten or deleted and you do not lose the associations of templates and solutions with a category. For new categories, you must associate templates and solutions. For more information, see Associating Templates and Solutions with Categories.

How long does it take a category to learn if I have added a category and not associated any examples with it?

Learning time depends on the volume of incoming requests. Learning time can take from two hours to two days.

How do I control the number of categories that Siebel Smart Answer returns?

Siebel Smart Answer assigns a confidence score to each of the categories, and only returns the categories that have a score within 90% of the highest scoring category, and at most five will be returned.

The knowledge base file has not been updated since it was imported to the Siebel Server for production. How can this file contain learning if it has not been updated?

The knowledge base file in the \fs\smartanswer\import directory contains the list of categories. The learning and all the existing concept models are stored with the Siebel Smart Answer Servers. Updates to the knowledge base concept models will only be made once a day in order to optimize the uptime of the classification engine and the retraining process.

After you run Siebel Smart Answer for a sufficient amount of time, you can open the Siebel Smart Answer Administration Tool and navigate to the Knowledge Base Benchmarking Tab. Select Run Benchmark. When that is finished the results for each category will be displayed at the bottom of the screen in a table. Each category will have its own row. You can also create more messages and run Analyze only on those selected messages using either the Single Query or Batch Query option. The statistics displayed in the table for each category shows you the performance of your production knowledge base.

After training the knowledge base with additional sample emails, can I load the knowledge base back into production without rebooting the server? Also, can I do this during operations or running, or must I wait until after business hours?

You can update existing categories while the knowledge base is in production inside the Siebel Server. Send in an email, select the appropriate category, and then click the Send button and positive feedback is applied to a category. The feedback occurs in real time, but the learning for the category will not be applied until the daily knowledge base rebuild.

To add a new category, use the Siebel Smart Answer Administration Tool as described in Creating New Categories. Copy the new knowledge base file to the \fs\smartanswer\import directory. Add the new category in Catalog Administration screen for the knowledge base.

It is unnecessary to re-import the knowledge base. The re-import process loads the categories in the database. As long as the categories in your knowledge base .xml on the Siebel File System match exactly the categories in your catalog in the Siebel application, there is no reason to re-import.

Similarly, you do not have to stop and start the Siebel Server. When you restart the Siebel Server, the Siebel Smart Answer Manager server component reloads the knowledge base file. It is unnecessary to restart the Siebel Server because the .xml file name has not changed.

If you want Siebel Smart Answer to point to a completely different knowledge base with completely different categories, then it might be easier to re-import than to create a structure in the Siebel Server and that same structure in Knowledge Base Editor.

If the name of your .xml file changes, re-import the knowledge base so that Siebel Smart Answer Component picks up the correct knowledge base. You must also stop and start the Siebel Server. Restart the Siebel Server during non-business hours to avoid disruption.

If I import the same knowledge base again, do I have to associate all the solutions and response templates with the categories again?

No. If you load the knowledge base again, and it has the same categories as the one already in your Siebel File System, the solutions and response templates associated with the old knowledge base categories remain associated with the new imported knowledge base categories. However, if you add a new category to your knowledge base, then you must associate new templates and solutions to this new category.

How does the knowledge base handle a message with multiple intents?

When an agent replies to an email, the agent can choose more than one category, template, or solution. Siebel Smart Answer suggests categories and the agent can choose one or more categories, and one or more templates and solutions that are associated with each category. When the agent clicks Send, feedback is generated and then stored in the knowledge base file for each category associated with the templates and solutions selected by the agent.

How many emails do you need to train a category?

The more example emails you can provide for a category, the better the performance of the knowledge base. As a best practice when starting up, collect at least 20 emails for each category. It is important that the number of examples for each category is roughly the same so that all the categories have an equal weight during the categorization process.

Troubleshooting Guidelines for Siebel Smart Answer Server

The following are some common errors that might occur during your Oracle’s Siebel Smart Answer Installation.

  • During Installation an error occurs while validating the Siebel Database.

  • Siebel Smart Answer Server fails to start due to internal database failure.

Common installation issues and error messages, as well as solutions are described in the following table.

Table Common Installation Problems and Solutions

Symptom/Error Message Diagnostic Steps or Cause Solution

Installation prompts dialog: Failed to connect to database. Ignore?

The installer was unable to connect to the database using the information provided.

For more information on troubleshooting the installer, see Troubleshooting Failure to Connect to Database During Installation.

Siebel Smart Answer Server fails to start with an exception stating that it could not start the Postgres sub-process.

The Siebel Smart Answer Server (particularly the internal PostGres database) was not shut down cleanly and was corrupted.

For more information on troubleshooting the Oracle’s Siebel Smart Answer Server, see Troubleshooting Failure of Siebel Smart Answer Server to Start.

Siebel Smart Answer Server fails with an exception "java.lang.NoClassDefFound"

The wrong version of java is being invoked.

For more information on troubleshooting Java version problems, see Troubleshooting Java Version Errors for Siebel Smart Answer Server.

When trying to restore a backup .sab file inside the Siebel Smart Answer Administration Tool, the restore fails with an exception that there are duplicate keys in the database.

The knowledge base is corrupt and needs the database to be reset.

For more information on troubleshooting the Oracle’s Siebel Smart Answer Server, see Troubleshooting Failure of Siebel Smart Answer Server to Start.

    Troubleshooting Failure to Connect to Database During Installation

    During installation if the credentials to the database are incorrect, the installation will fail.

    To resolve failure to connect to the database during installation

    1. Verify the password entered is correct.

    2. Verify database hostname is reachable from the computer performing the installation.

    3. Verify the database credentials are correct by using a separate database tool to connect to it.

    Note: This process tests the database connection to the same database Siebel is using and does not try to connect to the Siebel Server itself.

      Troubleshooting Failure of Siebel Smart Answer Server to Start

      If the computer running Oracle’s Siebel Smart Answer Server was shut down with an error, then it is possible the Siebel Smart Answer Server might have problems starting.

      To resolve the failure of Siebel Smart Answer Server to start

      1. If running with another Failover Computer:

        1. Ensure the other server is running.

        2. Move the directories postgre-data-1 and postgre-wal-1 to a backup location.

        3. Start the failed server.

        4. The failed server will initialize and restore all data from the other server.

      2. If running without Failover:

        1. Move the directories postgre-data-1 and postgre-wal-1 to a backup location.

        2. Start the failed server.

        3. Recreate all your users and corpus.

          For more information, see Running the Command Line Administration Tutorial.

        4. Use the Siebel Smart Answer Administration Tool to Restore the corpus from backup.

          For more information, see Backing Up and Restoring the Corpus.

        Troubleshooting Java Version Errors for Siebel Smart Answer Server

        The version of Java installed on the computer hosting the Oracle’s Siebel Smart Answer Server is critical. Sometimes even if the right version is installed, if a different version of Java is also installed, that version can override the one required for Siebel Smart Answer Server. You must update your path system environment variable.

        To resolve Java version errors for Siebel Smart Answer Server

        1. Navigate to Control Panel - System - Advanced and select Environment Variables.

        2. Edit the Path System Variable and make sure that the correct version of Java is in path.

          Troubleshooting Failure of Siebel Smart Answer DLL to Load

          This error will occur while loading the SAAdapter.dll or if the path to the SAAdapter.dll is incorrect.

          To resolve the failure of Siebel Smart Answer DLL to load

          1. Ensure the path to SAConfig.xml is correct and that the location of SAAdapter.dll is specified correctly.

          2. Verify the SAConnectorConfigDir Environment Variable is set.

          3. Siebel must be restarted when this variable is created or updated.

          4. Verify that no meaningful output is generated in saconnectorlog.txt.

          5. You may set the Environment Variable SAConnectorDebug with the value TRUE to produce more verbose output to saconnectorlog.txt.