About Siebel Self Service

This chapter includes overview information about Siebel Self Service. It includes the following topics:

Tasks for Customers on the Siebel Self Service Web Site

Siebel Self Service provides a Web site where customers can access service information. They can view more details on the Web site by clicking icons and drilling down on links.

Customers can perform the following tasks on the Siebel Self Service Web site:

Log in. Customers who do not register on the Siebel Self Service Web site can view only certain sections of the Web site, such as company contact information. They can register on the Web site to create their profiles, and then gain access to additional functionality on the Web site, such as functionality to create and submit service requests and to update their profiles. For more information, see Registering on the Siebel Self Service Web Site and Accessing the Siebel Self Service Web Site. Customer service representatives can use Siebel Call Center to register customers on the Siebel Self Service Web site.
Navigate in the Web site. Customers can click the Side Menu icon on any page, and then select an item in the drop-down list to navigate in the Web site. Also, links to access site functionality appear on the home page. Customers can display these links as records in a list (the List mode) or as tiles in a carousel (the Card mode). Customers use these links or tiles to navigate to a Web page where they can perform a task.
Parts of the Web site include records that can appear in carousels, such as office records in the Locate Office view and attachment records for service requests. Customers can click the arrow icons to navigate through the tiles in the carousel.

Manage user profiles. Customers who register on the Siebel Self Service Web site can update their profile information and passwords. For more information, see Updating User Profiles.
Obtain program information. Customers can review program information. Program information includes news articles and frequently asked questions (FAQs) about programs. For more information, see Obtaining Program Information on the Siebel Self Service Web Site.
Find office locations. Customers can find the company office locations that are nearest to them so that they can conveniently communicate with the people in these offices. They can view information about offices, such as postal addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers. For more information, see Finding Office Locations of the Web Site Host.
Application administrators can link search results for office locations to map services so that customers can view applicable directions and a map from an online map service provider.

Send email to your company. Customers can communicate through email with your company. For more information, see Sending Email to the Web Site Host.
Use Twitter. Customers can use Twitter to communicate with your company and with other users of the Siebel Self Service Web site. For more information, see Accessing Twitter on the Siebel Self Service Web Site.
Manage service requests. Customers who register on the Siebel Self Service Web site can submit, add updates to, and track service requests about issues that they encounter. For more information, see Managing Service Requests on the Siebel Self Service Web Site.

Tasks for Customer Service Representatives in Siebel Self Service

Because the Siebel Self Service Web site allows customers to serve themselves, customer service representatives have more time to work on other tasks. Customer service representatives can use Siebel Self Service to perform the following tasks to help customers:

Review service requests that customers submit on the Siebel Self Service Web site and that Siebel Assignment Manager assigns to them.
Access customer history that is independent of the channel of communication that the customer uses.
Respond to email that customers submit on the Siebel Self Service Web site. Customer service representatives can view their inbound email queues, and for each message, view the related customer profile and service request information. Also, they can use solution records to compose replies to inbound email.
Exchange knowledge and information with customers in Twitter on the Siebel Self Service Web site.
Create and update user names and passwords for customers. The customer service representative typically must be authenticated by a directory, such as Netscape LDAP Directory Server or Microsoft Active Directory Server, using the Siebel security adaptor.

Features of Siebel Self Service

Siebel Self Service includes the following features:

Integration with your company Web site. You can configure Web pages, views, applets, and cascading style sheets to conform to your business model and the look and feel of your company Web site. For more information, see Configuring Siebel Self Service.
Web-delegated customer administrators. In a business-to-business situation, you can create Web-delegated customer administrators for the customer company. These administrators can create and change information in customer profiles, such as the user names for their customers. Consequently, the administrative load at the host company is decreased. For more information, see About Authentication for Siebel Self Service.
Data visibility controls. You can control the views and data that customers can see on the Siebel Self Service Web site. The responsibility, organization, access group, and position of a customer determine these views and this data. For more information, see Access Control for Siebel Self Service.
Email notifications. By using Siebel Workflow, you can notify customers through email of changes in the status of their service requests. For more information, see About Email Notifications.

Note: Email notifications are not included in the preconfigured Siebel Self Service application, but you can implement this feature.

Requirements for Installing Siebel Self Service

The following items are required to install Siebel Self Service:

Database server. For a list of supported database servers, including version and connectivity software information, see the Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using, and see the Certifications tab on My Oracle Support.
Siebel Enterprise Server. For a list of Siebel Enterprise Server requirements, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.

For more information about installing Siebel Business Applications, see the Siebel Installation Guide for your operating system.

Note: The Siebel Bookshelf is available on Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/indexes/documentation/index.html) and Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. It might also be installed locally on your intranet or on a network location.

Siebel Self Service uses the Self Service Object Manager (LANG) component (SServiceObjMgr_lang alias) in the Siebel Call Center component group. The configuration file for Siebel Self Service is sservice.cfg. For information about the setup tasks that you must perform to deploy Siebel Self Service for an existing deployment that you originally installed for an earlier version, see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using.

About Deploying Siebel Self Service

After Siebel Self Service is installed, you can configure it, administer it, and deploy it as an integrated part of your company Web site.

Using Siebel Tools or Web Tools you can edit the Siebel Web Templates to change the layout. For example you might decide not to use the HTML frameset.

Using a text editor or an HTML authoring tool, you can change the cascading style sheets to integrate the appropriate company formatting. For example, you might change the background color or font size. For more information, see Configuring Siebel Self Service.

After the configuration of Siebel Self Service is complete, the application administrator can set up the functionality that customers can access on the Siebel Self Service Web site. For more information, see Administering Siebel Self Service.

After the configuration and administration tasks are complete, the application developer can work with the general Webmaster who can help integrate the Siebel Self Service Web site into your company Web site. For more information, see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using.