Understanding Employee Directory Assistant Chatbot

A chatbot is a computer program that maintains a conversation with a user in natural language, understands the intent of the user, and sends a response based on business rules and data of the organization.

The Employee Directory Assistant is a PeopleSoft chatbot that uses the Oracle Digital Assistant (ODA) platform for interacting with users to help them perform certain tasks. It is designed to assist requestors with searching for employee profiles and other contact information from the Company Directory using a conversational interface. Requesters can interact with the chatbot using text messages and is available for both desktop and mobile users.

The Employee Directory Assistant supports retrieving Company Directory information, as shown in this table:

Company Directory Information

Examples of Use Cases

View profile

Who is <name>

Show <name>

View manager

Who does <name> report to

Who is <name’s> manager

View direct reports

Who reports to <name>

Get <name’s> direct reports

View phone number

What is <name’s> phone no

Show <name’s> phone

View work address

Where does <name> work

Where does <name> work

View job code or position

What is <name’s> job code

What is <name’s> position

View contact details

Show <name’s> contact details

How do I contact <name>

View email address

What is <name’s> email address

Get email address of <name>

This video provides an overview of the Employee Directory Assistant feature:

Image Highlights, PeopleSoft HCM Update Image 33: Company Directory Assistant Chatbot

PeopleSoft enables you to use the Employee Directory Assistant using the following mediums:

Although the conversation logic, support, and PeopleSoft authentication is the same between both the web-based and Twilio-based text channels, it is important to understand the differences between the two mediums.

Web-Based Channel

Twilio-Based Text Channel

Channel (medium of accessing the Chatbot)

Access through the PeopleSoft web application

Access through an text application client using a standard company registered number for the Employee Directory Assistant

User Experience

Uses a browser

Richer user experience, uses a card layout with ability to select push buttons for actions

Quick replies through postback actions (easy replies)

Supports text only and, in some cases, hyperlinks (dependent on the text client)

Selecting an action is provisioned by numbering the actions or result sets and the user is expected to enter a number for the corresponding action or selection

Branding

Provides branding of the chat client used to interact with chatbot

No branding—look and feel of the chat client comes with pre delivered client