Understanding Interactions
This topic discusses:
Interactions and subinteractions.
Contact methods and status.
Interaction creation.
Interaction display.
Interaction notes.
Interactions are communications between you and customers or workers. At the practical level, an interaction is, essentially, a call. Tracking such communications provides valuable insight into customer- and worker-related activities.
Subinteractions are interactions that relate to a specific PeopleSoft CRM transaction (or call type), such as a lead, order, or case. In essence, subinteractions are the activities that occur during a call. Notes that are associated with an interaction are also subinteractions. A single interaction can have zero, one, or many subinteractions.
External Customers Versus Workers
You create different types of subinteractions depending on whether an interaction is for an external customer or a worker. In most CRM applications, customers are external to an organization. Any person or organization whose data that you manage in one of the customer components (Company, Person, or Site) is considered an external customer. However, in PeopleSoft HelpDesk and HelpDesk for Human Resources, customers are internal people whose data you manage in the Worker component.
The Worker component enables you to manage data for help desk internal customers and for CRM staff users such as salespeople, call center agents, and field service technicians. A worker can function as either a customer or as CRM staff; therefore, the creation of a worker interaction is context-dependent. Worker interactions are created only from the context of a help desk case, an HR help desk case, or on the Worker 360-Degree View page.
For example, if you open a helpdesk case for Mark Anderson, any correspondence that you send to Mark from that case is logged as an interaction, and the case itself becomes a subinteraction. If Mark is also a customer service representative, he might receive notifications that are related to cases for other callers. These notifications are not logged as interactions because, in this context, Mark is a contact, not a customer.
Subinteraction Types
You can create the following basic PeopleSoft CRM transactions as subinteractions of external customer interactions:
PeopleSoft Support cases.
PeopleSoft Sales leads.
PeopleSoft Sales opportunities.
All types of PeopleSoft Order Capture (collectively known as order captures).
Installed products.
PeopleSoft FieldService service orders.
Notes.
You can create the following PeopleSoft CRM transactions as subinteractions of worker interactions:
PeopleSoft HelpDesk cases.
PeopleSoft HelpDesk for Human Resources cases.
Notes.
Note: Additional types of subinteractions are available in PeopleSoft CRM industry-specific applications.
Every interaction has an associated contact method. An interaction's contact method categorizes the interaction. It indicates the direction (inbound or outbound) of the interaction and the communication channel. Inbound interactions occur when a customer initiates the contact; outbound interactions occur when you initiate the contact. Outbound interactions can be manual (for example, when a salesperson sends correspondence to a customer) or automatic (for example, when workflow notifies a customer that a case is closed).
Many communication channels are used for both inbound and outbound communications. For example, phone, email, and paper correspondence (whether mailed or faxed) can originate internally or externally. However, the customer always initiates web-based interactions. Therefore, the Inbound Chat and Inbound Web (for web self-service) contact methods do not have any outbound counterparts.
The Interaction Detail page contains the contents of the interaction (the text of the email, correspondence, or chat), and the interaction detail type identifies that detail type. For example, the phone interaction detail type is just one type, whereas the contact methods include Phone In and Phone Out. Contact methods include both the channel and the direction of the interaction (in or out), while the interaction detail type is used mainly to control different sets of interaction statuses. There are different sets of interaction statuses for different channels and directions.
Contact Method (INTERACTION_MTHD) and Interaction Detail Type (RB_MCF_DETAIL_TYPE) are translate fields.
Interaction Status
Every interaction has a status, which varies depending on the contact method. This table shows the system delivered statuses for each contact method:
|
Contact Method |
Statuses |
|---|---|
|
Inbound Chat |
Accepted, Completed and Requested. See Understanding Chat. |
|
Inbound Email |
Assigned, Canceled, Completed, Processing, New, and Reassigned. |
|
Inbound Fax/Outbound Fax |
None specified. |
|
Inbound Phone/Outbound Phone |
Busy, Callback, Child Answered, Completed, In Progress, No Answer, and Do Not Call Again. |
|
Outbound Email/Outbound Worklist Notification Outbound Email includes email replies, manual notification (sent as email), and email that is sent through a correspondence request. Outbound Worklist Notification refers to manual notifications that are sent as worklist entries. |
Completed, Cancelled, Failed In Delivery, and In Progress. |
|
Outbound Print/Printer |
Completed, Cancelled, Failed In Delivery, and In Progress. |
|
Outbound SMS |
Completed, Cancelled, Failed In Delivery, and In Progress. |
|
Synchronized Email |
Completed. |
|
Self-Service/Inbound Web |
Completed. |
An interaction's initial status depends on how the interaction is created. You can manually update statuses for interactions that you create using the 360-Degree View feature, but the system maintains statuses for other types of interactions.
You can create interactions manually, or the system can create them automatically. This table lists the situations in which the system creates interactions:
|
Condition |
Subinteraction |
Contact Method and Status Management |
|---|---|---|
|
A user accesses Customer or Worker 360-Degree View. |
Created based on the user's actions in the 360-Degree View. |
In the 360-Degree View, the user can see the contact method and can change it manually. The multichannel framework type is not user-selectable. In the 360-Degree View, the multichannel framework type is always Phone. |
|
The PeopleSoft CRM Computer Telephony Interface (CTI) application uses a delivered CTI transaction to access a page in PeopleSoft CRM. Note: CTI transactions that you create do not automatically create interactions or subinteractions. |
Created by the system if the transaction's target page is a subinteraction-enabled object. |
Contact method: Phone Status default: In Progress |
|
A user sends email or print correspondence using the PeopleSoft CRM correspondence management features. |
Created for the object from which the correspondence was sent. |
Contact method: Outbound mail Status default: In Progress |
|
Interactions are created for the notifications. A subinteraction is created for the transaction with which each outbound email or worklist notification is associated. |
Contact method: Outbound email Status default: In Progress |
|
The PeopleSoft ERMS processes an inbound email. |
The system creates an interaction for the inbound email. A subinteraction is created when a user manually associates related objects to the inbound email. If a newly received email is part of a thread, it automatically inherits its parent email's related objects and subinteractions. |
Contact method: Inbound email Status default: New |
|
The system sends an automated email to a customer or worker from the context of a help desk case to a worker. Automated email is sent by AAF workflow, by business project workflow, or by the ERMS system autoresponse process to structured email. Note: Auto -acknowledgement email sent by the ERMS system or in response to a customer's Contact Us submission does not create an interaction. |
Interactions are created for AAF workflow notifications but not for business project workflow notifications. No subinteractions are created. A subinteraction is created by the ERMS autoresponse process if the subinteraction is associated with transactions. |
Contact method: Outbound email Status default: In Progress |
|
A self-service customer submits a Contact Us message. The Contact Us page is available only to external customers, not to workers. |
The text of the message becomes the interaction note. |
Contact method: Phone Status default: In Progress |
|
A customer requests a chat session from the self-service Contact Us page. |
None. |
Contact method: Chat Status: Requested |
|
A self-service user creates a new case or updates an existing case in PeopleSoft Support, HelpDesk, or HelpDesk for Human Resources. |
The case that was created or updated. |
Contact method: Phone Status default: In Progress |
To record communications that occur outside of the PeopleSoft CRM system, users can manually create interactions using the appropriate 360-Degree View. Users might manually create interactions if:
A phone call is placed or received without the use of the CTI system.
A letter or fax is received.
Email is sent from outside of the PeopleSoft CRM system.
Email is received by a mailbox that the ERMS system is not monitoring.
There are various interfaces for viewing interaction information.
Interactions in the 360-Degree View Pages
PeopleSoft CRM provides 360-Degree View pages for customers and workers. There are two separate 360-Degree View pages for workers: one for PeopleSoft HelpDesk and one for HelpDesk for Human Resources. As delivered, all of the 360-Degree View pages are configured to show interactions in the dynamic grid that you create for it. You can configure a dynamic grid to display all of that interaction's subinteractions when it is expanded.
The 360-Degree View page for a customer shows all of the interactions for that customer.
Other Interaction Lists
In addition to the 360-Degree View pages, you can view lists of interactions using:
Interaction history grids within transactional components.
The components that you use to manage subinteraction-enabled components (including Cases, Leads, and Orders) include a grid that shows all interactions for the specific transaction.
The Interaction List page.
This page enables you to search for and access interactions directly from a menu (rather than from the context of a specific customer or transaction).
The Recent Interactions pagelet.
This pagelet displays recent interactions for a selected customer. The Recent Interactions pagelet is available with PeopleSoft CRM Portal Pack.
Interaction Details
From any interaction list, you can drill into the Interaction page, where you can see the details of a specific interaction. The page that appears depends on the interaction type:
If the interaction was created on the 360-Degree View page, the details appear on the Interaction Detail page.
If a correspondence request created the interaction, the details appear on the Interactions - View Correspondence page.
If the interaction is an inbound email or outbound notification (that is, a worklist entry or email other than email sent through a correspondence request), drilling into the interaction displays the details on the Email Workspace component (for inbound email) or the Outbound Notification page (for outbound notification).
If the interaction is a chat session, the detail page shows the full chat transcript.