How do I enable deep links to KM articles in outbound emails?

When your service agents reply to customers by email, they may sometimes need to add links to Knowledge Management (KM) articles or other related service requests (SRs). These articles can help resolve the issue faced by the customers in that SR, or they can provide additional information.

These internal links to KM articles work in the SR Messages tab. But for these internal links to work in emails sent to customers, they must be translated to external links that open on the customer service application.

Your customers typically have access to one or more customer service applications. These customer service applications provide them access to their SRs and relevant knowledge articles through a web interface. They may use multiple customer service applications for various reasons. For example, customers often use different customer service applications for different business units (BUs).

Here's what you need to do to convert the internal links to external links that open in the customer service application:

• Enable the SVC_ENABLE_DEEPLINKS_IN_OUTBOUND_EMAIL profile option.

• Use the Manage Service Request Dynamic Links task to configure the External URL field, as described in the following table.

This table shows how the links work, depending on how the agent links to the article.

Type of link created to the KM article	What to append to the external URL to make the link work	How the link works
Article link format: When the agent uses either the "Insert as link" in RHP or the "Insert Knowledge" button KM application.	?kmContentId={0}&page=shell&shell=knowledge-article	The parameter {0} is replaced by the internal document ID of the selected KM article, and a clickable link to the article is inserted in the email message. The title of the KM article is used as the label for the link. The article opens in the customer service application in a separate nested tab.
Knowledge article format: When the agent composes a message and provides a reference to a KM article. For example, if the agent types in the text FAQ1234, this text is linked in the email message.	?kmExternalId={0}&page=shell&shell=knowledge-article	The parameter {0} is replaced by the internal document ID of the selected KM article. The article is linked by using the typed text as the label for the link. Example of typed text: FAQ1234. The article opens in the customer service application in a separate nested tab.

Note: The deep links don't work if they contain the # character. Also, special characters such as @, ^, and * can be used only if preceded with the backslash character \. For example, you must use \* instead of * in your regular expression. For more information about using special characters in regular expressions, see the open source documentation for regular expressions. After you modify the regular expression, remember to use a validator to ensure that it's still working.

To enable deep links to KM articles in outbound emails and email previews to open in the customer service application:

1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the following:

   • Offering: Service

   • Functional Area: Productivity Tools

   • Task: Manage Service Request Dynamic Links

   Note: Optionally, you can search for the Manage Service Request Dynamic Links task from the Tasks panel tab in the Setup and Maintenance work area.

2. On the Manage Dynamic Links page, repeat steps 3 to 12 for each of the business units (BUs) for your deployment.

   That's because you may have different customer service applications for different BUs. If you have only a single BU, you need to do the steps only once.

3. Select the row that has ARTICLE_LINK in the Object Type field.

4. Click Add to add a row.

5. From the Business Unit Name drop-down list, select a BU.

6. In the External URL field, do the following:

   1. Enter the external URL provided to you.

   2. Append the following string at the end, after the slash: ?kmContentId={0}&page=shell&shell=knowledge-article

      This string is explained in the first row of the table.

      Example of how the final URL looks: https://myvbinstance.builder.ocp.oc.com/ic/builder/rt/KMEXTID297/1.0/webApps/dcs/?kmContentId={0}&page=shell&shell=knowledge-article

7. Click Save.

8. Select the row that has KNOWLEDGE_ARTICLE in the Object Type field.

9. Click Add to add a row.

10. From the Business Unit Name drop-down list, select the same BU as in step 5.

11. In the External URL field, do the following:

    1. Enter the external URL provided to you.

    2. Append the following string at the end, after the slash: ?kmExternalId={0}&page=shell&shell=knowledge-article

       This string is explained in the second row of the table.

       Example of how the final URL looks: https://myvbinstance.builder.ocp.oc.com/ic/builder/rt/KMEXTID297/1.0/webApps/dcs/?kmExternalId={0}&page=shell&shell=knowledge-article

12. Click Save.

Add Deep Links to Third Party Applications from Service Request Messages

You can add custom object types and provide dynamic links to third party applications within the service request message content. The user can drill down directly from dynamic links in a service request message into specific records in non-Fusion applications.

You can define regular expression patterns that convert to a URL link, when the user types text matching that pattern. For example, when a user types text matching the pattern for a service request reference, the text in the SR message is automatically converted into a link to that SR. This means that a user can, for example, type in FAQ123, SR123, or Bug123, and if the pattern matches, it creates a link in the SR message, to the corresponding FAQ knowledge article, SR, or bug tracking application.

Here's how you configure the third party link for custom objects:

1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the following:

   • Offering: Service

   • Functional Area: Productivity Tools

   • Task: Manage Service Request Dynamic Links

2. On the Manage Dynamic Links page, click Add.

   The Add dialog box is displayed.

3. In the Object Type field, enter a name for the custom object (for the third party application) you want to create.

4. To automatically generate dynamic link patterns for links that point to the third party application, select the Generate pattern check box.

   Use this option in case you aren't sure how to reference an object. You can't edit this pattern.

5. Click OK.

6. Select the custom object row you added, and click Add.

7. From the Business Unit Name drop-down list, select a BU.

8. In the External URL field, enter the URL that's needed to deep link on the selected custom object.

   The external URL should also contain {1}, which is the parameter that's replaced with the text or number adhering to the pattern.

   For example, if you add a pattern such as (?i)\b(txt)([0-9]{3})\b that opens in a URL such as <a target="_blank" href="https://abc.com/edit_info?rpt=txt123">https://abc.com/edit_info?rpt=txt123</a>, then the external URL should be <a target="_blank" href="https://abc.com/edit_info?rpt=">https://abc.com/edit_info?rpt=</a>{1}

9. In the Internal URL field, enter the internal URL for the third party application (for the selected custom object).

10. Click Save.
    Note: To delete a custom object type, click Delete (the X icon) for the corresponding row. You can't delete the ready to use object types such as service request, article link, and knowledge article.

Here's some more examples that show how to configure other deep links:

• SRs:

  • Pattern: (?i)\b(SR)([0-9]{10})\b

  • External URL: https://<fusion application URL>/deeplink?objType=SVC_SERVICE_REQUEST&objKey=srNumber%3D{0}&action=EDIT_IN_TAB

  • Internal URL: Not applicable

• HR Help Desk articles:

  • Knowledge_Article (for example, HFAQ123): https://<fusion application URL>/deeplink?objType=CSO_ARTICLE_CONTENT_HCM&objKey=docId%3D{0}%3Blocale%3D{1}&action=EDIT_IN_TAB

  • Article_Link (for example, HFAQ123): https://<fusion application URL>/deeplink?objType=CSO_ARTICLE_CONTENT_HCM&objKey=articleId%3D{0}%3Blocale%3D{1}&action=EDIT_IN_TAB