Help Desk Live Chat

From the My Help page in the Redwood UI experience, employees can use the chat widget to request a live chat which is then routed to an available agent. When accepting the chat, the agent is directed to an employee summary page to confirm the identity of the person with whom they are chatting and view the history of their requests. At the conclusion of the chat interaction, the chat transcript is captured and displayed on the employee interactions page for future reference. In addition to the My Help page, the chat widget can be embedded in HCM pages through configuration.

For an employee to initiate the chat, they click on the chat icon and fill in the relevant information.

For an agent to have a chat routed to them, they must set themselves as available to accept a chat. When the pop-up is given, the agent must accept the chat.

This feature includes a component that is only available through controlled availability as of this release, which will require you to open an SR with Technical Support. If you are on release 24D or later, no promotion code is required.  

Employees can connect with Help Desk agents over live chat when they need immediate interactive assistance.

Steps to Enable

Before you begin, be sure that your Chat Agents have the appropriate permissions as outlined in the Access Requirements Section below.

There are a number of steps to configure chat:

  1. Enter the promo code (not required for 24D or later)
  2. Enable the ability to Chat
  3. Configure the Queuing and Routing Rules
  4. Configure Chat in Visual Builder
  5. Validate Screen Pop Rules

Detailed instructions for each of these steps are found below.

Enter the Promo Code (this step should be skipped for 24D or later)

To enable Chat, you will need to request a promotion code for Digital Engagement Channels Service. Open a Service Request with Technical Support to work with one of our Chat specialists.

  • Product = Engage
  • Summary = Requesting Access for Chat for Help Desk
  1. Go to Navigator -> My Enterprise -> Enterprise.
  2. Click on Manage Promotion Codes.
  3. Click on Enter Promotion Code.
  4. Enter the promo code provided by Oracle.
  5. Click Save and Close.
  6. The list should now show that “Digital Engagement Channels Service Promotion Code” is included in the controlled availability offerings.
  7. Click Done.

Enable the Ability to Chat

  1. Go to Setup and Maintenance.
  2. Choose Service (not Help Desk) from the Setup drop-down.
  3. At the top middle of the page, click the link Change Feature Opt-In.
  4. Highlight the line for Communication Channels.
  5. Click on the Edit pencil icon.
  6. Enable the following:
    1. Chat
    2. Omnichannel Routing
    3. Digital Engagement Channels Service
  7. Click Save and Close.
  8. Click Done.
  9. Now choose Help Desk from the Setup drop-down.
  10. Click on the Tasks icon on the right-hand side.
  11. Click Search.
  12. Search for Manage Service Assignment Objects.
  13. Select the line for HR Help Desk Queue, Code ORA_HRHD_Queue_Candidate_Object.
  14. Under Details, click on the Attributes tab.
  15. Look for Stripe Code (StripeCd) or any other attributes upon which you might want to route to a chat queue and create if it does not exist.
  16. Click Done.
  17. In the Search Bar, type Manage Administrator Profile Values and hit Enter.
  18. Click the link for Manage Administrator Profile Values.
  19. Search and set each of the following, if not already done:

Relevant Administrator Profile Values

Profile Code

Value

ORA_SVC_MCA_GLOBAL_PRESENCE_ENABLED

Yes

SVC_HD_SHOW_AVAILABILITY

N

SVC_ENABLE_OMNI

Yes

SVC_ENABLE_CHAT

Yes

SVC_CHAT_INLAYS_ACCESS_ENABLED

Yes

ORA_SVC_ENABLE_DEC_WITH_LIVEWINDOW

No

SVC_CHAT_ANONYMOUS_ACCESS_ENABLED

No**

**Set Anonymous Access to "No" if chat is ONLY used for Help Desk. If being used for other applications, such as Service Center, then use the default for whatever value is required for the other applications.

The last step for enabling the ability to chat is to make certain that the chat service is accessible.

  1. Go to Setup and Maintenance.
  2. Click on the Tasks icon on the right-hand side.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Search for Manage Global Search Profile Options.
  5. Search for ORA_CORS_ORIGINS.
  6. Ensure the value for the Site includes *.oraclecloud.com. If it does not, add it to the end of the value, with a space between each entry.
  7. Click Save and Close.

Configure the Queuing and Routing Rules

Queues and routing rules must be set up to meet your business requirements. 

Create a new chat queue:

  1. Go to Home -> Help Desk -> HR Help Desk Queues (generally in the shortcuts on the left-hand side).
  2. Click the Create Queue button and fill out the required fields.
    1. Check the box to make Activation Enabled.
    2. Click the radio button for the Distribution to be Automatic (Push).
  3. Click Save and Continue.
  4. Add the desired Chat Agents as resources on the queue.
  5. Click Save and Close.
  6. Click on the line containing the new queue to highlight it.
  7. Click on the Capacities... button.
  8. Set the chat capacity for each agent resource to the desired value.
  9. Click Save and Close.
  10. Click Done.
  11. Create a new chat queue for each logical chat group that is needed. 

Create the assignment rules:

  1. Go to Setup and Maintenance.
  2. Click on the Tasks icon on the right-hand side.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Search for Manage Service Assignment Rules.
  5. Select the Rule Set Category as appropriate:
    1. For HRHD: HR Help Desk Generic Queuing Rules
    2. For ISR: Internal Generic Queuing Rules
  6. Click the Plus sign to create a new Rule Set.
  7. Under the Generic Queue Rules heading, click the Plus sign to create a new Rule.
  8. Fill in the Rule Name, Description, and Effective Start Date.
  9. Click the Plus sign to add one or more Conditions for the assignment. For example, the routing could be based on Stripe:
    1. Object = HR Help Desk Queue
    2. Attribute = Stripe Code
    3. Operator = Equals
    4. Value = ORA_SVC_HRHD (for HRHD) or ORA_SVC_ISR (for ISR).
  10. Choose the Queue to be assigned when these condition(s) are met by clicking the Plus sign under Assign Help Desk Queue heading and selecting the queue to which the chat should be assigned.
  11. Click Apply.
  12. Click Done.
  13. When your assignment is complete, click Save and Close.
  14. Click Save at the Manage Service Assignment Rules page.
  15. Click Save and Publish.
  16. Click Done.

Configure Chat in Visual Builder Studio

To enable Chat and make the chat icon appear in the bottom of the MyHelp page:

  1. From the Navigator, go to Configuration -> Visual Builder.
  2. Within Visual Builder Studio, navigate to Extensibility -> App UIs -> helpdesk in the left-hand panel.
  3. Click on the Variables tab.
  4. Click on the chatSetup variable and replace the JSON to set the enableChat variable. When first setting up chat, you may want to copy the example shown in the description, changing the value for enableChat = true as shown:

{ "enableChat": true, "position": { "bottom": "100px", "right": "10px" }, "launchForm": [ { "name": "subject", "required": false, "relaunchValue": "keep" } ], "wcfsCdnPath": "https://ee.channels.ocs.oraclecloud.com/wcfs/23.10.0/wcfs-sdk.js", "i18n": { "en": { "chatTitle": "LiveAgent" }, "fr": { "chatTitle": "French", "plfSubjectLabel": "sub" } } }

Alternately, you may use this example, substituting your personal queue ID values for the "TBD" values below. 

{"enableChat":true,"position":{"bottom":"10px","right":"10px"},"launchForm":[{"name":"serviceRequestNumber","required":false,"relaunchValue":"keep"},{"name":"subject","required":false,"relaunchValue":"clear"},{"name":"stripeCode","required":true,"relaunchValue":"default","options":[{"value":"ORA_SVC_HRHD","text":"Personnel/Personal Issue (HRHD)"},{"value":"ORA_SVC_ISR","text":"Business Issue (ISR)"}]},{"name":"queueId","required":true,"relaunchValue":"clear","options":[{"value":"TBD","text":"Benefits"},{"value":"TBD","text":"Payroll"},{"value":"TBD","text":"Complaint/Grievance"},{"value":"TBD","text":"Maintenance"},{"value":"TBD","text":"Expenses"},{"value":"TBD","text":"Other"}]}],"wcfsCdnPath":"https://ee.channels.ocs.oraclecloud.com/wcfs/23.10.0/wcfs-sdk.js","i18n":{"en":{"chatTitle":"LiveAgent"}}}

Confirm Screen Pop Rules

Rules must be set up so that the screen pop will act appropriately based on the application and types of data known. For instance, if an HR Help Desk request number is provided, you may want to be taken directly to the request, while if you know the person but not the exact help desk request, then you will likely want to be taken to the Employee Summary page.

  1. Go to Setup and Maintenance.
  2. Click on the Tasks icon on the right-hand side.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Search for Manage Screen Pop Configuration.
  5. If one does not exist, create a Default Rule Set.
    1. Application Classification = Human Resources Help Desk. (This is whether you are using Internal Help Desk or HR Help Desk.)
    2. Interface Type of Redwood.
  6. For the Rules, you will confirm that the following tokens are mapped to the Page to Pop, by default:
  • HR Help Desk Request Number -> VB Edit HR Help Desk Request
  • Internal Help Desk Request Number -> VB Edit Internal Help Desk Request
  • Person Id -> VB Edit Employee
  • Contact Id -> VB Edit Employee

Tips And Considerations

This feature requires that you grant Help Desk agents the ability to set availability in the Global Shell.

Refer to What's New in 23C for more information on setting presence and availability in the Global Shell.

There is no integration between Oracle Digital Assistant and Live Chat as of 24B; however, you should look forward to seeing this in a future release.

If you want to configure more than one chat queue for assignment, you will likely need to collect some sort of information at the beginning of the chat in order to populate for the routing rules. To do this, you may want to modify your chat startup screen in order to collect the necessary information to invoke chat properly. An example is shown above.

If you plan to configure both Computer Telephony Integration and Chat, it is recommended that you configure and test only one before starting the other. Alternately, you could begin testing the configurations in separate environments, as some profile options can have impact on functionality that impacts both features.

Key Resources

After general availability of this feature, a video demonstrating the feature will be found on Oracle Video Hub.

You can configure the launchForm to customize the fields to shown in the pre-launch form. See the example above.

Fields to be Shown

  • name (required) - One of the supported connectionData keys, as listed below, or your custom field name.

    • businessUnitOrgId
    • categoryId
    • chatPriority
    • contactId
    • email
    • firstName
    • incidentSeverityCode
    • inventoryItemId
    • inventoryOrgId
    • lastName
    • organizationId
    • productGroupId
    • productId
    • queueId
    • serviceRequestNumber
    • stripeCode  ORA_SVC_HRHD (for HR Help Desk) or ORA_SVC_ISR (for all other Help Desks)
    • subject

  • required - Mark the fields as mandatory: false (default) | true

  • relaunchValue - What happen to the field value for the next conversation.

    • clear - This will set the value to empty.

    • default - This will reset the field to its default value, when empty it does the same as clear.

    • keep - This will keep the value from the previous conversation.

  • options - An array of value and text keys that when present will render an input drop-down list instead of an input field.

  • customFieldType - When the field is a custom field specify its type: text (default) | integer | textArea | date | dateTime | yesNo | menu(*).

    • (*) customFieldType "menu" requires options for the drop-down list values.

Labels

For custom field labels add a key in 18i that concatenates the field name with the word Label. As an example:

i18n: { en: { my_text_customfieldLabel: 'Text Field', my_textarea_customfieldLabel: 'Text Area', my_integer_customfieldLabel: 'Integer', my_yesno_customfieldLabel: 'Yes / No', my_menu_customfieldLabel: 'Menu', my_date_customfieldLabel: 'Date', my_datetime_customfieldLabel: 'Date Time' } }

Access Requirements

For Employees to have ability to chat with an agent, they should have the Help Desk User role.

Chat Agents must be given the privilege Use Chat Agent Features, which is given to the duty role Chat Agent by default.

Administrators who are first configuring Chat should have the Service Request Administrator job role (at least temporarily while setting up the chat) and either the HR Service Request Administration or Internal Service Request Administration role or a similar role having the Setup Service privilege.