Task 2: Configure the Service

Before you can use your digital assistant as a digital agent, you'll need to configure the service. The configuration steps depend on the target service:

Configure Oracle B2C Service

To configure Oracle B2C Service for a digital-assistant agent, an administrator must configure a profile, a queue, an agent, and some rules.

The administrator can set up a Oracle B2C Service queue, profile, and chat rules to route the request to a digital-assistant agent similar to the way routing is set up for a virtual assistant, which is described at Route Chats to a Virtual Assistant in Using Oracle B2C Service.

The high-level steps to complete the configuration are:

  1. Configure a Queue, Profile, and Agent for the Digital-Assistant Agent
  2. Add Chat Rules
  3. (Optional) Pass the Initial Utterance to the Digital Assistant.

After you configure Oracle B2C Service, you associate the digital-assistant agent with the DA-as-Agent digital assistant by creating a channel as described in Task 3: Sign Your Digital Assistant into the Service.

Configure a Queue, Profile, and Agent for the Digital-Assistant Agent

You'll need a dedicated queue, profile, and agent to enable a digital assistant to sign into Oracle B2C Service as an agent.

Ask your Oracle B2C Service administrator to complete the following configurations in the Service Console.

Create a Digital-Assistant Queue

When used with chat rules and profiles, queues enable automatic sorting of incoming chats. Create a queue that you'll use to route chat sessions to the digital-assistant agent that's associated with the digital-assistant profile.

  1. In the Service Console console, click the Navigation Navigation icon icon, and then select the first Configuration menu item.


    Configuration selected from menu.

    The Configuration menu appears in the Navigation pane.

  2. Expand Application Appearance, and then double-click Customizable Menus.
  3. Expand System Menus, and then select Chat Queues.
  4. On the Home tab, click New.
  5. Click the New Chat Queue label and change its name, such as Digital Assistant Agent.


    Description of da-agent-queue.png follows

  6. On the Home tab, click Save & Close.

Create a Digital-Assistant Profile

You use profiles to manage account permissions and to assign agents to queues. Create a dedicated profile for the digital-assistant agent.

  1. In the Configuration menu in the Service Console, expand Staff Management, double-click Profiles, and then click New.
  2. Name the profile. For example: Digital Assistant.
  3. In the Interfaces section, enable Access for the interface and add a navigation set.
  4. In the Home tab, click Permissions.
  5. Click the Service tab.
  6. In the Chat Agent Permissions section, select these options:
    • Chat

    • Conference/Transfer to Other Groups

  7. Ensure that the Pull Chat option is not selected.
  8. Ensure that the Pull Policy is set to First Due.
  9. In the Chat Queues section, select the digital-assistant queue (Digital Assistant Agent in our example) from the drop-down and then click Add Add icon.
  10. Make sure that the queue that you added appears in the queue list, as shown in this screen shot.


    Description of da-agent-profile.png follows

  11. In the Chat Agent Statuses section, ensure that Available - Unrestricted is assigned.
  12. Select Available - Unrestricted as the default status.
    This insures that when the digital assistant signs in as a digital-assistant agent, it will receive incoming requests automatically.
  13. In the Home tab, click Save and Close.
You don't need to set Max Active Chats or Max Total Chats because the digital assistant always notifies the chat server that it has capacity to take new chats, which overrides the numbers in these fields.

Assign the Digital-Assistant Agent to the Digital-Assistant Profile

You'll need to create an account in the Service Console for the digital-assistant agent, and associate it with the digital-assistant profile. This way, chat sessions that are assigned to the digital-assistant-agent queue will be sent to the digital-assistant agent.

You'll need a separate digital-assistant agent for each DA-as-Agent digital assistant that you build.

  1. From the Configuration menu, double-click Staff Accounts by Profile.
  2. In the Home tab, click New.
  3. In the Account Details page, enter these values:
    • User Name: For example, digitalassistant.
    • First Name: For example, Chat.
    • Last Name: For example, Bot.
    • Display Name: For example, Chat Bot.
  4. Click Change Password and provide a password.

    For security, always provide a password for the digital-assistant agent.

  5. From the Profile search list, select the profile that you configured in Create a Digital-Assistant Profile.


    Description of da-digitalassistantagent.png follows

  6. Select a group, and set the default currency and country.
  7. Save your changes.

Add Chat Rules

You'll need a chat rule in the Service Console to define when to assign a chat session to the digital assistant. You'll also need a state to handle transfers from the digital assistant to a live agent.

Here are the typical steps for adding the chat rules. You can learn more about rules at Business Rules in Using Oracle B2C Service.
  1. Expand Site Configuration and double-click Rules.
  2. In the Home tab, click Chat, and then click Edit.
  3. Create a state for the hand off to a live agent.
    1. Right-click States and click New State.
    2. Name the state. For example: 03. Hand Off to Live Agent.
    3. Click Save.
  4. Add a rule to the state to assign the chat session to a queue.

    These substeps show a very simple configuration. For your instance, you must carefully consider both the if conditions, and the then actions.

    1. Right-click the state that you just added and click New Rule.
    2. Name the rule. For example: Hand Off to Live Agent.
    3. In this example, there are no if conditions. You might need to add conditions as appropriate for your business needs.
    4. Click Add Action - Then and then click Chat Queue ID.
    5. From the Assign Chat Queue drop-down list, select the queue that the conversation should be sent to (in this example, the default queue).


      Description of da-escalation-rule.png follows

    6. Click Save.
  5. Add a rule to the initial state to route chat sessions to the digital-assistant-agent queue.
    1. Right-click the initial state (the one that is shown in bold text), and click New Rule.
    2. Name the rule. For example: Digital Assistant Agent.
    3. If applicable, click Add IF Condition Based On to add the desired conditions for routing to the digital assistant queue.
    4. Click Add Action - Then and add an action to assign the chat session to the digital assistant queue (Digital Assistant Agent in our example).
    5. Click Add Action - Then and add an action to transition to the state that you created for the hand off (03. Hand Off to Live Agent in our example) and then stop.


      Description of da-agent-rule.png follows

    6. (Optional) Add an Else action.
    7. Drag the rule to a position in the initial state such it's evaluated before any rules that might route the qualifying chat sessions to some other queue. For example, ensure that it is evaluated before a state that unconditionally routes chat sessions to the default queue.
  6. Compile and activate your changes.

Pass the Initial Utterance to the Digital Assistant

To prevent the customer from having to state their need twice, add a Subject field to the chat launch page. If a customer enters a value in that field, then, when the conversation is transferred to the digital assistant, the digital assistant tries to resolve the intent from the subject field value.

The Subject field is included in Inlays by default. To learn about customizing fields on the chat launch page, see Overview of Chat on the Customer Portal in Using Oracle B2C Service.

Configure Oracle Fusion Service

If your Digital Assistant instance is paired with a subscription to a Fusion-based Oracle Cloud Applications service, you can integrate a digital assistant with an Oracle Fusion Service implementation. This feature works with Oracle Fusion Service version 23A and later.

To configure the service implementation to work with Digital Assistant, see the Use Oracle Digital Assistant as an Agent section of Implementing Service Center with the Redwood User Experience.