This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:
| Date | Product | Feature | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 FEB 2022 | Created initial document. |
This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in Oracle B2C Service Center and describes any tasks you might need to perform for the update. Each section includes a brief description of the feature, the steps you need to take to enable to begin using the feature, any tips or considerations that you should keep in mind, and the resources available to help you.
For a listing of hardware and software requirements for Oracle products, log in to our support site and access Answer ID 31.
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Column Definitions:
Report = New or modified, Oracle-delivered, ready to run reports.
UI or Process-Based: Small Scale = These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of minor field, validation, or program changes. Therefore, the potential impact to users is minimal.
UI or Process-Based: Larger Scale* = These UI or process-based features have more complex designs. Therefore, the potential impact to users is higher.
Features Delivered Disabled = Action is needed BEFORE these features can be used by END USERS. These features are delivered disabled and you choose if and when to enable them. For example, a) new or expanded BI subject areas need to first be incorporated into reports, b) Integration is required to utilize new web services, or c) features must be assigned to user roles before they can be accessed.
| Ready for Use by End Users Reports plus Small Scale UI or Process-Based new features will have minimal user impact after an update. Therefore, customer acceptance testing should focus on the Larger Scale UI or Process-Based* new features. |
Customer Must Take Action before Use by End Users Not disruptive as action is required to make these features ready to use. As you selectively choose to leverage, you set your test and roll out timing. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feature |
Report |
UI or |
UI or |
|
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Agent Insights 3rd Party Integration
Agent Insights provides service professionals with real time contextual guidance to efficiently resolve customer incidents by leveraging data from external sources.
This new feature includes an administrative user interface to configure connections to REST endpoints for 3rd party services including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other logic engines. Once configured Insights appear as a series of Insights cards on a sidebar adjacent to the incident workspace in the B2C Service Browser User Interface.
COMPONENTS
- Insights side panel: Appears adjacent to the incident workspace in Browser UI.
- Cards: Each Insight response creates a card within the side panel and has a title, description, suggested action, and options to execute the action, dismiss the action, or flip the card for additional information.
- Agent Insights Administrative Page: An administration page to configure one or more 3rd party REST endpoints.
- Extensibility: Leverage registered actions within the extensibility framework to format data for insights requests, insights response, or insights card
CARD TYPES
The following card types, with associated actions, are supported:
- Open Related Incident: Opens an incident in a separate tab.
- Add Standard Text: Adds Standard Text content to incident response thread.
- Invoke Guide: Launches Guide.
- Add Knowledgebase Article: Adds a Knowledge article to the incident response thread.
- Update field: Updates an incident workspace field to a specific value.
- Fire a Named Event: Fires a named event.
- Open Intelligent Advisor: Opens an Intelligent Advisor interview in a new window.
Card Types
Business Benefits:
- Leverage your data ecosystem to create contextual insights.
- Tune your Insights using information gathered from user behavior.
Steps to Enable
The external Agent Insights feature is currently in controlled availability. This means that in order to configure Agent Insights, the feature must be enabled by Oracle for your B2C Service site. Please submit a service request to have your site enabled for Agent Insights and External Objects.
ENDPOINT CONFIGURATION
Once your site is enabled, login as a user with Administrator permission and open Configuration > Common > Agent Insights to configure one or more endpoints.
Agent Insights Administration Page
Integrations can be configured between B2C Service and a 3rd party REST endpoint directly, assuming the data format between the endpoints does not require modification. If the data requires modification, administrators can create and upload an extension with actions to execute the translation. In those cases, the actions must be registered in the endpoint configuration UI using the extensibility action fields below.
Note that it is possible to configure multiple endpoints. In those cases, the configuration process is the same as described above and incident data will be sent to all configured endpoints on incident open, provided that the user’s profile has access to the configured endpoints.
Below is a description of the fields included in the Agent Insights configuration page:
| Field (*required) | Description |
|---|---|
| Endpoint Name* | Information endpoint name |
| Endpoint REST URL* | 3rd Party REST endpoint to receive incident data from B2C Service |
| Basic Access Authentication Username* | Endpoint username credential |
| Basich Authentication Password | Endpoint password credential |
| Profiles with Insights Access | User profile(s) with permission to view insights cards derived from the configuration endpoint |
Use the options below if data requires modification. Administrators can create and upload extension(s) with actions to execute data translation. In these cases, the actions must be registered in the endpoint configuration UI using the extensibility action fields below.
| Field (*required) |
Description |
|---|---|
| Get Insights Response Extensibility Action | Name of the registered action (from extensibility) that can return insights to display in the Insights Panel. |
| Convert Insights Request Extensibility Action | Name of the registered action (from extensibility)that formats requests going to the 3rd party REST endpoint |
| Convert Insights Request Extensibility Action |
Name of the registered action (from extensibility) that formats responses coming from the 3rd party REST endpoint |
After the endpoint has been saved in the Agent Insights Editor, it can be viewed in the External Objects report. Some endpoint data can be modified from the External Objects report; full edit access is available through the Agent Insights Editor.
External Objects Report
NOTE: Removing the endpoint will disable the Insights functionality.
Agent Affinity reconnects the customer with the last agent that handled the chat session. Easy to implement for Administrators, they can now select the new routing option from within Enhanced Business Rules
Improved customer experience and an opportunity for the customer and agent to build rapport. Agent efficiency is gained when handling familiar customer conversations.
Steps to Enable
You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.
Element Manager Coverage for External Objects
The Element Manager now enables the customers to
- Export and import External Objects (XO) between test sites and from test site to production site.
- Add XO elements to the export package, if a report or a extension is exported, as reports and extensions may have dependency on XO elements.
- Search and filter XO objects by name and/or by updated date time. Updated datetime enables the users to export only the elements updated before a specific date, after a specific date, or between a date range.
The key benefits of support of XO in EM are
- Configuration Management: Easier configuration management of all elements via Element Manager.
- Ease of use: Empowers users to manage dependencies in export and import of elements.
- Enhanced UX: Better user experience and easier identification of elements for export.
Steps to Enable
Admin must perform these tasks for all profiles that will work with Element Manager:
Add Element Manager to the navigation set. The Element Manager component is found in Components > Common.Grant the appropriate administrative permissions to access individual elements. See Element Manager for the supported element types and their required permissions.
Tips And Considerations
Element Manager works only in the Agent Browser UI. If you try to access it from the Service Console, a message tells you that it is only available in the Agent Browser UI.
Key Resources
Role Information
- System Administrator
Admin Configuration Page for Intra Chat in Agent Browser UI
Administrators can now include or remove supported fields to the Intra Chat inlay; including contact, incident, and custom fields.
Required and Hidden are also supported.
Below is shown the Intra Chat configuration user experience. The following visual demonstrates how this configuration would be rendered in the Intra Chat inlay.
Intra Chat Admin Configuration
Intra Chat Inlay
Using the configured fields, the Intra Chat can be routed to specific chat agents such as subject expert via business rules.
Steps to Enable
Please note that OCI Versioning Service will need to be enabled on the site.
To add the Admin configuration page please see the documentation in the 21C Cloud Readiness / Oracle B2C Service documentation found here.
When Intra Chat is configured, the Admin Configuration page will have a card for Intra Chat.
Please see the documentation here or the unboxing video here to set up Intra Chat.
Key Resources
- To set up Intra Chat
Chat Browser UI: Rich Text & Plain Text Toggle
Agents handling chats in the Browser User Interface, now have the ability to choose whether messages are sent to the customer in the rich text or plain text format. Agents now have a toggle to select either rich text or plain text within the Engagement Panel. If an agent chooses to use a standard text response or an answer from the knowledge base or copies & pastes text within the compose control, and toggles between formats, then the selected format is respected. This toggle applies to all websites or other links sent by the Agent.
New Toggle for Rich Text & Plain Text Modes
Agent Productivity: Provides agents easier control over how messages are formatted for the customer.
Steps to Enable
- Engagement Panel version 13+ must be deployed for the site
- If Engagement Panel version 13+ is not generally available, then you can email Jessica Bradley (jessica.bradley@oracle.com) to have your site upgraded
- There is no downtime associated with this update. First, we will enable Engagement Panel version 13 on your test site, then on your production site at a day/time of your choosing
- This feature is disabled by default
- Custom Configuration Settings:
- Key: CUSTOM_CFG_CHAT_PLAIN_TEXT_BUTTON_ENABLE
- This config verb enables & disables the feature
- Data Type: True/False
- Type: Site
- Required: Yes
- Default: False
- Key: CUSTOM_CFG_CHAT_PLAIN_TEXT_AS_DEFAULT
- If the value of this new custom config is set to or defined as yes, then all messages sent by agents are sent as Plain Text
- Data Type: Yes/No
- Type: Site
- Required: Yes
- Default: False/No
- Key: CUSTOM_CFG_CHAT_PLAIN_TEXT_BUTTON_ENABLE
Tips And Considerations
- Requires Engagement Panel v13+
- Requires an Administrator to enable the feature via the new custom config
Role Information
- Chat Agents
- Chat Supervisors
- Chat Administrators
Structured Annotations for Co-browse provides the ability for agents to utilize newly added shapes from the annotations palette to offer more structured and precise web engagement services to consumers. This augments existing feature capability where in an agent can currently utilize free hard marking options for flexibly annotating web pages. The entire annotations features can be enabled or disabled for agents within a company or line of business, by a company administrator.
Business Benefits
- Higher Personalization & Precision of Customer Service
- Higher Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
- Reduced Agent Handle Times (AHT)
- Improved First Call Resolution (FCR) Rates
Steps to Enable
You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.
Role Information
- Administrator - Enable/Disable feature per Company or Line of Business (LOB).
- Agents - Use Structured Annotations as a capability during web engagements with consumers using Co-browse.
Introduction of Splitter Control in Dashboards
Splitter controls have been introduced automatically in dashboards to allow a user to dynamically control the amount of both horizontal and vertical real estate that is allocated to each report. If the dashboard has been configured to have two reports next to each other horizontally, then a splitter control will be placed in between the two reports. The user can access the splitter control by moving the cursor between the two reports until the cursor changes to indicate that it is hovering over the splitter handle (see image below where the cursor is hovering over the splitter control between the Incident Activity and Incident Creation Rate).
Horizontal Splitter Handle Cursor
Holding down the mouse button and dragging the splitter to the right will provide more horizontal real estate to the Incident Activity report and less to the Incident Creation Rate Chat.
Using Horizontal Splitter
The same behavior can be used to activate and then use a vertical splitter. The image below shows the vertical splitter cursor before activation.
Vertical Splitter Handle Cursor
Holding down the mouse button and dragging the splitter toward the top of the application will provide more vertical real estate to the Incident Activity report and less to the Incident Creation Rate Chat.
Using Vertical Splitter
This continues the B2C Service focus on providing user interface controls and behaviors to allow users to dynamically control the real estate of their agent desktop.
Steps to Enable
You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.
Report Row Height Support in Browser User Interface
Prior to this feature, the row height for reports in the Browser User Interface was always set to 32px. This is different from the legacy console that defaulted to a much smaller row height as well as provided an ability to configure the row height using the report designer. With the introduction to this feature, the report row height will continue to default to 32px, but a configuration setting has been introduced that will change the default height to 24px.
This will allow more rows to be shown on the browser user interface agent desktop than is possible with the 32px default. The image below shows a representative report with the default row height in effect. This row height limits the number of rows that can be displayed to 18 rows.
Report with Default 32 Pixel Row Height
The image below shows the same report with the new smaller row height in effect. This row height increased the number of rows that can be displayed to 22 rows.
Report with New 24 Pixel Row Height
Allows for more rows to be visible on the agent desktop.
Steps to Enable
- Log in to Legacy Console for System Administration
- Go to Configuration Settings
- Create a yes/no configuration setting with the name - CUSTOM_CFG_REDUCED_ROW_HEIGHT_ENABLED
- Set its value yes - to enable reduced row height
Create the CUSTOM_CFG_REDUCED_ROW_HEIGHT_ENABLED Yes/No Configuration Setting
B2C Service to CX Unity Integration (Phase 1)
There is a business need for a robust, data synchronization between B2C Service and CX Unity. Incidents from B2C Service are published to CX Unity, so that intelligent attributes may be calculated based on these incidents. Such incident-based intelligent attributes enable downstream applications to tailor their business processes according to the service history of the specific end-customer
- Better 360- degree customer profiles with the inclusion of service-related metrics
- Increased up-sell and cross-sell ability
- Ease of initial setup
- 1-click setup and activation with the Configurator
- Pre-defined attribute mappings
- Uses Data Pipeline as the data source
- No impact on transaction database or throughput
Steps to Enable
To enable this feature you need to log a Service Request (SR).
This feature is under Controlled Availability (CA) and is therefore not automatically available or can be opted-in by the customer. If a customer is interested in this feature, they need to raise a Service Request.
After the feature has been enabled and made available to the customer, a Business Administrator from the customer must do the following:
- Use the BUI-based Configurator to specify URL and Credentials for IDCS and Unity instances
- Activate the integration
Tips And Considerations
Data Pipeline is a prerequisite for this feature. Therefore, Data Pipeline should also be enabled, available and functional prior to enabling this feature for any customer.
SSO Support for Embedded Browsers Across Domains
Recent browser versions (for example, Chrome version greater than 80) have become more stringent in security checks and no longer accept 3rd party cookies by default. This change in the browser behavior impacts the functionality of SSO (Single Sign-On) across domains, such as when a BUI control is embedded in an iframe on a different site. SSO breaks down in such cases and challenges the user for credentials again. This feature resolves this issue by providing our customers with the ability to make the SSO cookies available across domains.
This enhancement provides our customers with additional flexibility around the scope of the Single Sign-On (SSO) cookie. Customers who wish to have SSO work across their enterprise (multiple domains) can accomplish it by setting the appropriate site-level config verb.
Steps to Enable
Set the site-level config verb SSO_SAME_SITE_ATTR to "None"
Tips And Considerations
SSO_SAME_SITE_ATTR config should be left <blank> in most cases. Change it to "None" ONLY if you want to SSO across domains.