This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:
| Date | Feature | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 22 MAR 2019 | Created initial document. |
This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in Oracle Service Cloud 18B 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.
Security & New Features
We would like to remind you if your system has modified security structures you may need to advise your security administrator of new features.
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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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Element Manager: Support for Navigation Sets and Reports with Scripts |
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Knowledge Advanced: Recommendations and Article Feedback Tables |
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Workflow Allow User to Load Specific Record
The Load Specific Record element triggers a search report during the workflow, allowing the agent to chose which specific record to load.
For example, when the agent first creates an Incident he/she will be prompted with an Incident search dialog.
Workflow Designer - Load Element
After the search, the agent selects an Incident and selects OK or Select on the report, the specific Incident will then load.
Search Dialog for Incident Load Workflow Element
Steps to Enable
To enable this feature you need to log a Service Request (SR).
-
From the Workflow Designer Ribbon Select the Change element in the Element Ribbon Group
-
Click a Load element on the canvas. The Element Tools tab displays on the ribbon.
-
Click Search Report. The Select Report window opens.
By default, the system’s standard report for searching the designated record type is selected. For example, if you are loading an incident, the Incident Search report is selected by default.
- Select a primary report to display in the search window.
- Click OK to close the window.
To enable this feature you need to log a Service Request (SR).
Role Information
- Administrators set up in the Workspace Designer in Agent Desktop UI
- The Agents will be able to run the report and search for specific record in Agent Browser UI Runtime
The Change element is used to find and load an existing record to associate with the current workflow working record.
An example, the workflow definition has a Change element to change the Contact when the Incident Assign field changes.
Workflow Designer - Change Element
Search report to change the contact.
In runtime, when editing an Incident and the Assign field is changed a Search Report will display to select a Contact.
When Ok or Select on the Search Report is selected an event define will execute, such as Set Fields in this example.
When Cancel is selected, there is no change to the workspace.
Select the Contact and then Set Fields. In this Example the Type field has changed.
Steps to Enable
- From the Workflow Designer Ribbon Select the Change element in the Element Ribbon Group
- Click on the Change element on the canvas.
The Element Tools tab displays on the ribbon.
- Click Search Report. The Select Report window opens.
Select a primary report to display in the search window.
- Click OK to close the window.
Role Information
- Administrators set up in the Workspace Designer in Agent Desktop UI
- The Agents will see the results in Agent Browser UI Runtime.
Interactive Spell check or ‘Did you mean’ allows agent on browser UI to use interactive spell check option as part of search result so that my misspelled search queries can be corrected with ease.
By default, the search engine supports “Automatic” spell check, which would auto correct the query and return results.With this release, customer can configure an “Interactive” spell check. This will return results for the entered query and also provides spelling suggestion to the user similar to popular search engine like Google, etc.
Interactive Spell Check Option Displayed with Search Results
Steps to Enable
- Click on icon on the top left corner.
- Navigate to 'Home'
- Navigate to 'Search Configuration'
- Set 'spell checker' option to 'Interactive'.
Access 'Search Configuration' from Home
Select 'Interactive' as the Spell Check Option
- Firefox support moves to version 63 or greater. (Previously we supported version 61 or greater.) We will maintain support for version 60 ESR or greater.
- Chrome support moves to version 70 or greater. (Previously we supported version 68 or greater.)
- We now support for Windows 10 (Build 1809).
- We no longer support OS X 10.11. We still support macOS 10.12 or greater.
- We no longer support Android 6.x.
- We now support Android 9.x.
- We no longer support .NET Framework versions 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, or 4.6.2. Users on these versions can still log in to Service Cloud; however, they will not be able to log in when Service Cloud release 19B becomes available.
You can find the list of browsers we support for BUI (Agent Browser User Interface) in the Oracle Software Web Browser Support Policy.
Steps to Enable
You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.
Key Resources
- Oracle Service Cloud 19A .NET Client Infrastructure Requirements
- Oracle Software Web Browser Support Policy
Element Manager: Support for Navigation Sets and Reports with Scripts
You can use the Element Manager (EM) to migrate Service Cloud configurations from one site or interface to another. With EM, you can group, package, migrate, and deploy configurable components across Oracle Service Cloud instances in an automated fashion. Element Manager handles all the dependencies between elements, which greatly reduces errors, complexity, and costs.
For 19A, we added navigation sets and reports with scripts to the list of items you can import and export using Element Manager, either via the Element Manager UI or the public API.
Steps to Enable
You must add Element Manager to the navigation sets for all profiles that will use it. The Element Manager component is found in Components > Common.
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.
- You need to have the appropriate profile permissions for the type of element you want to import or export.
| Element Type | Profile Permission Required |
|---|---|
| Reports (including reports with scripts) |
Analytics Administrator |
| Workspaces and workflows |
Workspace Designer |
| Add-ins and extensions |
Configuration |
| Navigation sets |
|
If you have none of these permissions, you will get an error message when you try to access the Element Manager.
Key Resources
Beginning with the 19A release, Oracle Service Cloud supports PHP version 5.6.38. We previously supported version 5.6.31. This will provide improved security for our enterprise customers.
Steps to Enable
You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.
Tips And Considerations
By using the most recent version of PHP, your PHP scripts can use the most recent enhancements and security updates.
If your site is currently on Oracle Service Cloud August 2016 or later, this should not affect your upgrade.
Oracle Virtual Assistant UI Enhancement
In 19A, we are releasing a customer and partner facing Virtual Assistant UI that you can use to author complex and custom conversations, also know as dialogs.
We will also begin supporting multiple languages on a single instance of Virtual Assistance. This enhancement, which optimizes Natural Language Processing for each language, will allow you to deliver localized Virtual Assistant responses based on your customers' preference.
Steps to Enable
To enable this feature you need to log a Service Request (SR).
This feature is currently limited availability. If you are interested in Virtual Assistant, please reach out to your Oracle teams.
To enable this feature you need to log a Service Request (SR).
Upload Images in Embedded Forms
This feature allows you to add image upload groups in form templates. This enables you to use, for example, uploaded brand logos to generate tailored advice documents for particular customers. You could also include uploaded photos in generated forms, to simplify the workflow of environmental assessments, student applications, credential validation and more.
An Image Uploaded in an OPA Interview and Included in a Generated Form
Steps to Enable
- In Policy Modeling, add an upload control to the interview.
- In Word in the RTF template for the form, add a field for the upload control image data in the place where you would like to the image to appear.
- Modify the code for the field so that the data is treated as an image and not as a string.
Tips And Considerations
This feature is supported in RTF form templates that are used to generate PDF, RTF and XML documents. Images for both global and child entities can be uploaded and included in these forms.
You need to be licensed for OPA Cloud to use this feature.
Key Resources
Role Information
- Interview designer
The Chat API enables you to develop personalized and reliable chat advice experiences. This leverages OPA’s intelligent screen and question authoring to make the conversational advice easy to deliver and easy to maintain. Data, such as Service Requests, can be loaded and saved directly from Service Cloud or any other application that is connected to OPA. This feature can reduce maintenance costs for chat-based service and advice with the ability to put OPA interviews behind any digital assistant intent. You can use Oracle Digital Assistant, for example, as the framework you embed it within and use it to map intents onto OPA and support multiple different assistant interfaces.
Steps to Enable
- In Policy Automation Hub:
- Deploy the project containing your interview.
- Activate your deployment on the Chat Service channel.
- Give the API client the Chat Service role for the deployment's collection.
- Make a call to the Chat API REST endpoint to retrieve the JSON definition of the first question to be asked.
Tips And Considerations
Chat flows are authored just like OPA web interviews. That is, you:
- Use Oracle Policy Modeling to write decision rules and define the question screens. You can use screens defined for web interviews but in some situations it may be advisable to design screens specifically for a chat-based flow.
- Use logic to dynamically control which questions to ask
- Map data into and out of any connected application (Service Cloud, Engagement Cloud or other)
- Define forms to generate and attach to Service Requests etc.
NOTE: OPA does not have any NLP (Natural Language Processing).
You need to be licensed for Policy Automation Tier 3 Sessions to use this feature.
Key Resources
Role Information
- Developer
Leverage Interview Data in Interview Extensions
You can now define which interview information should be available on every screen for use by custom interview extensions. By accessing this data in extensions, you can deliver flexible and intuitive experiences to advice getters, including custom navigation, custom controls and more. For example, you could use this feature to display custom headers that summarize information regardless of which screen it was collected on.
A JSON List of Aattribute Names That Are Allowed to Be Accessed By an Interview Extension in Order to Display a Custom Header on an OPA Interview Screen
Steps to Enable
- Create a file called opm.extension.data.json that consist of a JSON array of strings which lists the public names of all the attributes and relationships that should be accessible to interview extensions on all screens in the interview.
- Add this file to the /interview-theme/resources folder for the project.
- Use the getExtensionData() method on the Interview object in interview extensions to access the specified data.
Tips And Considerations
Information security is preserved by only exposing fields that are needed to drive those custom experiences.
You need to be licensed for OPA Cloud to use this feature.
Key Resources
Role Information
- Developer
Projects created in 19A will, by default, ignore data that cannot be loaded when resuming an interview from a saved checkpoint; as much information as possible will still load into the interview session. This enables data model changes to be deployed even when checkpoints are in use and provides interview users with confidence knowing that saved sessions will always be able to be resumed at a later time.
Existing projects (including upgraded projects) will continue to use the pre-19A behavior where invalid data from a saved checkpoint is logged and the interview fails to resume. For these projects, you will need to enable the new behavior.
Steps to Enable
- In Policy Modeling on the Interview tab, click the Checkpoints button.
- In the drop-down window, deselect the option Resume only if all data can be loaded.
Tips And Considerations
For Service Cloud interviews, regardless of whether this behavior is enabled or not, users will be given the option to restart the interview when a checkpoint fails to resume. This ensures that Service Cloud interview users can always move forward, even if they need to start over to ensure they are given up-to-date advice.
You need to be licensed for OPA Cloud to use this feature.
Key Resources
Role Information
- Interview designer
Email Notification Based on Content Type
Knowledge Advanced users can subscribe to receive email notifications for a particular answer. Once subscribed to the answer, the user will get email notification every time the answer is modified or updated. In this release, this feature has been extended to include subscription based on content type. This allows users to subscribe to all the answers under a particular content type or a combination of content type and product or category or both. This triggers an email every time any of the answers under the content type are changed. It also triggers an email when a new answer is added to the subscribed content type.
Steps to Enable
You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.
Knowledge Advanced: Recommendations and Article Feedback Tables
For large authoring teams it is important to understand the authoring workload and prioritize resources accordingly. This new capability exposes content, task, subscription and recommendation data so that report administrators can build reports using Oracle Service Cloud reporting capabilities. Providing new views including Recommendations, Feedback, Content, Content Types, Tasks, Subscriptions, and Product & Category Mappings. This feature makes it easier for knowledge administrators to manage the authoring process with visibility into tasks, and improve article quality with more granular view of article feedback and responsiveness. As well as understand most popular articles based on subscriptions.
Steps to Enable
You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.
GDPR Chat: Remove Denormalized Data
To ensure that GDPR compliance standards are met, administrators may need to delete data from the chat tables. With this release, administrators with the appropriate permissions can update or delete data from the chat table through any chat report that contains one of the required fields. When a chat is edited or deleted in the report, the chat is changed or deleted in the chat table.
Steps to Enable
Here are the requirements for using this feature.
- Reports that can be edited or have chats deleted must include at least one of these fields: first name, last name, email, IP address, or subject.
- To edit a chat report inline, the report must have inline editing enabled and your profile must include Edit permission for chats.
- To delete a selected chat, the report must have the delete command enabled and your profile must include Delete permission for chats. You can only delete one chat at a time.
Key Resources