Configuring BMC Remedyforce Chat

Remedyforce Chat is available with Self Service and enables clients to chat with a staff member for assistance without having to leave the Self Service site or the Self Service on Salesforce1 Mobile App (Self Service mobile app).

Overview of Remedyforce Chat

You can designate staff members who provide help to clients by using chat in addition to their other tasks. When any of the staff members configured for chat are logged on to the Remedyforce Console tab and their status is marked as available to chat, a client request for chat assistance is assigned to one of them.

The chat module extends the Self Service experience for clients and allows them the option to self-serve or use a real-time assistance. Clients can use chat from the Self Service mobile app, without having to go a different site to access it.

Through a chat conversation, a staff member can provide the following assistance:

• Answer clients' queries
• Provide help with service request selections
• Share knowledge article links or help troubleshoot issues by providing steps for resolution

You can enable the Pre-Chat form, configure categories for Remedyforce Chat, and configure suggested owners for the enabled categories. By configuring and assigning suggested owners, you can quicken the process of resolving the client queries and manage chat assignments to staff members efficiently.

If no staff members are logged on to the Remedyforce Console tab and marked as available to chat, a message is displayed to clients in the Self Service chat area, informing them that no staff members are available. Clients can use the Try again option in the chat window to look for an available staff member.

For quick access to information about chat sessions, you can view the BMC Remedyforce Chat Dashboard on the Dashboards tab and view the Chat Sessions by Account and Category report from the Reports tab. Based on your requirement, you can enable the staff members to view the BMC Remedyforce Chat Dashboard. For more information, see Viewing the BMC Remedyforce Chat dashboard.

Using Remedyforce Chat, a staff member can assist one client at a time. A staff member can support another client request for chat only after the chat with the first client has successfully ended. At the end of a chat session, the staff member must create a new incident record or link the chat to an existing incident.

The following graphic provides an overview of configuring BMC Remedyforce Chat:

Chat assignment

The chat assignment to staff member differs based on the availability of the Pre-Chat form and suggested owners configured for the category enabled for Remedyforce Chat.

Chat assignment with suggested owners configured for categories

If you have enabled the Pre-Chat form, you must configure staff members as suggested owners for the categories that are enabled for chat. For more information, see Configuring suggested owners.

When a client initiates a chat after selecting a category on the Pre-Chat form, the chat is assigned to the suggested owners of that particular category. If the multiple suggested owners are configured for that category, the chat is assigned to the staff member whose previous chat ended first.

The chat is assigned only to a suggested owner of the category selected by the client on the Pre-Chat form.

Note the following important points:

• If client selects Hardware as a category on the Pre-Chat form, but you have not configured any suggested owner for Hardware—in this case, although a staff member who is a suggested owner for the Network category is available to chat, the client receives the message All staff members are currently busy. Click Try again to retry..
• In the same scenario, the chat is not assigned to an available staff member even if available staff members are not configured as suggested owners for any categories.
• If a client selects None of the above as a category, the chat is assigned to any available staff member including the ones who are configured as suggested owners for any category.
• While defining suggested owners, ensure that the criteria for Category field is in this Category= <Category Name> format.

The following table provides an example for the scenario described:

The chat is assigned to staff member who is configured as a suggested owner by using the criteria mentioned for suggested owner 2, because the category matches the category selected on the Pre-Chat form.

Considerations for configuring Remedyforce Chat

Note the following important points about the Remedyforce Chat feature:

Enabling Remedyforce Chat for staff members

 System administrators must enable Remedyforce Chat for staff members with whom client users can chat. Remedyforce Chat enables a staff member to chat with clients and resolve their queries. Staff members must set their status as available to chat with clients.

To enable Remedyforce Chat for staff members

1. To add the Enable Chat check box to the User Page Layout, perform the following actions:
   1. Navigate to Setup > Customize > User > Page Layout.
   2. In the User Page Layout page, in the Action column, click Edit next to a page layout such as Remedyforce User.
   3. Click Fields and drag the Enable Chat check box to the layout.
   4. Click Save.
2. To enable a staff user to chat with clients, perform the following actions:
   1. Navigate to Setup > Manage Users > Users.
   2. On the All Users page, in the Action column, click Edit next to the name of the staff member.

   3. On the User page, select the Enable Chat check box.

      Note

      To enable the staff member to received chat requests, ensure that the ServiceDesk Staff check box is also selected.

   4. Click Save.

Enabling Remedyforce Chat for clients

When you enable Remedyforce Chat, a client can contact a staff member to chat with for assistance. When Remedyforce Chat is enabled, the Remedyforce Chat header is displayed to the client at the bottom of the Self Service page. In the Self Service mobile app, the Chat icon () is displayed on the Home screen.

To enable Remedyforce Chat for clients

1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
2. On the Home page, click the Configure Self Service tile, and from the menu select General Self Service Settings.
3. In the Remedyforce Chat section, perform the following actions:
   
   • To enable Remedyforce Chat in the Self Service site, select the Enable Chat for Self Service web portal check box.
     The Self Service site can be accessed from the Remedyforce Self Service and SelfService(Beta) tabs.
   • To enable Remedyforce Chat in the Self Service mobile app, select the Enable Chat for Self Service Mobile check box.
   Your settings for client accounts and the Pre-Chat form are applicable to Remedyforce Chat in the Self Service site and the Self Service mobile app. 
4. To enable Remedyforce chat for all Self Service client accounts, select the All Accounts option.
   By default, the chat is enabled for All Accounts.
5. To enable Remedyforce chat for select Self Service client accounts, perform the following actions:
   1. Select the Select Accounts option and click .
   2. In the pop-up window, from the Available Accounts list, select accounts and click the right arrow key to move them to the Selected Accounts list.

   3. Click OK.
      

      Note

      If the In accounts lists, display Remedyforce accounts by default (Remedyforce Administration > Application Settings > General Application Settings) check box is selected, only Remedyforce Accounts are shown in the Available Accounts list.
      

      
      

6. (Optional) To enable the Pre-Chat form, select the Enable Pre-Chat form check box.
7. (Optional) To enable None of the above as an option in the Select a Category list on the Pre-Chat form, select the Show 'None of the above' as a Category on the Pre-Chat form check box.
   
   

8. Click .

   Note

   To chat with clients, staff members must set Chat Status as Available. For more information, see Enabling Remedyforce Chat for staff members.

9. (Only for clients with the Salesforce Platform license) To set the default internal access for the User object, perform the following actions:

   1. Navigate to Setup > Security Controls > Sharing Settings.

   2. On the Sharing Setting page, in the Organization-Wide Defaults section, click Edit.

   3. From the Default Internal Access menu for the User object, click Public Read Only.

   4. Click Save.
10. (Only for clients with the Customer Portal licenses) To set the default external access for the User object, perform the following actions:
    

    1. Navigate to Setup > Security Controls > Sharing Settings.

    2. On the Sharing Setting page, in the Organization-Wide Defaults section, click Edit.

    3. From the Default External Access menu for the User object, click Public Read Only.

    4. Click Save.

    Note

    If you do not set the default external access or default internal access for the User object to Public Read Only, clients continuously receive the message All the staff members are busy at this time. Please try again later.

    If you want to use the user segregation, you must set the default external access or default internal access to Private and configure the sharing rules to use the Remedyforce Chat. For more information, see Segregating users and configuration data.

Related topic,

Creating an incident from a client chat

Viewing the BMC Remedyforce Chat dashboard

Accessing predefined reports