Assisting users by using Live Chat

As a case agent, you can assist users to resolve their requests through chats by using the Live Chat option in BMC Helix Business Workflows. The Live Chat option enables you to participate in a chat session, understand the user request through chats, and resolve the request. You can create a case based on a chat session, if required.

Before you begin

Ensure that a case business analyst has configured BMC Helix Business Workflows to work with BMC Live Chat.
You must have permissions to chat with a user.

BMC Helix Business Workflows Live Chat option only supports the chat sessions that are transferred from Self Service Portal in BMC Live Chat and BMC Helix Chatbot interface.

For information about how to use Self Service Portal in BMC Live Chat to interact with agents, see Accessing and navigating Self Service Portal Open link .

For information about how to use BMC Helix Chatbot to interact with agents, see Submitting service requests and providing feedback through chatbot interaction Open link .

Overview of Live Chat

You can view user chat requests, accept chat sessions, and manage chat sessions by using the Live Chat option. The following figure shows the Live Chat option in BMC Helix Business Workflows:

The Live Chat page provides the following options for a case agent to view and join chat sessions:

Available—Indicates your availability for a chat session.
My Chats—Displays your active chat sessions.
Queue—Displays the number of chat sessions that are waiting to be assigned.
Transferred—Displays the number of chat sessions that are transferred to you.
Requester information—Displays the user information, such as the user's contact information, site information, and cases.
Important

The requester information displays only the 50 latest cases that are created for a requester.
Resources—Displays knowledge articles and case templates that you can use during a chat.
Create Case—Enables you to create a case for the user request.

When you receive a new chat request from a user, you can view the chat and join the session. You can view user information and use resources to help resolve the user's request. The following figure shows a chat session:

Important

If you are not active on the Live Chat tab when you receive a new chat request in your chat queue or a message in an active chat, you are notified through browser notifications.

The following video (3:05) explains how a case agent can assist users to resolve their requests through chats by using the Live Chat option in BMC Helix Business Workflows:

https://youtu.be/2hoZec-G9hQ

The following video (3:22) explains how a user requests for employment verification letter through Live Chat and how a case agent works on completing the request:

https://youtu.be/HvDrZvnDRK4

To accept chat sessions

To accept new chat sessions or chat sessions that are transferred to you, perform the following steps:

From your application home page, click Live Chat.
From the chat queue, select the chat that you want to accept.
The chat history is displayed. If you are accepting a chat session transferred by an agent, the chat history and the notes added by the agent who handled this request previously is displayed.
The Customer Information tab displays the customer contact, site information, and cases.
The Resources tab displays case templates and knowledge articles.
Click Accept.
The My chats tab is updated with the chat that you accepted.
In the chat pane, type your response and press Enter or click the icon.

To manage chat sessions

You have several options when handling open chats. For example, the agent can request to close or release a session or transfer it to another agent.
The following table describes the options that you have for managing chat sessions:

Option	Description	Action
End Chat	Remove a chat session from the chat queue and close the chat when the session is complete or the request is resolved. The user is notified that the chat has ended. In a chat session, if you resolve user requests without creating a case, you must mark the chat session as resolved before ending a chat session.	Click End Chat.
Release	Release a chat session for reassignment. The user is notified that the agent has released the chat for reassignment. After you release a chat session, the chat session goes to the Pending Assignment queue in the support queue. The entire chat history and notes are saved and appears in the chat pane.	From Chat Actions list, click Release.
Transfer	Transfer an active chat session to another support agent belonging to the same support queue or to a different support queue. Transfer to another agent When an agent transfers an active chat session to another agent belonging to the same support queue, the status of the chat is changed to Pending Transfer To. The chat is removed from My Chats list of the agent who initiated the transfer and appears on the Pending Transfer list of the agent to whom the chat is transferred. Transfer to a support queue When a chat is directly transferred to a support queue, the status of the chat changes to Pending Assignment and it is removed from My Chats list of the agent who initiated the transfer. The support queue of the chat is updated with the new support queue name. The transferred chat appears in the Pending Assignment list of all agents present in this support queue. During this course of transfer, the entire chat history is preserved, and the user is notified that the chat is transferred. Note: You can transfer an active chat to a support queue only when the Support Queues and Use Topics options are enabled in the Virtual Chat Administration console.	From the Chat Actions list, click Transfer. The Transfer Chat dialog box opens, displaying a list of all online agents or a list of support queues. Click the agent name or the queue to which you want to transfer the chat session. Click Transfer.
Abandon	If a user leaves a chat session, an agent can mark it as abandoned and end the chat.	From the Chat Actions list, click Abandon and then click OK.

Scenarios while transferring a chat

The following table describes the possible scenarios while transferring a chat:

	When Agent Auto Accept is enabled	When Agent Auto Accept is disabled
Transfer to another agent	When the Agent Auto Accept feature is enabled, the agent to whom the chat is transferred can accept multiple chats from the Transferred queue.	When the Agent Auto Accept feature is disabled, the agent to whom the chat is transferred can accept any number of chats from the Queue and Transferred queues.
Transfer to a support queue	When the Agent Auto Accept feature is enabled, the chat is assigned to any agent in that queue depending on the agent's workload.	When the Agent Auto Accept feature is disabled, the transferred chat appears in the Queue list of all agents present in the support queue and any of them can accept it.

To share knowledge articles

In an active chat session, on the Resources tab, to search for knowledge articles, enter a term in the Search field.
Select an article from the results and click the Share icon.
You can share only the knowledge articles that are marked as external.

The article is shared with the user and is shown in the conversation. The shared knowledge article link is shown in the Activity tab of the associated case. The knowledge article link points to the knowledge article in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced.

To flag a knowledge article with the case, use the Pin icon.

To send and receive attachments

You can send attachments to a user or receive attachments from a user only if the user interacts with you by using the Self Service Portal in BMC Live Chat.

Important

If a user interacts with you by using BMC Helix Chatbot, the option to send attachments is not displayed on the Live Chat page.

To send an attachment to a user, perform the following steps:

In an active chat session, click the Attachments icon.
The permitted file formats and file size are specified.
Click Attach file.
Select the file that you want to send or drag the file to the Attachment window and click Upload Attached File.

To receive an attachment from a user, perform the following steps:

In an active chat session, click the file sent by the user.
View or save the file to your computer.
The file is saved in the default download location of your computer.

If you create a case for the user, the attachments that you send or receive are added in the activity feed of the case. For information about how to view attachments in a case activity feed, see Viewing case activities and adding activity notes.

To create a case from a chat

While interacting with a user, you can create a case if it does not already exist. You can create a case from a chat session in the following ways:

Action

Steps

Create a case without using a case template

In an active chat session, click Create case.

A case is created and the chat transcript is added to the description. You can view the case details from the Resources tab.

Create a case by using a case template

In an active chat session, on Resources tab, to search for case templates, enter a search term.
The available templates that match the search term are displayed.
Select a template and click Create Case.

A case is created and the chat transcript is added to the description. You can view the case details on the Resources tab.

After you create a case, the case ID or the service request ID is shared with the user automatically. If BMC Helix Business Workflows is configured to create a corresponding service request in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced for a case, the service request ID is shared, else the case ID is shared.

Example of sharing service request ID with a user

A user wants employee verification letter with some specific details. The user interacts with a live agent. The agent sends the user two attachments that provide details about the verification letter formats. The agent asks the user to select one of the formats and create a case. A service request is created for the case as automatic service request creation is enabled for the user company. The service request ID is sent to the user instead of the case ID. The user then views the request updates through BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced.

Note

Your chat details are not added to a case activity feed in the following scenario:

You accept a chat session that is release by another agent and interact with the user.
You do not have access to the case that was created earlier by the other agent in the chat session.

To create and use quick text

You can create quick text for common messages or questions that you can use while chatting with a user. You can create quick text for messages such as Good Afternoon, how may I help you?, Have a great day, and so on. BMC Live Chat provides sample quick text that you can use or refer to while creating quick text.

For information about how to create quick text and use the text while chatting with a user, see Responding with quick texts Open link .