In addition to the default chatbot, BMC Helix Chatbot enables the administrators and application business analysts to set up specialized chatbots in an organization. This capability enables you to create specialized chatbots for each individual team or department, and train these chatbots so that they are experts in specific areas without any risk of overlapping. You can create a single or multiple specialized chatbots in a BMC Helix Platform environment.
For example, you can create an HR Requests chatbot that addresses HR queries only and an IT Helpdesk chatbot that addresses IT queries only. These specialized chatbots help to ensure that the employee queries are quickly addressed.
Ensure that you have subscribed to the appropriate service license to configure the chatbot.
Ensure that you have performed the following tasks in the specified products:
Product | Task |
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BMC Helix Innovation Studio | Created and deployed applications for which you want to set up the chatbot. |
IBM Watson Assistant | You have the Identity and Access Management (IAM) API key or username and password of the IBM Watson Assistant instance in which you have created the chatbot Skills. You can get the IAM API Key by logging in to IBM Cloud. |
IBM Watson Assistant | You have the IBM Watson Assistant Skill ID of the reference Skills that is provided with BMC Helix Chatbot or custom IBM Watson Assistant that you want to use. You can get the Skill ID by logging in to the IBM Watson tool and selecting the appropriate skill. |
(If you want to use custom or localized Skills) IBM Watson Assistant |
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(If you want to use real-time translation to localize chatbot conversations) BMC Helix Innovation Studio |
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(To use disambiguation) IBM Watson Assistant |
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Select the application for which you want to create a chatbot. You can select the application based on access level for users:
To provide access to all users, create a chatbot in the BMC Chatbot application.
The newly-created chatbot is displayed in the Chatbots tab, as shown in the following image:
In BMC Helix Chatbot, you must provide the Skill ID, so that the BMC Helix Platform Cognitive Service can connect to your IBM Watson Assistant skill. Additionally, if you want to use localization you must provide the Skill ID of IBM Watson Assistant skill for each locale.
In the Chatbot Skills tab, fill out the following fields:
UI field | Description |
---|---|
API Key tab | If you have received the Identity and Access Management (IAM) API key, click the API Key tab and enter the IAM API key. |
Username & Password tab | If you do not have IAM API key, click the Username & Password tab and enter the username and password of your IBM Watson Assistant service. |
Workspace ID | Enter the ID of the IBM Watson Assistant that you want to use. |
Locale | View the name of the locale, which is automatically populated according to the Skill ID that you entered earlier. |
Chatbot Display Name | Enter a name for BMC Helix Chatbot that will be displayed to users. |
Welcome Message | Enter the message that you want to be displayed when the user first opens the chatbot. When you use localization, you can enter the localized welcome message for each locale that you want to use. |
Request Clarification Prompt | Enter the phrase to be displayed when the chatbot is unable to identify the user's exact intent. Example: Did you mean... |
No Relevant Options Label | Enter the phrase to be displayed when none of the options provided by the chatbot are relevant for the user. Default: None of these Note: If you keep this field blank, this option is not displayed in the chat conversation. |
The following image shows the fields in the Chatbot Skills tab:
To view the chatbot and verify the chatbot settings, click Launch Bot.
A chatbot is an omni-channel application that can work with several communication channels. When you create a new chatbot, by default, it is configured to work with the BMC Helix Chatbot web UI. You can configure the chatbot to work with different user communication channels such as Slack, Microsoft Office 365 (Teams), Skype for Business on-premises, and SMS, which uses Twilio. Although this is an optional task, it is recommended that you leverage this capability of chatbot.
For example, you might want to provide Short Message Service (SMS) chatbot conversation facility to your application users. To provide the SMS facility, you must configure your chatbot to work with Twilio so that your application users can interact with a chatbot by sending text messages through their mobile devices.
BMC Helix Chatbot supports the following communication channels:
Channel | Reference | Example |
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Slack | Enabling Slack in a chatbot application | |
Microsoft Office 365 (Teams) | Enabling Microsoft Teams in a chatbot application by registering inline with Microsoft App Studio | |
Skype for Business on-premises | Enabling Skype for Business on-premises in a chatbot application | |
Twilio | Enabling an SMS chatbot conversation in an application |
You can change the branding of a chatbot by uploading your organization's logo, header color, header text, and so on. Although this is an optional task, it is recommended that you leverage this capability of chatbot. The branding applies only to the chatbot web UI and not to other chatbot channels such as Office 365, Skype for Business on-premises, Slack, and Twilio.
To change the header, update the values in the Header Background Color, Header Text Color, and Header Border Color.
To change the branding, in Brand Logo, upload the logo.
You can upload PNG, JPG, or SVG file formats.
Note
The maximum file size that you can upload is 1 MB.
To change the chatbot avatar, in Chatbot Avatar, upload the avatar image.
If you change the chatbot avatar, the animation is disabled.
Click Save.
(Optional) If you want to remove all the configured skinning and branding values, click Clear Configuration and then click Save.
After you create a chatbot, you can configure the dynamic options that are returned to a user in a chatbot conversation based on the user query. For example, you can configure the maximum number of knowledge articles, maximum number of answer options displayed per question, and so on. Although this is an optional task, it is recommended that you leverage this capability of the chatbot.
Click General Settings and enter the details for the following settings:
Setting name | Action |
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Maximum Number of Requests for Status to Return to User | Specify the maximum number of service requests related to the user query. The default value is 5. |
Maximum Number of Knowledge Articles to Return to User | Specify the maximum number of knowledge articles that are relevant to the user query. The default value is 5. |
Maximum Number of Options/Buttons to Display Per Question on Web Channel | Specify the number of options or buttons that must be displayed. End users click the options or buttons to respond to a question by the chatbot. In the Show More menu, you can view the options or buttons in addition to the number that you have configured. The default value is 3. |
Maximum Number of Passage Characters | Specify the number of characters that you want to include in the knowledge article paragraph displayed during cognitive search. Best practice We recommend that for best results, you must set the maximum number of passage characters to a value over 200. |
Maximum number of Dynamic Answer Options to Display on Twilio | Specify the number of options or buttons for dynamic answers that must be displayed on Twilio. The default value is 5. |
Maximum Number of Assets to Return to User | Specify the number of assets that should be returned to the user. The default value is 16. |
Real-time Translation | If you have configured a real-time translation provider, select this check box. |
Primary Locale | If you selected the Real-time Translation check box, the primary locale for translation is automatically populated. This is the language in which you have configured the IBM Watson Assistant Skills. |
Rating Scale Presentation Order | Specify the order in which you want to display the rating scale options. The default order is from ascending to descending. |
User Name Presentation | Specify how you want the chatbot to address the end users. By default, the chatbot addresses the user by first name and last name. |
In addition to these settings, you can configure cognitive search and live chat for the chatbot.
You configure the idle timeout period after within which the chat session closes automatically. The default timeout period is 15 minutes.
In the Chatbot section, enter the value in the following field, and click Save.
Field | Description |
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Chat Session Idle Time | Enter the time in seconds after which the chat session closes automatically if the end user is not chatting. Default time: 900 seconds Valid range: 300 to 1200 seconds |
Administrators can view all the chatbots that are created for all applications in the BMC Helix Platform environment.
The configuration window for the selected chatbot is displayed. For example, if you select the IT Helpdesk chatbot, the IT Helpdesk chatbot configuration window is displayed.
Utilizing multiple chatbots for each line of business
Importing chat-enabled services from BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced
BMC Helix Chatbot usage reports