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.
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 Self Service 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 the 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.
Best practice
To quicken the process of resolving the client queries and for efficient staffing purposes, BMC recommends that you enable the Pre-Chat form so that the chat is assigned to the suggested owner of a category.
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.
If Pre-Chat form is enabled | If Pre-Chat form is not enabled |
---|---|
Chat is assigned based on the categories enabled for Remedyforce Chat and the suggested owners configured for those categories. For more information, see Chat assignment with suggested owners configured for categories. |
Best practice: To quicken the process of resolving the client queries and for efficient staffing purposes, BMC recommends that you enable the Pre-Chat form so that the chat is assigned to the suggested owner of a category. |
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:
Suggested owner title | Criteria | Considered for assignment |
---|---|---|
Suggested owner 1 | Priority = 1 AND Category = Account Administration NONE | No: The Category field is a part of the criteria but the value does not match the Pre-Chat form category. |
Suggested owner 2 | Category = Hardware AND Priority = 1 AND Service = Mobile Service NONE | Yes: The Category field is a part of the criteria, and the value matches Pre-Chat form category. |
Suggested owner 3 | Priority = 3 AND Category != Network AND Service = Mobile Service NONE | No: The criteria for Category field is not defined in the above mentioned format. Note: Only equals operator (=) is considered while assigning a chat. |
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.
Note
If you have configured multiple criteria for a suggested owner, when the chat is assigned only the criteria defined for the category is considered. In the preceding example, the chat is being assigned to a staff member, only the category that matches the category on the Pre-Chat form is considered. The other criteria are not considered.
Considerations for configuring Remedyforce Chat
Note the following important points about the Remedyforce Chat feature:
Category | Consideration | Additional information |
---|---|---|
General |
| None |
Pre-Chat form | Chat assignment
Note: To quicken the process of resolving the client queries and for efficient staffing purposes, BMC recommends that you enable the Pre-Chat form so that the chat is assigned to the suggested owner of a category. | For more information, see To enable Remedyforce Chat for clients. |
Category
| For more information, see Managing categories for Self Service and Remedyforce Chat. | |
Suggested owners
| For more information, see Chat assignment with suggested owners configured for categories. | |
After chat ends | After the chat ends, the staff member must link the chat to a new incident or to an existing incident:
| None |
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.
Note
The Remedyforce Chat is available for clients only if you enable it. For more information, see Enabling Remedyforce Chat for clients
To enable Remedyforce Chat for staff members
- To add the Enable Chat check box to the User Page Layout, perform the following actions:
- Navigate to Setup > Customize > User > Page Layout.
- In the User Page Layout page, in the Action column, click Edit next to a page layout such as Remedyforce User.
- Click Fields and drag the Enable Chat check box to the layout.
- Click Save.
- To enable a staff user to chat with clients, perform the following actions:
- Navigate to Setup > Manage Users > Users.
- On the All Users page, in the Action column, click Edit next to the name of the staff member.
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.
- 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.
To enable Remedyforce Chat for clients
- Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
- On the Home page, click the Configure Self Service tile, and from the menu select General Self Service Settings.
- In the Remedyforce Chat section, select the Enable Remedyforce Chat check box.
- To enable Remedyforce chat for all Self Service client accounts, select the All Accounts option.
By default, the chat is enabled for All Accounts. - To enable Remedyforce chat for select Self Service client accounts, perform the following actions:
- Select the Select Accounts option and click .
- 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.
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.
- (Optional) To enable the Pre-Chat form, select the Enable Pre-Chat form check box.
- (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.
Click .
Note
To chat with clients, staff members must set Chat Status as Available. For more information, see Enabling Remedyforce Chat for staff members.
To set the default external access for the
User
object, perform the following actions:Navigate to Setup > Security Controls > Sharing Settings.
On the Sharing Setting page, in the Organization-Wide Defaults section, click Edit.
From the Default External Access menu for the
User
object, click Public Read Only.Click Save.
Note
If you do not set the default external access for the
User
object to Public Read Only, clients will continuously receive the messageAll 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 to Private and configure the sharing rules to use the Remedyforce Chat. For more information, see Segregating users and configuration data.
Related video
BMC Contributor Content: You can also view the video created by the BMC Remedyforce Customer Success Team.
Related topics
Creating an incident from a client chat
Comments
Log in or register to comment.