Using the Self Service Portal
The following video (5:44) walks you through the Self Service Portal of BMC Virtual Chat 9.1 and describes the basic functionalities to converse with the virtual agent and live agent.
This topic includes the following information about Self Service Portal:
Overview of the Self Service Portal
Self-service users can use the Self Service Portal to chat with either a virtual agent or a live agent and get suggestions for solutions to their issues. These solutions can include links to knowledge-base content or corporate portals. Typically, self-service users must first ask their question to a virtual agent, but some organizations might choose to enable chats with live agents only. However, even when a user starts by asking a question to the virtual agent, at any time that live agents are online, the user can request to chat with a live agent.
If integration with BMC Remedy IT Service Management is configured and is activated, an incident is created when the self-service users requests to chat with a live agent. The incident can be tracked from the Open Items tab in the Self Service Portal. The incident status remains unchanged even after the self-service user abruptly closes the browser or browser tab of the chat session.
A live agent can accept and handle multiple chat sessions simultaneously. A new session opens in a separate window, and the agent can switch between sessions as needed.
When a self-service user opts to chat with a live agent, the user's question and complete chat history are sent to the queue to be assigned. A self-service user can send files to a live agent to provide more information about an issue, and the live agent can send files to the user to help resolve the issue. A chat log is available for self-service users to email to themselves to keep a record of their chat sessions.
If the Self Service Portal is unavailable because of a holiday or off hours, a message indicates that agents are unavailable. When the service is unavailable, the self-service user is still greeted by the virtual agent but cannot chat with a live agent.
Self-service users can enter up to 1500 characters in a chat message, although the character limit can depend on the ASCII characters used. For example, characters such as " & and % occupy three to five characters, not one character. The minimum size for the chat window is 480 x 670 pixels.
The following image shows an example of a typical Self Service Portal session:
Configuring the Self Service Portal
The system administrator configures access to the Self Service Portal and configures functionality of the portal by performing the following tasks:
| To enable or configure | Perform the following task | Related documentation |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service users to log on | Register users in BMC Remedy Action Request System (BMC Remedy AR System), and provide them with a valid logon ID and password. | |
| Access from a standard browser | Communicate the URL to self-service users. | Windowed mode for the Self Service Portal |
| Access from BMC MyIT | From the BMC MyIT Administration Console, configure Virtual Agent Chat. | Changing client functionality options in the BMC MyIT 2.6 documentation |
| Access from BMC Service Request Management | Set up a link from BMC Service Request Management. | Linking to BMC Virtual Chat from BMC Service Request Management |
| Language preferences | Configure language options and translation. Self-service users can set their preferences from the Settings. | Setting language options and translation |
| Chat submenu, which includes selections for Settings (if automatic translation is configured) and Logout | Configure the Application Portal - Interface settings to enable the chat submenu. | Enabling the chat submenu in the Self Service Portal |
| Live-agent-only chats (without a virtual agent) | Set Chat Application Status to Agent Only. | Defining chat server options |
| Self Service Portal availability |
| Setting live chat hours |
| Self-service users to upload attachments (including limitations on file size and type) | Enable file upload for chat sessions. | Configuring self-service user file uploads |
| Session timeout (after which self-service users are logged off) | Define the session timeout. | Changing the chat session timeout |
| Topics area and Topic list | Configure support queues and topics. | Setting up support queues |
| Quick links | Enable quick links and modify the example URLs. | Creating quick links |
Note
For information about configuring BMC Virtual Chat, see Configuring after upgrade.
Other options for self-service users
Instead of using the Self Service Portal, self-service users can use one of the following instant messaging clients to chat with either the virtual agent or live agent:
| Client | Capabilities | For more information |
|---|---|---|
| Any XMPP instant messaging client, such as Jabber | Limited to chat capabilities | Integrating with XMPP instant messaging clients |
Sample user-agent interactions
Multiple types of interactions are possible between a self-service user and a virtual agent.
The following video (9:55) walks you through an interaction between an end user (using the Self Service Portal) and live agent (using the Support Agent Console) in BMC Virtual Chat 9.1.
To open the Self Service Portal in BMC MyIT
If BMC MyIT is integrated with BMC Virtual Chat, self-service users can open the Self Service Portal from the BMC MyIT Universal Client Console.
The following video demonstrates how to integrate BMC MyIT with BMC Virtual Chat and open the Self Service Portal in BMC MyIT:
The following video demonstrates how a self-service user accesses BMC Virtual Chat from MyIT to resolve queries.
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