23.3 enhancements and patches
Version | SaaS | On premises | Fixed issues | Updates and enhancements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
23.3.04 | ✅️ | ✅️ | ||
23.3.03 | ✅️ | ✅️ | ||
23.3.02 | ✅️ | |||
23.3.01 | ✅️ | ✅️ | ||
23.3.00 | ✅️ |
BMC applies upgrades as described in Maintenance windowsBMC Helix Upgrade policy. BMC applies upgrades and patches during Maintenance windows.
(On premises only) Downloading and installing the patch
Downloading from EPD | |
|---|---|
Patch installation |
23.3.04 enhancements
Handle unanswered questions in BMC HelixGPT by using the Fallback prompt
When BMC HelixGPT cannot provide a clear response to knowledge-related queries, users can either connect with a live agent or restart the conversation.
This functionality is easily activated by enabling the Fallback prompt in BMC HelixGPT, empowering users to resolve queries efficiently and avoid disruptions.
For more information about using the Fallback prompt, see Configuring-the-Fallback-prompt-to-offer-options-for-unanswered-questions.
Chat with a virtual agent in Arabic, Canadian French, Canadian English, Thai, and Hebrew
BMC Helix Virtual Agent users can chat in Arabic, Canadian French, Canadian English, Thai, and Hebrew. For users to use this feature, administrators must add Arabic, Canadian French, Canadian English, Thai, and Hebrew as language options for translation. This enhancement helps BMC Helix Virtual Agent users chat in their preferred language.
For more information, see Localizing-chatbot-conversations-by-using-real-time-translation.
What else changed in this release
Starting with version 23.3.04, note the following significant changes in the product behavior:
Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 23.3.04 | Product behavior from version 23.3.04 |
|---|---|---|
BMC HelixGPT is the default assistant service provider for BMC Helix Virtual Agent | IBM Watson Assistant is a default assistant service provider for the BMC Helix Virtual Agent. | BMC Helix Virtual Agent includes BMC HelixGPT as the default service provider, leveraging advanced technology and seamless integration for faster query resolution and enhanced user experience.
If you prefer to use IBM Watson as the service provider, please contact BMC Support for assistance.
|
Publish multiple services using the Chat-enabled wizard. | An administrator can only publish one service by using the Chat-enabled wizard. The following screenshot shows a single service in the Chat-enabled wizard:
| With BMC HelixGPT as an assistant service provider, an administrator can publish multiple services by using the Chat-enabled wizard. The following screenshot shows multiple services in the Chat-enabled wizard:
|
The default icon for the BMC Helix Virtual Agent is changed with the BMC HelixGPT chat icon. | The default chatbot icon from the earlier versions is displayed in the figure below.
| The default icon for BMC Helix Virtual Agent is changed to the BMC HelixGPT chat icon as displayed in the figure below. You can change the icon to suit your branding requirements. For more information, see Branding-BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent-for-your-company.
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23.3.03 enhancements
Multi-select option in BMC Helix Virtual Agent
As an administrator, enable end users to select multiple options while responding to questions in a virtual chat.
End users can select multiple answers for a question instead of typing the answers.
For more details, see Enabling multi-select option.
Collect end-user feedback for a live chat session through BMC Helix Virtual Agent
As an administrator, enable survey and feedback collection when a live chat ends. End users can take the survey to provide a rating on the session and any additional inputs.
By enabling the survey and collecting feedback, administrators can gain insights into the common issues faced by end users that can help improve service resolution
For more details, see Enabling-end-users-to-provide-feedback-on-chat-sessions.
View metrics of conversations between BMC Helix Virtual Agent and BMC HelixGPT
View the metrics of conversations between BMC Helix Virtual Agent and BMC HelixGPT by using the BMC HelixGPT conversation details dashboard.
Some of the panels in the dashboard are:
- Conversations by skill names: Shows the most referred skills that helps to improve the skills as required or add new required skills.
- Most picked-up prompts: Shows most picked-up prompts and aids in improving the prompt quality and usage.
- Five most referenced knowledge articles: Shows most referred knowledge articles and helps in understanding the trend of knowledge article usage.
Use these metrics to understand the usage of BMC HelixGPT by BMC Helix Virtual Agent and to improve the services.
For more details, see BMC HelixGPT conversation details dashboard.
Get streamed responses from BMC HelixGPT
BMC HelixGPT streams answers during virtual chats in real time, displaying parts of the response as retrieved from the knowledge articles. Streaming is supported for knowledge article searches.
With streaming, users experience improved response times without waiting for the complete answer to be displayed. Users have a dynamic conversational experience, staying engaged and interested to receive answers.
23.3.02
Support for transferring the chat to a live agent from a skill-based BMC HelixGPT chatbot
When an end user uses a BMC HelixGPT skill-based chatbot, the user can chat with a live agent during the chatbot conversation. The chat starts when the live agent joins the conversation to resolve the end user's query.
With this functionality, a fallback to a live agent chat during chat conversations is supported, enhancing the end-user experience.
For more information, see Creating Skills and prompts for your application .
The following image shows the Router prompt that instructs BMC HelixGPT to reroute when a user wants to chat with a live agent:
Create test cases to validate chatbot responses
Use the Chatbot Message Monitoring feature to create and validate test cases for the accuracy of the chatbot responses. This feature helps you quickly identify and resolve issues, reducing downtime and improving user experience.
For more information, see Testing-the-chatbot-responses-by-using-test-cases.
Import IBM Watson logs to BMC Helix Innovation Suite automatically
The IBM Watson Assistant logs for a chat session are automatically imported to BMC Helix Innovation Suite so that the logs are retained for a long duration.Administrators can view the logs for a chat session in the cognitive log record definition. Learn more about this functionality in Troubleshooting-IBM-Watson-Assistant-issues.
What else changed in this release
Starting with version 23.3.02, note the following significant changes in the product behavior:
Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 23.3.02 | Product behavior from version 23.3.02 |
|---|---|---|
Maximize operational efficiency by using the Minimize button | When you close the chat panel, the chat conversation history is lost, and you must start the session again. | Use the Minimize button to seamlessly navigate to other application areas without closing your chatbot instance. This feature helps you avoid losing your chat conversation history, enhancing productivity and efficiency. For more information, see Embedding-BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent-in-external-applications. |
23.3.01
Leverage BMC HelixGPT as an Assistant Service Provider in BMC Helix Virtual Agent
Leverage BMC HelixGPT in BMC Helix Virtual Agent to deliver precise answers to end-user queries and provide real-time guidance to end users. Administrators enable BMC HelixGPT as an Assistant Service Provider in BMC Helix Virtual Agent. BMC HelixGPT integrates with BMC Helix Virtual Agent to contextualize questions and respond with human-like precision by leveraging AI capabilities.
Setting up BMC HelixGPT as an Assistant Service Provider helps end users in the following ways:
- Leverage the generative AI functionalities powered by BMC HelixGPT to get more precise answers and solutions to their queries, such as tickets and monitoring tools, and enhance their self-service experience in real time for IT, HR, Facilities and other domains.
- Get the right answers and most appropriate recommendations of precise knowledge articles from an extensive database of the search providers, such as BMC Helix Business Workflows, BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround, and BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management, along with a clear, plain-language summary of the knowledge articles that are shared.
For more information, see Configuring-BMC-HelixGPT-to-work-with-BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent.
Provide an audio notification for when a Live Chat Agent joins a chat
With this feature, end users can enable or disable an audio notification for the chatbot when a Live Chat Agent joins a chat. With the audio notification on, end users who are inactive in the chatbot window, and working in other areas, get notified audibly when a Live Agent joins a chat.
For more information, see Submitting-service-requests-or-searching-knowledge-articles.
The administrators can customize the sound for a chatbot by uploading a sound file. If the administrator has different chatbots for various lines of business, the administrator can upload a different audio file for each chatbot.
For more information, see Branding-BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent-for-your-company.
Notify idle users through Slack
In addition to MS Teams, Slack is also a communication channel for proactive notifications. BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced triggers a request to proactively notify the user in BMC Helix Virtual Agent if the user is idle or inactive during a conversation with the chatbot.
For more information, see Enabling-integration-with-BMC-Helix-Digital-Workplace-Advanced-and-BMC-Helix-Business-Workflows.
Delete retired knowledge articles from IBM Watson Discovery Collection by using BMC Crawler
BMC Crawler can delete the retired knowledge articles from the IBM Watson Discovery Collection. This way when a user searches for knowledge articles using Helix Virtual Agent, the user receives only current and accurate knowledge articles and does not receive any outdated information.
For more information, see Installing and configuring the cognitive search data crawler for BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management articles.
See knowledge article user ratings in IBM Watson Discovery
In IBM Watson Discovery, administrators view the ratings that users give searched knowledge articles. These ratings help administrators identify and improve articles that are rated not helpful.
For more information, see Submitting-service-requests-or-searching-knowledge-articles.
Automatically push knowledge article events to Telemetry
Out-of-the box events, such as Article Clicked, Article Rated, and Knowledge Search, related to knowledge articles are added. These events are pushed automatically to the Telemetry.
The event statistics help the administrator understand how end users are searching for knowledge articles and whether the knowledge articles are helpful for the user. Based on the statistics, the administrator can decide to improve the search keywords and or improve the knowledge articles that have a low rating.
For more information, see BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent-reporting-events.
23.3.00
(Controlled availability customers only) Leverage BMC HelixGPT as an Assistant Service Provider in BMC Helix Virtual Agent
Leverage BMC HelixGPT in BMC Helix Virtual Agent to deliver precise answers to end-user queries and provide real-time guidance to end users. Administrators enable BMC HelixGPT as an Assistant Service Provider in BMC Helix Virtual Agent. BMC HelixGPT integrates with BMC Helix Virtual Agent to contextualize questions and respond with human-like precision by leveraging AI capabilities.
Setting up BMC HelixGPT as an Assistant Service Provider helps end users in the following ways:
- Leverage the generative AI functionalities powered by BMC HelixGPT to get more precise answers and solutions to their queries, such as tickets and monitoring tools, and enhance their self-service experience in real time for IT, HR, Facilities and other domains.
- Get the right answers and most appropriate recommendations of precise knowledge articles from an extensive database of the search providers, such as BMC Helix Business Workflows, BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround, and BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management, along with a clear, plain-language summary of the knowledge articles that are shared.
For more information, see Configuring-BMC-HelixGPT-to-work-with-BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent.
Customize primary, secondary and active branding colors in BMC Helix Virtual Agent
As an administrator, you can change the branding of BMC Helix Virtual Agent by customizing the primary, secondary and active color schemes to match the color scheme of BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
Customizing the colors of BMC Helix Virtual Agent according to the color scheme of BMC Helix Innovation Studio provides a consistent and cohesive user experience across both the applications and helps create a unified brand identity. Also, it enables end users to customize the color scheme, which enhances user engagement and satisfaction. For more information, see Branding-BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent-for-your-company.
Display latest comments added to service requests
As an administrator of BMC Helix Virtual Agent, you can display the latest comments added to the service requests created in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced.
With this feature, end users can track the latest activity of their service requests, and also request additional clarifications or queries, if required. It improves communication between end users and support agents and helps end users stay informed about the progress and updates related to their service requests. For more information, see Setting-up-chatbots-for-your-line-of-business.
Customize system messages in BMC Helix Virtual Agent
BMC Helix Virtual Agent administrators can customize the default system messages displayed by the chatbot based on the supported locales. By customizing these messages, you ensure that the chatbot communicates effectively with end users in their preferred language, which leads to higher user engagement and satisfaction in the chatbot conversation.
You can customize welcome messages, prompts, confirmations, error messages, service request comments, and other chatbot system messages. For more information, see Setting-up-chatbots-for-your-line-of-business.
What else changed in this release
Starting with version 23.3.00, note the following significant changes in the product behavior:
Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 23.3.00 | Product behavior from version 23.3.00 |
|---|---|---|
Migrating IBM Watson Discovery training data from V1 to V2 instance. | IBM Watson Discovery had not migrated to the V2 instance. | IBM Watson Discovery has migrated its functionality from V1 to V2 instance. End users who have already migrated to the V2 instance might want to use the existing training data available in the V1 instance. The existing training data available in the V1 instance is migrated to V2 so that end users can access the existing training data. This migration helps end users to get access to the support training related to the existing features of IBM Watson Discovery. For more information, see Migrating-IBM-Watson-Discovery-training-data-from-V1-to-V2. |
Synchronize BMC Helix Virtual Agent with the re-ranking feature of BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced. | BMC Helix Virtual Agent used a different API that did not synchronize with the re-ranking feature of BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced. | BMC Helix Virtual Agent is now able to synchronize with the re-ranking feature of BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced through a newer API version. When end users search for knowledge articles in BMC Helix Virtual Agent, the knowledge search results derived from BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced are dynamically reordered based on user rankings. |
Support the following improvements in the message input functionality of BMC Helix Virtual Agent:
| End users could send multiple messages while the chatbot was waiting for response from the server. | End users are limited from sending multiple messages when the chatbot waits for a server response. The use of a tooltip helps end users understand that the chatbot is waiting for a server response. This lessens the chance of end users sending multiple messages before the chatbot responds, thereby reducing the scope of conflicting responses. |