21.02 enhancements
The following video (2:44) provides a summary of some of the new features and enhancements in Live Chat version 21.02:
Product name changes in Remedy platform, Remedy ITSM, and BMC Helix Platform applications
Consult the following tables for changes to the product and component names starting with version 21.02.
While the product names have changed in 21.02, some instances in the product documentation still refer to the previous product name.
Remedy platform and ITSM applications
Version 20.08 and earlier | Version 21.02 and later |
|---|---|
Remedy Action Request System (Remedy AR System) | |
Remedy IT Service Management Suite (Remedy ITSM) | |
BMC CMDB | |
Remedy with Smart IT | |
Remedy Smart Reporting | |
Remedy Change Management | |
Remedy Knowledge Management | |
Remedy Asset Management | |
Remedy Service Desk | |
Remedy Single Sign-On |
BMC Helix Platform and applications
Version 20.08 and earlier | Version 21.02 and later |
|---|---|
BMC Helix Platform | |
BMC Helix Chatbot |
BMC Helix Innovation Suite for Service Management applications
Starting with version 21.02, Service Management applications run on a single environment named, BMC Helix Innovation Suite. With the new BMC Helix Innovation Suite, we bring together the capabilities of Action Request System and BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
As an Action Request System user, use the Action Request System components and clients. Leverage Service Management applications or build a custom application by using Developer Studio.
As a BMC Helix Innovation Studio user, use the the Service Management applications or build a custom application by using BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
BMC Helix Innovation Suite provides the following benefits:
- A single-tenant common platform for Service Management applications.
- A shared database between AR System and BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
- A common Foundation data for applications that run on the BMC Helix Innovation Suite.
- The ability to interoperate between AR System and BMC Helix Innovation Studio. For example, you can call a process defined by using BMC Helix Innovation Studio in AR System. The process is called by triggering a filter written in Developer Studio.
Leverage common Foundation data for Service Management applications
BMC Helix Innovation Suite includes common Foundation data that can be used by Service Management applications, such as BMC Helix Business Workflows , BMC Helix Virtual Agent , BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management, and so on. As an administrator, you can onboard Foundation data or load the data in bulk for the Service Management applications.
The common Foundation data provides the following benefits:
- Creates a single data source for all the service management applications.
- Eliminates the need to perform Foundation data sync from BMC Helix ITSM to BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications.
- Eliminates the need to normalize application data.
Rebrand Self Service Portal and agent console
You can change the branding of Self Service Portal in Live Chat by changing the following attributes:
- Company logo
- Virtual agent avatar
- Agent avatar
- Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML) file
In BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT and BMC Helix Business Workflows, you can change the image that is displayed in an empty agent console.
To learn how to rebrand Live Chat, see Branding-Live-Chat-for-your-company.
The following image shows the Self Service Portal attributes that you can change:
The following image shows the empty agent console image that you can change:
Set ticket configuration settings for manual or automatic ticket creation from live chat
The following image shows an incident created automatically from Live Chat by using a template:
As an administrator, you can configure the following ticket creation settings:
- Ticket creation method—Automatic or manual
- Default ticket template—Ticket template to be used for manual or automatic ticket creation
- Hiding ticket options—Hide specific ticket type creation
- Draft mode of ticket—Display draft mode of ticket
These settings save the time spent by agents in selecting the ticket type and ticket template and help in reducing manual errors when creating tickets.
This capability requires BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT version 21.02. For more information, see Ticket-creation-from-live-chat.
Support agents can group quick texts
Quick texts are common messages or questions that agents use when chatting with a user. Live Chat includes a list of preconfigured quick text messages that agents can use when chatting with a self-service user. These quick texts help the agents to resolve user issues more quickly by save the time used for typing the questions and messages.
As an administrator, you can create quick text groups for easy findability. To learn how to create quick text groups, see Creating-quick-text. For more information about using quick text groups, see Responding-with-quick-texts.
The following image is an example of how quick text groups are displayed in the support agent console:
Enhanced experience when agents connect to end user's desktop via screen sharing
The following image shows how agents can establish a remote connection with multiple BCM devices are installed:
Agents can access an end user's desktop through a remote-control screen sharing session from Live Chat to resolve the issue raised by the end user. Remote access to the desktop by using a web browser provides the agent with the following capabilities:
- Save the time spent on reading long chats or email conversations.
- Directly access any of the managed devices within the end user's system to resolve the issue quickly.
- Record a remote control session and store the recording to use it for audit purposes or as a learning or coaching aid.
For more information, see Requesting-for-remote-access-to-the-end-users-devices.
Invite or join a chat session
As an agent or a supervisor, you can leverage the following capabilities of inviting or joining an active chat session:
Invite other agents to join a chat session
As an agent, you can invite other agents who are online to join an active chat session in Participate or Monitor mode. For example, an agent can invite another agent who is an expert in the issue raised by the end user to efficiently resolve the issue within the same chat session.
If browser notifications are enabled, the invited agents are notified of an incoming chat invitation.
To learn how to invite other agents and the difference between Participate and Monitor mode, see Inviting-agents-to-join-chats-and-responding-to-invitations.
The following image shows how agents can send invitations to join a chat:
Flag for requesting supervisor assistance during a chat session
During a chat session, agents can request assistance from a supervisor for a chat. For example, if an agent faces an issue with an ongoing chat, the agent can ask a supervisor to intervene and help the agent.
Agents can request assistance directly from the chat and the supervisor is notified about the request on the monitoring dashboard.
Learn more about requesting an assistance in Accepting-transferring-and-closing-chat-sessions.
Learn more about viewing and accepting the assistance request in Joining-chats-managing-chat-assignments-and-accepting-chat-assistance-requests.
The following image shows how agents can request for assistance:
As a supervisor, join a chat session without an invitation
From the monitoring dashboard, supervisors can join a chat session without an invitation. For example, you can join a chat session to monitor how a newly support agent is handling a chat session.
To learn more about joining a chat session as a supervisor, see Joining-chats-managing-chat-assignments-and-accepting-chat-assistance-requests.
The following image shows the chat actions from where supervisors can monitor or participate in a chat session from the monitoring dashboard:
Transfer or assign chats from the Monitoring Dashboard
Supervisors can manage chats more efficiently by assigning or transferring them appropriately. Supervisors can transfer an assigned chat to themselves or other agents, or release the chat to the support queue. They can also assign a pending chat to themselves or support agents.
Learn more about transferring or assigning chats in Joining-chats-managing-chat-assignments-and-accepting-chat-assistance-requests.
The following image shows how supervisors can assign pending chats to agents:
SLA breach notifications for agents
As an administrator, you can configure SLA breach or SLA warning notification that are sent to an agent when a pending chat session is in queue longer than the SLA time. You can configure only one of the two notifications—SLA warning or SLA breach.
Configuration settings for notifications
In addition to the SLA breach notification, you can configure the following browser notification settings:
- Notification icon
- Number of seconds for which the notifications are displayed on the screen
- Manual dismissal of the notification by the agent
To learn how to configure the notification settings, see Configuring-browser-notifications-for-agents.
What else changed in this release
In Live Chat version 21.02, note the following significant changes in the product behavior:
Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 21.02 | Product behavior from version 21.02 |
|---|---|---|
Configurable wait timer format for agents | Timer format was absolute, for example, 10:00 in queue | Timer format is configurable as one of the following values:
Default value: Displayed blank, which is equivalent to Relative. To learn how to configure the timer format, see Configuring-the-chat-session-settings-for-support-agents. |
Support for Microsoft Internet Explorer version 11 is deprecated
As announced, support for Microsoft Internet Explorer version 11 is now deprecated. We encourage you to switch to other fully supported browsers listed for Live Chat in the BMC Solution and Product Availability and Compatibility utility.
For a complete list of BMC products that no longer support Internet Explorer 11, see the BMC Customer Support Communities page.