Oracle Center. User Guide Release 11i. Part No. B

Transcription

1 Oracle Center User Guide Release 11i Part No. B April 2003

2 Oracle Center User Guide, Release 11i Part No. B Copyright 2000, 2003 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. The Programs (which include both the software and documentation) contain proprietary information of Oracle Corporation; they are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are also protected by copyright, patent and other intellectual and industrial property laws. Reverse engineering, disassembly or decompilation of the Programs, except to the extent required to obtain interoperability with other independently created software or as specified by law, is prohibited. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. If you find any problems in the documentation, please report them to us in writing. Oracle Corporation does not warrant that this document is error-free. Except as may be expressly permitted in your license agreement for these Programs, no part of these Programs may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Oracle Corporation. If the Programs are delivered to the U.S. Government or anyone licensing or using the programs on behalf of the U.S. Government, the following notice is applicable: Restricted Rights Notice Programs delivered subject to the DOD FAR Supplement are "commercial computer software" and use, duplication, and disclosure of the Programs, including documentation, shall be subject to the licensing restrictions set forth in the applicable Oracle license agreement. Otherwise, Programs delivered subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulations are "restricted computer software" and use, duplication, and disclosure of the Programs shall be subject to the restrictions in FAR , Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights (June, 1987). Oracle Corporation, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood City, CA The Programs are not intended for use in any nuclear, aviation, mass transit, medical, or other inherently dangerous applications. It shall be the licensee's responsibility to take all appropriate fail-safe, backup, redundancy, and other measures to ensure the safe use of such applications if the Programs are used for such purposes, and Oracle Corporation disclaims liability for any damages caused by such use of the Programs. Oracle is a registered trademark, and SQL*Plus, Oracle Store, Oracle 8i and OracleMetaLink are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

3 Contents Send Us Your Comments... vii Preface... ix Intended Audience... How To Use This Guide... Documentation Accessibility... Other Information Sources... Do Not Use Database Tools to Modify Oracle Applications Data... About Oracle... ix ix x x xv xvi 1 Understanding Oracle Center 1.1 Oracle Center Concepts Agent Console Auto Acknowledgement Classifications Customer Matching/Searching Default Customer Leads Queues Tagging Interaction Threading Knowledge Base Repositories Message Component Message Search Results iii

4 My Inbox Outbox Processor Rerouting Saving a Partially Composed Reply Service Requests Suggested Response Documents System Folders Using Center Editors Work Activity Using Oracle Center 2.1 Center Home Viewing a Summary of Your Message Activity Getting a Message from an Account Composing a Message Opening Your Inbox Taking a Break Center Messages Inbox Listing Messages in Your Inbox by Account Replying to a Message in Your Inbox Composing a New Message Transferring a Message Deleting a Message Rerouting or Requeueing a Message Escalating a Message Center Messages Search Searching For a Message Viewing a Message Resending a Message Forwarding a Message Replying to a Message Center Messages Addressing the Message Attaching a File from the Local File System Selecting the Message Composition Mode iv

5 2.4.4 Managing Customer Information Associating a Customer with the Message Viewing Customer Details and Interactions Selecting the Address for the Customer Creating a Lead Managing Service Requests Creating a Service Request Updating a Service Request Viewing the Original Message Saving a Draft of a Reply Transferring a Message from Your Inbox Deleting a Message Rerouting or Requeueing a Message Escalating a Message Setting Message Preferences Viewing an Interaction Thread Knowledge Base Categories Browsing Files in the Knowledge Base Inserting a File from the Knowledge Base into a Message Attaching a File from the Knowledge Base to a Message Knowledge Base Search Searching for a Document in the Knowledge Base Center Customer Search Searching For a Customer Viewing Customer Details Composing a Message Viewing an Interaction Thread Supervising Messages Searching Queued Messages Previewing Queued Messages Replying to Queued Messages Assigning Queued Messages to an Agent Assigning Queued Messages to a Group Deleting Queued Messages Rerouting or Requeueing Messages v

6 vi 2.9 Supervising Accounts Assigning Agents to Accounts Assigning Accounts to Agents Supervising Documents Searching for MES Documents Browsing the MES Document Categories Updating MES Documents Removing MES Documents Creating and Publishing MES Documents Uploading and Publishing MES Documents Creating Categories in MES Defining a Hierarchy Among the Categories Supervising Queries Viewing Queries Creating Queries

7 Send Us Your Comments Oracle Center User Guide, Release 11i Part No. B Oracle Corporation welcomes your comments and suggestions on the quality and usefulness of this document. Your input is an important part of the information used for revision. Did you find any errors? Is the information clearly presented? Do you need more information? If so, where? Are the examples correct? Do you need more examples? What features did you like most? If you find any errors or have any other suggestions for improvement, please indicate the document title and part number, and the chapter, section, and page number (if available). You can send comments to us via postal service: Oracle Corporation Oracle Center Documentation 1900 Oracle Way Reston, VA U.S.A. If you would like a reply, please give your name, address, telephone number, and (optionally) electronic mail address. If you have problems with the software, please contact your local Oracle Support Services. vii

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9 Preface Intended Audience How To Use This Guide Welcome to Release 11i of the Oracle Center User Guide. This guide assumes you have a working knowledge of the following: The principles and customary practices of your business area. Oracle Center If you have never used Oracle Center, Oracle suggests you attend one or more of the Oracle Center training classes available through Oracle University. The Oracle Applications graphical user interface. To learn more about the Oracle Applications graphical user interface, read the Oracle Applications User s Guide. See Other Information Sources for more information about Oracle Applications product information. This document contains the information you need to understand and use Oracle Center. Chapter 1, "Understanding Oracle Center", provides an overview of Oracle Center. Chapter 2, "Using Oracle Center", provides task-based procedures for using Oracle Center to perform essential business tasks. ix

10 Documentation Accessibility Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle Corporation is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation JAWS, a Windows page reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace. Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle Corporation does not own or control. Oracle Corporation neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites. Other Information Sources You can choose from many sources of information, including online documentation, training, and support services, to increase your knowledge and understanding of Oracle Center. If this guide refers you to other Oracle Applications documentation, use only the Release 11i versions of those guides. Online Documentation All Oracle Applications documentation is available online (HTML or PDF). Online help patches are available on MetaLink. x

11 Related Documentation Oracle Center shares business and setup information with other Oracle Applications products. Therefore, you may want to refer to other product documentation when you set up and use Oracle Center. You can read the documents online by choosing Library from the expandable menu on your HTML help window, by reading from the Oracle Applications Document Library CD included in your media pack, or by using a Web browser with a URL that your system administrator provides. If you require printed guides, you can purchase them from the Oracle Store at Documents Related to All Products Oracle Applications User s Guide This guide explains how to enter data, query, run reports, and navigate using the graphical user interface (GUI) available with this release of Oracle Center (and any other Oracle Applications products). This guide also includes information on setting user profiles, as well as running and reviewing reports and concurrent processes. You can access this user s guide online by choosing "Getting Started with Oracle Applications" from any Oracle Applications help file. Documents Related to This Product Oracle Center Implementation Guide This guide describe the features and architecture of Oracle Center. It also explains the dependencies and requirements for each product. In addition, it contains task-based procedures for implementing and administering Oracle Center. This guide is intended for technical end users, system administrators, consultants, system analysts, and other technical professionals. Installation and System Administration Oracle Applications Concepts This guide provides an introduction to the concepts, features, technology stack, architecture, and terminology for Oracle Applications Release 11i. It provides a useful first book to read before an installation of Oracle Applications. This guide also introduces the concepts behind Applications-wide features such as Business xi

12 Intelligence (BIS), languages and character sets, and Self-Service Web Applications. Installing Oracle Applications This guide provides instructions for managing the installation of Oracle Applications products. In Release 11i, much of the installation process is handled using Oracle Rapid Install, which minimizes the time to install Oracle Applications, the Oracle8 technology stack, and the Oracle8i Server technology stack by automating many of the required steps. This guide contains instructions for using Oracle Rapid Install and lists the tasks you need to perform to finish your installation. You should use this guide in conjunction with individual product user s guides and implementation guides. Oracle Applications Supplemental CRM Installation Steps This guide contains specific steps needed to complete installation of a few of the CRM products. The steps should be done immediately following the tasks given in the Installing Oracle Applications guide. Upgrading Oracle Applications Refer to this guide if you are upgrading your Oracle Applications Release 10.7 or Release 11.0 products to Release 11i. This guide describes the upgrade process and lists database and product-specific upgrade tasks. You must be either at Release 10.7 (NCA, SmartClient, or character mode) or Release 11.0, to upgrade to Release 11i. You cannot upgrade to Release 11i directly from releases prior to Maintaining Oracle Applications Use this guide to help you run the various AD utilities, such as AutoUpgrade, AutoPatch, AD Administration, AD Controller, AD Relink, License Manager, and others. It contains how-to steps, screenshots, and other information that you need to run the AD utilities. This guide also provides information on maintaining the Oracle applications file system and database. Oracle Applications System Administrator s Guide This guide provides planning and reference information for the Oracle Applications System Administrator. It contains information on how to define security, customize menus and online help, and manage concurrent processing. xii

13 Oracle Alert User s Guide This guide explains how to define periodic and event alerts to monitor the status of your Oracle Applications data. Oracle Applications Developer s Guide This guide contains the coding standards followed by the Oracle Applications development staff. It describes the Oracle Application Object Library components needed to implement the Oracle Applications user interface described in the Oracle Applications User Interface Standards for Forms-Based Products. It also provides information to help you build your custom Oracle Forms Developer 6i forms so that they integrate with Oracle Applications. Oracle Applications User Interface Standards for Forms-Based Products This guide contains the user interface (UI) standards followed by the Oracle Applications development staff. It describes the UI for the Oracle Applications products and how to apply this UI to the design of an application built by using Oracle Forms. Other Implementation Documentation Multiple Reporting Currencies in Oracle Applications If you use the Multiple Reporting Currencies feature to record transactions in more than one currency, use this manual before implementing Oracle Center. This manual details additional steps and setup considerations for implementing Oracle Center with this feature. Multiple Organizations in Oracle Applications This guide describes how to set up and use Oracle Center with Oracle Applications' Multiple Organization support feature, so you can define and support different organization structures when running a single installation of Oracle Center. Oracle Workflow Guide This guide explains how to define new workflow business processes as well as customize existing Oracle Applications-embedded workflow processes.you also use this guide to complete the setup steps necessary for any Oracle Applications product that includes workflow-enabled processes. xiii

14 Oracle Applications Flexfields Guide This guide provides flexfields planning, setup and reference information for the Oracle Center implementation team, as well as for users responsible for the ongoing maintenance of Oracle Applications product data. This manual also provides information on creating custom reports on flexfields data. Oracle etechnical Reference Manuals Each etechnical Reference Manual (etrm) contains database diagrams and a detailed description of database tables, forms, reports, and programs for a specific Oracle Applications product. This information helps you convert data from your existing applications, integrate Oracle Applications data with non-oracle applications, and write custom reports for Oracle Applications products. Oracle etrm is available on Metalink Oracle Manufacturing APIs and Open Interfaces Manual This manual contains up-to-date information about integrating with other Oracle Manufacturing applications and with your other systems. This documentation includes APIs and open interfaces found in Oracle Manufacturing. Oracle Order Management Suite APIs and Open Interfaces Manual This manual contains up-to-date information about integrating with other Oracle Manufacturing applications and with your other systems. This documentation includes APIs and open interfaces found in Oracle Order Management Suite. Oracle Applications Message Reference Manual This manual describes Oracle Applications messages. This manual is available in HTML format on the documentation CD-ROM for Release 11i. Oracle CRM Application Foundation Implementation Guide Many CRM products use components from CRM Application Foundation. Use this guide to correctly implement CRM Application Foundation. Training and Support Training Oracle offers training courses to help you and your staff master Oracle Center and reach full productivity quickly. You have a choice of educational environments. xiv

15 You can attend courses offered by Oracle University at any one of our many Education Centers, you can arrange for our trainers to teach at your facility, or you can use Oracle Learning Network (OLN), Oracle University's online education utility. In addition, Oracle training professionals can tailor standard courses or develop custom courses to meet your needs. For example, you may want to use your organization s structure, terminology, and data as examples in a customized training session delivered at your own facility. Support From on-site support to central support, our team of experienced professionals provides the help and information you need to keep Oracle Center working for you. This team includes your Technical Representative, Account Manager, and Oracle s large staff of consultants and support specialists with expertise in your business area, managing an Oracle8i server, and your hardware and software environment. OracleMetaLink OracleMetaLink is your self-service support connection with web, telephone menu, and alternatives. Oracle supplies these technologies for your convenience, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With OracleMetaLink, you can obtain information and advice from technical libraries and forums, download patches, download the latest documentation, look at bug details, and create or update TARs. To use MetaLink, register at ( Alerts: You should check OracleMetaLink alerts before you begin to install or upgrade any of your Oracle Applications. Navigate to the Alerts page as follows: Technical Libraries/ERP Applications/Applications Installation and Upgrade/Alerts. Self-Service Toolkit: You may also find information by navigating to the Self-Service Toolkit page as follows: Technical Libraries/ERP Applications/Applications Installation and Upgrade. Do Not Use Database Tools to Modify Oracle Applications Data Oracle STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that you never use SQL*Plus, Oracle Data Browser, database triggers, or any other tool to modify Oracle Applications data unless otherwise instructed. Oracle provides powerful tools you can use to create, store, change, retrieve, and maintain information in an Oracle database. But if you use Oracle tools such as xv

16 About Oracle SQL*Plus to modify Oracle Applications data, you risk destroying the integrity of your data and you lose the ability to audit changes to your data. Because Oracle Applications tables are interrelated, any change you make using Oracle Applications can update many tables at once. But when you modify Oracle Applications data using anything other than Oracle Applications, you may change a row in one table without making corresponding changes in related tables. If your tables get out of synchronization with each other, you risk retrieving erroneous information and you risk unpredictable results throughout Oracle Applications. When you use Oracle Applications to modify your data, Oracle Applications automatically checks that your changes are valid. Oracle Applications also keeps track of who changes information. If you enter information into database tables using database tools, you may store invalid information. You also lose the ability to track who has changed your information because SQL*Plus and other database tools do not keep a record of changes. Oracle Corporation develops and markets an integrated line of software products for database management, applications development, decision support, and office automation, as well as Oracle Applications, an integrated suite of more than 160 software modules for financial management, supply chain management, manufacturing, project systems, human resources and customer relationship management. Oracle products are available for mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, network computers and personal digital assistants, allowing organizations to integrate different computers, different operating systems, different networks, and even different database management systems, into a single, unified computing and information resource. Oracle is the world s leading supplier of software for information management, and the world s second largest software company. Oracle offers its database, tools, and applications products, along with related consulting, education, and support services, in over 145 countries around the world. xvi

17 1 Understanding Oracle Center This chapter provides an overview of Oracle Center. Sections in this chapter include: Section 1.1, "Oracle Center Concepts" 1.1 Oracle Center Concepts Oracle Center is a complete solution for managing interactions with customers, partners, suppliers, employees and other entities that interact with an organization. Topics include: Agent Console Auto Acknowledgement Classifications Customer Matching/Searching Default Customer Leads Queues Tagging Interaction Threading Knowledge Base Repositories Message Component Message Search Results Understanding Oracle Center 1-1

18 Oracle Center Concepts My Inbox Outbox Processor Rerouting Saving a Partially Composed Reply Service Requests Suggested Response Documents System Folders Using Center Editors Work Activity Agent Console The Center Agent Console is an HTML application that allows agents to respond to inbound s and compose outbound s using a system of generated suggested responses and to compose original outbound messages using standard templates. The following features are available for agents to assist with the processing of responses: The Home page displays the accounts assigned to the agent and the classifications for each of the accounts. The Inbox Summary section displays the number of s fetched by the agent that have not yet been resolved. The Activity container provides a summary of transactions performed by the Agent for a selected duration (day, week or since the last login). The Break container enables the Agent to go on a break and notify the system of the reason. Built-in access to the MES and Knowledge Management (formerly knows as SMS) repositories is provided through the knowledge base tab. Agents can browse through the MES categories and search both Knowledge Management and MES for response documents and solution sets. Customer information is presented to the agent automatically. In the event that a matching customer is not found, Center provides the ability to search the customer database and select a customer to associate with the interaction. Every action performed by the agent using the Agent Console is logged in the customer's unified interaction history. The calendar tab exposes the Foundation calendar functionality. 1-2 Oracle Center User Guide

19 Oracle Center Concepts Outbound messages, whether original or replies can be created not only by inserting or attaching suggested responses or templates, but any document in the Knowledge Base. There is a search capability that allows agents to search for documents as well as the Marketing Encyclopedia System's (MES) category structure that can be browsed. The agent can also attach a document from the network or local file system using the Attachments link. Agents can also use the rich-text editor to mark up documents with font changes, alignment, hyperlinks, and inline images. The Center Agent Console also provides the ability to search for historical messages. These are either inbound messages that were replied to or deleted or outbound messages that were sent. Using the same functionality agents can also search their inboxes. All interactions are now recorded by Center. When an agent is finished with a message, whether sending, deleting, or transferring, the interaction details (interactions, activities, media items, and media item lifecycle segments) and outcomes are recorded to Interaction History. The JTF Calendar functionality is also included in the Center Agent Console which allows agents to schedule reminders or lookup important dates Auto Acknowledgement Classifications Oracle Center considers an Auto Acknowledgement as a confirmation that will be sent for every incoming received by an account. These s simply confirm receipt of the incoming and may provide some indication of when the customer can expect a response from an agent. These s will not contain any content that is used to respond to a customer enquiry. Oracle Center can categorize or classify s into different queues based on administrator defined rules. The administrator can create a rule using a combination of provided keys. These keys pertain to the , such as account name, senders name, intent, received date, and system information such as current day and time. Classifications enable the distribution of s into multiple queues which could also relate to the prioritization of s. When a Classification is associated with an account, a folder bearing the name of the classification is created for that account. By default an "Unclassified" folder is created for every account to hold s that do not satisfy any classification rules. Understanding Oracle Center 1-3

20 Oracle Center Concepts Customer Matching/Searching Oracle Center has extended the search for matching customer records that follow the Oracle TeleService and Oracle Telesales models (including Parties of type Person, Organization, and Relationship). Customers and Contacts created by the business application can be easily selected by the Center processing engine and/or agent console. Details of the specific emc changes relating to Customers are below: a. emc Server Processing - Customer Lookup The process for finding matching customers based on address is initiated by the emc server processing. Matching customer records based on an address can result in one of the three scenarios listed below: Scenario 1 - A single matching customer record found Scenario 2 - Multiple matching customer records found Scenario 3 - No matching customer records found An attempt is made to identify the customer and contact for each incoming message. This attempt is performed using the address and searches for the customer in the customer database. If the customer is identified, the customer and contact records are shown on the Reply page. If there are multiple customer records found for the address, a message with a link is displayed and by clicking the link you can identify which customer and contact to use for this interaction. If the address was not found in the customer database, Center uses the default customer (see section 1.1.6), but if there is sufficient information in the inbound message, you can use the Customer search to identify the customer. b. emc Agent Console/Message Component - Customer Search Oracle Center allows you to search for customers on the following criteria: Customer name - Search only parties matching the customer name entered. Last Name or First Name - Search only parties matching the last/first name entered. Address - Search parties who have an " " contact point that matches the address entered. Customer Number - Search parties whose customer number matches the number entered. 1-4 Oracle Center User Guide

21 Oracle Center Concepts Customer ID - Search parties whose customer ID matches the ID number entered. Note: emc only searches for "CONTACT_OF" or "EMPLOYEE_ OF" type of relationships by default. To view other types of relationships, search for one of the parties involved and then navigate to the Overview page by clicking on the name of the selected party Default Customer Leads c. Recording Interactions The interaction is always recorded against the Customer. If the system processing could not find a matching customer, the agent is prompted to search for and select a customer for recording the interaction. However, if the agent wishes not to, then the "default" customer (created during the setup phase by the administrator) is selected. To record an interaction, a customer must first be identified. In cases where the customer cannot be identified or does not exist, Oracle Center provides the concept of "default" customer. A default customer is a customer created by the Center administrator to be used in cases where no customer has been identified. A key aspect of the Oracle Center Telesales integration, is the ability to convert an incoming into a lead. The sales rep working the lead will be able to view the contents and respond to that inquiry if so desired. An Center agent can create a lead from the new "Lead" container in the Agent console. This container, which has been added to the Reply and Compose pages, enables an agent to create a lead for the incoming by simply clicking the Create link. However, before that link is available for the agent to click, a customer must be selected. Once the agent clicks the link, a new lead with the description of "Lead generated via Oracle Center" is created for the customer. The lead ID is then displayed in the Message Component. A create lead activity is also added for the open interaction so that the lead gets associated with the incoming . Understanding Oracle Center 1-5

22 Oracle Center Concepts The "Lead" bin appears on the Reply and Compose pages only if the Center - Telesales integration is turned "ON" by applying the necessary prerequisite and switching the IEM: Integration: Leads creation enabled system profile to "Y". For information about the specific patches and steps for enabling the create leads functionality, refer to the Lead Enabling Center topic in the Oracle Center Implementation Guide. A valid customer ID is required to be able to create a lead. This customer (party) could be of type Organization, Person or Relationship. If the address of the incoming does not match any valid customer, matches multiple customers, or if the agent has not yet selected a customer record while composing a new message then the message in the Lead container should ask the agent to select one prior to creating a lead. If the address of the incoming matches a single valid customer record or if the agent has selected a customer record while composing a new message then a "Create" hyperlink will appears in the Lead container. When the agent clicks on the Create link above, the following actions take place: 1. The "Create Lead" API is called with following parameters: a. Party ID for the customer record selected b. Lead Name = " Center Generated Lead" c. Response Channel = " " d. Status = "New" and e. CREATED_DATE = system date 2. An "Activity" will be recorded for the open interaction. The lead ID is then displayed to the agent in the Reply/Compose screen. When the agent responds to the inquiries, this lead ID will be tagged to the outbound response. If the customer replies back to the sent by the agent, then the lead ID will be extracted from the tag and displayed to the agent in the Lead container. A "Notify" hyperlink will also appear in the Lead container. The agent can click on the "Notify" link to notify the sales representative about the receipt of an related to the lead. If the agent does click on the "Notify" link then the following actions take place: 1. The "Update Lead" API will be called using the lead ID extracted and will pass the system date for the LAST_UPDATE_DATE column. 2. The "Add Note" API will be called using the lead ID extracted to insert a standard note saying, "An related to this lead has been received". 1-6 Oracle Center User Guide

23 Oracle Center Concepts Queues Tagging Interaction Threading queues enables you to categorize or classify the s so that agents can prioritize their work based on acquiring s from a certain queue (in other words, for a specific classification). For example, if your business works with issues related to banking and insurances, you might have the following accounts set up in your Center system: banking@mycompany.com and insurance@mycompany.com. As messages are received they are stored in queues associated with the accounts to which they were sent. Center agents are assigned to work with specific accounts. For example, if you are assigned to work with messages that customers send to the insurance@mycompany.com account, you see the insurance account listed in the Queued Messages container on the Center Home tab. In the Queued Messages container, on the Center Home tab, you might see classification names next to the account names. For example, next to the account name of insurance you might see auto insurance and life insurance listed in the Classification column. The names listed in the Classification column represent the queues associated with the insurance account. The queue count only reflects s that are in queue - not assigned to a specific agent. tagging is the process of inserting a tag containing the interaction ID (along with other data) into every outbound and also extracting the same from the inbound (customer's response). Center uses the interaction ID to track all the interactions performed on a message with a particular customer. An "interaction" is created or generated when, an agent either, responds to an incoming , deletes an incoming , transfers an incoming or composes a new . The interaction is identified using a unique interaction ID, which is associated with a one and only one customer (party) ID. Hence every time an is received from a customer a new interaction is generated. Therefore the current interaction can only be linked to the previous interaction if we can identify the interaction ID of the previous interaction. Interaction Threading is the process of linking one interaction to another such that a parent-child relationship is formed between the two interactions. Understanding Oracle Center 1-7

24 Oracle Center Concepts An "interaction" is created or generated when, an agent either, responds to an incoming , deletes an incoming , transfers an incoming , reroutes an , or composes a new . The interaction is identified using a unique interaction ID, which is associated with a one and only one customer (party) ID. Hence every time an is received from a customer a new interaction is generated. Therefore the current interaction can only be linked to the previous interaction if we can identify the interaction ID of the previous interaction. This is made possible by the new feature called Tagging. This feature inserts a tag containing the interaction ID (along with other data) into every outbound and also extracts the same from the inbound (customer's response). A new interaction is generated whenever an is received and hence Center will "thread" or connect the two interactions using the Oracle Interaction History schema. With interaction threading, each "parent" interaction can have more than one "child" interaction. However a "child" interaction can belong to one and only one parent interaction. The interactions in a thread are displayed in chronological order, with the oldest interaction in the thread on top. Thread Example: Anagent composes a new for a customer. An interaction ID of 1234 is assigned to that interaction and included in the tag inserted in the outbound . When the customer responds to that , the interaction ID from the tag is extracted and stored. When the agent responds to the customers reply, a fresh interaction is created (9876). This interaction is then related to 1234 using the JTF_ IH_INTERACTION_INTERS table. Now the customer responds again and this time the agent fetches the and deletes it. However, this is still recorded as an interaction, ID is Now this interaction will be related to 9876 and hence indirectly related to 1234, thus forming an ( ) interaction thread as show below. Parent ID Interaction ID Activity Media Item Composed Copy of outbound Responded Inbound Sent Copy of outbound Deleted Inbound 1-8 Oracle Center User Guide

25 Oracle Center Concepts Special Cases The following require special attention: 1. Reassigning s - agents have the ability to reassign an in a number of ways, including: Transferring the to another agent Routing the to a different queue (classification) Re-queueing the in the same account and queue When an is reassigned, the current interaction is closed. A new interaction is opened when the new agent fetches or opens the , because an interaction record is between two entities - the customer (party) ID and the agent (resource) ID. A new interaction is required to be created every time an agent working on the changes. However, this does not necessarily mean that the new interaction is a "child" of the previous interaction. Rather, whenever an is "re-assigned" the meta-data value that contains the (previous) interaction ID tag will not be overwritten. Extending the previous example, an agent receives a response from the customer a second time around (interaction ID 7268). The agent decides to transfer it to another agent. When the second agent "opens" the and responds to it, another interaction is recorded (interaction ID 4105). However, this interaction should be recorded as a child of the previous outbound interaction rather than the "transfer" interaction, as shown below. Parent ID Interaction ID Activity Media Item Composed Copy of outbound Responded Inbound Sent Transferred (agent1) Responded (agent 2) Sent (agent 2) Copy of outbound Inbound Inbound Copy of outbound 2. Changing the customer - Agents have the ability to change a customer (party) for any interaction. However, interactions are tied to a customer. Therefore an interaction thread cannot contain interactions recorded against Understanding Oracle Center 1-9

26 Oracle Center Concepts different customer (party) IDs. If an agent changes a customer prior to sending the response, then the new interaction should not be linked to the previous interaction. Using the original example, if the agent decided to change the customer and respond back instead of deleting (interaction ID 7268) then the interaction thread should terminate as shown below. Parent ID Interaction ID Activity Media Item Composed Copy of outbound Responded Inbound Sent Responded (changed customer) Sent Copy of outbound Inbound Copy of outbound 3. Auto-Processing - Based on certain administrator-defined rules, an may be: Automatically Replied to Automatically Deleted Automatically Resolved (no action required) The above automated processing actions each correspond to a similar manual operation and each of these actions results in opening and closing an interaction. The only difference is that during automated processing, the customer (party) ID is guaranteed to remain unchanged. 4. Replying, Resending, or Forwarding archived s - The tag information for every is archived. When an agent retrieves an archived using either the interaction history or message search, the tag is extracted from the subject of the archived . This tag contains information pertaining to the interaction ID. If the agent decides to resend an archived then the new interaction is automatically threaded to the previous one. However if the agent decides to reply to or forward the archived message, then the new interaction should only be "threaded" if the customer (party) id is the same as the one extracted from the tag. Limitation (exception): The only s that would not have a tag associated with them are inbound s from customers, which are not in response to an outbound sent by an agent. However, that would be part of an 1-10 Oracle Center User Guide

27 Oracle Center Concepts interaction. The interaction ID pertaining to this media item ( ) is available if the agent retrieved the via Interaction History. If the agent retrieved the via message search, then the corresponding interaction ID will not be available. A new interaction would then be created when the agent replies to the archived , but "threading" would not occur Knowledge Base Repositories As you work with messages, you can use suggested response documents and templates which have been stored in the knowledge base repositories set up for use by emc. Center is integrated with two knowledge base repositories: Marketing Encyclopedia Systems (MES) and Knowledge Management (previously known as SMS). Although both of the repositories can be searched for probable responses to an incoming , you can only publish documents into MES. Solution sets can be created in knowledge management only via Oracle isupport. Agents can browse through all of the categories in MES or search for documents in both MES and Knowledge Management, which contain specific keywords. Either one or both of the above repositories are scanned for probable responses when processing an incoming message. This is based on the site level profile set by the administrator Message Component To provide business applications such as Oracle TeleSales with the ability to compose new s, view and reply to archived s, Oracle Center now provides the message composition, reply and preview functionality in a common module referred to as the Message Component (MC). All of the current Agent Console functionality relating to composing, replying or viewing messages are now encapsulated in a single browser window. The purpose of this window is to either create an outbound message and send it, or view an inbound message and process it. Once an action is taken on the message, the browser window will close automatically. The Message Component is not intended to replace the Agent Console, but is incorporated in it such that all functionality pertaining to a single message is now presented in a separate browser window, thus enabling multiple messages to be open at one time. Whenever an is opened (next message fetched from the Queue, Inbox opened, Interaction viewed), the will be launched in a separate browser window. Tabs available in the Message Component are: Message Knowledge Base Understanding Oracle Center 1-11

28 Oracle Center Concepts Customer The Message Component adds a new Responsibility " Center Message Component". The Center Message Component responsibility must be assigned to every Agent Console user to enable them to compose or view s using the emc Message Component Message Search Results After specifying your message search criteria and executing a message search, you can then perform other tasks with the message(s) found depending on the folder that you searched. The following options, in addition to opening the original message by clicking on the subject hyperlink, are available to you from the Message Search Results page: Folder Inbox Deleted Resolved Sent Buttons Reply, Refine Search Criteria Reply, Forward, Refine Search Criteria Reply, Forward, Refine Search Criteria Resend, Forward, Refine Search Criteria My Inbox "My Inbox" contains s "owned" by an agent. The s in the inbox could have either been acquired by the agent, automatically routed to the agent, assigned to the agent by the supervisor, or transferred to the agent by another agent. The s remain in the inbox until the agent either responds to it, deletes it, reroutes it, or transfers it to another agent. Once an agent performs one of these actions, the incoming is moved to either a system folder for archival or to the designated agent s inbox. A message in your inbox can not be accessed by other agents. If you want another agent to access a message you have fetched, you must transfer the message to the agent. The My Inbox Summary container, on the Center Home tab, lists the accounts to which you are assigned to work and the count of the number of messages in your inbox account queues Oracle Center User Guide

29 Oracle Center Concepts Outbox Processor Rerouting The Outbox Processor is essentially a queue for outbound s. When an agent clicks Send, the outbound message is queued and processed asynchronously. The Outbox Processor will record the Interaction History and archive a copy of the outbound prior to sending the . This asynchronous processing increases agent productivity because the agent no longer has to wait for the sent to be processed before moving on to the next message. The Outbox processor also provides a mechanism to generate outbound s without agent intervention. This process can be used for generating auto replies as well as notifications. Center allows you to reroute an to a different classification queue within the same account or requeue the in the same queue if either the is incorrectly classified or if the agent is not an expert on the subject Saving a Partially Composed Reply Service Requests When you are composing a reply to an message you can save your partially composed response message to work on later. When you select Save from the Action field and click Go, the status message in your Inbox changes to Saved and all work you have done on the is retained. Later, when you open the same incoming message from your inbox, the draft of the response that was composed earlier is displayed in the Reply page. Center provides its agents with the ability to create and update service requests from within the Center Agent Console. This service request (SR) is associated with the via Oracle Interaction History. In addition when the agent responds to the incoming after creating a service request, that SR number will be inserted as part of the tag information. If the customer replies back to the agent response, this SR number is then extracted and made available to the agent who can update the service request accordingly. Tagging is a new feature that enables you to define a set of keys and values. The encrypted set of key-value pairs is referred to as a "tag" that is automatically appended to the subject of every outbound . When the customer replies back to an outbound , the tag and its corresponding key-value pairs are extracted and made available to the system. Understanding Oracle Center 1-13

30 Oracle Center Concepts Two automated processing scenarios which are available in this release are listed below. These scenarios can be manually activated when the administrator sets the appropriate system profile option. a. Automatic update of service requests When processing an , if the agent creates a service request from within emc, the service request number is included in the tag that is appended to the response sent to the customer. If the customer replies back, then the service request number is extracted from the incoming and can be used to update the status of the service request automatically. b. Automatic routing of messages to a specific agent The ID of the agent that composes an outbound is included in the tag by default. This agent ID will then be extracted when the customer replies and used to route the incoming back to the agent who generated the outbound Suggested Response Documents System Folders When you reply to an incoming message you can view a selection of sample responses that emc has identified as potentially appropriate responses. You can then determine the most appropriate response for the , modify the response as needed, and send the response message along with any appropriate attachments. As incoming messages are received, the Center system determines the intent of the message and identifies suitable responses for the message. Center automatically lists a selection of the potentially appropriate responses in the Top Suggested Response Documents container on the Reply page. You can choose one or more of the suggested response documents listed and customize an response using a full feature editor. You can quickly and efficiently respond to inbound messages by using suggested response documents to compose your responses. As you process messages using Center, copies of the messages you receive, send, and delete are stored in the appropriate system folders. You can access the system folders, associated with the accounts to which you are assigned to work, to perform searches for messages. Agent Inbox folders are used to store all incoming messages, that they have fetched from the Messages Queue and have not yet processed Oracle Center User Guide