Managing chat flows

Administrators can create chat flows that define the services used by the system to handle webchats.

Click play to watch a video overview on managing chat flows.

Incoming webchats are handled by a chat service. This will initiate a chat flow to handle the chat session. In some cases, the chat flow may be able to answer the user’s query without requiring agent intervention. For instance, an enquiry for a cricket score or stock levels. In most cases, the chat session will have to be queued for an agent; the chat flow will place the chat on a chat queue and it will be assigned to an available agent.

Administrators can also reconfigure an existing chat flow, remove a chat flow from the system, or copy a chat flow, which might be useful if they want to add a chat flow that is very similar to an existing chat flow, but they want to make slight changes to it.

To manage chat flows:

Procedure #

Step 1:
Click Chat > Chat Flows on the menu bar.
A list of the chat flows that are already available for use is displayed.

Step 2:
To add a chat flow:

• Click Add.
  The New Chat Flow page is displayed.
• (Mandatory.) Enter the name of the chat flow (up to 100 characters). Any unicode characters are allowed, including whitespace and accented letters. The name must be unique within your organisation.
• Enter a brief description of the chat flow (up to 250 characters). Any unicode characters are allowed, including whitespace and accented letters.
• Click Add.
  The message Chat flow has not been defined is displayed.
• Click

Flow Editor opens.

• Create the chat flow as described in Flow Editor web help.
  This will involve:

1. Selecting the node types to use in the chat flow
2. Placing nodes in the chat flow
3. Configuring the parameters for each node and its branches
4. Adding optional branches (if required)
5. Connecting up the nodes to create an order of execution
6. Creating chat flow variables (if required)
7. Validating and publishing the completed chat flow

• When the chat flow has been validated and published successfully, close Flow Editor.
• Click Save Changes.

Step 3:
To edit an existing chat flow:

• Select the appropriate chat flow in the list.
  A message at the top of the chat flow details page indicates whether or not the chat flow is currently assigned to service numbers.
  Note: If a chat flow editor has unpublished changes message is displayed at the top of the screen, it indicates that changes have been made to the chat flow in Flow Editor, but the chat flow has not yet been published, so the changes are not yet live. You need to open Flow Editor and publish the chat flow, before the changes are applied. For more information, see the Flow Editor web help.
• To change the name or description of the chat flow, reconfigure the details as appropriate, then click Save Changes.
  Note: You can edit live chat flows that are currently assigned to services.

Step 4:
To completely remove an existing chat flow from the system, select the appropriate chat flow in the list and then click Delete.
Note: You can only delete chat flows that you own and that are not in use.

Step 5:
To create an exact copy of a chat flow:

• Select the appropriate chat flow in the list.
• Click Copy.
• Enter the name of the copy (up to 100 characters) then click OK.

Step 6:
To import a chat flow:

• Click Import.
• Specify and open the appropriate JSON file.

Step 7:
To export a copy of a chat flow, select the appropriate chat flow in the list and click Export.
The chat flow is downloaded as a JSON file, which you can then click on to open it in a text editor.

Step 8:
To reconfigure a chat flow (in Flow Editor), select the appropriate chat flow in the list and then click:

Flow Editor opens.

Why not try our pre-built chat flows? #

Definitions #

• Name: The name of the chat flow.
• Description: A brief description of the chat flow.