How do I set up a rule that automatically appends a response to the incident and sends the response to the customer?

Environment:

Incident Rules, Standard Text,  Browser UI Enhanced Business Rules

Resolution:

Within your Oracle B2C Service application, you can configure rules to append standard responses automatically to incoming incidents based on the criteria you specify.

This allows you to provide standard information to common requests based on the content of the assistance request. For example, if the assistance request contains a certain word or phrase, you can use a standard response that suggests the customer view a specific answer in your knowledge base or to view a specific Web page.

You can also use this approach to display or send links to suggested answers based on the content submitted.

To create an incident rule that appends a standard text response to the Response field, you must first create the standard response. You can then create the rule that appends the response and sends (or displays) the response to the enduser. 

• Email Submittals:  For incidents created from email, you can configure a rule to automatically append a standard text response to the Response field and send the response to the end-user. You can also have the rule set the incident to Solved or some other specific status.
   
• Ask a Question Requests: For assistance requests submitted through the Ask a Question page, you can have a standard text response display directly to your end-user when they submit the request. If the assistance request matches the rule criteria, then the standard response displays right on the web page. 
   
  Your site visitors may find that your standard response information solves their issue and may therefore decide not to finish submitting the incident to your staff.  By providing a standard response to your end-users, you can actually prevent incidents from being submitted from the Ask a Question page. 

STEP 1: Create the Standard Response:

First, you must create a standard text response to be used in the rule. This is the content that is either sent in an email to the end-user or is displayed when the end-user submits the Ask a Question request.

HTML and Text Values: When configuring a standard response, the content in the HTML field is used with a rule used to display information when submitting an incident from the Ask a Question page. That is, when a user submits an Ask a Question request, it is the content of the HTML field that displays on the web page during the submittal process.

Note: Where an HTML value does not exist and the append rule is active, the Text content will be displayed during the Ask a Question submittal process.

When configuring content in the HTML field, you must include appropriate HTML code so that line-spacing and formatting work as you expect.

When Visual Email is enabled and the Rich Text thread control exists on your workspace, the content of the HTML field gets appended to the incident and is visible from within the console. The value that is sent as part of an incident response (Text or HTML) depends on if the associated Message Template / Message type is enabled for HTML or not. If the Incident Thread control is used in the workspace, the content of the Text field is what gets appended to the incident.

Suggested Solutions: To include links to suggested answers from your knowledge base in your standard response, append the SmartAssistant Solutions variable to your response. The variable displays as $SOLUTIONS within the standard response.

When the $SOLUTIONS variable is included, the application evaluates the content of the submitted question and determines the best-matching published answers based on that content. The best matching answers are listed as links for the end-user to view. 

To create a standard response for your rule:  use the steps below:

1. From the Configuration items, select Service > Standard Text. (Oracle B2C Service February 2010 and previous releases: Service Configuration menu, select Content Library > Standard Text.)
    
2. To add a new standard text click the New button on the ribbon. To edit an existing standard text, click on Standard Text in the menu on the left.
    
3. Enter the name and check the Rule Text checkbox. If necessary, you can also check the Incident Text box for use when editing incidents.
    
4. Enter the message text in the Text field. 
    
   Note: To include the Suggested Solutions as part of a standard response, append the SmartAssistant Solutions variable. When editing the response, you can add the $SOLUTIONS variable, either by typing the variable directly into the response or by clicking the $ icon in the Value bar. 
    
5. If using the standard text with Ask a Question submittals, add content to the HTML field.
     
6. Click Save and Close.

STEP 2: Create the Business Rule

When configuring the rule, two actions can be included in the THEN part of the rule:

• Add Action - Then > Append Thread > Append Response Template to Response Field  -- then select the appropriate standard text item.  
   
• Add Action - Then > Email > Send Email Response to Sender  -- this action sends the response email message in place of the receipt email message so that the Response field is included in the email that is sent to the end-user.  

The first action selects and appends the standard text item to the incident, and the second action sends the response email message to the end-user in place of the receipt email so that the Response field is included in the email that is sent to the end-user.

With the standard text created, you can create an incident rule to append your standard response into the response field of the incident and send the response to the end-user.

The path to edit incident rules in the NET console is Configuration > Site Configuration > Rules. Click the Incident button on the ribbon in Edit mode. After editing and updating your rules, be sure to compile and activate the rules for use.

The path to edit incident rules in the BUI console is Configuration > Site Configuration > Rules. Click the Incident button and then select Edit Rules. After editing and saving your rules, be sure to deploy the rules for use.

To send a response for an incident submitted from an email sent to a mailbox, configure the rule as follows:

IF:  Incident Source equals Utilities > Techmail > Service Mailbox

THEN: 1.  Add Action - Then > Append Thread > Append Response Template to Response Field and select standard text from list.

2.  Add Action - Then > Email > Send Email Response to Sender

For instructions on configuring your site to display suggested solutions when submitting a request from the Ask a Question page, refer to Answer ID 453: Suggesting Solutions for Ask a Question Requests.