At times I want to add an item to a discussion thread without sending a message to the customer.

Environment:

Incident Thread Entries
Oracle B2C Service, All versions

Resolution:

The easiest way to accomplish this is to create a Private Note, not a response.  End-users cannot see Private Notes. 

When adding content to an incident thread as a response, your application can be configured to either commit the content when the incident is saved (regardless of whether a response is sent) or to commit the content only when the response is sent. As a minimum, the content is committed when it is sent to the end-user as a response to the incident. This ensures that the exact communication to the end-user is retained within the incident.

Committed content: Once the content is committed to the thread, it is no longer editable from the incident workspace.  

However, beginning in 18C, it is possible to edit or remove text and images from incident threads using the 'Incident Thread Correction' administrative function. Prior to 18C, it is only possible to convert response threads to notes. For more information on using the Incident Thread Correction feature, refer to Answer ID 1332: Editing the Thread of an Incident.

Uncommitted content: If your site allows uncommitted content within the Response field, a staff member can save the incident without sending a response.  When the incident is re-opened the content in the Response field is still editable so that the agent can continue working and editing the response before sending it. Then, when the response is sent, that response is committed to the thread.

If an incident has an uncommitted thread in the response field, you cannot set the incident to the Waiting or Solved status. An uncommitted thread infers that there is still work in progress, and Oracle B2C Service does not allow incidents to be closed when there is an indication that the issue is not fully resolved.

If you try to solve an incident with an uncommitted thread, a pop-up window displays indicating that this is not allowed. At that point, you may choose to:

• Send the response to the customer
• Delete the uncommitted response from the Response field in the incident
• Copy the uncommitted response to the Notes field as an indication of the content.

Workspace Options:
Within an incident workspace, the Commit Response On Save property associated with the Incident Thread relationship item specifies when content entered as a response to an incident is committed to the thread.

• If the Commit Response On Save property is set to True (enabled), the content of a response is committed to the thread when an incident is saved -- even if the content was not actually sent as a response.
  
  
• If the property is set to False (disabled), the content is committed to the thread only when it is sent as a response to the end-user. If the incident is saved without a response, the content of the Response field is uncommitted.  When the agent opens the incident later, they can edit that thread until it is sent as a response.

To edit the workspace property, use the steps below. If the staff account uses a default workspace, you must copy it, edit the copy, and then update the staff profile to use the copy.

1. From the staff account,  determine which profile is used. 
   
   
2. From the staff profile, click the Service tab to determine which incident workspace is used. 
   
   
3. Open the incident workspace and click the Incident Thread relationship item (by default, it is on the Messages tab). 
   
   
4. Review the value for the Commit Response On Save property. If necessary, change the value and save the workspace.
    
   This property is listed under the Response Options button on the Design tab.