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 IC and Communication-Enabled Business Processes

 

Technical Data

Technical Name of Business Function

CRM_IC_CEBP

Type of Business Function

Enterprise Business Function

Available As Of

SAP Enhancement Package 1 for SAP CRM 7.0

Technical Usage

CRM core

Application Component

CRM-IC

CRM-BF-CHA

CRM-BTX-SRQ

Directly Dependent Business Function Requiring Activation in Addition

Not relevant

You can use this business function to implement enhancements to communication-enabled business processes and interaction center (IC) functionality. Enhancements made to IC functions include multisessioning, interactive scripting, messaging, reverse proxy server integration, asynchronous processing, and account identification. The integration of communication management software (CMS) into communication-enabled business processes for CRM and IC business roles has also been enhanced, including improved context transfer capabilities and the extension of channels. The communication dialogs including Dialpad, Transfer, Warm Transfer, and Conference Call were redesigned. These enhancements speed up response times, make it easier to engage experts, and enable more efficient collaboration in customer-facing processes. They also speed up the cross-system shared service processes and reduce the response times for a service request.

Prerequisites

You have installed the following components as of the version mentioned:

Type of Component

Component

Is Needed Only for the Following Features

Software Component

BBPCRM701

Technical component or business content, e.g. Portal Content

WebAS ABAP with CRM

A communication management software (CMS) system (for example, SAP Business Communications Management)

Features

Extension of Channels – Enable Chat and IM for Internal Collaboration

You can use instant messaging for internal communication with colleagues. This includes the use of a presence list for the start of the instant messaging and the maintenance of a list of personal contacts.

For more information, see Instant Messaging for Internal Collaboration.

Checklist

You can use checklists for step-by-step task processing.

You can now do the following:

  • Define checklists, including their individual steps, step options, and step work instructions

  • Define the sequence in which checklist steps are processed

  • Define rules by which checklists or checklist processors are determined

  • Assign checklist steps to an individual or to a group of processors

  • Trigger actions from individual checklist steps

You can also integrate checklists with SAP Business Workflow so that checklist step processors are notified when they have steps to carry out. If workflow is not enabled, step processors can find their assigned steps in the agent inbox or on the search page for their business role.

The new checklist function is available for the following business transactions:

  • Service request

  • Master service request

  • Request for change

  • Service order

Preview Dialing

A preview dialing mode is available for outbound calls in the interaction center (IC). In preview dialing, the dialer sends a message to an agent, asking whether the agent is ready for the call to be dialed. The agent can preview the call information before deciding whether they want the system to dial the call or to reject or reschedule it.

Messaging and Reverse Proxy in the IC

Further support has been added to enable the Interaction Center WebClient to function in environments that require a reverse proxy server or SAP Web Dispatcher. Reverse proxy servers are typically used in front of a Web server and can give you an additional layer of security.

When using a reverse proxy server or SAP Web Dispatcher, you can now do the following:

  • Use broadcast messaging, alerts, and communication management software (CMS) integration

  • Use relative URLs

Additionally, interaction center (IC) messaging is now supported in environments that require SAP Web Dispatcher or HTTPS servers. You can also now use server polling in both HTTP and HTTPS environments.

Account Identification in the IC

The account identification function in the interaction center (IC) has been enhanced:

  • When searching for accounts in the IC, entering data in both the contact name fields and the account fields generates a combined search result and provides more precise results.

    Note Note

    You cannot search for accounts using the account search fields in combination with the search fields for contact communication details (Telephone, E-Mail, Fax). The contact communication details take priority over search criteria entered in the other search fields. If one of the search fields for contact communication details is filled, the system performs a contact search based on the communication details only.

    End of the note.
  • For contact searches using the fields for contact communication details (Telephone, E-Mail, Fax), you can set a default contact type in Customizing that determines whether the search criteria are used to search for a contact of the type account, contact person, or both. IC agents can change this setting in the WebClient UI.

Asynchronous Processing in the IC

Asynchronous processing is supported in the interaction center (IC) for the agent inbox and for interaction processing. Asynchronous processing allows the user to continue with other work while a function is executed in the background, thus enabling more efficient processing. When the results of the background process are available, a message is displayed to alert the user.

To facilitate asynchronous processing, a new type of asynchronous alert is now available for the IC. The following types of alerts are now available:

  • Real-time alerts

    Real-time alerts were enabled for the IC in previous releases. When you use real-time alerts, the system continually polls the server to check for alerts.

  • User-triggered alerts

    The new type of asynchronous alert gives you the option to show alerts without using server polling. If you enable user-triggered alerts, the system waits until the user triggers an event to perform a server round-trip to check for alerts.

Additionally, a new type of search method is available for the IC agent inbox. The following search methods are now available for the agent inbox:

  • Asynchronous search

    This type of search allows the user to continue working while the search is performed in the background. When the search results are available, an alert is displayed. The user can then click the alert to display the search results.

  • Lean search

    This type of search results in a faster processing time.

You can also set the minimum time interval (in seconds) after which an alert appears to let the user know that the search results of an agent inbox search are available.

CRM Business Transactions in the IC

CRM business transactions in the interaction center (IC) have been enhanced.

The following changes have been made:

  • In the IC, the scratch pad feature allows an IC agent to take rough notes while interacting with a customer. You can now import data from the scratch pad into the notes section of the following CRM business transactions in the IC:

    • ERP sales order

    • ERP quotation

    • ERP contract

    • Service orders

    • Complaints

    • Service request

    • Incident

    • Problem

    • Request for change

    • Case

    • Lead

    • CRM sales order

    • Opportunity

    • Quotation

    • Sales contract

    • Service quotation

    • Service contract

    • Service contract quotation

    • Activity

  • Once a contact has been confirmed on the account identification screen, this contact is transferred to the Contact Person partner function of the following CRM business transactions:

    • ERP sales order

    • ERP quote

    • ERP contract

  • If multiple partners are available for one partner function, users can now select the appropriate partner from a dialog box when using the following CRM business transactions:

    • ERP sales order

    • ERP quote

    • ERP contract

Multisessioning in the IC

Multisessioning in the interaction center (IC) has been enhanced. Multisessioning allows IC agents to handle interactions with multiple customers at the same time. These capabilities have been enhanced so that you can now do the following:

  • Open new tabs so that IC agents can interact with multiple customers within one IC browser window

    IC agents can manually open a new tab, or the system can be configured so that a new tab is opened automatically when a new interaction takes place.

  • Work in multiple sessions at the same time

  • Accept a phone call from a customer while already in a chat with another customer

  • Calculate how much time was spent in each session

    When an IC agent leaves a session and moves to another session, or when an IC agent enters a new session, the system raises a new event. These events can be used to report how much time IC agents spend working on a particular interaction.

Note Note

In multisession mode, IC agents can process e-mails from the agent inbox as well as ERMS push e-mails. However, the system does not support ICI e-mail processing in multisessioning mode. For more information about ERMS push e-mails, see ERMS E-Mail Push.

End of the note.
Interactive Scripting in the IC

Interactive scripting in the interaction center (IC) has been enhanced. You can now do the following:

  • View and save transcripts of interactive scripts

    The script transcript includes a list of the questions the IC agent asked customers and the answers entered by IC agents. You can determine whether to automatically save script transcripts in Customizing. Once it has been saved, IC agents can open the script transcript from the activity clipboard.

  • Upload interactive scripts to the system

    If you upload a script, the system gives you the option to overwrite any existing script with the same ID.

Context Transfer

The context transfer capabilities for communication-enabled business processes (CEBP) and interaction center (IC) business roles have been enhanced.

This function allows one user to transfer business context (for example, all the recently accessed objects in the sender’s CRM session) to another user. Additionally, you can now do the following:

  • Access the contact attached data (CAD) view

    This feature was already available for the IC business roles and is now also available when using CEBP business roles.

  • Transfer business context through instant messaging

  • Transfer multiple business contexts at the same time

    You can add multiple objects to the contact attached data (CAD) view (for example, all the entries under Recent Items). The entire contents of the CAD view can then be transferred between users during phone call or instant message context transfers.

  • Import items from the activity clipboard (IC business roles) or the recent items (CEBP business roles) to be transferred as context

ERMS Available for Service Request

The e-mail response management system (ERMS) features previously available for service tickets are now available for service request and master service request (problem) processes.

Contact Person Role

You can now automatically create the contact person role for a selected number of employees. Once you have created the contact person role, you can assign multiple contact persons to a sold-to party. This is relevant for the full use of service related functions, such as contract management and billing. The new functions are particularly useful for internal service management scenarios, where one organizational unit of a company provides services for another unit within the same company.

CAD Attributes in the Rule Modeler and Alert Editor

You can enable contact attached data (CAD) attributes for fact gathering in the IC. A new fact gathering service retrieves CAD attributes and adds them to the fact base. You can then use these attributes when creating alerts in the alert editor or when defining rules in the rule modeler.

Using these attributes, you can, for example, retrieve a service request number from the CAD attributes of an incoming call and set up a rule that displays an alert providing this information to the IC agent once the account has been confirmed. The IC agent can then click the service request number in the alert to navigate directly to the service order.

Incomplete E-Mails in the Agent Inbox for an Account

You can set up the IC so that IC agents can view the number of incomplete e-mails in the agent inbox that are linked to a particular account. This feature is available for inbound e-mails from the E-Mail Response Management System (ERMS) workflow.

A new action, Show Number of Incomplete E-Mails (AH_NO_CUST_MAIL), is available when creating rules in the Intent Driven Interaction context of the rule modeler. Using this action, you can create a rule policy that searches for incomplete e-mails for an identified account and displays an alert showing the number of incomplete e-mails. An account must be confirmed before the number of incomplete e-mails can be shown. IC agents can then click the alert to navigate directly to the agent inbox, where only the incomplete e-mails from the confirmed contact person of the identified account are displayed. If no contact person has been confirmed, only e-mails from the e-mail address linked with the identified account are listed in the agent inbox. The search criteria in the agent inbox is collapsed and in an informational message, IC agents can see the e-mail address of the incomplete e-mails that are displayed.