Contact Centers and Trigger-based Attended Automation

This tutorial demonstrates how to work with multiple instances of the same form, at the same time. The scenario presented involves a contact center agent that operates with multiple customer phone calls coming in at the same time. In this scenario, forms and triggers help in displaying information about the customer the contact center agent is currently talking to, while being able to perform different actions for a customer, such as: change their account password, update their licensing plan, or delay their payment.

This automation process streamlines the customer service experience by monitoring incoming calls and providing contact center agents with all the necessary information about the customer. The process retrieves customer data from a Data Service entity and displays it in a form, which remains open after the call ends so that agents can revisit it and perform additional actions. The process also prioritizes customers who have been put on hold for more than 25 seconds, displaying a form that prompts agents to either switch to that customer or ignore their call. By enabling agents to handle multiple calls simultaneously, this process optimizes efficiency and enhances the overall quality of customer service.

Prerequisites

• Install Form.Activities 23.4.3
• Install System.Activities 23.4.2
• Install UIAutomation.Activities 23.4.5

Sample app

If you want to try out this tutorial with the same contact center agent application, you can download the sample app here.

Sample workflows

To follow the steps and test out the idea yourself, download the sample project here.

The sample project contains the following files:

Workflow	Tutorial
Main.xaml (entry point)	Step 1: Create the Main workflow
Customer Data.uiform	Step 2: Create customer data form
on incoming call.xaml	Step 3: Create workflow for incoming call
on current call.xaml	Step 4: Create workflow for current call
on ignore click.xaml	Step 5: Create workflow to ignore customer call
on resume click.xaml	Step 6: Create workflow to resume customer call
Too long to hold.uiform	Step 7: Create form when customer is on hold for too long
check on hold times.xaml	Step 8: Create workflow to check Hold time
on ignore clicked.xaml	Step 9: Create workflow for ignoring call on hold
on switch cliked.xaml	Step 10: Create workflow for switching to call on hold

Step 1: Create the Main workflow

This workflow represents the project’s entry point, and the workflow that starts all triggers.

1. Add a Build Data Table activity, and build a table with the following columns:
   1. Caller (String) – to store the customers phone numbers.
   2. Since (DateTime) – to store the time when you answer a customer call.
   3. Ignore (Boolean) - to record if the customer call was ignored.
2. Store the Data Table inside a global variable named callers
3. Add a Run Local Triggers activity, to start all the triggers inside the project at the same time.

Step 2: Create customer data form

Create a form to fetch and display information about the customer that’s calling or the customer the contact center agent is talking to (Customer Data)

1. Create a new Form file from the Studio design ribbon. Name it Customer Data.
2. Add three Label/Header components that hold the name, Id, and payment status of the customer that is calling. Edit them as follows:
   1. First Label/Header - Type Loading… in the Content field and set the property name as customerName, in the Property Name field.
   2. Second Label/Header - Type Caller ID: in the Content field. Set the property name as callerId, in the Property Name field.
   3. Third Label/Header – Type Payment Status: Loading… in the Content field and set the property name as paymentStatus.
3. Add six Button components, that trigger certain action events. For this example, create buttons for the following action events (using the Action dropdown):
   1. Change password
   2. Reset 5G
   3. Service request
   4. Update plan
   5. Address Change
   6. Delay payment

Step 3: Create workflow for incoming call

This workflow represents the scenario when there’s an incoming customer call (on incoming call.xaml).

1. Add an Application Event Trigger for the incoming call app event.
   1. Event type – Appeared
   2. Scheduling mode – Sequential
2. Add a Use Application/Browser activity to focus on the Contact Center agent app and fetch information about the customer.
   1. Add a Get Text activity and indicate the phone number. Save it to a global variable named incomingCaller.
   2. Add a Show Form activity to display the Customer Data form using the information that you previously fetched. Set the Instance Name as incomingCaller. In the Arguments collection, pass in the customer’s phone number:
      
      

      

      
      
3. For this example, query additional client data from a Data Service entity. Save the queried data inside a local variable named clientData.
   
   

   

   
   
4. Add a Set Form Values activity, to add the previously fetched client data to the same Customer Data form instance. For this example, pass arguments for name, invoice number, and payment status.
   
   

   

   
   
5. To personalize the form instance, change its title based on the queried client data, at runtime, by adding a Change Form Properties activity.
   1. Select Form – Customer Data
   2. Title – clientData.FullName

Step 4: Create workflow for current call

This workflow represents the scenario when you answer a customer call and you’re currently talking to them (on current call.xaml).

1. Add an Application Event Trigger activity for the current call event.
   1. Event type – Appeared
   2. Scheduling mode – Concurrent
2. Add a Use Application/Browser activity to focus on the Contact Center agent app and fetch information about the customer.
   1. Add a Get Text activity and indicate the phone number. Save it to a global variable named caller.
   2. Add the customer that is currently on call to the callers global variable, where the Data table from the Main workflow is stored.
      
      

      

      
      
   3. Add a Bring Form to Foreground activity to bring the Customer Data form to the front, so you can focus on the customer that you’re talking to. Add a global variable named caller as the Instance Name of the form.

Step 5: Create workflow to ignore customer call

This workflow represents the scenario when the contact center agent clicks Ignore on an incoming call from a customer (on ignore call).

1. Add a Click Trigger activity for the Ignore button.
   
   

   

   
   
   1. Mouse button – Left
   2. Trigger mode – Down
   3. Scheduling mode – Concurrent
2. Add a Close Form activity, to close the customer form assigned to the customer, whose call you ignored.

Step 6: Create workflow to resume customer call

This workflow represents the scenario where the contact center agent resumes the call with a customer that was put on hold (on resume click).

1. Add a Click Trigger activity, for the Resume button.
   
   

   

   
   
   1. Mouse button – Left
   2. Trigger mode – Down
   3. Scheduling mode – Concurrent
2. Add a Use Application/Browser activity, activity to focus on the Contact Center agent app and fetch information about the customer that you resumed the call for.
   1. Add a Get Text activity, to fetch the phone number.
   2. Add a Bring Form to Foreground activity to bring back to front the assigned Customer Data form. Set as the Instance Name the caller global variable.

Step 7: Create form when customer is on hold for too long

This workflow represents the scenario where the contact center agent keeps a customer on hold for too long (Too long on hold.uiform).

1. Create a new Form file from the Studio design ribbon. Name it Too long to hold.
   The Form Builder opens in the Designer panel.
2. Add a Label/Header component to display a message for when a customer stays on hold for too long. Set the Property Name to message.
3. Add two Button components to allow the contact center agent to switch to the customer that was held too much on hold, or ignore the customer call.
   1. First Button – set the Label as Switch, and the Action to event.
   2. Second Button – set the Label as Ignore, and the Action to event.
4. Add a Hidden component, and set the Property Name to caller. That’s where we’ll show the phone number of the customer that stayed on hold for too long.

Step 8: Create workflow to check Hold time

This workflow tracks the time a customer stays on hold.

1. Add a Repeat Trigger activity to constantly check the time customers are on hold. For this example, set the Interval to 5 seconds.
2. Search for the time a customer was on hold in the caller global variable, that you usedto store data about the customer. For this example, if a customer was on hold for more than 25 seconds, then the Too long on hold form appears.

Step 9: Create workflow for ignoring call on hold

This workflow represents the scenario where the contact center agent clicks Ignore in the Too long to hold form.

1. Add a Form Event Trigger activity, to trigger other activities when the Ignore button is clicked.
   1. Select Form – Too long to hold.
   2. Event – Ignore clicked.
2. Add a Get Form Values activity, to fetch the phone number of the customer that stayed too long on hold.
   
   

   

   
   
3. Add the phone number of the customer that you fetched at step 2, in the callers data table.
   
   

   

   
   
4. Add a Close Form activity to close the Too long on hold form after the Ignore button is clicked.

Step 10: Create workflow for switching to call on hold

This workflow represents the scenario when the contact center agent clicks Switch in the Too long to hold form.

1. Add a Form Event Trigger activity, to trigger other activities when the Switch button is clicked.
   1. Select Form – Too long on hold
   2. Event – Switch clicked
2. Add a Get Form Values activity, to fetch the phone number of the customer that stayed too long on hold.
3. Add a Close Form activity, to close the Too long on hold form.
   
   

   

   
   
4. Add a Use Application/Browser activity to focus on the contact center agent app and resume the call with the customer from the Too long on hold form.
   1. Add an If activity that:
      1. Clicks Resume in the contact center agent app if the customer on hold is available in the contact center agent app, using a Click activity.
      2. Selects the phone number of the customer you want to switch to, using a Select Item activity.
      
      

      

      
      

Result

The result of this automation is:

• Display forms on all customers that are calling the contact center at the same time.
• Display actionable forms. For example, these could allow the contact center agent to delay a payment or change the address for a specific customer.
• Display forms based on the customer that's currently on call. This involves bringing to front the form on that specific customer.
• Keep displaying form files, even if the customers hung up. This prevents the loss of any customer data.

To see the behavior of this automation, check out the video below: