Session templates
As service representatives work with customers across different channels or in different scenarios, the information that they need and how it should be presented can vary. Sessions control how these items are presented to representatives.
When a representative accepts an incoming conversation request from a customer, a session is started. Within a session, different fields and applications are used to present data to representatives. By default, the system opens the Customer Summary application as an application tab panel. This application provides the representatives with important details, such as customer details, conversation details, and access to other relevant information.
Service representatives can open application tabs as needed within a session to get more details on relevant information. For example, selecting the case that's associated with the conversation opens the case details in another application tab. Then, representatives can switch between the tabs within the session.
Each session includes an Anchor tab. The Anchor tab is the tab that opens when a new session is launched. It serves as a main tab for the session. For example, in Contact Center, the Anchor tab is the Customer Summary application. The Anchor tab can't be closed; it remains available while the session is open.
To ensure that representatives get what they need, you can define different session templates that can be added to application profiles. A session template is a combination of attributes and application tab information that can be reused as needed.
Session templates are used to define key items in a session experience, as shown in the following screenshot (numbers correspond to the image):
Communication panel - Defines the default mode of the communication panel (such as a chat window) when a session is started.
Session tab - Displays the available sessions as tabs. Also provides access to the home screen, and Inbox if enabled.
Additional application tabs - Displays other open related tabs for the session.
Included session templates are available by default. Depending on which Customer Service applications you've deployed, you have different templates available.
The included templates for Contact Center are:
- Case entity session - default template
- Chat session - default
- Custom messaging session - default
- Entity records session - default
- Social channels:
- Facebook session - default
- LINE session - default
- SMS session - default
- Teams session - default
- Twitter session - default
- WeChat session - default
- WhatsApp session - default
The included template for Customer Service Workspace is Case entity session, which is a default template.
The templates provide a great starting point. However, you can't customize these session templates. If you need different options, you can create your own custom templates.
Create a session template
Like other workspace elements, you create session templates in the Customer Service Admin center app. They're available by navigating to Workspaces and selecting Manage next to Session templates. You can create new templates by selecting the New button on the command bar.
When defining a session template, you need to specify the following parameters.
| Name | Value description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Defines the name of the session. | Chat session |
| Unique Name | A unique identifier in the <prefix>_<name> format. |
msdyn_chat_custom |
| Type | Defines the session template type. Two options are available. Entity: Specifies that the item is based on a Microsoft Dataverse table. When you select Entity, the Entity field displays where you can select the table to associate it with. Generic: Use this option when the template is assigned to any channel, such as chat or text. | Entity |
| Title | Defines the title of the session that is displayed to representatives in the user interface (UI) at runtime. | {customerName} |
| Communication panel mode | Defines the default mode of the panel when a session is started. You can select one of the following options. Docked: The panel is in expanded mode. Minimized: The panel is in minimized mode. Hidden: The panel is hidden. | Docked |
| Description | Provide a description for your reference. | The session template is used for a conversation request from the chat channel. |
| Anchor tab | Defines the application that is opened by default when the session starts and can't be closed. | Customer summary |
Important
The anchor tab option is displayed only when Type is set to Generic.
An advantage to session templates is that you can specify more tabs to open when the session launches. This feature ensures that the representative can locate the items that they need without excessive searching. After you have saved a session template record, the Additional tabs sub grid displays, where you can specify the other application tabs to open when a session starts.
The Agent scripts tab is where you can specify which representative scripts should be available to representatives when they're working in a session. The agent scripts tab also includes a toggle option for setting the default script for a particular session type. If you set the Enable build expression field to Yes, you can use the expression builder to define which agent script to load based on the type of session that is being initiated. For example, for entity session types such as case, you might want to load an agent script that identifies case-related information. Because generic session types include the conversation panel, you might want to load a script that includes conversation data and steps for creating related records.
For more information, see Set the default agent script for agents.
Now that your session template is configured, it needs to be associated with a workstream to ensure that it's loaded when needed.