You can use a Start Automation task in Orchestration to enable a self-service flow. Self-service flows for a Start Automation task collect information for queues, attributes, and customer identification.

Queues

Account administrators configure queues in Application Center Administration to enable the contact center to find a suitable agent to handle the customer query. Agents can be assigned to queues depending on their knowledge and skills. In Automation, you create a question where the customers must choose one of the options and map the options with the appropriate queues available for your account.

For example, an account administrator adds "Billing" and "Payment" queues. In Automation, create a question "What is your request about?" with the following response options: "Billing" and "Payment". Map each option with the appropriate queue. Depending on the input, the contact center redirects to the queue assigned to a certain group of agents. When the flow ends, Automation releases control of the interaction treatment.

Attributes

Apart from queues, you can use attributes that determine the further routing of the customers.

Account administrators configure attributes in Application Center Administration for attribute-based routing. With attribute-based routing, the contact center can forward interactions to the most suitable agent. In Automation, you can configure whether the customer's answer to a question you configure provides an attribute value.

For example, an account administrator adds the "department" attribute and configures attribute-based routing based on values "Support" or "Sales". In Automation, you can add a question in a flow asking the customer about the required department. To respond to the question, the customer presses 1 for Sales and 2 for Support. When the flow ends, Automation releases control of the interaction treatment. To provide Orchestration with the selected department information, configure "department" as the attribute name for the question. Automation sends the answer from the customer as the value for the "department" attribute for Orchestration. Orchestration forwards the interaction to the suitable agent.

If you configure an attribute for a question, ensure that the suggested answers match the configuration of attribute-based routing in Orchestration. For example, if you type "sales_department" as an answer in Automation, but the account administrator uses "sales" for attribute-based routing, Orchestration cannot accurately process this attribute.

Customer identification

During a self-service flow, Automation can receive from the customer identification information. The Customer Journey widget in Avaya Workspaces can later use this information to match and track customer interactions across multiple channels for a single account. By default, the following types of data are available:

• phoneNumbers: For customer phone number

• emailAddresses: For customer email

• accountIds: For customer account ID

You can select a customer identifier for a specific question of your flow. For example, in the question, ask the customer to enter a phone number or email. Customer Journey can then use these unique identifiers to match the interaction with an existing customer. Avaya Workspaces agents can view the customer's entire journey across all channels with common identifiers.

Automation also collects customized identifiers. For example, as a customized identifier, you can use the Social Security number of the customer.

To use an identifier, ensure that it is available on the Customer Identifiers tab of Application Center Administration.