Accepting and conducting a chat: Service Desk agent

As a Service Desk agent, you might belong to a chat queue person group whose members respond to end user chat requests. In a multiple-queue setup, chats are organized into queues according to agent expertise; you might belong to more than one queue. When a chat request is assigned to one of your queues, you are notified, and you can accept the chat.

About this task

If you are an agent who belongs to one or more chat queues, Chat Queue is displayed in the Welcome bar, it informs you when one or more chats are waiting for a response. Depending on the UI that is used by your product installation, the chat queue indicator is displayed as one of the following:
  • The text string Chat Queue. A number that follows the text string in parentheses indicates the number of waiting chats. If one or more chats are waiting, the text string blinks and shown as a selectable, underlined link. A blinking chat bubble icon is displayed next to the text. If an exclamation mark or question mark is shown in the parentheses, there is a problem communicating with the chat queue server.
  • A chat bubble icon, with no text. The chat bubble icon blinks and is selectable if there are waiting chats. A colored box next to the icon shows the number of waiting chats. If the bubble icon has an error indicator in it, there is a problem communicating with the chat queue server.

A service request is automatically opened when a user requests a chat. The service request number is displayed as a link in the agent chat window, and you can click the link at any time during the chat to open and update the service request. For example, you might want to mark it resolved, update the description as you obtain more information from the user, update details, and so on.

If you open and modify the service request, ensure that you save it before closing the chat. Otherwise, you might lose information.

Procedure

Perform these steps to accept and conduct a chat session:

  1. To respond to a chat request, click the blinking chat queue indicator to open the Agent Chat window.

    The user is informed that an agent has joined the chat. In addition, the service request Owner field is populated with your user ID. The service request number is displayed in the chat window, along with the end user display name, phone number, and e-mail address. You can click the service request number at any time during the chat to update the service request associated with the chat. An initial greeting is also displayed in your chat window.

  2. You and the user proceed with the chat by typing messages back and forth. The messages typed both by you and by the end user are displayed in the window and are time-stamped.
  3. After you and the user complete the chat, close the chat.
  4. Depending on the chat outcome, open the service request, and update the service request status as follows:
    QUEUED
    You were not able to resolve the issue, but somebody else might be able to do so. You can queue the chat to your own agent group or to another group that might have the specific expertise that is required. The status remains QUEUED.
    INPROGRESS
    The service request ticket is being worked on. For example, a software distribution is required to resolve the end user's issue, the system is being rebooted, or some other operation is being performed to resolve the issue. After the issue is resolved, you can send e-mail to the end user, informing him of the resolution.
    RESOLVED
    The chat satisfactorily resolved the end user issue, and no more needs to be done.
  5. Perform further updates the service request as needed. For example, you can update the owner group fields, the reported priority, the impact, the associated CI or asset, and so on. You can specify a solution with the service request. He can also create log entries.