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Configuring Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Pega Sales Automation

Updated on September 10, 2021

Use the Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Pega Sales Automation™ Outlook add-in to improve email productivity. The Outlook add-in uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze email content and suggest tasks and email responses to sales representatives. Each email that a sales rep opens has real-time match scores attributed to it, and suggested next actions and tasks appear directly in Outlook, within a built-in dashboard. The sales rep's actions become the baseline for training of the NLP models, increasing the accuracy of suggestions over time. Pega sentiment analysis also determines whether content of an incoming email is positive, negative, or neutral.

Configure the NLP for Outlook add-in by performing the following steps:

  1. Enable NLP suggestions for email
  2. Edit the text analyzer rule

For more information, see:

Enable NLP suggestions for email

To configure the NLP analysis for email in your application, enable NLP suggestions.

  1. In the navigation panel of App Studio, click Settings > Application Settings, and then click the Microsoft Exchange tab.
  2. In the Outlook add-in settings section, select the Enable Suggestions Using NLP check box.
  3. Switch from App Studio to Dev Studio.
  4. In the navigation panel of Dev Studio, click App, and then search for and open the Data-Channel-Email class.
  5. Open an existing email channel or create an email channel by performing the following steps:
    1. In Dev Studio, click the name of your application, and then click Channels and interfaces.
    2. In the Create new channel interface section, click Email.
    3. On the Configuration tab, add and configure your channel:
      1. Enter a name for the email channel that you want to create.
      2. Optional: Enter a description for the channel.
      3. Optional: Leave default values for the Email handling, Intelligent routing, and Default Entities Mapping on Case Property sections.
      4. Select the Record training data check box.
      5. Optional: Select the Enable subject analysis check box.
    4. Click Save.

      When you save the channel, the system creates the default text analyzer with your channel configuration.

  6. Click Actions > View XML, and then search for the pzInsKey value.
  7. Copy the pzInsKey value.
  8. In the header of Dev Studio, search for and select the EmailChannelHandle dynamic system setting (DSS).
  9. In the DSS, paste your pzInsKey contents into the Value field, and then click Save.

Edit the text analyzer rule

After configuring the channel, associate topics with reply templates.

  1. In Dev Studio, open your Email channel.
    Note: For the steps below, use the PegaSalesAutomation1a443529ec5e46c991b0565447a7b812 text analyzer rule as a configuration example.
  2. On the Behavior tab, click the Switch to edit mode icon on the right of the PegaSalesAutomation1a443529ec5e46c991b0565447a7b812 text analyzer rule.
  3. Click Open the text analyzer rule.
  4. Configure your text analyzer:
    1. Add the topic model from your text analyzer.
    2. In the Topic preference section, select one of the following options:
      • For new models, select the Always user rule based topics radio button.
      • For models that you have already trained, select the Use Model based topics if available radio button.
    3. Clear the Enable intent detection check box.
      Thumbnail
      Configuring a text analyzer
  5. Click Save.

What to do next

When the system runs NLP on an email or message, training data is submitted for a review. You can add the training data to the model based on your business context. For more information, see Train entity models with a single click.

Thumbnail

Sample training data for the Outlook add-in

Configuring custom cases

Pega Sales Automation features a Create task case that you can edit and use. To implement NLP suggestions for your business cases, review the suggested custom configuration steps for cases.

  1. In the header of Dev Studio, search for and select the OutlookSuggestCase section to view the suggested cases and a configuration example.
  2. To map entities, drag the parameters to the Create Work action.
    Thumbnail

    Actions tab details

    1. Click the View properties icon next to the cell that you want to modify.
    2. Click Actions, and then drag the parameters to the Create Work action.
  3. To support the NLP feedback mechanism, select AssociatedID as one of the parameters.
  4. To Support NLP suggestions for cases other than the Create task case, in the header of Dev Studio, search for and select the 8.2 compatible with Outlook crmNewHarnessButtons_Mobile section.
    • To configure the Discard button, click View properties, and then on the Actions tab, add the RemovedFeedbackDataOnCancel data transform.
      Thumbnail
      Actions tab configuration for NLP support

    • To configure the Create task button, click View properties, and then on the Actions tab, add the SetFeedbackForNLP data transform.
  5. To review all of the detected entities, open the D_NLPEntities.pyExtractedEntities page group.
  6. To customize your implementation, use the D_GetSpecificEntities.pyExtractedEntities page group and GetSpecificEntitiesAsExt activity as an example extension.

Configuring custom replies

Pega Sales Automation also has Defuse, Competitor, and Product reply templates that you can edit and use. To implement NLP suggestions for your custom replies, review the suggested custom configuration.

Note:

Suggested replies sections apply only to the iOS and Android Mobile Outlook clients.

User-created emails and appointments or selected appointments and meeting-related items do not support NLP suggestions by default.

By default, the reply templates are configured for external users. If you leave a template with a blank value or select an incorrect value, both internal and external users can access it.

  1. To view the suggested reply configuration and extension points, open and use the PopulateSuggestedReplies data transform.
  2. Use the D_NLPEntities or SelectedWorkPage data pages to detect entities if you want to customize the content of reply templates based on competitors or products.
  3. In the header of Dev Studio, search for and select the SuggestedRepliesWithUserType map value rule, and then edit it by configuring your suggested replies templates as either internal or external.
    Thumbnail
    Configuring suggested reply templates as external or internal

  4. Use the Internal Domain field in App Studio settings to include internal replies:

    1. In the navigation panel of App Studio, click Settings > Application Settings.
    2. On the Microsoft Exchange tab, in the Outlook add-in settings section, enter your internal domains.
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