StrataCom Smartbot
for Cherwell & Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
The StrataCom Smartbot provides Cherwell and Ivanti Neurons for ITSM clients an easy-to-configure, intelligent bot for next-level interaction with their ITSM solution. The Smartbot can be deployed in Microsoft Teams or can run as a stand-alone browser.
Problems Solved
- Reduce Calls to Service Desk via Omnichannel Microsoft Teams UI.
- Deliver Beyond IT Service Management to groups like HR, Facilities, Legal.
How Does it Work?
- Leverages Microsoft Teams Bot functionality
- Built upon the StrataCom Azure based Ivanti/Cherwell integration platform that already supports Mobile, Kanban, and GANTT Chart functionality
- Utilizes Azure’s LUIS Cognitive Services for Conversational Language Understanding
- Topics and Knowledge Articles within Ivanti/Cherwell are delivered to Customers based on their Questions to the Bot
- Incidents/Requests/Changes are created and updated in real time based on interactions with Customer via the Bot
- Codeless Administration allows for easy configuration
Common Use Cases
- Self Service Request: I need a laptop
- The Bot presents the Customers with selection criteria required to create the Request. The Ivanti/Cherwell Request is created in Real Time, along with already configured workflow such as Tasks and Approvals.
- Access Request: I need access to an application
- The Customer answers some basic questions and the appropriate Request is created.
- My computer is broken or something isn’t working
- The Smartbot will ask questions to help classify what is broken and a correctly categorized Incident will be created.
- I need to quickly create common Incidents without taking time to launch the Cherwell client
- Example: User types “I need to Provision a new VM”. The Bot asks user to enter key data and the Request, with associated Approvals and Tasks, is generated.
- Human Resources: my address changed, I got married, I had a child, health insurance, benefits
- The Smartbot will securely create an Incident for the HR group
- Facilities Management: my chair is broken, lightbulb is out, the keycard is not working, temperature problems, plumbing problems
- A correctly categorized Work Order is created for the Facilities group
- How Do I
- Smartbot will search published Knowledge Articles in Cherwell and present results
The StrataCom Smartbot for Cherwell is enhanced with Intelligent AI capabilities, allowing for natural speech interaction with customers as well as improved algorithms for searching the Cherwell Knowledgebase and Service Catalog.
Capabilities and Functionality
Cherwell Administrators can easily configure the Smartbot for Cherwell:
- Use the StrataCom drag-and-drop workflow editor to manage your Smartbot’s workflow
- Tie workflow to Ivanti/Cherwell actions including: Search the Knowledge Base, Create a ticket, Update a ticket, Query for a ticket(s), initiate Automation like Password Reset or Restart a VM
- Easily integrate the Smartbot with your existing Service Catalog so that users can find items for request
- Use our intuitive ‘Adaptive card builder’ to build interfaces allowing end users to enter or view Ivanti/Cherwell data in the Smartbot platform or within the body of an email
- Alert end users when an Ivanti/Cherwell ticket is updated by sending notifications to their Microsoft Teams account
StrataCom SmartBot for Ivanti Neurons for ITSM & Cherwell
FAQ
- If we have the Active Directory ID on the people record, can we use that instead of asking the end users to provide this information? Can the SmartBot read the information from the people record even if it includes location?
- We do have access to all the information about the Customer, so anything in the Cherwell customer record could be populated into the request.
- Can you use SmartBot for creating an incident using natural language, the categorize from the service catalog and assigned to the right team?
- Because the Incident create action is tied to a Topic Record, you can configure very specific Incident Create actions with pre-populated values in them to match the scenario the user is requesting.
- Is SmartBot only limited to the Cherwell Knowledge Base or can it be used with outside (web-based) Knowledge Bases as well?
- Currently, we are limited to pulling information out of Cherwell, but we would entertain creating Integrations into other KB systems if needed. We can also Federate other sources of Knowledge into Cherwell or Ivanti Service Manager.
- Can the SmartBot be branded for our company (colors, etc)?
- Yes, Action card emails and the Teams Bot can be custom-branded to your organization’s standards
- Can the SmartBot transfer to live agent?
- Yes, the StrataCom SmartBot does offer the ability to hand off the user to a technician for chatting.
- StrataCom SmartBot can also hand off the Chat to other Chat tools, but currently it does not have any pre-defined integrations to other chat tools.
- Do you have to have the be a StrataCom Kanban and Mobile customer to use the SmartBot?
- Kanban and Native Mobile are built on the same integration platform as the SmartBot, but you do not need to own Kanban or Native mobile to purchase and use the SmartBot.
- Is Knowledge Article retrieval limited to Rich Text? Any issues with Knowledge Article formatting and/or images?
- Knowledgebase articles should retain the formatting that they currently have in the Cherwell Knowledgebase.
- What if an end user requests something they do not have access to, such as a particular type of request or for a business object they do not have access to?
- If a Cherwell customer requests something they don’t have access to, security would be enforced by Cherwell at the Object’s meta-data layer. Cherwell will return an error back to the SmartBot and will display that for the customer.
- Will Service Catalog Templates for requests (which drive approvals and tasks for a ticket) still work with the SmartBot?
- Because we create/update Ivanti/Cherwell tickets using API calls, any automation that happens on the back-end will still run the same way as if using the Portal or Cherwell client.
- Can SmartBot handle request approvals, change approvals, and custom approval processes?
- Currently, we would have to have two topic records, one for Change Approvals and one for Request Approvals.
- We did add the capability for ‘Unified Boards’ in our Kanban system and this is on the roadmap for SmartBot