When is it our turn? How do IC Agents Know When They Should Respond?

[former_member205450]

We are implementing the SAP CRM Interaction Center and have configured ERMS e-mail handling and threading (automatic linking) of e-mails to the service requests.  These items are working fine.

Question:

For the IC, how is the agent responsible for the service request notified that it is their turn in the two-way communication?  We are looking to have one agent resolve the issue from start to finish rather than just having the next available agent respond.  Additionally, It is common for us to have 3-5 back-and-forth communications with the customer before the issue is correctly identified/resolved.

Any ideas?

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Lars,

Did you find a solution?

Am currently facing the same problem:

Regards,

Bendik

[former_member205450 · Accepted solution]

Hi Bendik,

We were able to solve the issue, but it required working with an ABAP developer and custom code.  Unfortunately, the code is considered proprietary to our client.  I can however share the basic logic that another developer should be able to use as a starting point  to recreate.

1. Create a new status for the Service Requests = Agent Response Required (ARR).
2. Custom code for inbound e-mails that contain the tracking text prefix {SrvReq[ then automatically set the Service Request status = ARR.
3. Added a quick search for Service Requests with status =ARR so agents know it is their turn to respond.

Following this development we also realized that the inbound message needed to be complete.  Otherwise when the service request status is updated, the e-mail is then just sitting in the inbox until someone realizes that it is already being dealt with.  The developer then added more code to the workflow that auto-completed the e-mail immediately after the Service Request status was updated.

So now agents primarily use two quick searches, the first for new messages and the other for service requests that require their attention.

Hope this helps.

Lars

[Sigrid]

Hello Lars,

Interesting. From IC agent perspective, do the users then

• search for service requests in the agent inbox with status Agent Response Required (ARR)
• and interact with the service request in agent inbox
• and then display the new E-Mail from the business context of the service request?

Best Regards,

Sigrid

[former_member205450]

Hi Sigrid,

1. Yes - agents frequently use the quick search to identify service requests with status ARR.
2. Yes - agents highlight the desired service request and press the interact button when they need to update the service request with new notes / comments etc.
   • Because our service requests and e-mails are threaded, agents can use the tree view to locate the relevant back/forth messages.  You can see an example of this in the screenshot below.
   • In addition to the service requests, we have our agent inbox set up to show different transactions like service orders, interaction records, e-mails, and site visits.
3. The most recent e-mail is listed directly under the service request.  FYI:  the developer also had to implement a BAdi to get the sort order to display as described.

As the CRM agent inbox does not currently have an auto refresh feature, we find that using the two quick searches for a) new inbound e-mails and b) service requests needing attention is the best way stay on top of customer issues and know when it is our turn to respond.

Best Regards,

Lars

[Former Member]

Hi Lars,

Thanks for sharing your approach to this issue.

We are routing emails linked to a request by a tracking ID to the service request responsible (IC agent)( if assigned to the request ).

What we also want to add to this is that the Email is set to status "In Process" when routed to service request responsible (IC agent).

Any ideas on this ? We are trying to add a action to the ERMS repository but we don't know how to do it and if it is the rigth approach.

Thanks and best Regards,

João Gaifém

[atulJaiswal]

Hi Lars,

As Sigrid suggested, If you have maintained ERMS rules something like "service request # not initial route to Employee responsible". Email will be available in the queue of the Agent working on that service request.

Pre-requisite you might already have the functionality to capture the service request# tag in the Emails linked to the service requests. This is just to make sure agents get their action Items!

Regards,

Atul

[Sigrid]

Hi Lars,

Yes, as Atul suggested, if there is a tracking ID referring to an existing service request then the E-mail should be routed to the service request responsible.

If             

Service Request Number Is Not Equal To """"

Then           

Route to Service request responsible  ( Route To (On Exception) = PS EMEA )

The fact gathering service of ERMS attribute SREQ_NUMBER is FG_SVCREQ, which has assigned class CL_CRM_ERMS_FG_SVCREQ. During evaluation of the condition, it will try to find the tracking text (starting with [, ending with ]) to identify the service request and link it to the service request if found in the same step, the action will route it to the service request responsible. So the agent should find the E-Mail when searching for E-Mails assigned to "Me".

Additionally, it is possible to see if an E-Mail has a docflow using the tree view of the result list. The icon for the docflow is not intended to show that a document flow actually exists, but merely to indicate were to click to look for one. Nevertheless, there is a method of the Inbox BADI  CRM_IC_INBOX_BADI which can be used only to show the icon if a docflow exists. Reading the docuflow might impact the performance of the inbox search. For further information you might check SAP note 1000434.

Best Regards,
Sigrid

[Sigrid]

Hi,

If the customer replies then the E-Mail should be routed to the service request responsible (IC agent) according to ERMS rules.

The IC agent then should use search terms to find this E-Mail in his search results. The new E-mail then has status open, he should interact with it and continue customer communication. The service request is then linked with the E-Mail.

Best Regards,

Sigrid

[former_member205450]

Hi Sigrid,

Thanks for the reply.  The challenge is that these e-mail are being grouped in with all other new e-mails for the agent.  We would like to be able to identify work that they need to continue on with before they take on new tasks.  What search terms would you recommend using beyond object type = e-mail and status = Open?

[Former Member]

To me this sounds like partner determination and is available under "Define Partner Determination Procedure" in SPRO. The partner function should be responsible employee or something like that.

Best regards,

Thomas Wagner