Using Virtual Agent for Public Sector Digital Services

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Using Virtual Agent for Public Sector Digital Services

    Virtual Agent enables you to create tailored chatbot conversations for public sector applications, enhancing self-service options for constituents. This tool allows admins to develop custom topics or modify existing pre-built conversations for better integration with government services.

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    Key Features

    • Custom and Pre-built Topics: Create unique conversation topics or modify available templates to meet public sector needs.
    • Topic Blocks: Utilize pre-built components called topic blocks to streamline conversation design. These blocks handle common tasks, such as adding records or retrieving information.
    • Public Sector Specific Blocks: Access topic blocks designed for public sector interactions, including:
      • Prompt Service for Constituent: Guides users to select from available government services.
      • Create Public Sector Additional Members: Allows constituents to add authorized individuals to a case.

    Key Outcomes

    By leveraging Virtual Agent, public sector organizations can enhance constituent engagement through self-service solutions, reduce administrative overhead, and improve the overall efficiency of service delivery. The use of topic blocks simplifies the integration of complex functionalities, enabling quicker deployment and easier maintenance of chatbot conversations.

    As an admin, you can use Virtual Agent to create chatbot conversations tailored to public sector use cases.

    With Virtual Agent, which is available by subscription, you can build conversation topics that assist your constituents with self-service tasks. For example, you can create Virtual Agent topics that enable constituents to submit government service cases or help them find relevant information on government regulations or benefits.

    As admins or topic authors, you can build your own custom, public sector conversation topics. Or, you can use pre-built conversations that are available with the Virtual Agent platform and Customer Service Virtual Agent Conversations plugin (com.sn_csm.virtualagent) and modify them for public sector use cases.

    When you’re creating or modifying topics, you can also use pre-built components called topic blocks. These blocks are subflows that run conversational elements or common tasks in a conversation, such as adding or retrieving records. Pre-built topic blocks are included with the Virtual Agent platform and Customer Service conversations. Topic blocks enable topic authors to quickly add standard functions to Virtual Agent conversations, simplifying conversation design and maintenance.

    The Public Sector Digital Services Core application provides several topic blocks that you can use in public sector conversations:
    • Prompt Service for Constituent – Asks constituents to select a type of government service.
    • Create Public Sector Additional Members – Prompts constituents to add other persons who have an authorized interest in an issue or case.

    To learn more about topic blocks and how to use them in Virtual Agent conversations, see Maximizing code reuse with topic blocks.

    Before building Virtual Agent topics for public sector use cases

    Before creating Virtual Agent conversations, review the following prerequisites and the basic process for working with pre-built topics and topic blocks in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Prompt Service for Constituent topic block

    Use this topic block in a conversation to ask constituents to select a service from a list of available government services, for example permits or licenses. Activate the Customer Service Virtual Agent Conversations (com.sn_csm.virtualagent) plugin to use this topic block.

    Figure 1. Example of prompt for services
    Virtual agent conversation window showing the available prompts that can be used with the virtual agent Constituent topic block.

    Create Public Sector Additional Members topic block

    Use this topic block to let your constituents specify other people, such as family members or other authorized individuals, who can view a case or issue. Activate the Customer Service Virtual Agent Conversations (com.sn_csm.virtualagent) plugin to use this topic block.

    Figure 2. Example prompts for adding members to a government service case
    Now Support chat showing the workflow for adding members to a government service case using Virtual Agent chat prompts.
    When you use this topic block in a conversation, you specify the input parameters from the originating (calling) topic to the topic block.
    Table 1. Public Sector Additional Members input parameters
    Parameter Description

    case_id

    		 sys_id of the public sector case record created.

    case_type

    		 Extension of the base public sector service.