Interaction records in Workspace

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Interaction Records in Workspace

    Interaction records in Workspace enable agents to capture and manage customer requests received through various communication channels such as chat, phone, or walk-up. These records allow agents to create or reference customer information, determine if the request should be handled as an incident, case, or request, and route or assign the interaction to the appropriate queue or agent. Interaction records support both complex cases requiring task creation and simple "one-and-done" requests without associated tasks.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Interaction Details and Tracking: The interaction record includes tabs such as Details (showing comprehensive information), Related Tasks (displaying tasks linked to the interaction), and User’s Interactions (listing all interactions related to a specific user).
    • Channel and Communication Types: Interactions log the communication channel type (e.g., chat, phone, walk-up). Phone interactions require activation of the OpenFrame plugin.
    • Interaction State Management: States include New, Work in Progress, Closed Complete, Closed Abandoned, and On Hold. State reasons provide context, for example, waiting on customer or internal processes.
    • Assignment and Timing Metrics: The record tracks the assigned agent, duration (time agent spends working on the interaction), and wait time (initial response time to the customer).
    • Short Description Requirement: A short description is mandatory before closing, saving, or associating the record to related tasks, ensuring meaningful documentation.
    • Automatic Logging of Related Tasks: Tasks viewed or created during an interaction are automatically linked to the interaction record, improving traceability.
    • User Profile Association for Messaging: Incoming messages are matched against existing channel user profiles using identifiers such as phone numbers for SMS. New profiles and interactions are created when no match exists, linking interactions to known users when possible.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Efficiently capture and manage multi-channel customer interactions within a unified workspace.
    • Improve routing and assignment of interactions to ensure timely and accurate resolution.
    • Maintain comprehensive visibility of customer communication history and related tasks.
    • Ensure data quality and completeness with mandatory short descriptions and state tracking.
    • Automatically associate messaging interactions with user profiles to streamline support and reporting.

    Using an interaction record, agents can create or reference customer information from a customer contact. Agents can then decide if the conversation is an incident, case, or request.

    An interaction represents a request for assistance made through a chat, phone call, or walk-up. Interactions can be routed to queues for assignment or assigned to agents directly. Support agents can create cases, requests, or incidents from the interaction. Interactions can also be used to capture one-and-done type requests where an agent might not want to create associated tasks.
    Interaction form in Agent Workspace
    Feature Description
    Details, Related Tasks, User's Interactions forms Details tab that shows detailed information from the interaction record. Related Tasks show tasks related to the interaction in the form pane, for example, a new incident. User's Interactions tab shows all interactions related to specific users.
    Number Number is associated to each customer interaction.
    Type Logs the type of channel communication, such as chat, phone, walk-up, or messaging.
    Note:
    Phone is an available type of channel communication when the OpenFrame plugin (com.sn_openframe) is activated.
    State State of the interaction record:
    • New
    • Work in Progress
    • Closed Complete
    • Closed Abandoned
    • On Hold
    State reason Reason for the current state of the interaction record:
    • Waiting on customer
    • Waiting internal
    • null
    This field appears only for messaging type interactions.
    Opened for Customer who initiates or receives the communication.
    Duration Tracks the amount of time an agent spends working on an interaction.
    Assigned to Agent the interaction record is assigned to.
    Wait time Time it takes to initially respond to the customer.
    Short Description Short description of the interaction.
    Note:
    The short description field is empty by default, but it cannot be empty when the record is closed, saved, or associated to a related task. Populate the short description and then close, save, or associate the record, or you cannot archive the record.
    While you are on an interaction, tasks that are viewed or created under the interaction are automatically logged on the Interaction Related tasks.

    Associating user profiles on messaging interactions

    When a requester sends a message, the system checks whether the identifier matches an existing channel user profile. Channel user profiles are used to track the identities of conversation participants using an identifier associated with the source of the message. For SMS messages, the identifier is the phone number from which the message was sent.
    If there is a matching channel user profile
    • A new interaction is started.
    • Or the message is associated with an ongoing interaction for the matching channel user profile.
    If there is no matching channel user profile
    • A new channel user profile is created.
    • A new interaction referencing the new channel user profile is created.
    • If the identifier matches a user, it populates the User document field of the channel user profile and the Opened for field of the interaction with a reference to that user.