Get started with Jira Service Management for admins
Your first stop for learning how to get started with Jira Service Management.
About step types in the virtual agent flow builder
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Conversation flows are made up of a series of steps. A step can be something simple, like the virtual agent sending a message to the customer — or technical and hidden from the customer, like the virtual agent changing the kind of request type used when an issue is created beyond a specific point in the flow. Learn how to create or edit a conversation flow.
Offer choices
Use this step type when you want to offer the customer a pre-set list of options to choose from.
The offer choices step type:
sends a message from the virtual agent to the customer (messages can include some formatting, and hyperlinks)
offers 1–10 choices
creates a new branch of the conversation flow for each choice
shows choices as buttons if there are 1–5 choices
shows choices in a dropdown selector if there are 6–10 choices
Example
Let’s say you want to provide different information to customers depending on which country they’re in. You could add an offer choices step, and have the virtual agent ask, “So that I can give you the right information, can you tell me which region you’re in?” and offer each available country as a choice: Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and United States.
When the customer selects their country, they begin moving along the conversation flow branch for that country, where the virtual agent provides the most accurate information for them.
Send message
Use this step when you want the virtual agent to send a message to the customer.
The send message step type:
sends a message from the virtual agent to the customer (messages can include some formatting, and hyperlinks)
can be used in a series — just add multiple send message steps in a row
is great for providing short, friendly responses, critical information, and/or links to critical information
Example
In the example above for offer choices, let’s say your customer chooses Australia as their country, and the information you need to send them is accessible via your help center documentation (and is too complex to put in a message).
In the conversation flow, after the Australia choice, you could add a send message step that says, “Got it! Check out this link for information for our Australia-based employees: www.example.com.”
Ask for information
Use this step type when you want to get information from a customer that might be worth adding to an issue (if one is created later in the conversation).
The ask for information step type:
sends a message from the virtual agent to the customer (messages can include some formatting, and hyperlinks)
waits for a response from the customer before continuing with the conversation flow
will add the customer’s response to this message as a comment on any issue created later in the conversation (if one is created)
Example
In the examples above, let’s say your customer chooses Australia as their region, and the virtual agent sends them a link to some relevant information. After this, the virtual agent may ask (using another offer choices step): “Did this resolve your problem?” with Yes and No choices.
If the customer selects Yes, they could go straight to the resolve with CSAT standard flow, and the conversation is finished. Learn more about standard flows.
If the customer selects No, you may want to insert an ask for information step: “So that I can help you, can you tell me what your postcode is?” That way, when the customer responds with their postcode, it’s added as a comment to the issue that might be eventually created. This saves the agent time by giving them specific information about the customer’s location before they start work on the issue.
Change request type and fields
Use this step type when you want to override the virtual agent default request type for any issues created after a specific point in a conversation flow. Learn more about the virtual agent default request type.
The change request type and fields step type:
is invisible to your customers — they won’t see anything happen
allows you to choose a specific request type (and set field values, if desired) for any issues created in the conversation beyond that step, overriding the virtual agent default request type
Example
Continuing with the examples above, let’s say you need to make sure that all issues created for customers based in Australia use a different request type to the other countries (which just use the virtual agent default request type).
To do this, you could add a change request type and fields step right after the Australia choice. When adding this step, you choose which request type you want to use for all issues raised after someone selects Australia (and if desired, specify one or more field values).
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