Skill is an enabled interaction between Bot and User which can answer a common query or interface with 3rd party systems to fulfill the user request. It contains the details, phrases for how the skill will be triggered, the conversation flow that has the dialogs between the user and virtual agent, and fulfillment of the conversation. The intention of the user’s request is understood by Luma VA by the inherent Natural Language Processing capabilities.
Now, let us understand the basic building blocks of a Skill.
Attributes are used to gather and hold data, which can be later used to fulfill the user's request.
Integration in Luma Virtual Agent represents the connectivity mechanisms to external systems and associated web service operations.
KPI Metrics
Invocation Type represents the method using which end users can invoke or request for the Skill.
Conversation Flow is used to build the Conversation flow between the user and your bot. Here we structure the conversation by adding the following conversation items,
Build and Publish is used to train the bot on conversations and Skills designed in Bot Builder. It ensures that Virtual Agent understands the user intent and processes the services as requested.
You can refer to Creating a FAQ Skill to understand Step by Step instructions to create a Skill.
A GIF image from a Live conversation
You can integrate Luma Virtual Agent with 3rd party applications to fulfill the user requests. Building a skill to log an Incident in ISM
How is Skill Executed in Luma
Now, that we understand the components of a Skill, let us now understand how does Skill execution works.
When an End-user initiates a Luma skill, from any of the supported channels using user phrases, NLP Engine processes the phrase and calculates the confidence score of the phrase against existing skills.
The score is then evaluated against the thresholds defined for your Tenant, and the best-suited skill is selected for execution.
If the skill is invoked through a command, NLP is bypassed, and the skill corresponding to the command is directly identified for execution.
Once the skill is identified, prompts defined in the attributes are triggered, to gather information required for the skill. This information captured in Attributes could be passed to Integration/Web Service Operations to fulfill the user's request on external systems.
Customizing Welcome Skills and Small Talk experience
When creating a Custom skill in Luma Bot Builder, you will need the following details:
Actions or activities to be performed by the skill, such as Reset password, Log a Ticket, Get required information etc.
Inputs required from the end-user to process the request
Set of user phrases that end-user may use to request for the skill
Users/Group of users who should have access to execute the skill.
Based on the above information, Administrators or Skill developers can create custom skills in Luma Bot builder. These skills, when published, are available for the end-user to execute through a configured Chat channel.
To build a custom skill in Luma Bot builder, follow the below steps:
Navigate to Bot menu → Skill Builder.
Click on the Create Skill.
On the Skill details screen, add Skill details such as Name, Category, and Description.
Add KPI Metrics information, indicating how the skill adds value to the organization.
Click Next. On the Invocation Type, select “User Phrase“ and add the User Phrase that can be used to trigger the skill.
Select Command, if you want the skill to be triggered directly with a quick command. This by-passes NLP processing to identify the skill. Skill corresponding to the command is directly executed.
Click Next to add Conversation Flow,
Build the Conversation Flow by adding User prompts, Integrations, Condition Rules, Messages and Suggest Skills as required.
Click Save to finish building the skill.
The next step is to add permission to the skill. Click on Permission and the Users or Groups who should be able to execute the Skill.
Do a Build and Publish to make the skill available in Virtual Agent.
Once the skill is Published, Go to the Test Widget to test the skill. Click on Debug Logs and execute the skill to view the runtime Skill execution logs.
Your skill is now ready to use. Go to Conversation History to view the list of conversations where the end-user requests the skill.
| Info |
|---|
Points to Note:
|
For beginners, here are a few examples of simple Skills for reference:
Creating a FAQ Skill: Build a skill in Luma Virtual Agent Skill Builder that answers a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) such as ‘What are the Help desk support hours?’
Automatically redirect user request to a required Support group: Develop a skill in Skill Builder to identify the Support group and executes the ‘Transfer to Agent’ skill with the required support group to handle the user query using Ruleset conditions.