Third-party-bot-templates

1 Introduction

This repository is used to generate importable bot templates for third-party bot vendors that can be connected to LivePersons Conversational Cloud.

1.1 The problem to be solved

LivePerson offers its brands to connect third party bots to their Conversational Cloud account.

Configuring those bots in the third party vendors editors from scratch can be pretty cumbersome. Especially if rich content that needs to be displayed on different messaging channels is involved. (see next section for more information) Therefore the templates offered in this repository aim to serve as a starting point and a blueprint for LivePerson brands that want to create bots in the vendor of their choice, accustomed to the capabilities of the Conversational Cloud.

Besides that, importing a template and connecting it to a test account is a great way to discover the available functionalities of the Conversational Cloud on different messaging channels.

1.2 Bot content types

In the context of the templates the content that gets sent by the bots to the Conversational Cloud is differentiated into three categories:

a) Plain text

When a bot sends a plain text payload to the Conversational Cloud, the message text included will be displayed unchanged to the end customer.

b) Vendor actions

When a bot sends a vendor action payload to the Conversational Cloud it is not treated like a regular message. Vendor actions rather contain instructions how the Conversational Cloud should proceed with the conversation. Example results of such instructions can be the closure or the transfer of the conversation.

c) Rich content.

When a bot sends a rich content payload to the Conversational Cloud, it gets interpreted and displayed to agents and the end customer according to the LivePerson rich content definition. It is important to note that rich content that works on one channel (e.g. Facebook) likely will not work the same or at all on another channel. Therefore one should always make sure that the bot knows on which channel the conversation is held and acts accordingly. This can either be achieved by simply asking the end customer directly or using a third party bot vendor that is capable of detecting the channel automatically. (e.g. IBM Watson)

1.3 Supported vendors

Vendor	Template available?	LivePerson documentation	Import instructions
Amazon Lex	✅	Link	Link
Custom Integrations	✅	Link	⬅️ see LP-docs
Google Dialogflow CX	✅	Link	Link
Google Dialogflow ES	✅	Link	Link
IBM Watson	✅	Link	Link
Microsoft Bot Framework	✅	Link	Link
Microsoft Composer	✅ ❗ beta ❗	Link	Link
Microsoft PVA	❌	Link	❌

Bot Framework and Composer are so far only tested locally with the emulator

1.4 Conversation flow of the bots ( 🖼️ see diagram 🖼️ )

The following diagram illustrates how a conversation between a customer and a bot which is based on the templates is structured.

Click to expand diagram

2 Usage

2.1 Import instructions

See supported vendors section for links to specific import instructions of the different vendors.

2.2 Prerequisites for conversations to work

This section collects prerequisites that have to be fulfilled for certain vendor actions or rich content to work. The following tables are not a complete list of all bot contents available. They only cover those, which do not work out of the box.

a) Prerequisites for vendor actions

vendor action-name	Description	Prerequisites
Transfer to Skill	Transfers the conversation to the next available agent that is assigned to the configured skill.	- The configured skill needs to exist and an agent assigned to it needs to be online. - Default value for skill is AgentSkill. - Bot needs to have the correct permissions to transfer the conversation.
Transfer to Agent	Transfers the conversation to the configured agent. The transfer switches to transferring to the configured skill if the agent is not online.	The configured agent and the configured skill need to exist. - Default value for skill is SpecificAgentSkill. - Default value for agentId is 1005369632. - Bot needs to have the correct permissions to transfer the conversation.
Invoke Function	During a conversation, it is possible to trigger a LivePerson Function that is deployed to the LivePerson Functions (Function as a Service) platform. This provides a way to run custom logic with a bot.	See the Lex documentation (works same for all vendors) for more information.
Encoded Metadata	Conversational Cloud Messaging platform provides a new metadata input type (encodedMetadata) for passing base64 encoded metadata on a conversation. The new metadata input type is in addition to the existing conversation metadata input field.	- Messaging only. (not available in Chat conversations) - Metadata size is limited to 5000 characters. - Reach out to a LP-employee to activate this feature for your account. (provide them with this link)

b) Prerequisites for rich content

Information on how to connect messaging channels to your Conversational Cloud account:

1. Apple Business Chat
2. Facebook
3. Google Business Messages
4. Google RCS Business Messaging
5. Line
6. WhatsApp

Relevant For...	Prerequisites
...all rich content containing domains, such as images, buttons and external links.	Domains have to be whitelisted by a LP-employee. (provide them with this link)
...all rich content intended for the Facebook Messaging channel.	All domains of images, buttons and links have to be whitelisted in Facebook. For the templates to work correctly whitelist the following domains: - https://i.imgur.com/ - https://www.google.com/ - https://www.liveperson.com/ - https://www.bellaloves.me/
...Date Picker Templates for the Web channel	Only supported on Conversational Cloud accounts using UMS version 4.2, contact a LivePerson employee to validate if your account qualifies for this feature.
...Schedule Slot List Template for the Web channel	Only supported on Conversational Cloud accounts using UMS version 4.2, contact a LivePerson employee to validate if your account qualifies for this feature.

2.3 List of trigger commands 📝

Instead of navigating a conversation via quick replies, you can require specific bot content directly. This is achieved by sending the following trigger commands as a regular message into a conversation with a bot.

Expand list

Trigger command	Type	Description
close conversation	vendor action	Triggers the "Close Conversation"-vendor action.
delay message	vendor action	Triggers the "Delayed Message"-vendor action.
encoded metadata	vendor action	Triggers the "Encoded Metadata"-vendor action.
Invoke function	vendor action	Triggers the "Invoke Function"-vendor action.
transfer to agent	vendor action	Triggers the "Transfer to agent"-vendor action.
transfer to skill	vendor action	Triggers the "Transfer to Skill"-vendor action.
private message	vendor action	Triggers the "Private message"-vendor action.
apple auth	rich content-ABC	Makes the bot send an example of the Apple Auth Template.
apple custom interactive message	rich content-ABC	Makes the bot send an example of the Apple Custom Interactive Message Template.
apple list picker	rich content-ABC	Makes the bot send an example of the Apple List Picker Template.
apple pay	rich content-ABC	Makes the bot send an example of the Apple Pay Template.
apple rich links	rich content-ABC	Makes the bot send an example of the Apple Rich Links Template.
apple time picker	rich content-ABC	Makes the bot send an example of the Apple Time Picker Template.
Button Template	rich content-FB	Makes the bot send an example of the Facebook Button Template.
Carousel Template	rich content-FB	Makes the bot send an example of the Facebook Carousel Template.
facebook generic template	rich content-FB	Makes the bot send an example of the Facebook Generic Template.
Quick Replies Template	rich content-FB	Makes the bot send an example of the Facebook Quick Replies Template.
google business messages card	rich content-GBM	Makes the bot send an example of the GBM Card Template.
google business messages carousel	rich content-GBM	Makes the bot send an example of the GBM Carousel Template.
GBM quick replies	rich content-GBM	Makes the bot send an example of the GBM Quick Replies Template.
Line card	rich content-Line	Makes the bot send an example of the Line Card Template.
line carousel	rich content-Line	Makes the bot send an example of the Line Carousel Template.
line quick replies	rich content-Line	Makes the bot send an example of the Line Quick Replies Template.
rcs card	rich content-RCS	Makes the bot send an example of the Google RCS Card Template.
rcs carousel	rich content-RCS	Makes the bot send an example of the Google RCS Carousel Template.
rcs quick replies	rich content-RCS	Makes the bot send an example of the Google RCS Quick Replies Template.
web card	rich content-Web	Makes the bot send an example of the Web Card Template.
web carousel	rich content-Web	Makes the bot send an example of the Web Carousel Template.
web date picker	rich content-Web	Makes the bot send an example of the Web Date Picker Template.
web multiple checklist	rich content-Web	Makes the bot send an example of the Web Multiple Checklist Template.
web schedule slot list	rich content-Web	Makes the bot send an example of the Web Schedule Slot List Template.
whatsapp reply button	rich content-WA	Makes the bot send an example of the WhatsApp Reply Button Template.

3 About the VSC-DevContainer-Setup

For more general information about VSC-DevContainers see here.

Attention: For better performance it is recommended to clone the repository in a volume rather than opening the folder in the container.

3.1 Features of the setup

• fully functional and pre-configured Eslint setup for consistent file formatting.
• feature rich Jest extension which automatically runs tests in the background for live feedback.
• other convenient stuff like more git tooling, spell checker, proper zsh installation, markdown linting, additional preview rendering, etc