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Setting up the IVA for Web Messaging

Updated on September 25, 2023

Enable users to interact with Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant™ (IVA) from a chat window that you embed in a webpage. As a result, you give users another method to interact with your application and help to address reported issues more efficiently.

For example, when customers use an embedded chat window of a website to report a missing part for their purchased mobile phone, your chatbot can respond by asking for more details about the issue and automatically starting a service request case in the application. If you define multiple messaging accounts for your Digital Messaging channel, you can also give users an option to switch from the chat window to another messaging platform, such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, for your application.
Before you begin:
You access Digital Messaging Manager in the Digital Messaging channel to configure individual messaging accounts from one place for your application.

If your security team requires JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication for communication between your IVA for Digital Messaging and social messaging platforms, you can configure this alternative security method for your channel. JWT authentication is an industry-standard method that permits the sender to sign a request with a unique token that the receiver later verifies, to ensure that the obtained request is valid and that the token did not expire. For Pega Customer Service 8.6 and higher, JWT is the default authentication method. The system automatically selects the JWT authentication method in the Digital Messaging security configuration in your instance, and in Digital Messaging Service.

Note:
  • You configure the languages in which the Web Messaging widget can interact with users by defining the list of supported languages in the Digital Messaging channel. For more information, see Creating a Digital Messaging channel.
  • After you update Pega Platform or Pega Customer Service, to use the latest Digital Messaging Manager features, save your existing Digital Messaging channel.
Note: To learn about accessing website data, for example, tags and cookies for your chatbot, see Accessing website data when using Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) for Web Messaging.

For relevant training materials and to test this feature on a virtual Pega instance, see the Configuring Digital Messaging Manager module and the Creating a Digital Messaging interface challenge on Pega Academy.

  1. In the navigation pane of App Studio, click Channels.
  2. In the Current channel interfaces section, click the icon that represents your existing Digital Messaging channel.
  3. In the Digital Messaging channel, click the Connection tab.
  4. Click Manage connections.
  5. In the Digital Messaging Manager window, click Add Connection, and then click the Web Messaging icon.
  6. Configure general settings for the Web Messaging widget:
    1. On the General tab, in the Name field, enter a name for the Web Messaging account.
    2. In the Chat headings section, in the Language list, select a language for the chat heading.
    3. In the Chat heading field, enter a heading that the system displays in the chat window.
    4. Optional: To define a heading in an additional language, click Add chat heading for another language, and then repeat steps 6.b through 6.c.
      You can define a heading in additional languages based on the list of supported languages for the Digital Messaging channel.
    5. Click Save.
      Result: The system displays information that the new Web Messaging account was successfully registered.
  7. Configure sound notifications when messages arrive in the chat window:
    1. In the Sound notifications section, in the Choose when to play list, select Don't Play Sound Notifications, Play On Every Message, or Play Only When Not Visible.
    2. If you selected to play a sound for every message or only when the chat window is not visible, in the Select sound list, select one of the predefined sounds.
    3. Optional: To hear the audio of the selected predefined sound, click the Play icon.
    When you enable sound notifications for the chat window, website users can also control their sounds directly from the widget menu by clicking an option to Mute or Unmute.
  8. In the Widget configuration section, configure the settings for the widget:
    1. Select the Enable emojis picker checkbox to let users insert a predefined emoji in the chat message during an interaction.
    2. Select the Display download transcript option checkbox to let users download a transcript of the current interaction.
    3. Select the Allow customer to upload and send attachments checkbox to permit users upload and send file attachments during a chat interaction.
    4. Select the Display typing indicator checkbox to display a typing indicator in the chat window to users before the system sends the chatbot response.
    5. Select the Display select language option checkbox to permit users switch to another supported language in the chat window.
      When you enable this option, users can switch between each of the supported languages for the Digital Messaging channel. For more information, see Creating a Digital Messaging channel.
    6. Select the Enable virus scanning for attachments checkbox to let the system scan file attachments uploaded during a chat interaction for viruses.
    For example:

    The following figure shows configuration settings on the General tab for Web Messaging:

    The general configuration settings for Web Messaging
    The styling settings on the Digital Messaging Manager page for Web Messaging related to company logo, widget styling configuration, and custom fonts.
  9. Adjust the Web Messaging widget appearance.
  10. Optional: To configure a list of additional channels that users can switch to from the chat window:
    1. Click the Channel switching tab.
    2. In the Channel switching control placement section, click Top right menu or Visible in header to configure where the system displays the option to switch channels.
    3. Click Add channel, and then in the Add channel window, in the Channel list, select a channel.
      For example: Select Facebook.
    4. In the Connections section, click the name of your configured channel account, and then click Submit.
    5. Add more channels by repeating steps 10.c through 10.d.
  11. Optional: To configure the chat context data to display to CSRs when they interact with users:
    1. Click the Context data tab.
    2. In the General information section, select the context data to capture during interaction with a user:
      Context dataDescription
      IP addressThe IP address of the browser session.
      LocationThe physical location based on their browser settings.
      Browser/deviceThe web browser and device type.
      Current pageThe webpage from which the user launched the chat window.
    3. Click Save.
    4. In the Tags section, in the Display Name field and the Tag field, define the tags to add to your website, and then click Add.
      Use tags to capture custom context data during an interaction with a user so that the system passes this information to a CSR. Custom tags require additional implementation on your website.
    5. Optional: To add more tags, repeat step 11.d.
  12. Optional: To configure security options for the Web Messaging widget:
    1. Click the Security tab.
    2. In the Allowed domains section, in the New domain field, enter a domain in which the system can display the Web Messaging widget, and then click Add.
      Note: If you do not specify any domains, the widget is rendered on any website.
    3. Optional: To add more domains to the list, repeat step 12.b.
    4. In the Allowed cookies section, in the New cookie field, enter a cookie name that the system allows to pass information between your website and your application.
    5. Optional: To add more cookies to the list, repeat step 12.d.
    6. Optional: To sign requests while exchanging private data, in the JWT Secret section, click Show JWT Secret, and then copy the displayed identification code to the clipboard or a file.
      You can then use the identification code to authorize requests when you exchange private data.
  13. Optional: To configure proactive chat capability, set up chat triggers for the Web Messaging widget and embed them on your website as JavaScript code snippets.
    With proactive chat your chatbot can engage with users in the Web Messaging chat window by automatically inviting them to a chat conversation based on configured rules and conditions. For more information, see Configuring proactive chat for Web Messaging.
  14. Click the Installation tab, and then copy to clipboard or a text file the displayed script code for your Web Messaging widget.
What to do next: To display the Web Messaging widget to users, add the script tag you that saved in step 14 to a page on your website, for example, above the </body> tag.

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