Virtual Agent–Voice

Feature Overview

Virtual Agent–Voice (VAV) feature, which was referred to as Customer Virtual Assistant (CVA) in 12.5(1) release, enables the IVR platform to integrate with cloud-based speech services. This feature supports human-like interactions that enable customers to resolve issues quickly and more efficiently within the IVR, thereby reducing the calls directed toward agents.


Note
The Dialogflow ES GCP project trial version should not be used in a production environment.

VAV-based IVR enables a new mechanism to leverage cloud-based-AI-enabled speech services. VAV provides the following speech services:

  • Text-to-Speech: Integration with cloud-based TTS services in your application for Speech Synthesis operations. VAV currently supports Google Text to Speech service.

  • Speech-to-Text: Integration with cloud-based ASR services in your application for Speech Recognition operations. VAV currently supports Google Speech to Text service.

  • Speech-to-Intent: VAV provides capability of identifying the intent of customer utterances by processing the text that is received from Speech-to-Text operations. VAV offers this service by using cloud-based Natural Language Understanding (NLU) services. VAV currently supports Google Dialogflow service.

For accessing VAV functionality, Cisco Virtualized Voice Browser (VVB) uses one of the following connectors to leverage AI services:

Cloud-based connector: VVB uses a cloud-based connector to connect to the Cisco CCAI service. This service is enabled through the VirtualAgentVoice element of Cisco Unified Call Studio. VAV currently supports Google's Dialogflow CX service via cloud-based connector.

Premise-based connector: VVB uses an original connector to connect to the Google Dialogflow service. This service is enabled through the Dialogflow or DialogflowCX elements of Cisco Unified Call Studio. VAV currently supports Google's Dialogflow ES and CX services via premise-based connector.


Note

You can configure the Virtual Agent–Voice (VAV) feature of VVB 12.5(1) keeping the Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Controller in 12.0 version (as in multistage upgrade). However, in this case, the configuration user interface for the VAV service account will not be available in the Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Administration. So, System Administrators can use the Command Execution Pane for such configurations.

For more information, see the Command Execution Pane section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

Onboarding Experience

From 12.6(1) release, the VAV feature provides different onboarding experience for OEM users (who use Cisco's contract, billing, and support for Google's speech services) via Webex Control Hub. For details, see the Create a Contact Center AI configuration article. Non-OEM users use NOAMP in the Unified CCE solution and CCE Administration Portal in the Packaged CCE solution for onboarding.

The following table lists the onboarding channel and Google APIs used for OEM and non-OEM customers:

Release

Services Billing

Onboarding

Google APIs
12.6(1) and above Cisco-billed (OEM) and Vendor-billed (non-OEM) Webex Control Hub AnalyzeContent (V2)
12.6(1) and above Vendor-billed (non-OEM) NOAMP/CCEAdmin DetectIntent (V2)

The following table lists the support for VAV Dialogflow CX and VAV Dialogflow ES via cloud-based or premise-based connectors for OEM and non-OEM customers:

VAV Dialogflow CX (OEM)

VAV Dialogflow ES (OEM)

VAV Dialogflow CX (Non-OEM)

VAV Dialogflow ES (Non-OEM)
Via cloud-based connector Yes (12.6(2) and above) No Yes (12.6(2) and above) No
Via premise-based connector Yes (12.6(1) and above) Yes (12.6(1) and above) Yes (12.6(2) and above) Yes (12.6(1) and above)

VAV via Cloud-Based Connector

Overview

Virtual Agent–Voice via cloud-based connector leverages Cisco's cloud-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) services for designing virtual voice agents and creating complex IVR call flows.

The Webex Contact Center AI (Webex CCAI) services platform enables integration with speech-based services from different vendors. On the premise side, VVB interfaces with the Orchestrator service and connects to the CCAI service via cloud-based connector. This service is enabled through the VirtualAgentVoice element of Cisco Unified Call Studio.

Figure 1. Contact Center AI Services Architecture

Note

Webex Contact Center Enterprise leverages Webex Contact Center AI (WCCAI) Cloud Orchestration Platform (Universal Harnes) for AI services.

For details of the VirtualAgentVoice element, refer to the Element Specifications for Cisco Unified CVP VXML Server and Call Studio guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-programming-reference-guides-list.html.

The partial response feature is supported via cloud-based connector. It notifies the caller that their request is being processed. By default, the partial prompt will stop playing when the final response is received from the webhook. For more information, see the Configure Partial Response in Dialogflow CX article.

Important Considerations

Consider the following before configuring VAV via a cloud-based connector:

  • Supported codec is u-law.

  • This feature is available with Cisco-Billed and Vendor-Billed (Non-OEM) subscription services.

  • Google performs the voice activity detection.

  • If the call gets transferred to a real agent, then the transcript of the voice conversation between the customer and the virtual voice agent is displayed in the Transcript widget in the Agent Desktop (provided that the Transcript widget is configured on the Agent Desktop).

  • Non barge-in prompt is supported only until the control gets transferred to the cloud.

Prerequisites

To configure VAV via cloud-based connector, you should have completed the following:

Procedure

CCE (on premise):

CCAI (in Cisco Webex Control Hub):

For further assistance, contact Cisco Support.

What to do next

Configure Google Dialogflow CX Agent with Cisco Unified CCE solution.

Configuration Task Flow

Task flow for configuring Google Dialogflow CX Agent with Cisco Unified CCE solution.

Procedure

Step 1

Ensure that the Cloud Connect publisher and subscriber nodes are installed.

For more information, see the Create VM for Cloud Connect Publisher and Create VM for Cloud Connect Subscriber sections in Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Installation and Upgrade Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-installation-guides-list.html.

Step 2

Register and add Cloud Connect in Control Hub. For more details, see https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/n24wo0fb/Register-Cloud-Connect.

Step 3

Register Cloud Connect in the Unified CCE Administration console to establish a secure and trusted communication channel between the Cisco Contact Center on-premises deployment and cloud services.

For details, see the Cloud Connect Administration section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html..

Step 4

Configure Cloud Connect with CVP and VVB devices in Unified CCE Administration. For details, see Configure Cloud Connect section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

Note

 

After an upgrade, Cloud Connect has to be reconfigured with VVB devices.

Step 5

Import the Cloud Connect certificate to the CVP server.

For details, see the Unified CVP Security > Import Cloud Connect Certificate to Unified CVP Keystore section in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.

Step 6

View the default CCAI configuration (created as part of CCAI prerequisites). If required, synchronize the configuration (using Sync option) in Unified CCE Administration.

For details, see the Manage Features > Contact Center AI Configuration section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

Step 7

Design Google Dialogflow CX application.

For more information, refer to Google documentation at https://dialogflow.cloud.google.com/cx/projects.

For further assistance, contact the Cisco TAC team.

Step 8

To use the regionalised media support, see the Regional Media Data Center Region Mapping section.

Hybrid IVR with VAV via Cloud-Based Connector

Dialogflow CX enables contact centers to use cloud-based AI features via Cisco Cloud. With Cisco's Hybrid IVR functionality, customers who have on-premises applications can leverage their traditional ASR/TTS/CRM integrations, along with cloud-based Dialogflow CX AI capabilities. They can select a few nodes or sections of their application to be processed in the cloud and few nodes to be processed on-premises. For example, in an application, OTP (Open Time Password) generation can be performed on-premises, while other tasks can be processed in the cloud.

Hybrid IVR with Dialogflow CX provides the flexibility to switch from the cloud services to the on-premises application, to use the on-premises subroutine calls, and perform the required operations. After these operations are done, the flow can go back to the cloud services and resume from where it left.

The switching between the cloud services and the on-premises application is achieved by defining a custom payload with an event and associated parameters. This custom payload is passed to the on-premises application. When the flow resumes in the cloud, Dialogflow CX uses the event and parameters that are received from the on-premises application.

The VirtualAgentVoice element of Cisco Unified Call Studio is used to engage the Google Dialogflow CX services with Hybrid IVR functionality via Cisco Cloud.

To configure the Hybrid IVR functionality with Dialogflow CX, see Configure Hybrid IVR.


Note

  • Hybrid IVR and IVR transcription functionalities are available only with Dialogflow CX from 12.6(2) and higher.

  • The VirtualAgentVoice element supports both Cisco DTMF and Nuance adapters.

Configure Hybrid IVR

Task flow to configure Hybrid IVR with Google Dialogflow CX agent via Cisco Cloud:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Google Dialogflow CX console, select the project and the agent.

Step 2

In the Google Dialogflow CX agent screen, under the Build tab, select the required flow and the required page (Start/End Flow/End Session) in this flow, in which a fulfillment is needed from the on-premises application. The details of the selected page appears.

Step 3

Under Routes section, define a route and conditions that satisfy the custom exit criteria, for triggering the transition.

Step 4

In this route, under Fulfillment section, click Add dialogue option and select Custom payload.

Note

 

Only Custom payload has to be defined here. Do not add any other dialogue options.

Step 5

Add the custom payload of type Execute_Request that defines the action and elements to be filled in the Unified Call Studio VirtualAgentVoice element.

The format for defining the custom payload is as follows:


{"Execute_Request":{        
                   "Event_Name": "<Name of the event>",
                   "Data" : {        
                            "Params":{
                                     "<param1 name>": "<param1 value>",
                                     "<param2 name>": "<param2 value>"
                                     }        
                            }
                  }
}

Note

 

Ensure that you map this event name with the same event name in Unified Call Studio VirtualAgentVoice element for decision mapping.

Step 6

Select Page under the Transition section, to set the transition to the same page when the flow resumes.

Step 7

For re-entry from the on-premises application to cloud, create an event handler. This event name is to be provided to the VirtualAgentVoice element during re-entry. For more information, refer to https://cloud.google.com/dialogflow/cx/docs/reference/rest/v3/EventHandler.

It’s the responsibility of the Dialogflow CX developer to create this event handler. Otherwise, the application fails.

VAV via Premise-Based Connector

Virtual Agent–Voice via premise-based connector leverages Google's cloud-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) services for designing virtual voice agents and creating complex IVR call flows.

VAV currently supports two flavors of Google Dialogflow services via premise-based connector:

VAV for Dialogflow CX

Overview

Virtual Agent–Voice for Dialogflow CX leverages Google's Dialogflow CX service that allows designing virtual voice agents and creating and connecting complex IVR call flows.

Using Google Dialogflow CX, multiple agents can be created under the same Project ID. These agents can be accessed and managed for different lines of business with a single Google account. For more information, refer to the Google Dialogflow CX documentation at https://cloud.google.com/dialogflow/cx/docs.

VVB uses a premise-based connector to connect to the Google Dialogflow service. This service is enabled through the DialogflowCX element of Cisco Unified Call Studio.

For details of the DialogflowCX element, refer to the Element Specifications for Cisco Unified CVP VXML Server and Call Studio, Release 12.6(1) guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-programming-reference-guides-list.html.


Note

  • Only u-law codec is supported.

  • This feature is available with Cisco subscription services and Vendor-billed (Non-OEM).

Prerequisites

For supported minimum versions, refer to the Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal > New Features > Virtual Agent–Voice for Dialogflow CX section in the Release Notes for Cisco Contact Center Enterprise Solutions Release 12.6(1).


Note

Ensure that the Packaged CCE AW and Cloud Connect Components have access to Webex services and the VVB components have access to both Webex and Google services to use the Virtual Agent-Voice for Dialogflow CX via premise-based connector.

To configure Google Dialogflow CX, you should have completed the following procedures:

What to do next

Configure Google Dialogflow CX Agent with Cisco Unified CCE solution.

Configuration Task Flow

Task flow for configuring the Google Dialogflow CX Agent with Cisco Packaged CCE solution.

Procedure

Step 1

Ensure that the Cloud Connect publisher and subscriber nodes are installed.

For more information, see the Create VM for Cloud Connect Publisher and Create VM for Cloud Connect Subscriber sections in Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Installation and Upgrade Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-installation-guides-list.html.

Step 2

Register Cloud Connect in the Unified CCE Administration console to establish a secure and trusted communication channel between the Cisco Contact Center on-premises deployment and cloud services.

For details, see the Cloud Connect Administration section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html..

Step 3

Configure Cloud Connect with CVP and VVB devices in Unified CCE Administration. For details, see Configure Cloud Connect section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

Step 4

Import the Cloud Connect certificate to the CVP server.

For details, see the Unified CVP Security > Import Cloud Connect Certificate to Unified CVP Keystore section in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.

Step 5

Create Contact Center AI (CCAI) configuration in Cisco Webex Control Hub at https://admin.webex.com. A CCAI configuration leverages CCAI Connectors to invoke the CCAI services.

For detailed steps to set up Integration Connectors, see the https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/9zvadfb/Configure-Google-CCAI-connector-for-Webex-Contact-Center article.

For detailed steps to create CCAI configuration, see the Create a Contact Center AI configuration article. This default config can be used for accessing multiple AI services on multiple devices.

Step 6

View the default CCAI configuration. If required, synchronize the configuration (using Sync option) in Unified CCE Administration.

For details, see the Manage Features > Contact Center AI Configuration section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

Step 7

Design Google Dialogflow CX Agents. For more information, refer to Google documentation at https://dialogflow.cloud.google.com/cx/projects.

Step 8

Configure a welcome event for all Google Dialogflow CX Agents. For details, see Create a Welcome Event.

Note

 

  • You can configure custom events to override the default welcome event. Provide the element data event_name in the Dialogflow CX element and ensure that you configure the same name in the CX Agent to start the flow. For instructions, see Configure custom events in Dialogflow CX.

  • For further assistance, contact Cisco Support.

Create a Conversation Profile using Google Cloud SDK

Note

The steps in the following procedure are for reference only. For more details, refer to Google Documentation.
Procedure

Step 1

Get the agent ID:

  1. Open https://dialogflow.cloud.google.com/cx/projects.

  2. Select the appropriate project. The list of configured agents is displayed.

  3. Note the agent ID to be configured. If no new agents are created, you can select a preconfigured agent.

Step 2

Create a user via Google IAM (Identity and Access Management) and add the following roles: Dialogflow API admin, Service Account Token Creator, and Service Account user .

For more information, see https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/creating-managing-service-accounts.

Step 3

Install and configure the Google SDK on your system.

For more information, see https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/quickstart.

Step 4

When you are asked to log in during the installation of Google SDK, log in using the ID of the agent for whom you want to create the conversation profile.

Note

 
You can also log in using the same ID to the GCP CLI with the command gcloud auth login after installing the Google SDK.

Step 5

Run the following command: gcloud auth print-access-token --impersonate-service-account=Service Account ID

For more information, see https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/impersonating-service-accounts.

Step 6

Create the conversation profile using REST API for Dialogflow by using Postman:

  1. In the Postman workspace, select the method as POST.

  2. In the URL field, add the address in the following format after replacing the regionId and projectId appropriately: https://<regionId>-dialogflow.googleapis.com/v2beta1/projects/<projectId>/locations/<regionId>/conversationProfiles

  3. Under the Headers section, add the following key values for Authorization and Content-type:

    • Authorization: Bearer <token generated with the Google command>

    • Content-type: application/json

  4. Under the Body section, select raw. From the last dropdown, select JSON.

  5. In the code space, enter the following code (after replacing the regionId, projectId, and agentId in the agent tag with actual values): 

    {
"name": "TACCXTest",
"automatedAgentConfig": {
    "agent": "projects/<projectId>/locations/<regionId>/agents/<agentId>”
    },
"displayName": "TACCXTest",
"humanAgentAssistantConfig": {
    "messageAnalysisConfig": {    
        "enableEntityExtraction": true,
        "enableSentimentAnalysis": true
        }
    }
}

  6. Click Send to run the command.

    Example response:

    {
"name": "projects/projectrtp2020/locations/us-central1/conversationProfiles/QlO36mwSUa3cjg",
"displayName": "TACCXTest",
"automatedAgentConfig": {
"agent": "projects/projectrtp2020/locations/us-central1/agents/40d0-aa2a-1bf453d9bf5c/environments/draft"
    },
"humanAgentAssistantConfig": {
"notificationConfig": {},
"messageAnalysisConfig": {
"enableEntityExtraction": true,
"enableSentimentAnalysis": true
        }
    },
"languageCode": "en-US"
}

    In the above example response, the following conversation profile is obtained: projects/projectrtp2020/locations/us-central1/conversationProfiles/dQlO36mwSUa3cjg.

    You can use this profile while creating the Control Hub configuration.

For more information, see https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference.

Step 7

Create the conversation profile using REST API for Dialogflow by using Postman:

  1. Add headers: Content-type Application/json.

  2. Authorization: Bearer - add the token generated with the Google command.

  3. Add the method as POST.

  4. In the URL section, add the address after replacing the regionId and the projectId appropriately. The address is in the following format: https://<regionId>-dialogflow.googleapis.com/v2beta1/projects/<projectId>/locations/<regionId>/conversationProfiles

  5. In the body section, choose RAW and JSON.

  6. In the Agent tag, use the appropriate regionId, projectId, and agentId. 

{
"name": "TACCXTest",
"automatedAgentConfig": {
"agent": "projects/<projectId>/locations/<regionId>/agents/<agentId>”
},
"displayName": "TACCXTest",
"humanAgentAssistantConfig": {
"messageAnalysisConfig": {
"enableEntityExtraction": true,
"enableSentimentAnalysis": true
}
}
}

Example response:

{
"name": "projects/tacprojectrtp2020/locations/us-central1/conversationProfiles/dCv4lC1uQlO36mwSUa3cjg",
"displayName": "TACCXTest",
"automatedAgentConfig": {
"agent": "projects/tacprojectrtp2020/locations/us-central1/agents/5cca975a-bbb3-40d0-aa2a-1bf453d9bf5c/environments/draft"
    },
"humanAgentAssistantConfig": {
"notificationConfig": {},
"messageAnalysisConfig": {
"enableEntityExtraction": true,
"enableSentimentAnalysis": true
        }
    },
"languageCode": "en-US"
}

This is the conversation profile that you obtain in the example. projects/tacprojectrtp2020/locations/us-central1/conversationProfiles/dCv4lC1uQlO36mwSUa3cjg. You can use this profile while creating the Control Hub configuration.

For more information, see https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference.

Step 8

In a new browser tab, open https://agentassist.cloud.google.com/ and select the appropriate project. The list of profiles is displayed.

Step 9

Click the copy icon next to the profile ID to be used. Copy the profile URL in the following format: projects/<project_ID>/locations/<location>/conversationProfiles/<profile ID>.

You can use this profile URL while creating the Control Hub configuration.
Create a Welcome Event

Create a welcome event to be played to the caller when a call is initiated.

Procedure

Step 1

Open https://dialogflow.cloud.google.com/cx/projects.

Step 2

Select the project and agent for which the welcome event is to be configured.

Step 3

In the Google Dialogflow CX Agent screen, click Default Start Flow in the left panel.

Step 4

Click Start > Event handlers.

Step 5

In the right panel, click Add event handler.

Step 6

Check the Use custom event checkbox.

Step 7

In the Custom Event textbox, type welcome_event.

Step 8

In the Agent says textbox, type the welcome message to be played.

Step 9

Save the changes.

Note

 

To override the default welcome event, provide the element data event_name in the DialogflowCX element. The same name must be configured in the CX Agent to start the flow.

VAV for Dialogflow ES


Note
The Diaglogflow ES GCP project trial version should not be used in a production environment.

Dialogflow ES via VVB (OEM Users)

Overview

Virtual Agent–Voice (VAV) feature provides an enhanced onboarding experience to OEM customers via Webex Control Hub. All contract, billing, and support are managed through Cisco for OEM customers and they can use Cisco services coupled with Google’s cloud-based-AI-enabled speech services.

A single config ID generated via Control Hub can be leveraged across all CVP/VVB instances as compared to the earlier experience where each instance was required to be configured individually.

From 12.5(1) release, OEM users use NOAMP in Unified CCE solution, and Single Pane of Glass (SPOG) in Packaged CCE solution for VAV onboarding.

The following table lists the onboarding channel and Google APIs used for non-OEM customers:

Release

Services Billing

Onboarding

Google APIs

12.6(1) and 12.6(2)

Cisco-billed (OEM)

Webex Control Hub

AnalyzeContent (V2)
Prerequisites

The prerequisites for configuring Virtual Agent–Voice for OEM users are:


Note

If you are using 12.5 and higher, you are required to use Single Pane of Glass (SPOG) based onboarding for Packaged CCE solution for VAV onboarding and NOAMP based onboarding for Unified CCE solution for VAV onboarding.

VAV Onboarding for OEM Users Task Flow

Follow this procedure to provision Google CCAI with Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise. A single configuration created via Control Hub can be used for accessing multiple AI services, such as VAV and Agent Answers on multiple devices.

Procedure

Step 1

Create a CCAI configuration in Cisco Webex Control Hub at https://admin.webex.com. A CCAI configuration leverages CCAI Connectors to invoke the CCAI services.

For details, see the Create a Contact Center AI configuration article. This default config can be used for accessing multiple AI services on multiple devices.

Note

 

While creating a CCAI configuration (explained in the article Create a Contact Center AI configuration):

  • Skip the creation of conversation profile.

  • Select the Apply as default for Virtual Agent configuration, because it is mandatory for ASR and TTS.

Step 2

Ensure that the Cloud Connect publisher and subscriber are installed.

For more information, see the Create VM for Cloud Connect Publisher and Create VM for Cloud Connect Subscriber sections in Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Installation and Upgrade Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-installation-guides-list.html.

Step 3

Register Cloud Connect in the Unified CCE Administration console to establish a secure and trusted communication channel between the Cisco Contact Center on-premises deployment and cloud services.

For details, see the Cloud Connect Administration section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html..

Step 4

Configure Cloud Connect with CVP and VVB devices in Unified CCE Administration. For details, see Configure Cloud Connect section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

Step 5

Import the Cloud Connect certificate to the CVP server.

For details, see the Unified CVP Security > Import Cloud Connect Certificate to Unified CVP Keystore section in the Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.

Step 6

View the default CCAI configuration (created in step 1). If required, synchronize the configuration (using Sync option) in Unified CCE Administration.

For details, see the Manage Features > Contact Center AI Configuration section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.


Note

To change or override the default config (created in step 1), configure the CCAI.configId property of the Dialogflow element in Call Studio.

For details, see the Dialogflow Element > Custom VoiceXML Properties section in the Element Specifications for Cisco Unified CVP VXML Server and Call Studio at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-programming-reference-guides-list.html.

Migration for OEM Users

OEM users migrating from 12.5(1) or 12.5(1a) to 12.6(1) must onboard via Webex Control Hub for better experience and enhanced security. They can continue to use the old method of key generation by retaining their old configurations until their onboarding via Webex Control Hub is complete.

Important Considerations

VVB periodically refreshes the CCAI configurations. Whenever these configurations are changed in the Control Hub, it may take upto 10 minutes for the changes to reflect in VVB. For applying the changes instantly, you need to restart the VVB speech server service.

Dialogflow ES via VVB (Non-OEM Users)

Overview

From 12.5(1) release, non-OEM users use NOAMP in Unified CCE solution, and CCE Administration Portal in Packaged CCE solution for VAV onboarding.

The following table lists the onboarding channel and Google APIs used for non-OEM customers:

Release

Services Billing

Onboarding

Google APIs

12.6(1) and 12.6(2)

 Vendor-billed (non-OEM) NOAMP/CCEAdmin DetectIntent (V2)
Prerequisites

Note

Ensure that the VVB components have access to Google services to use the Virtual Agent-Voice for Dialogflow ES via VVB (non OEM users).


Note
Trial version of Dialogflow ES GCP project should not be used in production environment.
VAV Onboarding for Non-OEM Users Task Flow
Procedure

Step 1

Enable speech services for your account.

To know more about enabling speech services, see Enable Speech Services (For Non-OEM Users).

Step 2

Generate JSON key for your account.

To know more about generating JSON key, see Generate JSON Key (for Non-OEM Users).

Step 3

Configure VVB devices for speech services.

For details, see the Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal > Operations Console (NOAMP) > Contact Center AI > Configuration for Vendor-Billed AI Services section in the Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.

Enable Speech Services (For Non-OEM Users)

To enable speech services, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your Dialogflow account at https://dialogflow.cloud.google.com/.

  2. Scroll down on the homepage and click Project ID of your Dialogflow agent.

    This takes you to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) homepage.

  3. Select APIs & Services from the left pane (through the hamburger menu).

  4. Select the API services (such as Cloud Text-to-Speech, Cloud Speech-to-Text, and Dialogflow) to be enabled.

  5. Click Enable to enable the selected API for the given Project ID.

Generate JSON Key (for Non-OEM Users)

To generate the JSON key, follow these steps:

  1. In the GCP homepage, select IAM & Admin from the left pane (through the hamburger menu).

  2. Select Service accounts which shows the list of your enabled services.

  3. Select the service for which the JSON key is to be generated.

  4. Click the ellipsis menu on the right and click +Create Key.

  5. Select JSON as Key type and then click Create.

    The key is downloaded.

For best results:

  • Migrate your Dialogflow Agent to Enterprise Essential (Console Left Bar > Migrate from Standard to Enterprise Essential).

  • Enable the enhanced Speech Model in Dialogflow console (Settings > Speech > Enable Enhanced Speech Model and Data Logging).

If this option is enabled, speech recognition data is shared with Google. For more information see https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/enhanced-models.

Documentation Resources

The following table lists the reference documents for VAV.

Information

Resource

Sample VAV Application

See https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/cvp-sample-code/tree/master/CustomerVirtualAssistant.

Design Considerations

Design Considerations for Integrated Features > Virtual Agent–Voice Considerations section in Solution Design Guide

at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-implementation-design-guides-list.html.

VAV configuration in PCCE Deployment

Virtual Agent–Voice section in PCCE Administration and Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

TTS Prompt Cache Management and proxy setting for Speech Server

VVB Operations Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/virtualized-voice-browser/products-maintenance-guides-list.html.

Proxy settings for VXML Server

See the VXML Server Configuration > Proxy Settings in VXML Server for Virtual Agent–Voice section in CVP Configuration Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.

Configuration of Call Studio elements for VAV

The following chapters in CVP Element Specification Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-customer-voice-portal/products-programming-reference-guides-list.html:

  • Dialogflow Element

  • DialogflowIntent Element

  • DialogflowParam Element

  • Transcribe Element

VAV Speech Configuration APIs

See VAV Speech Configuration section in VVB Developer Guide at https://developer.cisco.com/site/customer-voice-portal/documents/virtual-voice-browser/.

Regional Media Data Center Region Mapping

Contact Center Enterprise (CCE) now extends support for regional media across all supported data centre locations. This feature allows both customer and agent media (including audio and SIP signalling) to remain local to a specific geographic region, irrespective of the location of the CCAI cloud services data center tenant or home location.

To utilize regional media from a country or location that differs from your customer’s organization, it is necessary to configure the appropriate variables in the SIP profile. This configuration should be done within the Session Border Controller (SBC) for both Virtual Agent-Voice and Agent Answers.

To enable regional media, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Access the SBC console and modify the existing SIP profile configuration, which was used during the setup of both Virtual Agent-Voice and Agent Answers. For more information, see Create a SIP Profile at the Dial-Peer Level in CUBE.

Step 2

Run the following command to add the X-Cisco-Clusterid variable. This variable is added using a custom SIP header in the outgoing INVITE request as shown below:

Syntax:
request INVITE sip-header Call-Info add "X-Cisco-Clusterid : rtmsClusterId = <Regional Media Variable> ; wxccClusterId = <Cisco CCAI Services Variable>"

The x-Cisco-Clusterid variable requires the following key values:

  • rtmsClusterId: The value of the variable used for Regional Media data center.

  • wxccClusterId: The value of the variable used for CCAI cloud services data center.

Example: 
request INVITE sip-header Call-Info add "X-Cisco-Clusterid : rtmsClusterId = US1 ; wxccClusterId = US1"

The following tables list the variables associated with regional media data centers located in different countries. If your region is not listed below, ensure that you select the nearest data center location applicable to your region.

Important

 

Ensure that you input the values of the variable exactly as they are specified in the tables below. These values are case sensitive. Any discrepancies in the values could potentially lead to data loss or system downtime. Therefore, it is crucial to verify these values before implementing them in a production environment.

Table 1. Data Center Location - APAC

S. No

Country of Operation

Regional Media Data Center

Regional Media Variable

Cisco CCAI Services Variable

Default Regional Media Variable

Default Cisco CCAI Services Variable

1

Australia

Australia

AS1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

2

Indonesia

Singapore

SN1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

3

Jordan

United Kingdom

UK1

EU1

UK1

EU1

4

Malaysia

Singapore

SN1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

5

New Zealand

Australia

ANZ1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

6

Philippines

Singapore

SN1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

7

Singapore

Singapore

SN1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

8

South Korea

Japan

JA1

JP1

AS1

ANZ1

9

Thailand

Singapore

SN1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

10

Vietnam

Singapore

SN1

ANZ1

AS1

ANZ1

11

Japan

Japan

JA1

JP1

JA1

JP1
Table 2. Data Center Location - EMEA

S. No

Country of Operation

Regional Media Data Center

Regional Media Variable

Cisco CCAI Services Variable

Default Regional Media Variable

Cisco CCAI Services Variable

1

Austria

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

2

Belgium

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

3

Bulgaria

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

4

Croatia

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

5

Cyprus

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

6

Czech Republic

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

7

Denmark

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

8

Estonia

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

9

Finland

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

10

France

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

11

Georgia

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

12

Germany

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

13

Greece

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

14

Hungary

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

15

Ireland

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

16

Italy

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

17

Latvia

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

18

Lithuania

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

19

Luxembourg

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

20

Malta

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

21

Netherlands

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

22

Norway

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

23

Poland

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

24

Portugal

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

25

Romania

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

26

Slovakia

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

27

Slovenia

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

28

Spain

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

29

Sweden

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

30

Switzerland

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

31

Ukraine

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2

32

United Arab Emirates

Germany

GM1

EU2

GM1

EU2
33

Saudi Arabia

United Kingdom

UK1

EU1

UK1

EU1

34

South Africa

United Kingdom

UK1

EU1

UK1

EU1

35

South Sudan

United Kingdom

UK1

EU1

UK1

EU1

36

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

UK1

EU1

UK1

EU1
Table 3. Data Center Location - AMER

S. No

Country of Operation

Regional Media Data Center

Regional Media Variable

Cisco CCAI Services Variable

Default Regional Media Variable

Default Cisco CCAI Services Variable

1

Argentina

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

2

Aruba

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

3

Bahamas

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

4

Belize

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

5

Bermuda

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

6

Brazil

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

7

Caymen Islands

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

8

Chile

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

9

Colombia

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

10

Costa Rica

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

11

Curacao

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

12

Dominican Republic

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

13

Ecuador

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

14

El Salvador

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

15

Guatemala

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

16

Honduras

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

17

India

India

IN1

EU1

US1

US1

18

Jamaica

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

19

Mexico

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

20

Nicaragua

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

21

Panama

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

22

Peru

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

23

Puerto Rico

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

24

Trinidad and Tobago

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

25

United States

United States

US1

US1

US1

US1

26

Canada

Canada

CA1

CA1

CA1

CA1

Step 3

To ensure connection with the Cisco Finesse gadget, you must enable the POD.ID Extended Call Context (ECC) variable in Unified CCE Configuration Manager > List Tools > Expanded Call Variables List.