Set Up Intents

Intents are the core meaning behind the contact's words. They're the need or goal the contact wants to communicate or achieve. Your bot analyzes each utteranceClosed What a contact says or types. and determines the closest match from the configured intents. The bot can then respond to the contact, using the response configured in a storyClosed Used to train bot for interaction handling based on intent and context or ruleClosed Used to define bot's response to messages that don't change with context. for the matching intent.

Each time the bot predicts an intent for a contact utterance, it calculates how confident it is in the prediction. You can set the threshold that determines how confident the bot must be to proceed with its response. If the bot's confidence falls below the threshold, it will take the fallback path.

Concept Definition Example What the Bot Does
Message envelope icon

Utterance

Anything a contact says in an interaction. Sometimes called a message.

"I lost my password."

"What is my balance?"

"Are you a bot?"

 The bot uses Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to analyze each contact utterance to determine its meaning, or intent.
Magnifying glass icon

Intent

What the contact wants to communicate or accomplish. Every message the contact sends has an intent.

"I lost my password" has the intent of "reset password".

"Hello" has the intent of "greeting".

The bot analyzes a contact's message using NLUClosed This process expands on Natural Language Processing (NLP) to make decisions or take action based on what it understands. to determine the intent. Once it knows that, it can respond with a message of its own. You configure the response you want the bot to use for each intent.
Information icon

Entity

A defined piece of information in a contact's message. Person or product name, phone number, account number, location, and so on. The bot uses NLU to identify entities in a contact's message. Entities help the bot understand what the contact's message means.
Slot icon

Slot

An entity extracted from a contact's message and saved for use in bot responses. Similar to a variable. Creating a slot for contact name lets the bot use that name in responses during an interaction, making it more personal. When configured to do so, the bot extracts an entity from a contact message and saves it in a slot. You can have the bot use this information later in the conversation.
Rule icon

Rule

Defines a bot's response to messages that don't change meaning with context.
  • Single-turn interactions with fixed responses: What are your hours? What is your address?
  • Conversation building blocks: Greetings, good-byes, thank yous and transitions; simple yes/no questions; and acknowledgments. CXone Bot Builder comes with default intents and rules for several of these, including greetings, handoverClosed Any contact message that should trigger transfer to a live agent requests, and more.
  • FAQs
  • Insults and classic bot challenges
Rules are one of two ways you can configure how the bot responds to an intent. Rules are useful for certain kinds of intents, but not all intents.
Story icon

Story

Trains a bot to handle an interaction based on message intent and conversational context. In an interaction about a forgotten password, the bot would respond to, "How do I do that?" in one way. If the interaction were about creating a new account, the response would be quite different even though in both cases the contact is using the same words with the same intent – to get more information. Stories are the second of two ways you can configure how the bot responds to an intent. Stories teach the bot how to use the context of the conversation to respond appropriately.
Action icon, notated by three cogs

Bot Action

Anything a bot says or does while handling an interaction.

In an interaction about a forgotten password, the bot responds by sending the link to the password reset FAQ on the website.

When a contact expresses frustration, such as "I don't understand! It's not working!!!" the bot responds with "I'm sorry. Would you like me to transfer you to a human agent?" When the contact says yes, the bot initiates the transfer.

Actions are the options you have when defining how you want the bot to respond to each intent. They give you the flexibility to configure each response to achieve the outcome that meets the contact's needs.

Create an Intent

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.

  4. Click the Intent tab.

  5. Locate the folder your new intent should go in. You can also click New Folder icon, indicated by a plus sign inside a circle., enter a name, and press Enter.

  6. Hover the cursor over a folder and click Create intent Add icon.
    Screenshot showing entry of a new intent to be used with a slot

  7. Enter a name and press Enter.

  8. In the pane on the right, enter phrases in the New intent example field that are unique to this intent. Press Enter after each phrase. Changes are saved automatically.
    List of phrases to go with the intent value, which in this case is password.
  9. If the examples for this intent include an example of an entityClosed A piece of information gathered from the contact's messages during conversations with a bot. that your bot needs to recognize to be able to respond this intent, select the example and add it to the appropriate entity.
  10. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change. You can do more training and testing later.

Modify or Delete an Intent

Changes made to an intent are automatically saved.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.
  4. On the Intents tab, click the intent you want to work with.
  5. To modify the intent, you can: 
  6. To delete the intent, click the trash can Icon of a trash can. in the toolbar at the top of the intent on the right side of the page.

Create a Multi-Intent

Sometimes a bot must recognize two intents in a single message from the contact. You can create multi-intents for these situations.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.

  4. Click the Intent tab.

  5. Locate the folder your new intent should go in. You can also click New Folder icon, indicated by a plus sign inside a circle., enter a name, and press Enter.
  6. Hover the cursor over the folder name and click Create intentAdd icon.
    Screenshot showing entry of a new intent to be used with a slot
  7. Enter a name and press Enter. The name should contain both intents connected by a plus character ( + ). For example, in the following image, the multi-intent is thanks + goodbye .
    Screenshot showing entry of a new multi-intent with examples
  8. In the pane on the right, enter phrases in the New intent example field that are unique to this intent. Press Enter after each phrase. Changes are saved automatically. For example, for the thanks + goodbye multi-intent you could addThat works. Bye, Thanks! Talk to you later, and I appreciate your help. Good bye.
  9. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change. You can do more training and testing later.

Add, Change, or Remove Intent Training Examples

Ensure that all examples you add follow the best practices for intents and training data.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.

  4. On the Intents tab, click the intent you want to work with.

  5. Enter the example in the New intent example field and press Enter.
  6. To make changes to an existing example, hover your cursor over the example and click Edit.
  7. To remove an example, hover your cursor over the example on the intent's page and click Delete.
  8. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.

Add Intent Training Examples from a Message

You can add examples to intents from messages in the Conversations tab and the NLU Inbox. This allows you to add training data to your bot from conversations it's had with contacts. Ensure that all examples you add follow the best practices for intents and training data.

Add an Intent Example from the Conversations Tab

The Conversations tab in the Insights section of Bot Builder allows you to review entire conversations your botClosed A software application that handles customer interactions in place of a live human agent. has with contacts. As you review conversations, you may spot individual messages that are new examples of an intent. You can add them directly from the conversation.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click Insights icon, which looks like a line graph. in the left icon menu.
  4. On the Conversations tab, select a conversation from the list on the left.
    The Conversations tab, where you can review each conversation, add tags, convert to a story, and more.
  5. Hover your cursor over a message in the conversation displayed in the center of the page.
  6. Click Add message as an intent example A light bulb with a + next to it. , then select the intent you want to add it to.

  7. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.

Add Intent Example from the NLU Inbox

The NLUClosed This process expands on Natural Language Processing (NLP) to make decisions or take action based on what it understands. inbox shows all new messagesClosed Anything a contact says in a bot interaction, whether question or statement, written or spoken. that contacts have sent your bot in a single view.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.
  4. On the Intents tab, click Inbox.
  5. By default, the inbox displays all new messages. You can perform basic searches using natural language or you can write queries for more detailed results.
  6. To check the message in its conversation before adding it to the assigned intent, click Show in Conversation A square with an arrow pointing through it..
  7. For the message you want to work with, click Add to the intent A circle containing a checkmark and a +.. The message is added to the assigned intent as a training example. The message disappears from the NLU Inbox.

  8. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.

Hide a Draft Intent from Training

You can hide individual intentsClosed The meaning or purpose behind what a contact says/types; what the contact wants to communicate or accomplish. This excludes them from training until they're ready.

When hidden, the data is visible to you for editing, but your bot does not learn from it. It is also displayed with the Hidden an eye icon with a slash through it icon.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.
  4. On the Intents tab, hover your cursor over the intent and click Options icon, represented by three horizontal dots., then click Hide.

  5. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.

Release a Draft Intent to Training

When you're ready to release a draft intentsClosed The meaning or purpose behind what a contact says/types; what the contact wants to communicate or accomplish , you can unhide it and train your bot to use it.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.
  4. On the Intents tab, hover your cursor over the intent and click Options icon, represented by three horizontal dots., then click Show.

  5. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.

View Dialogues that Use an Intent

You can view a list of the stories or rules where an intent is used.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.

  4. Click the Intent tab.

  5. Select the intent you want to work with.

  6. In the toolbar at the top of the right pane, click Find in dialogues icon, indicated by a magnifying glass in a conversation bubble.. A drop-down list displays all the stories or rules that use the selected intent.
  7. Click a story or rule to view it.
  8. To return to the intent, click Go to Intent Icon of a square with an arrow in it pointing right..

Change a Message's Intent in the NLU Inbox or a Story

While reviewing conversations or messages in Bot Builder management tools such as the NLU inbox or in your stories, you might find messages that the bot has assigned an incorrect intent to. You can change the assigned intent. This improves the bot's ability to correctly identify that intent.

Change a Message's Intent in the NLU Inbox

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.
  4. On the Intents tab, click Inbox.
  5. By default, the inbox displays all new messages. You can perform basic searches using natural language or you can write queries for more detailed results.
  6. Click the intent that appears beneath the message. The drop-down list shows the intent predictions that the bot made, along with the confidence level for each one.
  7. Click the new intent you want to assign to the message.
  8. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.

Change a Message's Intent in a Story

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click Dialogues icon, which looks like conversation bubbles. in the left icon menu.

  4. On the Stories tab, click the story you want to work with.

  5. In the story's conversation panel, locate the message with the intent you want to change.
  6. Hover your cursor over the message and click Reset.
  7. Retype the message and press Enter. The bot analyzes the message and displays its best prediction of an intent. If the intent is now correct, click Confirm.
  8. If the new intent prediction is still not correct, click the intent and select the correct intent from the drop-down list. Click Confirm.
  9. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.

Change an Intent's Name or Friendly  Name

You can change an intent's name or friendly name. The friendly name is used any time the intent is communicated directly with contacts, such as for advanced NLU fallback.

  1. In CXone, click the app selector and select Bot Builder.

  2. Click the bot you want to work with.
  3. Click NLU icon, which looks like a gear inside a head silhouette. in the left icon menu.

  4. On the Intents tab, click the intent you want to work with.

  5. Click Edit Icon of a pencil. in the toolbar above the list of intent examples.
  6. To change the name that appears in Bot Builder, enter a new Name.
  7. To change the name used when communicating the intent to contacts, enter a new Friendly Name.
  8. Click Close.

  9. When you're finished making changes, click Train and Stage to update your bot modelClosed Version of a bot that has been trained and staged to test this change.