Action Basics

Actions are the building blocks of Studio scripts. A script is a network of actions that route and manage customer traffic for your contact center. Each action has a specific purpose, and together they define what a script accomplishes. There are actions that play audio files, instruct the script to wait, request an agent, and much more.

Each action represents code that has already been written. This means you don't need to be a scripting expert to create simple scripts in Studio. If you want to create more complex scripts, however, some custom scripting is required.

In the following image of an example script, you can see a series of actions linked by connector arrows. The description of this script shows how each action serves a specific purpose in the script. The description is located after the image in the drop-down.

Event Actions

Events actions execute only when a specific trigger occurs. Event triggers include things such as a call being answered, transferred, or put on hold. For example, Onanswer is an event that triggers when a request for interaction is answered, such as a contact answering a live agent's phone call or a live agent answering a contact's chat question.

When an event is triggered, any script execution that may have been happening before the trigger occurred is terminated. The script proceeds from the event action.

The following example script demonstrates the Onanswer event. The script sets up a basic inbound IVR with menu options for 1, 2, and 3. These represent the numbers the contact presses on the keypad to choose a menu option. The Onanswer event is in the bottom left corner of the script. It's not connected to the main part of the script. Instead it's separate, indicating that it's an event action. As soon as an agent answers the interaction, the script jumps to Onanswer and sends a message to the agent. The message is configured in the Messages action.

Location and Organization of Actions

In Studio, actions are located on the Actions palette and the API Actions palette. The panels slide out from the left side of the script canvas. You can click Actions or API Actions to show or hide the palette.

The Actions palette contains all of the non-API Studio actions. They're categorized to help you locate the ones you need. Each category is drop-down list that you can open or close as needed. You can also use the search bar at the top of the palette to find a specific action quickly.

API actions allow you to use CXone Mpower APIs. On the API Actions palette, you can see the name of the action and the verb associated with the API that action uses. API actions do not have online help pages. Instead, you can use the documentation for the corresponding API. You can find this documentation in the developer's portal . Not all CXone Mpower APIs have corresponding Studio actions. For some APIs, you may need to use the REST API action.

Action Availability and Media Type

Some actions are visible in Studio only if the product or feature they're related to is enabled for your CXone Mpower system. Other actions are visible only if the active script has the media type that the action requires. For example, if an action only works with chat scripts and the active script is a phone script, the action might not be visible unless you switch to a chat script.

Action Properties and Configuration

Most actions have a set of properties that you can configure. Some properties are required, while others are optional. Properties are how you customize the action to do what you need it to in your script.

You can view an action's properties when it's on the script canvas. The properties appear on the Properties panel when the action is selected. The properties panel is on the right side of the Studio page.

Some actions have an editor that allows you to configure additional properties or add data to the action. To access action editors, hover your cursor over the action and click Open Editor. You can also click Open Editor in the action properties.For example, the Play action's editor is called the sequence editor. This is where you can create sequences A segment of an audio prompt played for the contact. for prompts, such as recording an audio message or designing a TTS prompt.

You can cut, copy, and paste actions in your scripts. When you add an action by copying and pasting into your script, make sure that you update the actions properties if needed.

Input and Output Properties

Some properties hold data the action uses. Other properties store data passed into the action for the rest of the script to use. Properties that store data the rest of the script uses are called output variables. Both properties and output variables appear in the Properties list on an action's Properties tab.

When you configure an output variable property, you are naming a variable to store data passed to the action. You don't need to format the variable name in the property field with curly braces.

Value and Expression Modes

Many action property fields have two modes you can toggle, Value and Expression . Value mode lets you select the value to complete the field using controls such as plus + and minus - buttons. You can also type a value into the field. Expression mode has no controls, so you need to enter the value directly into the field.

You can switch between the modes using the icons that appear when the cursor hovers over the top of the field.

Branches and Conditions

The flow of a script is defined by connecting actions to each other. Sometimes an action has only one possible outcome, so it's connected to one other action. When an action has more than one possible outcome, you can create a path for each possibility. These paths are called branches.

Branches allow you to design your script to handle all kinds of different possibilities, such as errors, unexpected key presses, or what to do when a phone call isn't answered. You can also use branches to build choices into your script, such as creating a menu that prompts the contact to choose an option.

Each time you create a branch, you must choose the condition for the branch. The condition defines what has to happen for the script to follow that path. All actions have at least one condition, Default. Some actions have more than one condition available. There are some actions that support custom conditions, which allow you to define what must happen for the script to take that path.

Every action in your script should have a branch that uses the Default condition, even if you're connecting the action's other branches. When an action has more than one path, the Default branch is the one taken when none of the other conditions are met. This is important to keep contacts from getting stuck at that point in the script in the event that something unexpected occurs.

When you connect two actions, you're prompted to select the condition for the connection. The list of conditions belongs to the action you pull the connector from. Select the condition that needs to be met for the script to follow that connection to the second action.

Deadends

It's important to be on the lookout for dead ends in your scripts when an action has multiple branches. Dead ends can happen when branches are missing or not configured properly. For example, a Music action needs to be connected with a Wait action. Wait allows you to specify how long the Music action plays before resetting and repeating. Without Wait, Music plays indefinitely.

Multiple Connections to the Same Action

You can create multiple connections to the same action. This is necessary when there is more than one condition that can result in the script ending up at the target action. Instead of adding a copy of the target action to the script once for each condition, you can create three branches that all end at the same action.

In the following image, you can see an example of a script with three branches that all end at the HANGUP action. Each branch addresses a different scenario based on the results of the HOURS action.

Connectors

Connectors are lines that connect two actions. The connector's arrow points in the direction of the flow of the script. You can connect actions by hovering the cursor in the space above, below, or to either side of the action until the Connector icon appears, then dragging to the next action.

Types of Connectors

There are three types of connectors and they each look slightly different on the canvas. Learning to identify them can help you understand a script at a glance. The following example of a script shows the three types.

The types of connectors are: 

• Default: This is a connector that uses the Default branch condition. It's a solid black line without a label. In the example image, the connector linking BEGIN to HOURS and both PLAY actions to the HANGUP action beneath them are default connectors.
• Regular: This is a connector that uses any branch condition except Default. It's a dashed gray line with a label. The label matches the condition the branch uses. In the example image, the connectors linking HOURS to both Play actions are a regular connector. The labels are Closed and Holiday, which are the names of the conditions assigned to each branch.
• Custom: This is a connector that uses a variable branch condition. It's a solid gray line with a label. The label matches the name of the custom condition assigned to the branch. In the example, the connectors linking from Menu to each of the Music actions on the right are custom connectors. Their labels are 1, 2, and 3, which are the names of the custom conditions assigned to each branch.

Types of Connector Lines

Studio has three types of connector lines you can choose from. The different types allow you to modify the connectors to suit your preferences, and to best fit the needs of each individual script.

The connector line types are:

• Linear Line: Connectors follow a linear path from action to action. You can add vertices to the line to change the path of portions of the line. This is the default connector line used when you make a new connection between actions. You can add vertex points to linear lines to create line segments. You can adjust the angle and length of each segment. Linear lines also have handle bars that you can use to move and adjust portions of the connector line. The following example image shows an unmodified default connector on the left and a linear connector on the right that has been modified.

  View image

  

• Right Angle Line: Connectors have right angles located at or between vertices, depending on their arrangement. When you switch a connector to a right angle line, all angles convert to right angles. The following example image shows two connector lines. On the left is an unmodified default connector line. One the right is the right angle version of the line in the preceding example image.

  View image

  

• Curved Line: Connectors are curved lines. A new curve is introduced for every vertex. The sharpness of each curve depends on the arrangement of vertices relative to the starting and ending points of the connector. The following example image shows two connector lines. On the left is an unmodified default connector line. One the right is the curved connector line version of the line in the preceding example image.

  View image

  

You can choose a different connector line type for each connector in your script. For example, you could use the right angle connectors for the majority of connections in your script, and assign the curved type to ones that you want to stand out.

Key Facts About Connectors

• You can click the connector icon of the action you're connecting from and drag it to the second action. Drop it on a connection point on the second action. Connection points are open blue circles that appear when you hover over an action while holding a connector.
• You can click the connector icon and drag away from the action and release the icon. The Top Suggested menu appears with suggestions for the next action to add to the script.
• Connectors reshape automatically based on the relative position of the actions on the canvas when you drag an action to a new location. You can change the shape of a connector by adding 90° angles, diagonals, or convert the lines to curved shapes.
• You can change the condition of a branch without deleting and adding the connector back.
• Delete a connector by clicking the connector line and then clicking the delete icon or pressing Delete on your keyboard.
• To move a connector, you can move one of the actions it's connected to. You can also click and drag a handlebar on a linear connector, or add a vertex to a connector and drag it to a new location.

Key Actions to Know

The following table contains some of the key actions you need to know to begin scripting. There are many more important and useful actions. This actions described here are only a starting place.

Action	Details
Assign	Use this action to create a variable and assign a value to it.
Begin	This is the first action in every script.
Countagents	This action checks the total number of agents in a particular state The availability status of an agent for a particular ACD skill Used to automate delivery of interactions based on agent skills, abilities, and knowledge.
Createemail	Use this action to automatically generate and send an email message.
End, Hangup, and other terminating actions	Terminating actions are the last actions in the script. They end the script and the contact, and terminate background processes.
For, If, and Loop	Use these actions to create looping or conditional statements in your script.
Hours	Use this action so the script can determine whether your organization is open, closed, or on holiday.
Menu	This action plays a message and creates a menu of choices the contact can choose from.
Music	This action plays a music file. You can select from a set of files provided with the action. It's useful to play music while a contact is on hold.
Note and Annotation	Use these actions to add notes or annotations to your script.
OnAnswer, Onhold, Onrelease, Ontransfer, and other event actions	Event actions start a new branch of the script when a certain event happens during an interaction. For example, when an agent answers a call, the script jumps to the Onanswer action of the script.
Play	This action plays an audio file for the contact. It can use prerecorded audio or text-to-speech, or both.
Record	Use this action to record the caller's voice in MP3 format for playback purposes, such as for voicemail. Use Delete to remove saved files.
Reqagent	This action requests the next available agent to handle a contact. For digital scripts, use the digital version of this action.
Runsub or Runscript	These actions spawn subscripts or begin another script.
Snippet	Use this action to add custom code to your script. You can use it to create and assign values to variables or dynamic objects.
Transfer	This action directs an existing call to a different phone number outside of CXone Mpower.
Voiceparms	Use this action to choose the voice and language you want to use with text-to-speech generated by actions such as Play or Menu.
Wait	This action adds a pause to the script.
Whisper	This action plays a custom message to the contact, the agent, or both during an interaction.