Power Virtual Agents – Chatbot

Introduction

• Microsoft Power Virtual Agents is used to create a powerful chatbot using a graphical interface, i.e., without the need for coding, AI expertise, or deploying any solution. Thus, Power Virtual Agents reduces the effort of business required to deploy and maintain a custom software solution.
• After creating a chatbot in Power Virtual Agents, SharePoint developers can use it anywhere, i.e., in your live site, through integration with tools like Microsoft Teams, Facebook, mobile or custom apps, for business purposes, etc.
• You can implement functionality in the Power Automate Flows and consume it in your bots via Power Virtual Agents.
• SharePoint developers can create a chatbot using tools like Microsoft Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents and use it on your website for interaction with customers.

Understand Microsoft Power Virtual Agents Chatbot in Detail

1.Steps to create a new chatbot in Microsoft Power Virtual Agents.

• First, Sign-in into https://powervirtualagents.microsoft.com/en-us/ using your email. After sign in, you can create your chatbot using Power Virtual Agents.
• Now select a Bot icon from the ribbon and click on “New bot.”
  
• A dialog box will be opened like the image below. Insert your bot name and click on the Create button.
  
• After the creation of Bot, you will be redirected to your Bot.
  Note: You can create multiple Bots in Power Virtual Agents and navigate between them by selecting the Bot icon and then selecting the specific Bot like the below image.
  
• Now you can start a conversation with your Power Virtual Agents Bot using the chat window. Enter (Hi, Hello) like phrase and click the send button. The Bot will reply in the chat window.
  

2. Topics

The bot plays its conversation based on Topics defined in it. When you create a bot, there are some prebuilt Topics available in it.

From the left navigation, click on Topics, and you will see the list of 12 prebuilt Topics in the newly created Bot.

You can create your own topic by clicking on the New topic.

Add Topic’s Name, Description, and Trigger phrases (you can add multiple phrases using the Add button) in the below image. The trigger phrases are used to trigger a topic when a user adds a phrase in the chat.

Click Go to authoring the canvas button.

Now, you can modify a Topic and write your own business logic in it.

• You can add a new Node by clicking on the (+) button into it.
• You can ask questions to users by adding an Ask a question node.
  
• In Ask a question, you can ask a question to the user, and based on the answer, you can show a reply message to the user.
• In the image below, we have asked the user a question and allow them to choose the answer options for the question.
  
• Based on the selected option, you can respond to the user by adding a Show a message node like the below image.
  
• You can also add another node based on your requirement from the node list in the below image.
  
• For condition-based logic, you can use Add a condition node.
• To call a Power Automate Flow, add Call an action node.
  
• TTo jump on another topic, use Go to another topic node.
• To finish the conversation, add End the conversation node.
  Finally, save the topic and test it in the chat window.

3. Entities

• For storing the user answer values, Entities are used in Power Virtual Agents.
• There are some prebuilt entities available in a newly created bot and are accessible through Entities in the Left Navigation.
  
• You can add a new custom entity by clicking on New custom entity.
  
• A form will be opened for adding an entity. Add Entity’s Name, Description, and List items (multiple items can be added) that may be available in your entity. Save an entity.
  
• Now, this newly added entity is available to use in your topics.

4. Analytics

• Using built-in Analytics feature of Power Virtual Agents, you can monitor the Bot to update and enhance using an online web interface.
  

5. Publish

• For deploying the latest content of your bot, you have to publish your bot by clicking on Publish.
  

   

  • Test chatbot in the demo website
    • Go through Left Navigation → Manage → Channels.
    • Click on the “Demo website.”
      
    • It will open a panel like the image below. Copy the website URL.
      
    • Open the copied URL in the new tab. You are able to see a site like an image below and can test your chatbot here.
      
• Test chatbot in live site
  • Go through Left Navigation → Manage → Channels.
  • Click on the “Custom website.”
    
  • It will open a panel like the image below. Copy the “Embed code” and put it into the site where you have to add this chatbot.
    

Conclusion

With the help of this blog, Sharepoint developers can have a basics idea about creating chatbots with the Power Virtual Agents. Microsoft SharePoint development companies use services and capabilities of Power Virtual Agents to serve and resolve your customer’s queries quickly without requiring to know or deploy any code, intermediaries, or AI expertise. It effectively reduces the costs of dealing with complex issues for business and improves customer satisfaction by providing them support, self-help and being available 24/7 at their service. As it doesn’t require a single line of code, chatbots requires no deployment of any custom solution. The chatbox just requires it to get published to be available for all the customers. Connect with the Tatvasoft Microsoft Sharepoint Development team for more information about Power Virtual Agents Chatbots development and implementation.