Fill in job details with question steps in Contact Center Pro

Overview

Question steps let administrators turn their booking know-how into a few simple questions for CSRs. Each answer fills in or narrows the job type, business unit, and tags for the job. CSRs ask the caller, pick the answer, and the right values are ready in the booking.

Use question steps to book jobs to the right business unit and job type without relying on every CSR to know your setup.

Things to know

• A question step is a set of questions that CSRs see in the booking flow. It always sits after the Location step and before the Job Type & Business Unit and Additional Details steps.

• Every question in a step is shown to the CSR, in the order you set. Questions don't branch: an earlier answer never hides a later question. It can only make some later answers unavailable.

• Each answer can work on three fields: Business Unit, Job Type, and Tags. For each field, choose Fill in to set a value, or Narrow to give the CSR a shorter list to pick from.

• You can create more than one question step, but only one can be active in a booking flow at a time.

• By default, a question step can have up to 3 questions. When you reach the limit, the drawer shows Maximum of 3 questions reached.

• There is no draft. Like other booking flow changes, a saved question step reaches CSRs on their next booking.

• Your business unit and job type settings still apply. When an answer sets both fields, the job types offered are limited to the ones that go with the business unit, and the other way around.

Best practices

• Ask the question your best CSRs already ask, such as "Is this for a home or a business?" or "Is the issue with heating or cooling?".

• Keep answers short and distinct, so a CSR can match the caller's words to one of them.

• Use Fill in when an answer always leads to one value. Use Narrow when the CSR still needs to choose, for example between two water heater job types.

• Put broad questions first and specific ones later. A later question can only work within what earlier answers left available.

• Lock a field only when CSRs should never change it, for example a business unit that must match a contract.

• Tell your CSRs before you activate a question step, so the flow doesn't change under them mid-shift.

Use cases

• A business with residential and commercial business units asks "Home or business?" to set the business unit, then "Plumbing or electrical?" to narrow the job types.

• A contact center asks "Is this an emergency?" and fills in an Emergency tag on every yes.

• A business that serves several zones gives each zone its own answers, so the same question routes to the right local business unit.

Create a question step

1. In Contact Center Pro, go to Settings > Job Booking and select the account you want to configure.

2. Make sure the Location step comes before the Job Type & Business Unit step, and save any changes to the step order.

   Note: If Location comes after Job Type & Business Unit, or the step order has unsaved changes, you can't create a question step. Hover over the disabled button to see which step to move.

3. In the Question Steps panel, click Create Custom Question Step. The drawer opens.

4. Enter a name and the question text for the first question.

5. Add the answers your CSRs can choose from. Each question can have up to 10 answers.

6. For each answer, set up the fields it works on. See Set what each answer does.

7. To add another question, click + Add question. A step can have up to 3 questions by default. Reorder questions or remove the ones you don't need.

8. Click Save.

The new step is placed right after Location in the booking flow. You can move other steps between Location and the question step, as long as the question step stays before Job Type & Business Unit.

Note: The drawer links to your Business Unit and Job Type settings in ServiceTitan, because those settings decide which job types go with each business unit.

Set what each answer does

For each answer, choose how it handles Business Unit, Job Type, and Tags. You can mix modes in one answer, for example Fill in the business unit and Narrow the job type.

• Fill in: Sets one value. For Tags, you can select several tags.

• Narrow: Gives the CSR a shorter list to pick from. For Tags, the CSR picks from the tags you select.

• Lock: Available when a field is set to Fill in. A locked value can't be changed by the CSR after it fills in.

A few rules keep the questions consistent. The drawer applies them as you go, and shows why an option is unavailable:

• Only one question in the step can Fill in the business unit, and only one can Fill in the job type. Other questions can still Narrow those fields.

• If an earlier question narrows a field, a later question can only fill in or narrow it from that shorter list.

• Narrow is unavailable when too few options are left to narrow. The drawer shows Narrow needs at least 2 Job Type options, for example.

• Every answer must fill in or narrow at least one field before you can save.

• When you save, each value is checked against your current business units, job types, and tags. If one was removed or changed since you set it up, update the answer before saving.

Give each zone its own answers

If your account filters business units by zone, each question has a separate answer list for every zone. Use the Zones sidebar in the drawer to switch between them.

1. In the drawer, select a zone in the Zones sidebar.

2. Add the answers and field settings for that zone.

3. Repeat for every zone. A zone with no answers is marked incomplete, and you can't save until every zone has at least one answer for every question.

4. Click Save.

Caution: If zone filtering is turned off for your account later, saving the question step removes its zone answers. You're asked to confirm first.

Add, edit, or delete a question step

Question steps you create are listed in the Question Steps panel, with the number of questions in each.

• Add it to the flow: Turn on the step in the Question Steps panel, then click Save. Only one question step can be on at a time, so turn off the active one before you turn on another.

• Edit it: Click the step to reopen the drawer, make your changes, and click Save.

• Delete it: Open the step, delete it from the drawer, and confirm.

Answer question steps while booking a job

CSRs see the question step in its own card, right after Location.

1. Start a booking as usual and confirm the location.

2. In the question step card, read each question to the caller and select the answer that fits.

   • Answers that don't fit with your earlier answers are unavailable. The question shows Some answers aren't available based on your earlier answers.

   • A question with five or more answers appears as a dropdown, with unavailable answers listed below the available ones.

3. Click Save on the card. Save turns on when every question is answered, or has no answer left that fits.

What happens next depends on how your administrator set up the answers:

• Filled in: If every field the step works on is filled in, the Job Type & Business Unit step completes and closes on its own. Filled-in tags appear in Additional Details.

• Narrowed: Open the Job Type & Business Unit step, choose from the shorter list, and save it.

• Locked: You can't change a locked value. A locked tag has no remove option.

Note: You can still change a filled-in value that isn't locked. If a later answer changes a value you chose, the Job Type & Business Unit or Additional Details card shows a warning until you dismiss it or save.

If you change an answer or the location

• Changing an earlier answer clears any later answers it makes unavailable. Answer those questions again.

• Changing the customer's location updates filled-in values for the new zone, unless you changed them yourself. A narrowed choice that doesn't fit the new zone is cleared, and you pick again.

• While the dispatch zone can't be found yet, a question step that depends on zones stays closed.

Note: An unanswered question step doesn't stop you from booking the job.

Want to learn more?

• See Configure the guided booking flow in Contact Center Pro

• See Book a job using the guided booking flow in Contact Center Pro

• See Manage Contact Center Pro permissions