gs-actions.md

copyright	lastupdated	subcollection	content-type	account-plan	completion-time
years 2015, 2021	2021-03-09	assistant	tutorial	lite	10m

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Getting started with an actions skill

{: #gs-actions} {: toc-content-type="tutorial"} {: toc-completion-time="10m"}

In this short tutorial, we help you use an actions skill to build your first conversation. {: shortdesc}

An actions skill contains actions that represent the tasks you want your assistant to help your customers with.

Before you begin

{: #gs-actions-prerequisites} {: hide-dashboard}

This tutorial is a continuation of the Getting started tutorial. Be sure to complete it before you continue. See Getting started.

Add an action

{: #gs-actions-add-action-hello} {: step}

Each action contains a series of steps that represent individual exchanges with a customer. In the first action step, you define the user goal that the action will satisfy.

1. Click Create a new action.

2. We are going to keep it simple and just exchange greetings with the customer.

   To recognize when a customer is just saying hello, add some examples of ways in which a person might do so.

   Add the following examples:

   • Hi
   • Hello
   • Good morning.
   • Good afternoon!
   • Good evening
   • Howdy!
   • Yo, what's up?

3. Notice that the action has been given a name automatically. Our first example was used to name the skill Hi. Let's change it.

   In the field at the start of the page, change Hi to Hello.

4. Click Save to save your action.

Add a step

{: #gs-actions-add-step-hello} {: step}

In the step you add, you'll define the greeting that your assistant will return to the customer.

1. In the navigation pane, click New step.

2. In the Assistant says field, enter Good day to you!

   Because we want to end the exchange of greetings there, let's end the action without adding any more steps.

3. In the And then field, choose End the action.

4. Click Save.

Congratulations! You created a simple turn in a conversation. Now, let's see if it works.

Test the action

{: #gs-actions-test-say-hello} {: step}

You test the action by entering a salutation into the Preview panel. The Preview panel simulates what the customer's experience would be if they were interacting with the assistant.

1. In the text field of the Preview panel, type hello there, and then submit it.

   You are submitting a greeting that doesn't exactly match any of the training examples you added earlier. However, the examples you provided should have taught your assistant to understand what a typical greeting looks like.

   The assistant responds with Good day to you! The preview panel also identifies the action that was recognized, by returning Hello.

You did it!

Next, we'll add an action that understands when a customer says goodbye.

Add a goodbye action

{: #gs-actions-add-action-goodbye} {: step}

Let's make sure your assistant is able to say goodbye to your customers when appropriate. We will add a new action that can understand customer messages that aim to end the conversation.

1. Click Close to exit the Say hello action that you created successfully.

   You are returned to a page where you can see your new Hello action listed in an Actions table.

2. Minimize the Preview panel, and then click New action.

3. Add examples of phrases that customers might use to indicate that they want to end the conversation.

   Add the following examples:

   • Goodbye
   • I'm all set now.
   • Thanks.
   • Have a good day
   • Thank you for your help
   • I'm done.
   • Bye

This time, the action is named Goodbye, which is a good name, so we won't bother changing it.

Add the assistant's farewell

{: #gs-actions-add-step-goodbye} {: step}

1. In the navigation pane, click New step.

2. In the Assistant says field, enter Farewell!

   Again, let's end the action without adding any more steps.

3. In the And then field, choose End the action.

4. Click Save.

Test the farewell action

{: #gs-actions-test-say-goodbye} {: step}

Let's make sure the action is able to recognize when a customer wants to end the conversation.

1. Click Preview to open the Preview panel.

2. Click the refresh icon to restart the conversation.

3. In the text field, type I'm finished, and then submit it.

   The assistant responds with Farewell! and indicates that it recognized the Goodbye action.

4. Click Close.

You have successfully created two actions that understand two different customer intentions and can respond to them properly.

Integrate the assistant

{: #gs-actions-integrate-assistant} {: step}

Now that you have an actions skill that can maintain a simple conversational exchange, let's add it to an assistant.

1. Click the Assistants icon to open a list of your assistants.

2. Find the My first assistant assistant, and open it.

3. Test your assistant with a Preview link integration.

   The Preview link integration is created for you automatically. It builds your assistant into a chat widget that is hosted by an IBM-branded web page. You can open the web page and chat with your assistant to test it out.

4. From the Integrations section, click the Preview link tile.

   

5. Click the URL that is displayed on the page.

   The test web page opens in a new tab. You can start submitting message to see how your assistant responds.

   With a Lite plan, you can use the service for free. With other plans, you are charged for messages that you submit from the preview link integration. You can review metrics about the test user conversations from the Analytics page. You are not charged for messages that you submit from the "Try it out" pane, and the exchanges you have there are not logged. {: note}

6. Type hello into the text field, and watch your assistant respond.

   

   You can share the URL with others who might want to try out your assistant.

7. After testing, close the web page. Click the X to close the preview link integration page.

Next steps

{: #gs-actions-next-steps}

This tutorial is built around a simple example. For a real application, you need to define some more complex exchanges. When you have a polished version of the assistant, you can integrate it with web sites or channels, such as Slack, that your customers already use. As traffic increases between the assistant and your customers, you can use the tools that are provided in the Analytics page to analyze real conversations, and identify areas for improvement.

• Check out more sample apps to get ideas.