Topic by Joshua Bowcott
Looking to extend functionality in the Oracle Service Cloud Dynamic Agent Desktop to support your business needs? Needing to share data with another product that’s critical to your business? Wanting to develop a new application to extend the Agent Desktop? Desktop add-ins can clear these hurdles by creating custom controls, components, and applications living within the Agent Desktop. Let’s take a closer look at add-ins and some key considerations for getting started.
Understand When to Develop Add-Ins
Add-ins can be developed for one, or a combination of, the following:
- Automation—Removing the manual steps or decisions agents take (such as copy and paste).
- Integration—Working, presenting, and allowing agents to work with data from external systems and then pushing any changes back to those systems.
- Extension—Building entirely new applications within the Agent Desktop such as order management or RMA. Any time a rich, real-time, client-side extension is required in the Agent Desktop, the Desktop Add-In Framework should be used.
There are several different add-in types that allow the Agent Desktop to be customized to meet your needs. Some of these types include Workspace Add-Ins, Workspace Ribbon, Report Record Command, and Navigation Item. For a complete list of types, see the Desktop Add-In Documentation.
Extend Your Implementation: Add-Ins and Custom Objects
Extend your Oracle Service Cloud implementation by leveraging add-ins with your custom objects to further support your business needs. The Desktop Add-In Framework supports the ability to deploy add-ins onto custom object workspaces and obtain a reference to the record context of those custom objects. See Working with Custom Objects in the Desktop Add-Ins Documentation for more information.
Consider Who Needs Access: Packaging and Deploying Add-Ins
Do you need certain add-ins available for specific profiles or interfaces? Do your add-ins work with sensitive data that only a subset of agents should have access to view? Once your add-in is ready for production, simply upload the add-in via the Add-In Manager and grant specific profile and interface permissions. Refer to Step 3 in Developing Your First Desktop Add-In Framework for details on how to package and upload the add-in.
Leverage Existing Tools: Multi-Channel Toolkit Using the Desktop Add-In Framework
If you are a partner or customer looking to build media controls for CTI (Computer Telephony Integration), Oracle Service Cloud offers a sample toolkit for creating CTI built entirely on the Desktop Add-In Framework. This sample offers a reference implementation showing how to provide users with a common multimedia experience. See the Oracle Service Cloud Multi-Channel Toolkit Documentation for more details.
