The arrange appointment prebuilt component allows new and existing customers to book appointments. This component uses a customized version of the Date of birth collection prebuilt component to collect appointment dates, and uses the Telephone number collection and Zip code collection prebuilt components to collect information about the user and appointment location.
Appointment reasons and types
This component supports several categories of appointment reasons and offers different types of appointments depending on the user's selected reason.
| Appointment reason | Available appointment types |
|---|---|
| Loans | In-person, virtual, phone |
| Mortgages | In-person, virtual, phone |
| Wealth management | In-person, virtual, phone |
| Credit cards | Virtual, phone |
| Other | Phone |
Appointment categories can be customized by modifying the prebuilt_components_arrange_appt_reason
custom entity. Available appointment types for each category can be configured
by modifying the input parameters
for each appointment type.
Limitations
In addition to the common prebuilt component limitations, this prebuilt component has the following limitations:
- This component does not encrypt any data.
Sample dialogs
The following sample dialogs demonstrate common scenarios handled by this prebuilt component. The sample dialogs demonstrate behavior when the component is called via telephony, which triggers the Default Welcome Intent and the first agent response at the start of the conversation.
Existing user books in-person appointment
The agent identifies that the user has been previously authenticated as an existing user. The user gives the reason for their appointment and selects to book an in-person appointment. The agent confirms that the user would like to go to the branch closest to their registered address, and confirms that the user's preferred date and time are available. The agent confirms the time and place and successfully schedules the appointment.
| User input | Agent response |
|---|---|
| Before scheduling an appointment, we will ask you a few questions. Can you tell us the reason for your appointment? | |
| I want to talk to someone about wealth management | |
| Are you looking for a phone, video call or in-person appointment at one of our branches? | |
| I'd like to go in person | |
| Okay, do you want to schedule an appointment in the branch located at 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043? | |
| Yes | |
| Please provide your preferred appointment date. Please say your preferred month, followed by day and then year. Remember that our branches are open from Monday to Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM, Saturday: 9 AM to 1 PM. | |
| Agent collects user's preferred appointment date using Date of birth collection prebuilt component | |
| Great, we are done with collecting your preferred date. Please provide your preferred time slot. |
|
| 10 AM | |
| You have selected 10:00 AM. To proceed further with the selected appointment time, say yes. | |
| Yes | |
| We will schedule an appointment at bank's address 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043 on 2023-09-23 at 10:00 AM. Is that correct? | |
| Yes | |
| Okay, we have scheduled the appointment. Your confirmation number is 818452. Do you want to book another appointment? | |
| No that's all | |
| Thanks for connecting with us. Have a nice day! |
New customer books multiple appointments
The agent identifies that the user has not been previously authenticated and collects the user's telephone number. The user requests a virtual appointment to discuss loans. The user's first preference for date and time is not available, so the agent offers available time slots to the user. The user selects an available time slot and the appointment is successfully scheduled. The user confirms that they would like to book a second appointment, and the agent successfully schedules a second appointment.
| User input | Agent response |
|---|---|
| Agent collects user's telephone number using Telephone number collection prebuilt component | |
| Great, we are done collecting the telephone number. Before scheduling an appointment, we will ask you a few questions. Can you tell us the reason for your appointment? |
|
| I want to get a loan | |
| Are you looking for a phone, video call or in-person appointment at one of our branches? | |
| Virtual appointment is fine | |
| Please provide your preferred appointment date. Please say your preferred month, followed by day and then year. Remember that our branches are open from Monday to Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM, Saturday: 9 AM to 1 PM. | |
| Agent collects user's preferred appointment date using Date of birth collection prebuilt component | |
| Great, we are done with collecting your preferred date. Please provide your preferred time slot. |
|
| 3:00 would be good for me | |
| You have selected 03:00 PM. To proceed further with the selected appointment time, say yes. | |
| Yes | |
| We will schedule an appointment with our advisor on 2023-10-03 at 03:00 PM. Is that correct? | |
| Yes please | |
| Okay, we have scheduled the appointment. Your confirmation number is 754731. Do you want to book another appointment? |
|
| Yeah | |
| Before scheduling an appointment, we will ask you a few questions. Can you tell us the reason for your appointment? | |
| I need an appointment for my credit card | |
| Are you looking for a phone or video call appointment with one of our branch representatives? | |
| Phone | |
| Please provide your preferred appointment date. Please say your preferred month, followed by day and then year. Remember that our branches are open from Monday to Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM, Saturday: 9 AM to 1 PM. | |
| Agent collects user's preferred appointment date using Date of birth collection prebuilt component | |
| Great, we are done with collecting your preferred date. Please provide your preferred time slot. |
|
| Does 8 AM work? | |
| You have selected 08:00 AM. To proceed further with the selected appointment time, say yes. | |
| Yes | |
| Sorry, the selected time slot is not available. We have availability for 11:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 01:30 PM, and 03:00 PM on 2023-10-06. Would you like to change the time slot or schedule an appointment on a different date? | |
| Ok let's do 1:30 then | |
| You have selected 01:30 PM. To proceed further with the selected appointment time, say yes. | |
| Yes | |
| We will schedule an appointment with our advisor on 2023-10-06 at 01:30 PM. Is that correct? | |
| Yep | |
| Okay, we have scheduled the appointment. Your confirmation number is 714637. Do you want to book another appointment? |
|
| No that's it | |
| Thanks for connecting with us. Have a nice day! |
Naming conventions
This prebuilt component uses the following naming conventions:
| Feature | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Flow | [Component Name] | Arrange Appointment |
| Component Specific Intent | prebuilt_components_[component_name]_[intent_name] | prebuilt_components_arrange_appt_change_date_slot |
| Entity Type | prebuilt_components_[component_name]_[entity_type] | prebuilt_components_arrange_appt_reason |
| Webhook | prebuilt_components_[component_name]:[webhook_action] | prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:submit_appointment |
Input parameters
Input parameters are parameters that are used to configure certain behaviors of the component. The parameters will be used by one or more conditions within the flow to determine how the component should behave. Flow-scoped parameters must be set on the start page of the component as described below. Session-scoped parameters may be set either by a calling flow, or on the start page of this component.
This prebuilt component accepts the following input parameters:
| Parameter Name | Description | Input Format |
|---|---|---|
| $session.params.phone_number | (optional) Customer's registered phone number used for authentication. | string |
| $session.params.auth_level | (optional) Indicates the authentication level of the caller. | integer |
| $flow.all_appointment_type | Specifies the list of appointment reasons for which all types of appointments are available. The default value is ["loans", "wealth"]. |
List (string) |
| $flow.video_phone_appointment_type | Specifies the list of appointment reasons for which all types of appointments are available. The default value is ["cards"]. |
List (string) |
| $flow.appointment_services | Specifies the list of appointment types for which branch location is not required and will not be collected from the user. The default value is ["video", "phone"]. |
List (string) |
| $flow.working_hours | Specifies the opening hours of the branch, for example "Monday to Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM, Saturday: 9 AM to 1 PM". |
string |
| $session.params.arrange_appointment_max_days | Specifies the maximum number of days after the current date allowed for an appointment booking. By default, this value is 90, indicating that appointment dates may be booked no more than 90 days after the current date. This parameter is set in the start page true route. |
integer |
| flow.max_retry_count | Specifies the number of retries allowed when collecting information from the user. The default value is 3. |
integer |
To configure the input parameters for this component, expand for instructions.
- Open the Dialogflow CX console.
- Choose your Google Cloud project.
- Select your agent.
- Select the Build tab.
- Click the imported component in the Flows section.
- Click the Start Page in the Pages section.
- Click the true Route in the Start Page.
- In the Route window, edit the Parameter Presets values as needed.
- Click Save.
Output parameters
Output parameters are session parameters that will remain active after exiting the component. These parameters contain important information collected by the component. This prebuilt component provides values for the following output parameters:
| Parameter Name | Description | Output Format |
|---|---|---|
| phone_number | User's local phone number, without the country code, used to identify the user. | string |
| transfer_reason | This parameter indicates the reason the flow exited, if it was not successful. The returned value is one of:agent: the end-user requested a human agent at some point during the conversation.denial_of_information: the end-user declined to share information requested by the component.max_no_input: the conversation reached the maximum number of retries for no-input events. See no-input built-in events.max_no_match: the conversation reached the maximum number of retries for no-match events. See no-match built-in events.webhook_error: a webhook error occurred. See webhook.error built-in event. webhook_not_found: a webhook URL was unreachable. See webhook.error.not-found built-in event. |
string |
Basic setup
To set up this prebuilt component:
- Import the prebuilt component.
- Configure the provided flexible webhooks with configuration describing your external services, see Webhook setup below.
Webhook setup
In order to use this component, you will need to configure the included flexible webhooks to retrieve needed information from your external services.
Get account
The prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:get_account webhook is used
by the component to get account details for a provided phone number, if a
registered account exists.
API request parameters
The following parameters are provided by the component as inputs to the API request.
| Parameter Name | Description | Input Format |
|---|---|---|
| $session.params.phone_number | User's local phone number, without the country code, used to identify the user. | string |
API response parameters
The following parameters are pulled from the API response to be used by the component.
| Parameter Name | Description | Output Format |
|---|---|---|
| account_count | Number of accounts associated with the registered phone number. | integer |
| cards_count | Number of cards associated with the registered phone number. | integer |
| loans_count | Number of loans associated with the registered phone number. | integer |
| mortgage_count | Number of mortgages associated with the registered phone number. | integer |
| branch_code | Branch code associated with the registered phone number, used to identify a unique branch location. | string |
To configure the Get account webhook for this component, expand for instructions.
- Open the Dialogflow CX console.
- Choose your Google Cloud project.
- Select your agent.
- Select the Manage tab.
- Click Webhooks.
- Select the prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:get_account webhook.
- Replace the URL in the Conversational Agents (Dialogflow CX) Webhook URL field with the endpoint for the service you want to integrate with. Select the proper Method in the dropdown.
- Review and update the Request body to form the proper request format for your webhook.
- Review and update the Response configuration to extract specific fields from your webhook's response. Do not modify the parameter names, as these are required by the component to access the returned field values.
- Review and update the Authentication settings as needed.
- Click Save.
Get branch
The prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:get_branch webhook is used
by the component to retrieve information about a branch location given a branch
code.
API request parameters
The following parameters are provided by the component as inputs to the API request.
| Parameter Name | Description | Input Format |
|---|---|---|
| $flow.branch_code | Branch code identifying a unique branch location. | string |
API response parameters
The following parameters are pulled from the API response to be used by the component.
| Parameter Name | Description | Output Format |
|---|---|---|
| branch_address | Address of the branch. | string |
To configure the Get branch webhook for this component, expand for instructions.
- Open the Dialogflow CX console.
- Choose your Google Cloud project.
- Select your agent.
- Select the Manage tab.
- Click Webhooks.
- Select the prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:get_branch webhook.
- Replace the URL in the Conversational Agents (Dialogflow CX) Webhook URL field with the endpoint for the service you want to integrate with. Select the proper Method in the dropdown.
- Review and update the Request body to form the proper request format for your webhook.
- Review and update the Response configuration to extract specific fields from your webhook's response. Do not modify the parameter names, as these are required by the component to access the returned field values.
- Review and update the Authentication settings as needed.
- Click Save.
Available branch
The prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:available_branch webhook is used
by the component to get the nearest branch location given a zip code.
API request parameters
The following parameters are provided by the component as inputs to the API request.
| Parameter Name | Description | Input Format |
|---|---|---|
| $flow.zip_code | Zip code provided by the end-user. | string |
API response parameters
The following parameters are pulled from the API response to be used by the component.
| Parameter Name | Description | Output Format |
|---|---|---|
| branch_address | Address of the branch. | string |
To configure the Available branch webhook for this component, expand for instructions.
- Open the Dialogflow CX console.
- Choose your Google Cloud project.
- Select your agent.
- Select the Manage tab.
- Click Webhooks.
- Select the prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:available_branch webhook.
- Replace the URL in the Conversational Agents (Dialogflow CX) Webhook URL field with the endpoint for the service you want to integrate with. Select the proper Method in the dropdown.
- Review and update the Request body to form the proper request format for your webhook.
- Review and update the Response configuration to extract specific fields from your webhook's response. Do not modify the parameter names, as these are required by the component to access the returned field values.
- Review and update the Authentication settings as needed.
- Click Save.
Get available slots
The prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:get_available_slots webhook is
used by the component to check available time slots for a user's preferred date
and appointment type.
API request parameters
The following parameters are provided by the component as inputs to the API request.
| Parameter Name | Description | Input Format |
|---|---|---|
| $flow.preferred_date | Preferred date for the appointment provided by the end-user in "YYYY-MM-DD" format. | string |
| $flow.appointment_type | The appointment type of the appointment. | string |
| $flow.branch_code | Branch code identifying the unique branch location selected by the end-user. | string |
API response parameters
The following parameters are pulled from the API response to be used by the component.
| Parameter Name | Description | Output Format |
|---|---|---|
| available_slots | List of available appointment times for the specified date, in "HH:MM XM" format, for example ["09:00 AM", "2:30 PM"]. If there are no available slots this parameter is an empty list []. |
List (string) |
To configure the Get available slots webhook for this component, expand for instructions.
- Open the Dialogflow CX console.
- Choose your Google Cloud project.
- Select your agent.
- Select the Manage tab.
- Click Webhooks.
- Select the prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:get_available_slots webhook.
- Replace the URL in the Conversational Agents (Dialogflow CX) Webhook URL field with the endpoint for the service you want to integrate with. Select the proper Method in the dropdown.
- Review and update the Request body to form the proper request format for your webhook.
- Review and update the Response configuration to extract specific fields from your webhook's response. Do not modify the parameter names, as these are required by the component to access the returned field values.
- Review and update the Authentication settings as needed.
- Click Save.
Submit appointment
The prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:submit_appointment webhook
is used by the component to schedule an appointment for the user's selected
date, time, branch, appointment reason, and appointment type.
API request parameters
The following parameters are provided by the component as inputs to the API request.
| Parameter Name | Description | Input Format |
|---|---|---|
| $session.params.phone_number | User's local phone number, without the country code, used to identify the user. | string |
| $flow.preferred_date | Preferred date for the appointment provided by the end-user in "YYYY-MM-DD" format. | string |
| $flow.preferred_slot | Preferred time for the appointment provided by the end-user in "HH:MM XM" format. | string |
| $flow.appointment_reason | The appointment reason for the appointment. | string |
| $flow.appointment_type | The appointment type of the appointment. | string |
| $flow.branch_code | Branch code identifying the unique branch location selected by the end-user. | string |
API response parameters
The following parameters are pulled from the API response to be used by the component.
| Parameter Name | Description | Output Format |
|---|---|---|
| request_number | The request number for the scheduled appointment. | integer |
To configure the Submit appointment webhook for this component, expand for instructions.
- Open the Dialogflow CX console.
- Choose your Google Cloud project.
- Select your agent.
- Select the Manage tab.
- Click Webhooks.
- Select the prebuilt_components_arrange_appointment:submit_appointment webhook.
- Replace the URL in the Conversational Agents (Dialogflow CX) Webhook URL field with the endpoint for the service you want to integrate with. Select the proper Method in the dropdown.
- Review and update the Request body to form the proper request format for your webhook.
- Review and update the Response configuration to extract specific fields from your webhook's response. Do not modify the parameter names, as these are required by the component to access the returned field values.
- Review and update the Authentication settings as needed.
- Click Save.
Complete
Your agent and its webhooks should now be set up and ready to test.