Are chatbots still supported or recommended for SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition?

[MustafaBensan]

SAP Conversational AI has been sunset (entered maintenance mode) as of January, 2023. SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition chatbots (custom or standard) are based on SAP Conversational AI. So given the sunsetting, does this mean that the conversational AI chatbot functionality of SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition should not be used or is no longer be available?

Thanks,

Mustafa.

[GeorgeAbraham]

Hi @MustafaBensan / @faresabbes ,

In continuation to this old thread, what's SAP's recommendation now for a Chatbot inside WorkZone Advanced?

I have a customer who was on SNOW Portal and had a custom guided bot, now they have bought Successfactors WorkZone (which as I understand from the CPA is that there is no difference with WZA) and wants the same or similar chatbot on WorkZone advanced also.

1. From SAP WorkZone's documentation, only way to enable a chatbot on WZA is via CAI which is sunsetted and no new licenses provided.

2. Joule is not yet mature enough to handle the customer's requirements, as per the meeting customer had with Joule team

Is there any provision that I can build a custom bot and deploy that on WZA? Does SAP give any provision for the same? Or what is the alternative?

SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition 

[MustafaBensan]

Hi @GeorgeAbraham,

Regarding "Wouldn’t it be a little glitchy or like tampering with the flow?"  Yes, exactly and it is for this reason I do not recommend building a custom bot.  As consultants we need to act as a trusted advisor and resist the temptation to say YES all the time.  In this case, I think the customer's expectation needs to be set that lack of chatbot support is a current limitation of Work Zone.  Building a custom bot that provides a meaningful user experience will require significant development effort and ongoing maintenance, let alone that it would not be a solution supported by SAP.

Since the "customer is more keen on a preconfigured guided bot", my recommendation would be to try implementing SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone Guided Experiences.

[MustafaBensan]

Hi @GeorgeAbraham,

In the absence of an SAP-provided chatbot, I can think of the following options to evaluate:

1. Inject a custom chatbot using a shell plugin: https://help.sap.com/docs/build-work-zone-advanced-edition/sap-build-work-zone-advanced-edition/add-...
   Even if this proved to be technically possible, you would still need to develop an effective approach to continuously train the chatbot based on the customer's SuccessFactors Work Zone content.
   
   
2. SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone Guided Experiences

[GeorgeAbraham]

Hi @MustafaBensan 

thanks for the response. Option 1 is something that I had thought off and even Murali Shanmugham was recommending the same .

However a question - 

Wouldn’t it be a little glitchy or like tampering with the flow?

So essentially you are saying is to deploy the chat UI as a separate app on BTP and then use a shell plugin to launch it on the WZA landing page itself right?

Also to your question if training, for now customer is more keen on a preconfigured guided bot, so I can skip the worry of training for some time.

[faresabbes]

Hi Mustafa the SAP Conversational AI based chatbot can continue to be used on SAP Build Work Zone Advanced Edition for now while preparing for Joule as a future alternative.

[MustafaBensan]

Hi faresabbes,

The problem is that SAP Conversational AI is not bundled with SAP Build Work Zone Advanced Edition and must be separately licensed for those customers wishing to implement chatbot functionality in Work Zone. However, as I understand, because of the sunsetting, it is no longer possible to purchase new Conversational AI licenses. The implication of this is that if a customer is starting an SAP Build Work Zone Advanced Edition project now, they will not be able to license Conversational AI and will have to do without chatbot functionality until such time as Joule becomes available for SAP Build Work Zone.

The other issue with Joule is that I don't see any plans for it to be trained on the customer's corporate data. In the case of SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition, the value of a chatbot would come from providing contextual information from the Knowledge Base content created by the customer, which would require a mechanism for Joule to be trained on.

Can you provide any further guidance on the above?

Thanks,

Mustafa.