When first setting up an Omni environment, one consideration is how a contact's history should be displayed. There are two options, linear view and conversation view. Both use conversations as their base, linear view takes a broader view of a contact's history.
It is possible for Admins to switch between the two views, but doing so might lead to some agent confusion.
What is a conversation?
As the name suggests, a conversation in Omni is a discussion relating to a single topic.
- A conversation will usually start with a contact calling or sending a message, but might also start with the agent calling or messaging a contact.
- A conversation can contain multiple calls or messages, and might even expand to include third parties if needed.
- A conversation ends with the agent assigning it an outcome.
Switching between Linear and Conversations view
The choice between linear and conversation view is made by the Admin, and affects all agents, queues and projects- This means you can't have one group of agents using linear, and another group using conversations.
To select the setting you prefer, in your Admin account:
- Go to the Settings page.
- Go to the Global settings subpage.
- Go to the Omni contact's history settings section
- Click View for contact's history in Inbound tab drop-down list and click to select your preferred option.
- Click the Save button to save the change.
Linear view
If you choose the linear view, agents will see the contents of a single conversation when they accept the call or message offered to them. The History tab will show all events (calls, messages, notes) in a timeline regardless of the associated conversation.
Advantages of linear view
- Gives agents the focus for an individual conversation, but still allows them to see a more general timeline if they need to.
- When migrating to Omni 25 from original Omni, the linear view is closer to the original Omni history view. Moreover using the linear view will preserve your conversation history.
Agent experience
When the agent accepts a conversation and it becomes active for them, they will see a list of events in that conversation.
- Agents can still see a list of conversations on the right hand side. Selecting a conversation from this list will show you the events for that conversation only.
The History tab in linear view shows a complete timeline of interactions with the customer, regardless of the conversation those interactions relate to.
Conversation view
If you elect to use the conversation view, agents will only see the content of one conversation at a time, typically starting with an initial enquiry from a contact, and ending when the agent assigns an outcome to the conversation.
Advantages of conversation view
- The agent can focus on the current conversation without loosing the ability to see other activity if they need to refer to it.
- Optionally, Admins can define categories for the agent to tag conversations with. Categories are not available in the linear history view.
Agent experience
When the agent accepts a conversation and it becomes active for them, they will see a list of events in that conversation.
- Agents see all interactions for a conversation, and may move messages to other conversations if needed.
- Transfer, Snooze and Close buttons are only available for the current active conversation. If the agent chooses to view a different conversation by selecting it from the History tab, these options will not be available.
- If you are using categories, they can be applied to individual events in the conversation, or to the conversation as a whole.
- The agent can click the History tab to see other conversations.
The History tab for a contact shows a table of conversations.
- Table shows the conversation type, queue, any notes, and if you are using them, any categories applied.
- Agents can click to select a previous conversation to see its contents.
- While agents can review multiple conversations, there is no single unified view of all interactions with the contact.