Implementing Fee Inquiry for Pega Case Management Edition

Implementing Fee Inquiry for Pega Case Management Edition

Description	Learn how to implement the Fee Inquiry service case in an external desktop using Pega's Digital Experience (DX) APIs.
Version as of	8.7
Application	Pega Customer Service
Capability/Industry Area	Financial Services

Before you begin

For more information about different recommended design methodologies, prerequisites, troubleshooting common issues, and recommendations for using Pega Customer Service Case Management Edition, see Implementing case types using Digital Experience APIs for Pega Customer Service Case Management Edition.

Design methodology for the Fee Inquiry service case

For the Fee Inquiry service case, the Parallel Flow design methodology was used and tested by using the React starter pack.

Context for the service case

For an external desktop agent to launch the Fee Inquiry service case, the customer and policy contexts are required.  

For demo purposes, if you are using the React starter pack, the context parameters are dynamically passed from the application settings option as shown in the following figure: 

Adding parallel flows

Conditionalizing parallel flows

The IsThisExternalDesktop When rule was used to determine the external CSR portal. This rule checks whether the requestor session is through an API, and whether the active channel is ExternalDesktop. If you introduce a custom API that needs a flow other than the DX API channel, you must override the GetActiveChannel decision tree to set the appropriate active channel based on the source.

Adding Parallel flows to the case type

In the Fee Inquiry service case, parallel flows were added to collect information for the external desktop, as shown in the following figure:

pyDefault of the case type

Omni channel hand off

When the processing in any of the parallel flows are complete and need to be moved to next stage, add the change stage shape with param.CleanUpProcesses set to true.

Runtime display

When the CSR launches the case in the Interaction portal, both assignments are displayed. After either of these assignments is complete, the case moves to next stage.

Fee Inquiry service case implementation

Adding the PegaCSFS-Cases-CME ruleset

To render the Confirmation page, add the PegaCSFS-Cases-CME ruleset to the top of the Customer Service for Financial Services implementation application stack.

Design changes

Updating the functional scope

In the first page, you must implement the fee selection for the customer who wants to inquire. The fee selection has been changed to a checkbox control instead of radio buttons because radio button controls are not supported on React.

For the selection of fees, a validation is added to allow only one value for fees to be selected, not multiple values.

Technical changes

To enable reusability, the Account and Customer details were populated on the SelectedAccount and pyWorkParty(Customer) data pages respectively, at the work pool level. Because the new confirm harness is a circumstanced version, it was rebuilt in the PegaCSFS-Cases-CME ruleset under the service case class (for example, PegaFSSCM-Work) so that it appears as expected for the case and for all appropriate channels.

Implementation details

This section describes issues encountered during the implementation and the workarounds that were used.

Select fee for the inquiry page

Radio buttons configured for the fee selection in the table are not supported

Workaround: Replaced the radio button control with the checkbox control for the fee selection in the table, and then changed the Row editing option in the Row operations for the table to Inline and Rows always editable.

Cannot adjust the table width using the options available for the content width in the Presentation tab

Workaround: Used a dynamic section with 70-30 layout, and then embedded the table inside the Dynamic Layout to reduce the table width for UI flexibility.

Capture the reason for inquiry page

Read-only single column template does not produce the required UI in React

Workaround: Inserted paragraph rules with the table, which were embedded inside the section to achieve the required UI.

Process conditional fee waiver request page

This page loads only when the customer requests a fee waiver by selecting the fee waiver request checkbox in second page. If there is no request for a fee waiver, the flow progresses directly to the Confirmation page and the case is resolved.

Read-only single-column template does not produce the required UI in React

Workaround: Used the paragraph rules with the table inserted to achieve the required UI.

Radio button values sourced from the field values do not render in React

Workaround: Changed the table values for the property source to fetch from the local list

Confirmation page

Confirmation page message background color is not supported

Workaround: Used a paragraph rule with text styling and background color, and then referred to the paragraph rule in the section that holds the message for different cases status on the Confirmation page.

Conclusion

You can embed Pega’s out-of-the-box case types into external desktops by using the DX v1 APIs and making suitable changes in the UX. This requires little effort while producing significant outcomes by using Pega Case Management in a client UI of choice.

A method of delivering goal-oriented results by handling business cases from start to a resolution and combining human actions with digital automations. In case management, you use data and people that are involved in a business process to visualize and model work, so that you can prepare a set of actions that lead to your objective. For example, you can model a process of approving candidates after reviewing job applications, from collecting documents from a candidate, through the job interview, to the final approval.

A business solution that automates workflows in your organization. Multiple, unrelated applications can be hosted in the same system. You create an application by running the New Application wizard.

A program component that defines and implements an interface between an external application acting as a client, and a Pega Platform system acting as a server. An external system can send a request to a Pega Platform application and receive a response.

For example, the Pega Cloud Services SFTP service provides Pega Cloud clients with simple, secure file transfers to and from their Pega Cloud applications.

Actual work that is performed by application users and automations that consists of a sequence of tasks and leads to an intended business goal. An example of a case is a process of hiring a particular job candidate, where an HR worker collects necessary documents, a hiring manager conducts a job interview, and an application sends an automated email with onboarding information after the candidate is approved. To create a case, you first build a template of your business process that is a case type, and then apply the template in multiple cases, for example, to review applications from many candidates.

An interface that provides users with an organized set of work tools. Users navigate the application, collaborate, and complete work assignments mainly through portals. Typically, you create a separate portal for each user group within your application. For example, you can create a portal for regular employees, and a separate one for their managers. Most portals contain a navigation menu that leads to various pages and dashboards, as well as a menu for creating new work items. Additionally, portals might also include widgets that improve work efficiency. For example, you can design a portal that has a widget for frequently used reports, which helps managers save time and oversee their projects.

A way of structuring your technology and systems to support customer and business outcomes, which is part of the Center-out approach to business architecture.

A digital medium through which users access your application. Depending on your business needs, you can set up various channels for the same application. For example, customers can access an application for booking flights through a browser-based web channel, or through a mobile channel that relies on a mobile app. In addition, you can also build a Facebook chatbot for customers who want to ask questions about their booking. At the same time, you can set up a second, more utilitarian web channel to accommodate professional users, such as travel agents. By making an application accessible over several channels, you can reach a wide variety of audiences, and provide each user group with the most appropriate content and user experience.

A rule that defines a series of tests on property values to allow an automated decision. Decision trees capture and present business logic in the form of one or more if/then/else conditions. Decision trees are instances of the Rule-Declare-DecisionTree class.

(Deprecated) A configuration of panels (areas) in a harness that support a composite portal. Existing panel sets continue to function. As a best practice, upgrade panel sets to screen layouts.

A template for a case in an application.

The first level of organization of the tasks that are required to complete your business process. By providing stages, you organize work into logical phases that users of your application follow to reach an outcome. Stages visualize milestones or significant events in your business process and can also indicate a transition of work from one person to another. For example, if your business process is to review job applications, you can create Submission, Review, and Approval stages, each of which includes a different set of actions and is performed by a different person. Stages that are necessary to resolve a case through the basic, default path are called primary stages.

In a Microjourney™, stages are the milestones that leads towards an outcome.

A collection of rules (the basic building blocks of applications built with Pega Platform) that describe key components and how part of an application works. Rulesets help you store, categorize, and version the rules in an application.

A ruleset consists of ruleset versions that store the updated versions of rules. For example, in an application used for hiring new employees, the application might include several rulesets, one dedicated to defining the UI and processes used to hire employees, and another ruleset that defines the application's integration with a Job website.

You usually implement several rulesets when developing a large application. Once the rulesets are adequately tested and make it into a production environment, you can create a new version of the rulesets to develop and test during the next development cycle.

A data structure that holds name-value pairs. Pages are stored in the system memory or in the database. Various types of pages are defined in the system, such as data pages that are created when the data is referenced, named and unnamed pages, parameter pages, clipboard pages, and so on. Every unit of information in an application is a pairing of a name and a value, known as a data element. For example, a data element that stores the email address of a customer has the name "email," and the value "john.smith@company.com." Pages store data elements so that the application can use it to process the case.

A work party that typically initiates a case. In many applications, only one customer can be associated with a case.

A container that organizes the content and structure of a page in the user interface. The layout of a harness is defined by a template. For example, you can base a portal harness on a template that divides the portal into three separate areas: a header, a navigation pane, and a large content pane for displaying documents.

The building blocks of your user interface, sections can use design templates for their structure and contain such interactive UI elements as fields, buttons, lists, and so on. A section creates a functional chunk of a user interface, and can be reused throughout your application for improved consistency and efficient development.

For example, your application may need to display user data as a list of ID cards. You can create a section for the contents of a card, and then reuse that section so that the design of every card is consistent.

A layout that organizes UI elements on the screen in a variety of ways. For example, you can use dynamic layouts in forms to determine item and label placement depending on the size of the screen that you use, such as desktop monitors or mobile displays. You can also define how dynamic layouts behave on mobile devices to improve readability by defining how much content is displayed on the screen at a time.

The basic building blocks of an application, rules define the behavior of an application. There are many types of rules, each defining a different type of behavior. For example, rules define the display of a form, the fields that are used in your application, and the flows that define the process of completing work.

The system can reuse rules throughout your application. For example, in an application for ordering replacements parts, you can define a user interface to capture an address, and reuse the same rule for the UI to capture both the mailing address and the billing address for the order.

You define rules in an application to create a business solution for your organization and customers. Rules provide flexibility during the development process and help you design applications more efficiently, so that they can be implemented again in future projects.

A text clipboard value that is generated by the system and associated with a page. A typical page message conveys error conditions, progress, and exceptions.