Custom Attribute Reporting

About Custom Attributes

Custom attributes are used within the application to store proprietary data that is specific to your business. Attributes may be numeric (integers) or textual (strings). This data may be needed for reporting purposes, to allow agents to search for items and/or to drive automated processes in the workflow. For example, a custom attribute could be used to store a refund value against every activity which was resolved via a refund, so that the values for all such activities can be aggregated and then the overall cost of refunds to the business can be
reported.

Enabling Custom Attributes for Analytics

Custom attributes can be enabled for Analytics, after which they become columns that are available when building reports from applicable semantic models. Custom attributes must first be created in the eGain Administration Console. From the Administration Console, it is also possible to select whether each custom attribute should be enabled for Analytics. This decision can be made at the time of the attribute’s creation or at any time later, although data only starts to be populated in Analytics from the time that the attribute is enabled. For more information, see Creating Custom Attributes

Custom attributes can be enabled for each of the following object types:

1. Activities
2. Cases
3. Knowledge Base Articles
4. Queues
5. Users

For activities and cases, any integer attributes which have been enabled for Analytics are referred to as custom measures. String attributes for activities and cases are referred to as custom dimensions. Since the other object types are already used as dimensions in Analytics, their custom attributes (whether integer or string) are referred to as custom dimension attributes.

No more than 10 attributes of each type can be enabled for Analytics. Once a custom attribute has been enabled, it cannot be disabled or removed from Analytics.

The limit for Object Attributes has been increased to 25 per object for Queue, User, and KB Article. These attributes display the current value at the time of report execution.

Using Custom Attributes in Reports

Once enabled for Analytics, each custom attribute becomes available as a column in semantic models which are appropriate for the object type to which the attribute belongs.

 For more information about building reports that include custom attributes, see Configuring Columns for the Reports.

Custom attributes are retrieved at the time of report execution and always reflect the current value associated with a resource at this time. If the value has changed historically, this will not be visible in reports. For example, say an agent attribute is used to capture the agent’s physical location. Agent Jane Smith relocated from site A to site B last month. Reports will reflect that she works at site B, even if reporting on data from 6 months ago when she actually worked at site A. For this reason, custom attributes are best used for relatively static data.

Article Attributes

These are attributes created on the KB article object and enabled for Analytics. They are used to capture a value against each article or suggestion in the Knowledge Console. For example, to classify suggestions into suggestion types. 

These attributes may be selected as report dimensions to display against each article, to sort the data, to group the data and/or to slice data in higher level reports (such as portal or workflow reports). They may be used with most historical report models where article or suggestion is a dimension (for example, Authoring Workflow Productivity, Knowledge Base Performance, Self Service Article Usage, Suggestion Workflow Productivity).

Activity Dimensions

These are string attributes created on the activity object and enabled for Analytics. They are used to capture a text value against each activity in the Advisor Desktop or by workflow rules (either free-text input or selecting from a drop-down menu). For example, to capture customer segment information or a routing reason. 

These attributes may be selected as report dimensions to slice, sort and/or group the data according to the value captured in the attribute. They can be used with the following models: Activity Classification, Activity Routing, Agent Session Summary, Call Track Activity, Chat Activity, Chat Serviced and Abandon Intervals, Email Activity, Social Activity, Task Activity.

Activity custom attributes are intended for use in Analytics as dimensions for summarized data. They should only be enabled for Analytics if the selection of possible values is expected to be finite with the same values being re-used many times over. For example, a list of customer segments or routing reasons. If the value of the custom attribute is likely to be unique for every activity (such as an external reference number), then it is not suitable to be enabled for Analytics.

Activity Measures

These are integer attributes created on the activity object and enabled for Analytics. They are used to capture a numeric value against each activity in the Advisor Desktop or by workflow rules. For example, the customer’s order value or the cost-to-resolve associated with an activity. 

These attributes may be selected as report columns to quantify this value across many activities. They can be used with the following models: Activity Classification, Activity Routing, Agent Session Summary, CallTrack Activity, Chat Activity, Email Activity, Social Activity, Task Activity.

If a report is built that contains an activity custom measure, each row of the report will show the total value for all activities being counted as completed in that row of the report (such as for a given agent, queue, interval). At the time of building the report, an aggregation may be selected (sum, max, min, average) which will appear in the total and sub-total rows of the report.

Case Dimensions

These are attributes created on the case object and enabled for Analytics. They are used to capture a text value against each case in the Advisor Desktop or by workflow rules (either free-text input or selecting from a drop-down menu). For example, to capture customer segment information or a routing reason. 

These attributes may be selected as report dimensions to slice, sort and/or group the data according to the value captured in the attribute. They can be used with the Case Activity model.

Case custom attributes are intended for use in Analytics as dimensions for summarized data. They should only be enabled for Analytics if the selection of possible values is expected to be finite with the same values being re-used many times over. For example, a list of customer segments or routing reasons. If the value of the custom attribute is likely to be unique for every case (such as an external reference number), then it is not suitable to be enabled for Analytics.

Case Measures

These are integer attributes created on the case object and enabled for Analytics. They are used to capture a numeric value against each case in the Advisor Desktop or by workflow rules. For example, the customer’s order value or the cost-to-resolve associated with a case. 
These attributes may be selected as report columns to quantify this value across many cases. They can be used with the Case Activity model.
If a report is built that contains a case custom measure, each row of the report will show the total value for all cases being counted as solved in that row of the report. At the time of building the report, an aggregation may be selected (sum, max, min, average) which will appear in the total and sub-total rows of the report.

Queue Attributes 

These are attributes created on the routing queue object and enabled for Analytics. They are used to capture a value against each queue in the Administration Console. For example, to capture the line of business that owns the queue. 

These attributes may be selected as report dimensions to display against each queue, to sort the data, to group the data and/or to slice data in higher level reports (such as department reports). They may be used with most historical report models where queue is a dimension (for example, Chat Activity, Email Activity, Social Activity).

User (Agent) Attributes

These are attributes created on the user object and enabled for Analytics. They are used to capture a value against each user in the Administration Console. For example, to capture the site/physical location where the agent is based. 

These attributes may be selected as report dimensions to display against each agent or user, to sort the data, to group the data and to slice data in higher level reports (such as queue or department reports). They may be used with most historical report models where agent/user is a dimension (for example, Agent Session Summary, Knowledge Base Performance).