The contact center UI server has less infrastructure requirements than an Intershop 7 application server. Different deployment scenarios are possible:

Development scenario: The development environment doesn't need multiple server instances. Everything is deployable on one machine.

Staging inside scenario: This deployment option covers the in-house usage of the contact center. The IT department is responsible to serve Intershop 7 and the Contact Center.

Outside scenario: This scenario uses an independent deployment of Intershop 7 and the Contact Center UI Server. This scenario is important for external call center agencies or departments with different IT infrastructure.

Contact center agents can login into the Contact Center UI with their own credentials, which are created in the back office. They can create a customer session to use the Web Shop REST API on behalf of a customer. There are REST calls for the contact center agent's login and REST calls for creating a session token for an identified customer.

The contact center agent is able to generate coupon codes for promotions that have been pre-configured in the back office. The following REST calls extend the Web Shop REST API:

• get the promotion which are only available within the Contact Center
• get the promotion details
• create a new promotion code for an existing promotion
• put a promotion code into the mail queue for the customer

The following REST calls extend the Web Shop REST API in the matter of customer search:

• get the current organization's sales channels to the client
• get detail information about a channel
  
• get the applications belonging to a channel
  
• get detail information on an application, including the REST API's URI
• get a fixed number of customers based on the given parameters (see the Reference - Omni-Channel Services Toolset REST API)
• get details about a customer to the client

The Contact Center UI is responsive by using the Bootstrap CSS Framework. Four widths are supported:

• Extra small devices (<768px)

• Small devices (≥768px)

• Medium devices (≥992px)

• Large devices (≥1200px)

The Contact Center Agent can search for customers with a single field search. The length of the search string needs to be at least three characters. Single field search criteria are email, last name and customer number. The minimum length of a search string is three characters. Several search strings must be separated by space characters.

The search is performed in all channels of the organization. The results are shown in a table with the columns last name, first name, customer number, email address, phone number and birthday.

The following search criteria are available with the extended search:

• first name
• last name
• birthday
• customer number
• email address
• phone number
• zip-code
• city
• country.

The search can be restricted to one channel of the organization.

The last orders of the customer are shown in a list sorted in descending order by the order number.

The list contains the following rows:

• order date
• order number
• destination (shipping address)
• order status
• quantity (sum of all order items)
• total order amount.

The following customer data are provided:

• name
• email
• phone number
• fax number
• addresses.

Coupons represent promotion codes that entitle customers benefit from a specific promotion. The contact center agent can select a promotion from a list of available promotions and generate a promotion code for the customer. The agent can submit the generated code to the customer via e-mail.

Shopping Cart

Contact center agents can add products directly by entering the SKU of the product. If a SKU of a master product was entered, a dialog for choosing the attributes for the required product variation is opened.

By adding the first product a new cart is generated for the selected customer. The agent can edit the quantity and the shipping method for every line item. Line items can also be removed from the cart.

Invoice and shipping addresses can be assigned to the cart by selecting an existing address from the customer data or by adding a new address.

The Contact center agent can select one of the available payment methods. The availability of the payment methods depends on the preferences in the channel and on the configuration for the contact center with a white list. New bank connection details for the payment method Direct Debit Transfer can be added to the order and saved to the customer account.

Existing coupons from available promotions and new generated coupons for discounts can be applied by the agent to the shopping cart.

Existing shopping carts from the selected customer can be taken over by the agent in the contact center and processed in the same way like new ones that have been generated in the contact center. The contact center agent has two possibilities to take over the cart.

• The last generated shopping cart from the customer can be taken over directly with one click.
• The agent can open a dialog and select the correct cart from the displayed list of all existing cart from the customer.

The customer can see the changes in the shopping cart made by the agent in the storefront. All changes are visible to a customer who is online and logged in. The customer has the option the check out the modified cart in the storefront.

Once all shopping cart details are properly set and applied, the agent can place the order on the customer's behalf.