Build a contact center for booking and checking appointment with AWS Connect/Lex/Lambda

This lab is provided as part of AWS Innovate AI/ML Edition, click here to explore the full list of hands-on labs.

ℹ️ You will run this lab in your own AWS account. Please follow directions at the end of the lab to remove resources to avoid future costs.

Overview

In this lab, you will be building a contact center using Amazon Connect and integrating with Amazon Lex. Amazon Lex interprets dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) digits entered on a keypad. It matches the intent based on that input in the same way it matches the intent when you speak an utterance. This provides for greater flexibility for customers to interact with your contact center.

At the end of the lab, we will also explore Contact Lens for Amazon Connect, a feature of Amazon Connect, enables you to better understand the sentiment and trends of customer conversations to identify crucial company and product feedback.

Duration: Approximately 1 hour

Architecture

This lab has the following sections:

• 1. Launch AWS CloudFormation Stack
• 2. Create Lex Chat Bot
• 3. Create Amazon Connect Instance
• 4. Amazon Connect Lex Integration
• 5. Launch calls to test Amazon Connect features
• 6. Clean Up

1. Launch CloudFormation

You will use AWS CloudFormation to deploy an AWS Lambda function in your AWS account. It will be deployed in the Sydney region. Please ensure you follow directions at the end of the lab to delete the CloudFormation stack to remove resources.

Amazon Lex is currently available in the N. Virginia, Oregon, Sydney and Ireland regions. Additional regions will be added in future.

1.1 Login to your AWS account.

1.2 Right-click this link and open in a new browser tab: Launch Stack into the Sydney Region with CloudFormation

The CloudFormation console will be displayed, with some information already entered.

1.3 Click Next three times.

1.4 At the bottom of the page, select "I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources".

1.5 Click Create stack.

This will create an AWS Lambda function that you will use with Amazon Lex. There is no need to wait, you can continue with the next steps.

2. Lex Chat Bot

2.1 Create Chat Bot

You will now create a Lex Chat Bot that will be used to book appointments at a dental surgery. It will be capable of booking appointments for cleaning and whitening, and can also check and cancel appointments.

2.1.1 In the Services menu, click Amazon Lex.

2.1.2 Confirm that you are running in the Sydney region (shown in the top-right of the console). If a different region is showing, change to Sydney.

2.1.3 Click Get Started.

You will be presented with a "Create your bot" page. A number of sample bots are provided, but you will create your own custom bot.

2.1.4 Click Custom bot, then configure:

• Bot name: BookAppointment
• Output voice: Salli
• Session timeout: 5 minutes
• COPPA: No

• Click Create.

2.2. Create Lex Intents

You will now configure the intents for the Lex bot, which are the actions that the user can perform.

2.2.1 Book Appointment Intent.

• Click + near the Intents on the left navigation bar**, then:
• Click + Create Intent
• Name: BookAppointment
• Click Add

2.2.1.1 Create Slot Types

Slot Types are used to define special values that a user will provide. You will create an Appointment Type that will accept pre-defined values.

• In the left navigation pane, beside Slot types click ⨁, then:
• Click Create slot type
• Slot type name: AppointmentTypeValue
• Description: Types of Appointments
• Values:
  • cleaning
  • whitening
• Click Add slot to Intent

2.2.1.2 Create Utterances

You will now define utterances, which are spoken or typed phrases that will invoke the intent.

In Sample utterances, enter the following phrases (press Enter after each one):

• I want to book an appointment
• Book Appointment
• One

Expand Lambda initialization and validation, then:

• Select (turn on) Initialization and validation code hook
• Lambda function: lex-connect-book-appointment
• Click OK

This tells Lex to use the AWS Lambda function that you loaded at the start of the lab.

2.2.1.3 Define Slots

You will now define Slots, which tell Lex how to interpret user requests.

Create three slots as shown below (click ⨁ to save each one):

Tick Required for each of these slots (as shown in the picture).

Under Fulfillment:

• Select AWS Lambda function
• Lambda function: lex-connect-book-appointment

Click Save Intent (at the bottom of the page).

2.2.2 CheckAppointment Intent

You will create another intend for checking appointments.

In the left navigation pane, beside Intents click ⨁, then:

• Click Create intent
• Name: CheckAppointment
• Click Add

In Sample utterances, enter the following phrases (press Enter after each one):

• two
• check appointment

Under Fulfillment:

• Select AWS Lambda function
• Lambda function: lex-connect-book-appointment (If a pop-up asks for confirmation of permissions, click OK.)

Click Save Intent (at the bottom of the page).

2.2.3 SpeakToAgent Intent

You will create another intent to speak to an agent.

In the left navigation pane, beside Intents click ⨁, then:

• Click Create intent
• Name: SpeakToAgent
• Click Add

In Sample utterances, enter the following phrases (press Enter after each one):

• three
• speak to an agent

In Response, add a message that lets callers know that their call is being connected to an agent. For example, “Okay, an agent will be with you shortly.”

Click Save Intent (at the bottom of the page). The SpeakToAgent Intent should look like this:

2.3 Build and Publish Lex Bot

Click Build (in the top-right), then:

• Read the notice
• Click Build
• Wait until the build has finished (it will take about 30 seconds)

Click Publish (in the top-right), then:

• Create an alias: BookAppointment
• Click Publish
• When it is finished, click Close

2.4 Test Chat Bot

Test the chat bot to make sure it's working as expected

3. Create Amazon Connect Instance

You will now use Amazon Connect to create a virtual contact center. It will use your Lex Bot to interact with callers.

3.1 In the Services menu, select Amazon Connect.

3.2 Click Get started, then configure:

• Access URL: Enter your initials and a random number (eg jb642)
• Click Next step
• First/Last Name: Enter your name
• Username: lab-admin
• Password: ConnectLab1 (you will use this credential to log in later on)
• Email address: Enter your email address
• Click Next step
• Incoming calls: Yes
• Outgoing calls: No
• Click Next step twice
• Click Create instance

Wait until Amazon Connect finishes creating your virtual contact center.

3.3 Click the Amazon Connect AWS console.

3.4. Click the name of your Connect instance in the Instance Alias column.

3.5 In the left navigation pane, click Contact flows.

3.6 Under Amazon Lex:

• For Region, select Asia Pacific: Sydney (which is where you just created the Lex Bot)
• For Bot, select BookAppointment
• Click + Add Lex Bot (to right right of BookAppointment)

Note: It should now display the message "No Lex bots available to add" under the Bot field. If this message is not displayed, make sure you clicked the + Add Lex Bot link.

This tells Amazon Connect to use your Lex Bot to interact with users.

3.7 In the left navigation pane, click Overview.

3.8 Click Login URL.

Use the credential in 3.2 to login

4.Amazon Connect Lex Integration

You will now configure the call flow that your callers will experience.

4.1 In the left navigation pop-out menu, choose Routing -> Contact flows.

4.2 Click Create contact flow.

4.3 Click Enter a name (in the top-left corner), then enter: Lex lab

4.4 Under Interact, drag a Get customer input block onto the designer.

4.5 Click the heading of the Get customer input block to display its settings, then:

• Select Text-to-speech or chat text
• Enter text: To make an appointment, press or say 1. To check an appointment, press or say 2. Press or say 3 to speak to an agent

4.6 Below that, click the Amazon Lex heading, then:

• Select an existing Lex bot: BookAppointment
• Alias: BookAppointment

• Click Add an attribute
• Click Use attribute
• Destination key: ContactNumber
• Type: System
• Attribute: Customer Number

• Click Add an intent then add BookAppointment
• Click Add another intent then add CheckAppointment
• Click Add another intent then add SpeakToAgent
• Click Save

4.7 Connect the blocks by dragging a line from Entry Point - Start to the Get customer input block.

4.8 Under Set, drag a Set working queue block onto the designer, then:

• Connect SpeakToAgent and Default in Get customer input block to Set working queue block

4.9 Under Set, drag a Set recording and analytics behavior block onto the designer, then:

• Click on Set recording and analytics behavior block and apply settings as follows and Save:

• Connect Success in Set working queue block to Set recording and analytics behavior block

4.10 Under Terminate/Transfer, drag a Transfer to queue block onto the designer, then:

• Connect Success in Set recording and analytics behavior block to Transfer to queue block

4.11 Click the title of the Play prompt block, then:

• Click Text-to-speech or chat text
• Enter text: All of our agents are busy at the moment. Please call again.
• Click Save
• Connect Error in Get customer input and Set working queue blocks to Play prompt block
• Connect Error and At Capacity in Transfer to queue to Play prompt block

4.12 On the left, expand Terminate/Transfer and drag Disconnect / hang up onto the designer, then:

• Connect BookAppointment and CheckAppointment in Get customer input block and Play prompt block to Disconnect / hang up block.

The final flow should look like this:

4.13 Click Save (in the top right).

4.14 Click Publish, then click Publish.

4.15 In the left navigation pop-out menu, choose Routing -> Phone numbers.

4.16 Click Claim a number

4.17 Select a phone number in a location of your choice.

4.18 Towards the bottom of the page, for Contact flow / IVR select Lex Lab.

4.19 Click Save. It will take a few minutes for the Contact Flow to be effective.

5. Launch calls to test Amazon Connect features

Use your phone to call the number you claimed, and follow the prompts. The Lex chatbot will be asissiting with booking appointment and checking appointment.

5.1 Making calls to book and check appointment

• Dial the claimed nummber, press 1 and follow the prompt to make your dental appointment (cleaning/whitening). You should receive an SMS reminder.
• Dial again, press 2 to check the appointment. Amazon Connect recognises your phone number automatically, and look up DynamoDB to retrieve your existing bookings
• In these scenarios, the agent was not required. Instead, the job was done by the Lex Chatbot created by you and integrated to Amazon Connect Contact Flow.

5.2 Sentiment Analysis with Amazon Contact Lens

• To test this feature, we need to open Contact Control Panel to receive incoming call from your desktop. Click on the icon on the top right corner to log in and grant permissions such as Sound and Microphone

• Remember to set the staus as Available

• Dial the claimed nummber, press 3 to talk to an agent. You would see an incoming call in Contact Control Panel. Accept the call, Let's assume that you are talking to an agent, and provide some feedbacks (both negative and positive) and end the call.

• Now, let's try to understand the sentiment of the call the agent has just received.

• Go to Contact Search on the left navigation panel

• You will see the previous calls on the list with recording, timestamp, etc...

• Click on the Contact ID to analyze the call. In my case, i gave positive feedback at the beginning of the call and then negetive, so the sentiment trend analyzed is as follows:

• See how easy sentiment analysis was done. Check out what else can be done with Contact Lens for Amazon Connect

6. Clean Up

Once you have finished testing the lab, follow these instructions to delete the resources from your AWS account. This will avoid any future costs for the services uses.

6.1 To release the number you claimed:

• Select the phone number and click Release

6.2 Close the Amazon Lex administrator browser tab (with the blue cloud icon)

6.3. Return to the Amazon Connect management console browser tab (with the orange cube icon), then:

• In the left navigation pane, click Amazon Connect (above Overview)
• Select (tick) the Instance Alias (tick the box, do not click the link)
• Click Remove
• You will be asked to type the name of your instance to confirm deletion

6.4. In the Services menu, select Amazon Lex.

6.5. Click BookAppointment, then:

• Click the Settings tab
• Delete ⨂ the BookAppointment alias

6.6. Click the left arrow in the top-left corner to return to the Lex dashboard.

6.7 Click the ⃝ circle beside BookAppointment, then:

• In the Actions menu, click Delete
• Click Continue

6.8 In the left navigation pane, click Intents, then:

• Delete all intents

6.9 In the left navigation pane, click Slot types, then:

• Delete the displayed slot type

6.10 In the Services menu, select CloudFormation, then:

• Delete the LexFunction stack.

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