Using Start My Day
Start My Day (SMD) is a feature in Pega Platform™ that is enabled through Pega Attended RPA (Robotic Process Automation). With this feature, an administrator can automate the launch of all applications required for an end-user's workday. There are two ways administrators can launch applications and websites for SMD:
- Applications and sites defined in the automations package
- Applications and sites that users add manually
Users can customize both to be disabled or enabled through the SMD dialog boxes. With the latest version of this feature, any Constellation application, such as Pega Customer Service™, can now enable the SMD component for their application and invoke an SMD robot.
Setting up the Start My Day feature to automate your applications begins with a Robotic developer designing an automation in Pega Robot Studio™. The developer must configure this automation project to include the SMD application properties and then deploy them from an automation package.
Note: You must ensure that any system that plans to invoke this package is running Pega RPA.
When setting up the Start My Day feature to automate applications, administrators for these Pega Constellation applications can enable the feature using App Studio. Then, application users can personalize their application list from within the Start My Day workspace.
Configuring Start My Day in Robot Studio
When you configure your application's Start My Day feature, you start within Robot Studio. First, you enable the feature on your automation package, as shown in the project properties in the following figure:
Automation developers accomplish this by including the SMD option in their project's properties and then creating and configuring at least one application in the Start My Day automation package. Using the automation surface in Robot Studio, developers create a workflow for the SMD applications and can specify the size and position of the applications.
After the developer tests the automation, they deploy the applications and automations as part of an automation package. For more information on the methods and properties that you configure in Pega Robot Studio, see the Start My Day topic in Pega Academy, as well as the StartMyDay properties, methods, and events topic on the Pega Documentation site.
When you deploy this package to a system running Pega Robot Runtime, an administrator for the application can then log in to Dev Studio and take the necessary steps to enable the feature within Pega Platform.
Enabling Start My Day in Pega Platform applications
Pega Customer Service™ is an example of a Pega Platform application that can invoke an SMD robot once the feature is enabled. Customer support representatives (CSRs) use the application to assist customers using various channels, such as phone calls, chat applications, or social media. Customer Service Administrators enable the SMD feature in the App Studio settings so that users can view the Start My Day icon.
For detailed steps on configuring SMD for Customer Service, see Configuring the Robotics setting topics on the Pega Documentation site. In addition to Customer Service, other applications can use the automation package containing the SMD configurations and then enable the feature from App Studio so end users can login and see the Start My Day icon within the portal, as shown in the following image. For more detailed steps on configuring Pega Platform for Start My Day, see the Configuring Start My Day topic on the Pega Documentation site.
Personalizing the Start My Day Workspace
Once the Start My Day feature is configured for application users' workspaces, the user or agent can use the options in the workspace to personalize their experience. A workspace is the area where the SMD configuration defines the size, position, and layout of all specified applications that the user system displays on the desktop. The workspace also includes how applications and sites are distributed within one or multiple screens, including the position where they should open on the screen.
When configured, a workspace displays each user's Start My Day applications. This list merges the applications part of the package loaded at Robot Runtime and any other applications the user has previously added and saved to the configuration.
The end-users specify which applications they want to launch automatically to begin their work using Start My Day. When customizing their workspace, they can also define the layout and size of the applications and save their options to increase efficiency.
For example, suppose you are working at a company where your organization requires you to use an application that tracks an engineer's availability, an application to request appointments or parts, Notepad, and a web browser. In this case, you can specify those items to launch, and then save the layout you prefer to the Start My Day widget. After configuration, the system displays the pane containing different actions to set up your workspace.
In the following figure, click the + icon to learn more about each option in the pane:
For more information on configuring and using this feature, see Using Start My Day and Configuring the CSR Workspace.
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