Configuring Service Categories

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to create, configure, and maintain categories that utilize machine learning for service categorization and ensure the smooth handling of service requests.

A service category represents a specific service that a company wants to offer its customers, such as wheel alignment or fixing a puncture. In SAP Service Cloud Version 2, you use categories to organize and capture the services your company provides, creating a hierarchical structure called a catalog. As shown in the example from our case company Aspen Bicycles, the hierarchical nature of the service catalog allows for multiple branching levels. The top-level box is labeled "Service Catalog," which then branches into three main categories: "Inquiry, Complaint, and Comment."

• Under "Inquiry," there is a subcategory called: Bicycle.
• Under "Complaint," there is a subcategory called: Apparel.
• Under "Comment," there is a subcategory named: Helmet.

Such a catalog then serves as the fundamental, consistent framework used for the following purposes.

• Determining individual and or team responsibility
• Service level assignment
• Service reporting and benchmarking

SAP Service Cloud Version 2 also uses the service categories you create as attributes for Cases, allowing the system to automatically match and route incoming service requests (Cases) to the specific services in your catalog and the appropriate service teams. You select these attributes as an Administrator in Service Level Determination during Case Management.

The system lets you freely create and maintain categories, which are then reflected in the overall concerned catalogs. Using the SAP Data Workbench tool, you can also import an existing service catalog into SAP Service Cloud Version 2.

Service Catalogs Settings

The Service Catalogs can be set up in SAP Service Cloud Version 2 by administrators through the following path:

Settings→Service Catalog→Catalog Definition

Maintain Categories

After entering a Name, ID, and Description for a service catalog, administrators can decide what the service catalog will be used with, such as with Cases and/or with one or more communication channels like phone, email, and so on. Within the Service Catalog, they can maintain categories based on status, so for the service catalog to be active, it must have the status "activated".

Note

Once the catalog is activated, it can be deactivated, but it cannot be activated again.

Working with Categories

Along with the administrator configuring the system to automatically identify relevant categories for incoming service requests (Cases), Service Agents can also do this manually. They can also update the service category assignments for Cases currently in progress. Service Agents perform these actions from the Agent Desktop screen. In the example above, you first select the service catalog and then choose the category. After doing this, the category details become available for viewing.

The service categorization process for creating service catalogs, which you, as the administrator, perform in SAP Service Cloud Version 2, can be improved with the automation capabilities of machine learning. By using machine learning, SAP Service Cloud Version 2 can analyze past Cases to learn the rules for categorization. Once your confidence in the trained and active model reaches an acceptable starting level, the system can begin automatically suggesting service categories for Cases as they are created for incoming service requests.

In this lesson, we:

• Explained the role of service categories in organizing and managing service requests.
• Configured service catalogs.
• Created and maintained categories within service catalogs.
• Analyzed the use of machine learning to enhance service categorization.
• Activated and managed service categories and subcategories.