How a chat experience connects to SeeClickFix 311 CRM depends on which chat product is in use.
CivicPlus Agent
CivicPlus Agent supports submitting service requests directly into SeeClickFix 311 CRM on the resident's behalf. The agent captures the necessary details through a guided conversation, including location, category, description, and supporting images, and then creates the request.
For setup steps, requirements, and current limitations, see CivicPlus Agent and SeeClickFix 311 CRM.
Mobile Apps
CivicPlus Agent can also be reached from inside the SeeClickFix 311 CRM App and your organization's Marketplace app using a mobile app button. Create a button with the View URL Within App action pointing to the page where the agent is available, and append ?agentWidgetOpen=1 to the URL to open the chat widget automatically. For setup steps, see Add and Modify Mobile App Buttons.
Third-Party Chat Services
SeeClickFix 311 CRM has built a specific reporting flow that provides the best experience for residents to go through submitting a concern. This includes the benefits of geolocation, image attachments, and potential duplicate detection of other requests. It also provides the ability for the user to accept the CivicPlus Terms of Use and select options for anonymous submission.
Because of the above functionality built into the SeeClickFix 311 CRM reporting flow, SeeClickFix 311 CRM does not recommend or support the ability to use a third-party AI chat feature to report a request directly into the system.
As an alternative, SeeClickFix 311 CRM recommends the chat feature integrate by offering a link to the SeeClickFix 311 CRM reporting portal with a full category list for the city or a direct link to the desired category to report. This will provide the optimal experience for the resident to include all the benefits of reporting from SeeClickFix 311 CRM.
The two options below describe how to construct those links.
Option 1: Create a Link to a Category List
An organization can follow the helpful Instructions to Embed and Share a Portal article to get the link for the category list portal.
Each SeeClickFix 311 CRM customer has a link to their submission portal. If a resident asks how to report a concern/issue/request, then the chatbot can guide the resident to the SeeClickFix 311 CRM Portal which is customized for that organization.
Option 2: Create a Direct Link to a Specific Category
If a direct link to each Service Request Category is desired, then the city can utilize the SeeClickFix 311 CRM Open311 API to query the public service requests and service request ID. Then each category can be directly linked from the AI chatbot.
If needed, please reference Open311 API for more information
The City of New Haven's service request categories are a good reference for sample queries: https://seeclickfix.com/open311/v2/29/services.json
Using the New Haven service request category sample listed previously, the customer organization will need to adjust the organization number shown to match their SeeClickFix 311 CRM organization number and replace it.
Example: https://seeclickfix.com/open311/v2//services.json
The SeeClickFix 311 CRM organization ID can be found in the URL after any member on the account has accessed the SeeClickFix 311 CRM internal system.
Example: in the URL https://crm.seeclickfix.com/#/organizations/1743/issues, 1743 is the organizational ID.
In the category query, the JSON response shows the "service code" for each request category. This service code is then used to create a direct link to the category in the SeeClickFix 311 CRM web portal.
Example: a resident asks to report a problem via the chatbot, and the chatbot asks "What the problem is related to or for?" The resident responds that it is about a "parking meter". The chatbot then provides a direct link for the resident to report a Parking Meter problem to their local government (https://seeclickfix.com/web_portal/WAE8vSooYm9Yc9YRgEETwygF/report/category/372) which will display the report an issue page when selected:
The bolded text in the previous URL is specific to the customer organization and the category. The portal link can be found in the SeeClickFix 311 CRM Organization Settings, then Web Portal, and then Embed. The service code (as shown previously as 372 for Parking Meter) can be retrieved for each category utilizing the previously-referenced Open 311 API query.
Format: https://seeclickfix.com/web_portal/report/category/