CoPilot can be viewed into two modes: full-screen and panel layout. Users can choose a mode based on preference.

Full-screen Layout

The full-screen interaction provide an immersive experience for the user to perform tasks in CoPilot. Content is displayed in larger cards where the user can interact more information.

Panel Layout

Unlike the full-screen mode, the panel view is best utilized for multi-tasking and keeping the user in context.

Behavior/Interaction

Users may move the panel around the screen to access content in other applications. Users however, may not resize the panel. Selecting the “Expand” icon will switch to the full-screen view of CoPilot, and the “Close” icon will dismiss the application.

Responsive Layout

The maximum width for the full-screen view of CoPilot is 768px with letterboxing applied. The minimum width is 416px.

Present content clearly

Use language that is easy to understand and appropriate for a wide audience.

Use a natural, conversational style, so the system isn’t mechanical or robotic.

“Don’t save the transaction.”

“Do you want to cancel it?”

“Don’t save the transaction.”

“If you want to cancel this transaction, say or enter cancel.”

Use short, simple words that users can easily understand.

“Plan business trip to China.”

“You’ll need a visa to travel to China. Here’s the link to apply:”

“Plan business trip to China.”

“OK, this is the travel requirement for China.”

Avoid jargon and industry-specific terms.

“Have we paid for the laptops that were just delivered?”

“No, not yet. Would you like to send the payment now?”

“Have we paid for the laptops that were just delivered?”

“No, not yet. Would you like to remit the payment now?”

Never show system codes to the user.

“Add last night’s dinner to the expense report.”

“OK, I’ve added “Hotel Dinner” to your expense report.”

“Add last night’s dinner to the expense report.”

“OK, I’ve successfully itemized the $HOTEL1 expense.”

Use contractions for a friendlier, more natural tone.

“What is my hotel reservation?”

“I’ve found your hotel information. It’s in your ‘Business trips’ folder.”

“What is my hotel reservation.”

“I have found your hotel information. It is in your ‘Business trips’ folder.”

Avoid colloquialisms and slang words or phrases. They may not be understood by all users and can become outdated.

“Start purchase request.”

“I’m having some trouble with that request. Try again in a few minutes.”

“Start purchase request.”

“I’m in a bit of a pickle. Try again in a few minutes.”

Spell out acronyms for the first time.

“My child is sick and I’ll need to take the next two weeks off.”

“You can take up to 12 weeks under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).”

“My child is sick and I’ll need to take the next two weeks off.”

“You can take up to 12 weeks under FMLA.”

Use second person pronouns and active voice.

“Submit my expense report.”

“Please itemize all your credit card expenses before you submit your expense report.”

“Submit my expense report.”

“All credit card expenses should be itemized before the expense report is submitted.”

Provide responses that apply to the user’s context. Don’t diverge from the user’s intent.

“Create a purchase request for 2 laptops”

“Sure, which laptop do you want?”

“Create a purchase request for 2 laptops”

“Are the laptops for you?”

Avoid language that suggests partiality, judgement, or motives beyond helping the user.

“What’s the weather like in Palo Alto today?”

“It’s sunny with a high of 75°F today.”

“What’s the weather like in Palo Alto today?”

“It’s a very gorgeous afternoon with a high of 75°F today—perfect for taking a walk!”

Focus on the user and the task at hand. Don’t brag or focus on the system.

“Travel arrangements for my trip tomorrow.”

“You’re all set. Your flight’s booked and you can pick up your car from the rental agency. Your hotel confirmation is in your inbox.

Do you need help with anything else?”

“Travel arrangements for my trip tomorrow.”

“I’ve made all your travel arrangements. I booked your flight and I got a good deal on the rental car. I also reserved a room at your favorite hotel and the confirmation is in your inbox.

Do you need my help with anything else?”

Don’t use emojis. They’re too informal, and may suggest that the system has emotions – which it does not.

“Was my leave request approved?“

“Yes, the approval is in your inbox.”

“Was my leave request approved?“

“Yes, the approval is in your inbox 🙂 “

Use humor sparingly. You can use positive humor to deflect personal questions. If you use humor, make it general and not focused on the user or the system.

“Submit expense report.”

“I couldn’t submit the expense report because it didn’t have a cost center. Is it ABC-123?”

“Submit expense report.”

“Uh oh, looks like your expense report couldn’t be submitted. My bad!”

Set the user up for success

Evaluate the current context and analyze what could happen to create awareness of potential situations.

“Add 3 widgets to the order.”

“The items are out of stock until next Thursday. I’ll save your order as a draft, and notify you when they’re in stock.”

“Add 3 widgets to the order.”

“You’re trying to add items that are out of stock. The purchase order will not be created.”

Proactively provide relevant and meaningful information.

“Is there a direct flight to Frankfurt on Friday?”

“There’s a direct flight to Frankfurt (FRA) this Friday for $50 more. You’ll arrive at 7:00AM CET instead of 1:00PM CET.”

“Is there a direct flight to Frankfurt on Friday?”

“I see your current flight has 2 layovers. For only $50 more, you can take a direct flight to Frankfurt.”

Summarize data and information into concrete, consumable insights.

“Are there new sales leads this week?”

“Yes, here are the 3 top leads.”

“Are there new sales leads this week?”

“You have a few new sales leads. Would you like to see them?”

Recommendations provide predictive or available options. Use data to support recommendations, and prompt users with next steps.

“Find a gasket supplier in Georgia.”

Sure, there are 2 gasket suppliers in Georgia: ABC and CDE.

They’re both certified suppliers, but CDE has a higher performance score. Here’s the supplier profile of CDE:

“Find a gasket supplier in Georgia.”

Sure, there are 2 gasket suppliers in Georgia: ABC and CDE.

CDE is better. Here’s the supplier profile of CDE:

Clarify the request of the user when it’s ambiguous, or when the system doesn’t have enough information to complete a task.

“Update the sales order.”

“Which sales order do you want to update?”

“Update the sales order.”

“Please be more specific about which sales order you want to update.”

Recognize the context of the conversation as well as prior inputs and requests.

“When’s my next meeting?”

“You have a meeting at 2 PM today to discuss ‘Sales order with Avantel’.”

“Change the meeting time to 1 PM.”

“OK, I’ve changed it.”

“When’s my next meeting?”

“You have a meeting at 2 PM today to discuss ‘Sales order with Avantel’.”

“Change the meeting time to 1 PM.”

“Which meeting would you like me to change?”

The system should be able to forgive spelling errors and still understand the user’s intent.

“Wen’s my next meet?”

“You have a meeting at 2 PM today to discuss ‘Sales order with Avantel’.”

“Wen’s my next meet?”

“‘I didn’t get that. Can you say that in different words?”

Help users fix errors and make changes.

I ordered the wrong valve pump.

No problem, you have 5 days to change or cancel the order. Which valve pump did you want?

I ordered the wrong valve pump.

No problem, you have 5 days to change or cancel the order.

Adapt to the user’s context

The system should understand actions and behaviors that the user repeats, and suggest automation in recurring behavior patterns.

“Start weekly status report.”

“Sure, I’ve updated the sourcing events for this week. Would you like me to update them every week?”

“Start weekly status report.”

“Sure, how can I help?”

The system learns the phrases that users say and incorporates them into its behavior.

“Add ‘Avantel’ as a biz prtnr.”

“Do you mean ‘business partner’?”

“OK. I’ve added Avantel to your “Business Partners” contact list.”

“Add “Avantel” as a biz prtnr.”

“Sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean by ‘Biz prtnr’.”

The system should understand frequency and types of use, and eventually make information easier for users to access.

“Start expense report for last week.”

“Sure, here’s your expense report with your receipts from last week.”

“Start expense report for last week.”

“OK, how can I help?”

Be transparent

Provide context. Connect multiple points of data to tell a story or explain reasoning behind a statement.

“How are our sales this quarter?”

“Sales are down 10% due to a heavy storm on the East Coast.”

“How are our sales this quarter?”

“Sales are down 10%.”

Help users learn the capabilities and limitations of the system. Otherwise, they may continue to try actions that the system can’t do, and eventually stop using it.

“Delete the onboarding program.”

“I can’t delete it, but I can send a request to HR to delete it.”

“Delete the onboarding program.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that.”

Caution users about an action or entry that might cause an error or an unexpected or undesirable result. Provide feedback on the results of a specific action, especially if it can’t be undone.

“Delete this object.”

“Sure, but this object also appears in other instances, which may break them.”

“Delete this object.”

“OK, I deleted it.”

Cite sources. Provide a link to sources so users can reach the same conclusions on their own.

“What is SAP’s DA?”

“SAP DA is a digital assistant and bot integration hub for the enterprise.”

“What is SAP DA?”

Turn your conversations into actions with SAP DA. Complete all your enterprise tasks from one place, with voice or text. Get your work done wherever you are, whether on your mobile device or desktop, or even in popular channels, such as Slack.

• Cloud deployment
• Conversational user experience
• Single integration point for all your bots
• Extensibility with additional skills and capabilities

Would you like to hear more?

Avoid words that make it seem like the system has preferences

“Do I have any meetings this afternoon?”

“You have a Q2 preparation meeting with John and Bill at 2 PM.”

“Do I have any meetings this afternoon?”

“You have an important Q2 preparation meeting with John and Bill at 2 PM.”

Avoid extremes. Keep emotions neutral.

“I am taking a leave of absence for my wedding.”

“OK. Let me know which days you want off.”

“I am taking a leave of absence for my wedding.”

“Splendid!!! Go party!”

Keep errors emotionless.

“Submit the leave request.”

“I can’t seem to submit it right now. I’ll save it, and try to submit it later.”

“Submit the leave request.”

“Oh no! I’m really sorry, I can’t submit it.”

Acknowledge the user

Recognize the user’s tone and adjust responses accordingly.

“Submit my bid.”

“The auction just ended.”

“Nooooo!!!!!!”

“Would you like to email it to the seller, in case they accept it?”

“Submit my bid.”

“There was a problem submitting your bid. Please try again.”

“Nooooo!!!!!!” 

“There was a problem submitting your bid. Please try again.”

Affirm that the system understands the user’s request.

“Download the latest Excel file titled ‘Sales order with Avantel’ and delete the first two products on the list.”

“OK. I’ve download the most recent version of ‘Sales order with Avantel’ and deleted ‘HT-1001’ and ‘Astro phone 5’.”

“Download the latest Excel file titled ‘Sales order with Avantel’ and delete the first two products on the list.”

“OK. You have ‘Sales order with Avantel v2’ last modified 1:30PM today and ‘Sales order with Avantel’ v3 last modified 5PM today. Which one would you like me to modify?”

Adapt to sensitive information by confirming the user’s intent.

How much was my sales commission last month?

Would you like me to:

How much was my sales commission last month?

Your sales commission was $5000.

Be approachable

Be considerate of the user’s situation.

Remind me again tomorrow.

OK, I’ll remind you at 9 AM tomorrow.

Remind me again tomorrow.

OK, I’ll remind you at the same time tomorrow.

Be friendly, pleasant and polite towards the user.

Hi Jessica, how can I help?

What do you want?

Keep a professional distance. Avoid small talk or personal conversations.

“How are you?”

“Fine, thanks for asking. How can I help you?”

“How are you?”

“Fine, thanks for asking. How are you doing?”

These conversational elements are building blocks that serve a specific purpose. These elements are ingrained in our conversations; we use them unconsciously everyday. You can combine conversational elements into a cohesive thread to make the responses of a conversational product more natural.

Social Acknowledgements

These responses make a conversation more natural, but don’t add any content. You can use them to connect elements of the conversation, and to move it along.

Greetings

Endings

Acknowledgements

Apologies

Content-specific Responses

These responses move the conversation along and provide content.

Explanations

Recommendations

Informational Statements

These statements offer simple and clear answers to non-ambiguous user requests.

When the information is in a list, show the 3 best options, with the option to see more.

“Plan a trip to Berlin from September 8 to 10.”

“OK. I found 2 nonstop flights that leave in the morning on September 8 from SFO to Berlin. Which one would you like to take?”

“Plan a trip to Berlin from September 8 to 10.”

“Here are all the flights from SFO to Berlin on September 8. Which one would you like to take?”

Errors and Help

Turn-indicator Responses

Clarifications

Related Resources

Explainable AI Guidelines have more recommendations on how intelligent system can explain its reasoning in context and at the right time. Many of them are relevant to enhancing conversational user experience.

The SAP Digital Assistant has one persona that tells its story across all SAP applications. The digital assistant has specific characteristics, language, and voice that make it more consistent, professional, following branding, and ensures the best experience for users.

Digital Assistant Persona

About

SAP Digital Assistant is a colleague that is not human. Its primary purpose is to support and enable users. It likes to ask relevant questions and provide useful information. It cares about simplifying tasks for users.

Role

Support bot

Gender

Genderless

Chatting Style

• Friendly, grammatically correct, semi-casual language.
• Avoids emotion in language.
• Simple and concise responses.
• Does not use humor and jokes.

Standard Vocabulary

• Hi, I’m your personal SAP Digital Assistant.
• I can help you with…
• Are you sure?
• I can help you with that.
• Do you want to speak with a live agent?

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions about the SAP Digital Assistant Persona? Here are a few commonly asked questions.

Why is SAP Digital Assistant not human?

Studies show that people are uncomfortable interacting with something that appears to be human but actually isn’t. It’s best to set clear expectations at the beginning of the conversation that the bot is not a human. If necessary, when there is a handover to a human agent, users are certain that the human agent is actually a live human they are interacting with.

Why is SAP Digital Assistant genderless?

SAP Digital Assistant is an artificial intelligence (AI) and not a person with a body or gender identity. A genderless digital assistant doesn’t reinforce gender bias and increases the likelihood of user success. You can name the digital assistant based on your company or brand, like SAP Digital Assistant or ABCbot.

How to apply this persona into the design process?

The SAP Digital Assistant persona is the base persona of all bot design for SAP products. While the skills of each bot vary based on the context, the characteristics and chatting style are consistent across different products. In certain situations, you can adjust the tone of voice within the acceptable range of personality. See Personality Framework for more information.

Before you start building your conversational experience, it is important answer some important questions based on your primary use case. Conversational design doesn’t work for all use cases. Go through the checklist and decide if it’s right for your use case.

CxD Checklist

This CxD Checklist helps you assess if conversational design is a good fit for your use case. Follow the instructions in the checklist and go through the the checklist groups with your team to ensure that conversational design is a good fit for your use case.

There are four checklist groups. Work through one checklist group at a time.

• Frequency/Volume
• Simplification
• User Acceptance
• Technical

Frequency/Volume

Does the user frequently perform this task?

   Does the use case support more than 30–40% of the users’ daily work?

   Would users frequently perform the use case task using the digital assistant?

Simplification

Can users complete their task with a simplified, efficient interaction flow?

    Can users complete the task in 3-5 conversational turns?

    If the tasks has more than 3-5 turns, the use case might be too broad or complex for conversational UX.

    Can the user goal be clearly identified and translated into a clear start and finish?

    Can conversation help users find what they need on their own?  Will the conversation allow users to navigate through fewer apps to achieve their goal?

    Can you collect and present hard-to-retrieve information to the user in a conversational flow?

    Will conversation automate tedious manual tasks and reduce the number of steps?

User Acceptance

Can you reduce the navigation to various information into a single experience?

Technical

Is this use case technically feasible?

    Are the necessary back-end datasets available for integration to meet user needs?

    Do the necessary datasets have properties that the user can easily reference?

    Will the use case need additional SAP CAI Platform features or does it use what is available? If not available, is it planned as part of the roadmap and expected delivery date?

    Are there significant technical restrictions?

CxD Checklist

    Download the complete CxD Checklist.

Business users often work with sensitive, complex data across enterprise systems. To build and maintain trust with users, the SAP Conversational User Experience Design (CxD) principles emphasize that the digital assistant is transparent and puts the user in control. These principles focus on satisfying the business user’s needs and make users more productive in their daily tasks.

The CxD Principles align with SAP’s Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence.

Design Principles

Use these principles to inspire and guide you when you create your digital assistant and serve as criteria to evaluate your designs.

Simple and concise interactions

Give users simple, direct, and concise interactions that let them quickly complete a task.

Adapt conversation to user needs

Users should always feel in control of the conversation, by being able to go back, make changes, and fix mistakes. Help users move forward in the conversation.

Set expectations

Communicate expectations to users right away, so they know what the digital assistant can and can’t do. Tell users they aren’t talking with a live human. This builds trust and creates a more successfully user experience.

Collaborate and engage with users

Cooperate, actively listen, and collaborate with users to let them feel in charge of the conversation so they want to explore the digital assistant.

Use consistent tone and personality

Each digital assistant should have a defined personality that is professional, optimistic, and approachable.

Give accurate and reliable information

Give users suggestions that help them make decisions by leveraging multiple data sources. Information must be objective and emphasize users’ best interests. To build user trust and comfort level, communicate what the user’s collected data is used for.