Understand Nodes

Last Updated: April 8, 2022

What's in this article?

What are Nodes?

A Node is the building block of a flow. Any of the following Nodes can be used in a flow.

Start Node
  • The Start Node is the Flow's entry point. 
  • You can only have one Start node.
  • Whatever you name this node will be the name of the Flow.
  • You can add Triggering Phrases to a Start Node. 
    • When an End User's message matches one of the triggering phrases, the Flow will be called so long as the End User is not responding to a user response node in a bot message.
Bot Message Node
  • Bot Messages
    • Multiple Bot Messages can be entered in the node as variants.
    • The Bot will choose a message at random each time the node is called.
  • Fallback Messages
    • The local fallback message is triggered when the Bot does not understand the End User's message (ie the End User's input did not match any Q&As, Intents or Entities).
  • Rich Content
    • Rich Content is either a Knowledge Article, an Image, or a File that the Bot can send to a customer in a Bot Message.
User Response Node

  • Intent 
    • An Intent refers to the goal the user has in mind when typing in a question or comment.
    • Attaching the Intent Node type to a Bot Message Node allows the Builder to define how to handle user inputs.
    • Intents are to verbs as Entities are to nouns.
    • You can add phrases to the User Response Node or map a Global Intent.
  • Entity
    • An Entity refers to data objects / user information and is often used synonymously with Custom Fields on the BT Platform.
    • Entities are to nouns as Intents are to verbs.
    • There are different Entity Types. Categorical, Numerical, Phone Number, Email, Text (Regex).
  • Any Response
    • Any response will take any message from the End User and accept it as valid input.
  • No Response
    • The No Response response type allows the bot to determine where to route the flow if the End User does not respond within a specified timeframe.
Branch Node
  • The Branch allows you to use conditions to determine where the flow will route next.
  • There are two directions the flow can route, the If and the Else. 
    • If
      • Determines if the condition set is True. If the condition is True then the flow will route to the node that is connected to the If node.
    • Else
      • Determines if the condition set is False. If the condition is False then the flow will route to the node that is connected to the Else node.

Action Node
  • Route Conversation
    • Routing the conversation will assign the case to a team of your choosing.
    • You can also choose whether to route the conversation when the team is available or even when they're unavailable.
    • Use this Action Node for Agent Handoffs which ideally should be managed from the Route Conversation prebuilt flow.
  • Change Data Value
    • You can change specific fields of the case with this option. The previous node connected to this node must be a User Response Node or a Data Capture Node so the Action Node knows what to change the field to.
  • Resolve Case
    • This will resolve the case.

Data Capture Node
  • The Data Capture Node allows you to gather information from a user and assign it to an Entity.
  • Variable/Entity
    • You can choose an Entity to assign a value to and this Entity can then be used throughout the flow.
    • You can set the value to Previous User Input, the name of the Previous Intent, or you can manually set it to anything you want.
Embedded Flow Node
  • The Embedded Flow Node allows you to route the current flow to another flow. 
  • Embedded flows are a way to componentize patterns in a conversation that repeat and you only want to manage in one place. If you make updates to that embedded flow it will update everywhere it is embedded.
  • Embedded Flows are also referred to as Sub Flows.
End Node
  • End State
    • The Default End State will route the conversation to the previous flow if there was one in progress. Otherwise, it stays idle until there is a new message.
    • The Force Idle End State stops the conversation and ends any Flows that were previously in progress. The bot will remain idle until there is a new message.
    • The Halt End State stops the conversation and removes the bot from the chat room permanently. It cannot be added back.
    • If the Flow is embedded inside of another flow, the original flow will continue along its path when the embedded flow reaches the end node.
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