Generating pre-defined bots from bot templates - Amazon Lex

Generating pre-defined bots from bot templates

Amazon Lex V2 offers pre-built solutions to create experiences at scale and drive digital engagement. The pre-built bot templates automates and standardizes client experiences. The bot templates provide ready-to-use conversation flows along with both training data and dialog prompts, for both voice and chat modalities. You can expedite the delivery of bot solutions while optimizing resources, so that you can focus on customer relationships.

You can create pre-built bots based on your business use case. You can use the AWS CloudFormation console to select the pre-built options for the related services, such as Amazon S3, Amazon Connect and DynamoDB.

Currently, Amazon Lex V2 supports the following business verticals:

  • Financial services

  • Retail orders

  • Auto insurance

  • Telecommunications

  • Airline services

  • More to come soon...

You can build a bot with the business solution template provided, and customize the bot for your business requirements.

Note

The templates create resources outside of Amazon Lex V2 through AWS CloudFormation stacks. The stack may need to be modified in other consoles such as Lambda and DynamoDB.

Prerequisites required to build and deploy the bot template:

  • An AWS account

  • Access to the following AWS services:

    • Amazon Lex V2 to create bots

    • Lambda for the business login functions

    • DynamoDB to create the tables

    • IAM access to create policies and roles

    • AWS CloudFormation to run the stack

  • IAM access and secret key credentials

  • Amazon Connect instance (optional)

Note

The use of different AWS services incurs respective usage costs for each service.

To build a bot from Amazon Lex V2 templates:

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Lex console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/lex/.

  2. Select the orange button that says Create bots from a template.

  3. Select which business vertical you want to use for your bot template. NOTE: There are 5 bot templates currently available. More to come soon.

  4. Select Create for the template you want to use. A tab opens in AWS CloudFormation where you can edit the parameters for the AWS CloudFormation stack. All the options are already completed for the template you have chosen. You can also learn more about how the bot template works by selecting Learn more.

  5. In the AWS CloudFormation console, AWS CloudFormation creates a default configuration for each of the values for the template you have chosen. You can also select your own stack name, AWS CloudFormation parameters, Amazon DynamoDB table, and (optional) Amazon Connect parameters.

  6. At the bottom of the window, select Create stack.

  7. AWS CloudFormation processes the request in the background for several minutes to configure your new bot. NOTE: The process automatically creates resources for a DynamoDB table, an Amazon Connect contact flow, and an Amazon Connect instance. You can track the progress in the AWS CloudFormation console, and then navigate back to the Amazon Lex V2 console once the CloudFormation stack creation is completed.

  8. If successfully built, a message appears and you can select Go to bots list to go to the Bots page, where you find your new bot that is ready for your testing and use.

Configuring your bot template

Lambda functions – The bot template automatically creates the needed Lambda functions for your deployment. If multiple bots are part of the template solution, then multiple Lambda functions are listed in the AWS CloudFormation parameters. If you have existing Lambda functions to deploy with your bot, you can enter the name of your custom Lambda function.

Amazon DynamoDB – The bot template automatically creates the DynamoDB table needed to load your sample policy data. You can also enter the name of your custom DynamoDB table. Your custom DynamoDB table should be formatted in the same way as the default table created by the bot template deployment.

Amazon Connect – You can configure your Amazon Connect instance to work with your new bot template by entering the ConnectInstanceARN and a unique ContactFlowName. With the use of Amazon Connect, you can test your bot using an IVR system from end-to-end.

Troubleshooting your bot template

  • Check that you have the proper permissions to create the template that you are choosing. Users need CloudFormation:CreateStack permission along with permissions for the AWS resources that are listed within the template. A list of resources that need user permissions are at the bottom of the Create template page.

  • If your bot template fails to be created, the red banner within the Amazon Lex V2 console provides a link to the AWS CloudFormation stack that is responsible for creating the template. Within the AWS CloudFormation console, you can view the events tab to see the specific error that caused the template to fail. Once you have reviewed the AWS CloudFormation error, see Troubleshooting CloudFormation for more information.

  • Bot templates work with the sample data only. You must populate the DynamoDB table with your data to make the templates work with your custom data.