Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant features

Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) is a chatbot that provides you with several useful features, depending on your version of Pega Platform. After you create, configure, and build a chatbot, users can interact with your application by using a social messaging platform, such as Apple Business Chat, Facebook, SMS/MMS, Twitter, and WhatsApp, to instantly ask for help, obtain more information, or report problems. The comparison matrices in the sections below provide a comprehensive view of feature support across different Pega Platform versions. To learn more about IVAs that work as chatbots, see Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant overview.

Chatbot types

The following table lists available chatbots by Pega Platform version.

Chatbot type 7.3.1 7.4 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
IVA for Alexa Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
IVA for Web Chatbot   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
IVA for Facebook (legacy channel) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes  
IVA for Facebook (Unified Messaging channel)           Yes Yes
IVA for SMS/MMS - Twilio (Unified Messaging channel)           Yes Yes
IVA for Apple Business Chat (Unified Messaging channel)           Yes Yes
IVA for Twitter (Unified Messaging channel)           Yes Yes
IVA for WhatsApp (Unified Messaging channel)           Yes Yes
Note: In Pega Platform 7.4, the IVA for Web Chatbot is called IVA for WebChat.

Run time

The following table lists available run-time features by Pega Platform version.

Run-time feature 7.3.1 7.4 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
Rich user interface menu (IVA for Facebook and Web Chatbot).   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Date picker control (IVA for Web Chatbot).       Yes Yes Yes Yes
File attachments (IVA for Web Chatbot).       Yes Yes Yes Yes
Time and date picker control (IVA for Web Chatbot).         Yes Yes Yes
Simple forms (IVA for Web Chatbot).         Yes Yes Yes
Framework for integration with Knowledge Management articles (IVA for Web Chatbot).         Yes Yes Yes
Menu of commands displayable as simple menu buttons or text replies.             Yes

Design time

The following table lists available design-time features by Pega Platform version.

Design-time feature 7.3.1 7.4 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
Add new commands in the preview console. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Edit questions in the preview console. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Test the chatbot using the preview console.   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Use an entity-to-case property mapping definition.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Build a chatbot using the preview console.       Yes Yes Yes Yes
Create a single channel to expose on multiple messaging platforms (Unified Messaging).           Yes Yes

NLP analysis

The following table lists available NLP analysis features by Pega Platform version.

NLP analysis feature 7.3.1 7.4 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
Perform NLP analysis of each chat message from users. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Suggest case commands that are based on NLP in order to start a business case. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Highlight detected entities in the chat message in the preview console.   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Supports decisioning capabilities in chat conversations.   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Supports third-party Dialogflow text analyzer.   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Supports keyword-based entities.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Supports named entity recognition, including multiple entities in the text analytics model.       Yes Yes Yes Yes
Supports the iNLP text analyzer and uses outcomes from multiple text analyzers.         Yes Yes Yes
Change the default analyzer in the advanced configuration and display the text analysis settings on the Behavior tab.         Yes Yes Yes
Configure the chatbot to detect small talk separately.           Yes Yes

Training models

The following table lists available training model features by Pega Platform version.

Training models feature 7.3.1 7.4 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
Use the Training data tab to perform inline editing of records. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Send feedback about training data to the text analytics model in the IVA channel.   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Use bulk Mark reviewed and Delete actions on the Training data tab.   Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Update the text analytics model with one click.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Edit and mark up the training data records on the Training data tab.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Create, update, and remove entities on the Training data tab.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Highlight entities in the preview console.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Create both entity and topic feedback records for text analytics models.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Click Save as to create a copy of out-of-the-box entities in the application ruleset.     Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Export both reviewed and unreviewed records together with entity models.         Yes Yes Yes
Import both reviewed and unreviewed records together with entity models.         Yes Yes Yes
Send feedback to the text analytics model when removing an entity.         Yes Yes Yes
Text analytics model versioning.         Yes Yes Yes