Chat Bots on Azure #

Working with Microsoft QnA Maker + Bot Framework #

By Kyle Mitofsky, Principle Developer at Vermont Department of Health #

Recording - 7/16/20 #

Overview #

• Acknowledgements
• Chat Bot Demo
• Technologies
• Training
• Pricing
• Lessons Learned
• Azure Demo
• Resources

Acknowledgements #

• Maintenance & Operations (MO) Team
  • John Mathias
  • Katie Jones
  • Sandra LeBlanc
  • John Hanning
  • Grace Demler
• VDH Communications Team
  • Sharon Muellers
  • Christie Vallencourt
  • Amelia Ray
• ADS Partners
  • Josiah Raiche
  • Timothy Hannett
• MS Partners
  • Mike Hacker
  • Russ Williams

Chat Bot Demo #

Demo Sites #

• BOT - https://apps-test.health.vermont.gov/COVID/
• FAQ - https://apps-test.health.vermont.gov/COVID/faq/

Technology Stack #

• QnA Maker
• Bot Framework
• Eleventy
• Markdown 🎉

QnA Maker #

• Knowledge Base
• Rich Text Editor (finally)
  • As of Build 2020

QnA Maker GUI #

QnA Maker Data #

                    Copy
                    
                 
{
    "id": 4534,
    "answer": "**What are the symptoms of COVID-19?**\n\nPeople with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. ...",
    "source": "KB-COVID",
    "questions": [
        "What are the symptoms of COVID-19?",
        "How can I tell if I have Covid-19?",
        "what symptoms should I look for",
    ],
    "metadata": [
        {"name": "category","value": "symptoms and sickness"},
        {"name": "subcategory","value": "symptoms"},
    ],
}

Qna Maker API #

• Look at in Postman
• Import Collection
• Only way to modify "Alterations"

Bot Framework #

Create a bot with the ability to speak, listen, understand, and learn from your users with Azure Cognitive Services.

Bot Channels #

• Web Chat
• Slack
• MS Teams
• Twilio / SMS
• Alexa
• ...

Bot Framework Web Chat #

• Change colors
• Change sizes
• Update/replace CSS styles
• Listen to events
• Interact with hosting webpage
• Plus React
  • Custom render activities
  • Custom render attachments
  • Add new UI components
  • Recompose the whole UI

FAQ Site #

Eleventy #

• Static Site Generator
• Live Data over API

Structured Data #

Use FAQ Structured Data

                    Copy
                    
                 
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": " What are the symptoms of COVID-19?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. Not everyone infected with the COVID-19 virus has symptoms. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Triage & Training #

• Triage (labor hours)
  • Training Opportunity - Query should have matched to better Answer
  • Missing FAQ - Answer doesn't yet exist in knowledge base
• Training
  • Alternative Phrases - question level
  • Alterations - word level

Application Insights #

                    Copy
                    
                 
traces
| where message contains "GenerateAnswer"
| extend input = tostring(customDimensions.Question),
        answer = tostring(customDimensions.Answer),
        scoreInt = toint(round(todouble(customDimensions.Score))),
        convoId = substring(itemId, 0, 7)

Pricing #

Lessons Learned #

Lesson #1 #

Plan a lot of time for training

Lesson #2 #

Get content authors involved early

Tips & Tricks #

Tip #1 #

Problem: Multi-authoring editing is still difficult

Solution: Use MS Teams / IM to manage authoring

Tip #2 #

Problem: Question order isn't deterministic

Solution: Repeat question wording in answer

Tip #3 #

Problem: IDs are lossy during publish

Solution: Use API and lots of logic

Demo #

1. Create Knowledge Base - https://www.qnamaker.ai/
2. Add chitchat + question
3. Test / Train
4. Publish
5. Create Bot
6. Embed Bot

Resources #

VDH Dev Links #

Chat Bot Presentation ⭐ <-- you are here #

docgov.dev/slides/chat-bot/

Covid Bot Repo #

VermontDepartmentofHealth.github.io/covid-bot/

Community Resources #

• Microsoft - Chatbot Starter - https://microsoft.github.io/slg-covid-bot/
• QnA Maker - https://www.qnamaker.ai/
• Azure Bot Service - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/bot-service/

Thank You! #