External parties
In short: Under Account > External parties you keep a list of pre-approved suppliers and other external parties. aishaa may only propose an email of its own to parties on this list, for example an enquiry to a carrier or a warranty request to a manufacturer. The same list is the address book in the recipient fields of a ticket: your colleagues choose a party when forwarding and in CC and BCC. For each party you record when to contact them, so that aishaa and your colleagues know what the address is for.
Where to find this
Go to Account > External parties. The page is called External parties and has the explanation: Pre-approved suppliers and other external parties. aishaa can only initiate messages to parties on this list. Colleagues pick them quickly when forwarding and in CC/BCC.
Who: from the Account admin role. The list applies to the whole account, so to all organisations. Without account permissions you see You do not have access to account settings.
The External parties page under Account > External parties, with the list of parties (name, email address, description, Inactive chip) and the New party button.
Adding a party
- Click New party.
- Fill in the fields (see the table below).
- Click Save. If that does not work, you see The party could not be saved. Check the name and email address.
The New party dialog with the Name, Email address, WhatsApp number (optional) and When to use fields and the Active switch.
| Field | Meaning | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The name of the party, for example the name of the carrier or manufacturer. | Up to 100 characters |
| Email address | The address where the party can be reached. | Up to 320 characters |
| WhatsApp number (optional) | A phone number on which the party can be reached via WhatsApp. Explanation on screen: With a number, an agent can propose a WhatsApp template as first contact. A colleague always approves it first. Write the number with the country code, such as +31 6 12345678; otherwise you see This is not a phone number WhatsApp can reach. Write it with the country code, such as +31 6 12345678. | Optional |
| When to use | Instruction for aishaa and your colleagues. Explanation on the screen: For aishaa and colleagues: when do you contact this party? For example “RMA and warranty cases; always include the order number”. | Up to 1000 characters |
| Active | If the switch is off, the party stays in the list with the Inactive chip, but aishaa does not use the address. | On |
As long as the list is empty, it says: No external parties yet. Add a supplier or other external party to let aishaa propose messages to them.
Editing or deleting a party
- Click the pencil icon (Edit party) to change the name, address, instruction or the Active switch.
- Click the bin icon (Delete party). You see the question Delete “(name)” from the list? aishaa can then no longer initiate messages to this party. After confirming you see Party deleted.
If you temporarily do not want a party to be used, switch Active off instead of deleting the party. That way the name and instruction are kept.
What aishaa uses the list for
The list is a safety boundary for the AI agent. If an AI agent has the skill to propose messages to external parties, the following applies:
- A first contact with a party can only go to an active party on this list, and always requires approval from a colleague before the message is sent. This also applies if the agent may send by itself on a topic.
- A follow-up message in a conversation that has already been forwarded to an external party (for example a reminder) follows the agent’s settings.
- If aishaa proposes a message to an address that is not on the list or that is set to Inactive, the proposal is refused.
- If a party has a WhatsApp number, an agent can also propose an approved WhatsApp template to that party as first contact. A colleague always approves it first. aishaa uses the number that is in this list at that moment. The party’s reply comes in as a new WhatsApp conversation.
The text under When to use helps aishaa choose the right party and include the right details (such as an order number). So write that instruction in concrete terms.
You can read more about an AI agent’s skills in Skills.
The address book in the recipient fields
The same list is the address book that your colleagues see in the To, Cc and Bcc fields of Forward, of Reply and Send reminder to an external party, and in the email picker.
- As soon as someone clicks in such a field, the suggestion list opens with the parties from this list. Below that are addresses the organisation has used before.
- A chosen party appears as a chip with the Name from this list; the email address is in the tooltip. The text under When to use is shown with the suggestion, so that a colleague picks the right party.
- Only parties set to Active appear in the suggestion list.
- If a colleague types an address that is not on the list yet, they can save it as a new party with Add to address book. That button is only available from the Account admin role; the dialog is the same as New party on this page.
See Forward a message.
Good to know
- The list only restricts aishaa. Colleagues can forward a message from a ticket to any email address, including addresses that are not on this list. For them the list is an address book, not a boundary. See Forward a message.
- A workflow can forward the customer’s message to an address set in the workflow with the Forward by e-mail step. That step does not choose from this list. By default, a colleague checks the forwarded message and sends it. See Building blocks of a workflow.
- Messages that aishaa sends to an external party without a human sender get the signature from Signature for automatic messages under Organisation > General. If a colleague approves the message, that colleague’s own signature is used. See Signatures.
- The external party’s reply comes back into the same ticket, as a message from an external participant. The ticket may be set to Waiting for external reply in the meantime; see Waiting for an external reply.
- There is one list for the whole account. If your organisations work with different suppliers, put that in the text under When to use.