Conversation management

A conversation is a persistent chat session between an employee and the AI assistant. It contains the messages and related files, workflows, and feedback for a single thread.

Conversations are:

• Persistent: Saved automatically so employees can return to them later.
• User-scoped: Available only to the employee who owns them, except when an authorized administrator reviews them for audit purposes.
• Multi-channel: The same AI assistant supports employee portal, mobile, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Outlook, depending on your plan and configuration.

Follow-up messages usually continue in the same channel thread where the conversation started. In the employee portal and mobile apps, conversation history can also show threads from other channels and identify the channel they came from.

For information about how the employee experience differs between channels, including interactive visuals and images, see AI support across channels.

Supported channels

Depending on your organization’s plan and configuration, employees can access the AI assistant from the following channels:

Slack, Teams, and Outlook are available with Standard and higher plans under current packaging.

Employees who are not signed in and access the assistant through an embedded page see a sign-in prompt instead of a conversation. They must sign in before a conversation can be created.

Conversation lifecycle

Creation

A conversation starts when an employee sends a first message. Employees do not need to create a conversation separately.

Automatic titles

After the first exchange, the system generates a title so employees can recognize the conversation in their history. Employees can rename the conversation later, with a maximum of 400 characters.

Continuity

Conversations support multi-turn chat and remain available for employees to return to later. Older messages load as the employee scrolls through the conversation.

Instant answers

Some pages provide a short, one-off answer without creating a conversation. These answers do not appear in conversation history unless the employee selects Continue in chat. This creates a standard conversation that can be saved and revisited.

Case conversations

Conversations associated with an HR case remain with the case. They do not appear in the employee’s AI assistant history and cannot be deleted from the conversation history panel.

Conversation history

In the employee portal and mobile apps, employees can browse their previous conversations from the history panel.

History:

• Groups conversations by recency: Today, Yesterday, This week, and Older.
• Shows the conversation title, preview, timestamp, and an unread indicator when new messages are available.
• Sorts conversations by most recent activity.
• Loads additional conversations as the employee scrolls.
• Can show a badge when a workflow is waiting for the employee.

Instant-answer sessions and case conversations are not included in this list.

Find a conversation

Search

Employees can search their own conversation history from the history panel. Search considers the meaning of previous conversations, including their titles and content, rather than requiring an exact title match.

Direct access

A conversation can also be opened via a link containing its conversation ID. Browser back and forward navigation is supported.

Organize conversations

Employees can:

• Rename a conversation to make it easier to identify.
• Start a new chat, which starts a new conversation from the greeting view.
• Delete a conversation when they have the required permission.

Conversation starters

Conversation starters help employees begin a new chat quickly.

• They appear when an employee starts a new conversation.
• Selecting a starter creates a new conversation and sends the starter as the first message.
• Up to four starters are shown. If more are configured, the system selects which ones to display.
• Starters can change based on the page the employee is viewing. For example, a benefits page can display benefits-related prompts.
• Starters can be localized.

Channel-based behavior

Web and mobile

Employees explicitly start and select conversations. Each new chat creates a separate conversation. History, search, rename, and, when permitted, delete are available in these channels.

Microsoft Teams and Slack

The channel thread is the conversation. Follow-up messages remain in that thread for the session.

Employees do not have the full web conversation history panel in Teams or Slack. Session length and threading follow the behavior of the host product.

Outlook

Each email thread with the connected shared inbox is one conversation. Replies in the same thread continue the conversation. A new email starts a new conversation.

The same AI assistant is available across all enabled channels. Cards, charts, and diagrams remain interactive in the employee portal and mobile. In Teams, Slack, and Outlook, they appear as images.

Administrative considerations

Access control

• Employees can see and continue only their own conversations.
• Delete requires the Conversation admin role. If an employee does not have this role, the delete option is hidden.
• Authorized Conversation audit or tenant administrator roles can review conversations and feedback in read-only audit mode. This is the exception to the rule that only the conversation owner can see the conversation.

Data lifecycle

Deleting a conversation permanently removes:

• The conversation
• Its messages
• Conversation attachments stored with the thread.

Files copied to a case remain with the case.

A conversation cannot be deleted while a workflow is running or waiting on an external system. A workflow that is waiting for an employee’s response is canceled when the conversation is deleted.

Case conversations cannot be deleted through the conversation API.

Consider your retention and compliance requirements before granting employees permission to delete conversations.

Cross-channel consistency

Employees get continuity within a channel thread and can identify conversations from other channels in web and mobile history by their channel label.

Plan which employees can access Slack, Teams, and Outlook, and determine who can delete or audit conversations.