VUID Tools: Designing Ease of Mind Matt Shomphe Phil Shinn

Overview 1. The Problems 2. The Solution 3. Visio Shapes 4. VBA Macros 5. Results 6. Caveats 7. Next Steps

The Problems Two problems Reduce documentation Common symbols that VUIDs could use Have a document and symbol set that are… Clear enough to present to business-minded people Technical enough to hand over to developers Formal enough to be “automate-able” Easy to maintain

Other Solutions Formal UML has been proposed by Mark Stallings of IBM (SpeechTEK, 2006) V-Builder (Nuance: SpeechDraw ( Others... All are more towards the code end of the spectrum

Details, Details… Finding the right level of detail to present

A Solution Reduce documentation by allowing the callflow to store more data. Visio template of UML-style shapes which VUIDs can use as a common “language”. Macros for automating common tasks.

The Shape Sheet is Daunting

Shapes & Their Properties Shapes use Visio’s “Custom Properties” fields Allows for structured data, custom presentation, and automation.

The Shapes Grammar State State name Main prompt name & TTS Two reprompts Grammar name Prompt State State Name Prompt name & TTS

The Shapes Checkpoint Decision text List of variables Open-ended for further automation

Shapes Start/End Off-Page Reference Database Computational State

The Macros Export_Prompts Puts all prompts in Prompt & Grammar states into Excel IterateOverConnections Exports a computer- readable text representation of the flow List_Of_Grammars Exports the list of grammar names and the states in which they exist

Design Assumptions Prompts & Grammars have state names Every grammar state has a main prompt, two reprompts, and the name of the grammar If the main prompt is named “Main”, the reprompts are “MainR1” and “MainR2”. Only the top-level prompt is exposed Formal but flexible. You won’t get an error if something isn’t defined.

Results Successfully in use both at Countrywide Home Loans & Genesys Labs Readable by both business & development teams Greatly assisted in document management Prompt lists are generated from the callflow Scripts & recording lists use the prompt list

Caveat Aedificator This is a Visio-only solution Macros require Excel There are issues converting between Visio 2002 & 2003 Output of IterateOverConnections is more of an example than something in-use No restrictions (e.g., type-checking, loops, etc.)

Where to get it Step 1: Sign up for the VUIDs User Group: Step 2: Click on “Files” Step 3: Download “VUID Tools Lite.zip”VUID Tools Lite.zip Step 4: Participate!

Conclusion & Next Steps Publicly available, Visio-based stencil & macros as a starting point for a common symbol set for VUIDs. The level of “formality” allows for flexibility in design with structure enough for automation. This is an extendable solution, so start extending!

Questions? Contact Info Matt Shomphe Phil Shinn