Along with the launch of its customer service portal, TeamDynamix (TDX), Purdue IT also rolled out a new Ivy.ai chatbot designed to connect users with useful IT resources quickly.

“With the recent rollout of the TeamDynamix ticketing system and web portal, students, faculty and staff can now search for answers in a modern knowledgebase packed with hundreds of help articles,” said Executive Director of End User Experience Dwight Snethen. “The added bonus is that we are now providing a chatbot that not only looks for answers in the same knowledgebase, but it also crawls across the Purdue IT website, SecurePurdue and Research Computing sites looking for answers that get customers up and running quickly and that don’t require a support agent to intervene.”

Users can access the chatbot, also known as the Purdue Virtual Assistant, by clicking on the speech bubbles found in the lower right corner of the Purdue IT website. Simply type a full question or a few keywords, and Ivy will answer based on information on the Purdue website and TDX knowledgebase. Currently, Ivy does not have the ability to connect users with a live agent through chat, but it can give the appropriate phone number to call or help submit a ticket to the IT Service Desk.

Ivy uses artificial intelligence to pull information from Purdue IT websites and has the ability to learn over time. If users get an incorrect, unhelpful or bizarre response, they should click the thumbs down button. Likewise, if they receive helpful information, they should give it a thumbs up. Both actions help the bot to improve its responses.  

Ivy got its first big test during the week of Aug. 13 -19, when many students returned to campus for Boiler Gold Rush (BGR). Common questions were related to using two-factor authentication, resetting passwords and connecting to Wi-Fi. Out of 226 chats, Ivy gave a “high confidence” response 73 percent of the time.