Intro:
In earlier versions of Power Virtual Agents, one of the most common frustrations was the lack of a systemic way to end a session. Bot authors and users alike faced challenges such as:
Sessions lingering indefinitely after the final message.
No built-in timeout or reset mechanism.
Inconsistent behavior across channels (e.g., Teams vs. Web).
Difficulty enforcing business rules that require session closure.
These issues weren’t just technical annoyances — they impacted user experience, compliance, and bot reliability, especially in regulated industries.
Native Inactivity Trigger:
With Microsoft Copilot Studio, we now have a powerful tool to address this: the Inactivity trigger.
This trigger allows bot authors to define what should happen when a user becomes inactive for a specified duration. You can:
- End the conversation gracefully with a closing message.
- Reset the session context to prepare for a fresh start.
- Escalate to a human agent or log the session for review.
- Customize the timeout duration based on your business needs.
Use Case Example
Imagine a bot that helps employees submit travel expense claims. If a user starts the process but walks away mid-conversation, the bot can:
- Wait for 15 minutes.
- Trigger a message like: “It looks like you’ve stepped away. I’ll close this session for now — feel free to start again anytime.”
- Reset the session so the next interaction starts fresh.
Final Thoughts:
The Inactivity trigger is a small but powerful addition that solves a long-standing issue in bot design. It brings clarity, control, and professionalism to your Copilot Studio experiences — especially in enterprise scenarios where session lifecycle matters.
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