Lucent Technologies Centrevu Advocate Release 8 User Guide

							  Introduction: CentreVu® Advocate CentreVu® Advocate Release 8 User Guide
Agent Selection Methods1-11
Administration1Least Occupied Agent is administered on the ECS Hunt Group form in 
the Group Type: field.
Result1Least Occupied Agent is designed to spread calls more evenly between 
agents, and should reduce the number of both “hot seat” agents (in MIA, 
the call is sent to the first available, highest skill level agent) and idle 
agents. This helps reduce agent burnout and increase call center 
productivity.
EAD-LOA1Expert Agent Distribution-Least Occupied Agent (EAD-LOA) is a 
variation of LOA agent selection that selects the highest skill level, least 
occupied agent in the skill to take an incoming call. In EAD, a call queued 
for a skill will go to the least occupied agent with the highest skill level. 
Agents who have low occupancy and who have the skill assigned at 
lower levels will receive a call only if there are no agents with higher skill 
levels available. 
UCD-LOA1Uniform Call Distribution-Least Occupied Agent (UCD-LOA) is a variation 
on the LOA agent selection method that selects the least occupied agent 
when more than one agent is available to take a call. UCD-LOA evenly 
distributes calls across agents, sending queued calls to the available 
agent who is the least occupied. 
Most Idle Agent1Most Idle Agent (EAD-MIA) is an agent selection method that selects the 
most idle agent in the skill to take an incoming call.
EAD-MIA1Expert Agent Distribution-Most Idle Agent (EAD-MIA) is an agent 
selection method that selects the highest skill level, most idle agent in the 
skill to take an incoming call. In EAD-MIA, a call queued for a skill will go 
to the most idle agent with the highest skill level. Agents who are idle and 
who have the skill assigned at lower levels will receive a call only if there in  ACW If “ACW Considered Idle?” is Y on 
the 
DEFINITY System 
Parameters form, LOA tracks as 
idle time
If “ACW Considered Idle?” is N 
on the 
DEFINITY System 
Parameters form, LOA tracks this 
as work time The Extension Call is: LOA: 
						

							  Introduction: CentreVu® Advocate CentreVu® Advocate Release 8 User Guide
Agent Selection Methods1-12
are no agents with higher skill levels available. MIA maintains a queue of 
idle agents and distributes a call to the agent who has waited the longest 
since the last ACD call and is not “busy.” (“Busy” is defined as being in 
ACW, on an auxiliary in or out [AUX IN/OUT] call, or on an ACD call for 
another skill.) Agents in multiple skills are in multiple “eligible agent” lists. 
There is one list for each skill. If MIA across skills is enabled, agents are 
put at the bottom of all agent lists after completing an ACD call for any 
skill. If MIA across skills is 
not enabled, an agent who is on an ACD call 
for another skill continues to move up the list of eligible agents for other 
skills. Agents in ACW may or may not be in the eligible agent lists, 
depending upon whether the system option ACW Considered Idle? is 
set to Y or N (ECS R5 and later).
Administration1Most Idle Agent is administered on the ECS Hunt Group form in the 
Group Type: field.
UCD-MIA1Uniform Call Distribution-Most Idle Agent is an agent selection method 
that selects the most idle agent in a skill when more than one agent is 
available to take a call. This option does not consider the agent’s skill 
level. UCD-MIA evenly distributes calls across agents, sending queued 
calls to the first available agent (idle the longest since the last ACD call). 
Administration1UCD-MIA is administered on the ECS Hunt Group form in the Group 
Type: field. 
						

							  Custom CentreVu® Advocate Solutions CentreVu® Advocate Release 8 User Guide
Overview2-1
2  Custom CentreVu® Advocate Solutions
Overview 2
This chapter gives guidelines on administering solutions to work together in 
the call center environment. This chapter includes the following topics:
lUnderstanding Call and Agent Selection
lPlanning Your Call Center—CentreVu Advocate Using Expert Agent 
Selection (EAS)
— Administering agents in separate organizations
— Administering agents within an organization
lGetting the Most From Your Call Center
— For Best Performance
— Matching Features to Goals Table
lCombining CentreVu Advocate Solutions to Meet Call Center Needs
— Business Objectives
— Combining Solutions Table.
The Combining Solutions table graphically presents which 
CentreVu 
Advocate/EAS call center solutions work well together to support specific call 
center goals and which do not, along with guidelines for administering 
solutions to best enhance your call center business.
Additional 
Information
2
For additional information on administering your call center, see the 
CentreVu® CMS R3V8 Administration document (585-210-910). 
						

							  Custom CentreVu® Advocate Solutions CentreVu® Advocate Release 8 User Guide
Call and Agent Selection2-2
Call and Agent Selection2
Introduction2You need to understand the concepts of call and agent selection before 
administering custom 
CentreVu Advocate solutions for your call center. 
This section describes how calls and agents are selected using EAS.
Understanding 
Call Selection
2
Call selection is the selection of a call when an agent becomes available 
and one or more of the agent’s assigned skills is in a call surplus 
condition. The components of call selection that you will need to 
understand before implementing custom 
CentreVu Advocate solutions 
are described here:
lIf any skills are in an overload state, then the skill with the highest 
priority, oldest call waiting for the overload 2 state is selected, and if 
there are none in overload 2, the call with the same criteria in an 
overload 1 skill is selected.
lIf no skills are in an overload state, then multiple agents may be 
available for calls, and calls will be selected based on the call 
handling preference administered to an agent as follows:
1.Greatest Need: Greatest Need will select a skill for an agent 
based on the call at the highest priority that has been waiting in 
queue for a skill the longest (the call with the “greatest need”).
2.Skill Level: Skill Level will select a skill for an agent based on 
the agent’s skill level, with the highest-level skill being selected 
first for the oldest call in queue at the highest priority.
3.Percent Allocation:   Percent Allocation will select a skill for 
an agent based on what will best match an agent’s 
administered percent for all skills.
Once a skill is selected using the above methods, the call selected within 
the skill is the highest priority, oldest call waiting.
Service Objective 2Service Objective works in conjunction with the Greatest Need and Skill 
Level call handling preferences. It selects skills for agents as they 
become available based on how far along each skill is in exceeding its 
service objective (Acceptable Service Level - ASL), within which calls 
must be answered. The 
DEFINITY® ECS will determine which skill has 
either the highest current wait time or the highest predicted wait time, 
compared to the acceptable service level and which skill is the greatest 
percentage over its administered service level. The skill that best fits  
						

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Call and Agent Selection2-3
these criteria is selected for an agent. Service Objective is used when 
different acceptable service levels are set for different types of incoming 
calls, based on skill.
For example, if a skill’s top priority call has a predicted wait time of 30 
seconds and an administered threshold of 20 seconds, that skill is at 150 
percent of its threshold. If another skill has a predicted wait time of 100 
seconds and an administered threshold of 100 seconds, then that skill is 
at 100 percent of its threshold. A call will be selected from the first skill.
Predicted Wait 
Time 
2
Predicted Wait Time is a call selection method that uses the total time a 
call will wait in queue if it is not handled by an agent, as a selection 
criteria. Predicted Wait Time will then select the skill whose call will be 
waiting the longest overall. 
Understanding 
Agent Selection
2
Agent selection is the selection of an agent when a call arrives for a skill 
and that skill is in an agent surplus condition. With EAS, you can assign 
agents up to 20 skills with 16 skill levels each. Through 
CentreVu 
Advocate, agents can also be assigned reserve skills with levels of 1 or 2. 
An agent is only activated on the reserve skills when those skills enter an 
overload state. 
In a situation where there are no calls queued and agents are idle, agents 
can be selected for skill calls in one of the two following ways:
lUniform Call Distribution (UCD): With UCD, the most idle agent or 
least occupied agent is selected for the skill. The two UCD types 
are:
— Uniform Call Distribution-Most Idle Agent (UCD-MIA)
— Uniform Call Distribution-Least Occupied Agent (UCD-LOA).
lExpert Agent Distribution (EAD): With EAD, the most idle agent or 
the least occupied agent with the highest skill level is selected for 
the call. Agents who are idle and have the skill assigned at lower 
skill levels will receive a call only if there are no agents with higher 
skill levels available. The two EAD types are: 
— Expert Agent Distribution-Most Idle Agent (EAD-MIA)
— Expert Agent Distribution-Least Occupied Agent (EAD-LOA).
Least Occupied 
Agent
2
Least Occupied Agent is an agent selection method that uses agent 
occupancy within a skill, rather than position in an idle agent queue to 
determine which agent to select when a call arrives and one or more 
agents are available. Agent selection through Least Occupied Agent is  
						

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Call and Agent Selection2-4
based on the total time an agent has with one or more Automatic Call 
Distribution (ACD) calls ringing, active, or on hold for any of an agent’s 
assigned skills, and optionally, the total ACW time for any of an agent’s 
assigned skills divided by the total time staffed in any assigned skill. 
Agent AUX time is not included in the calculation of agent occupancy.
LOA and AUX Time2The following table illustrates how LOA tracks extension calls since agent 
AUX time is not included in the calculation of agent occupancy:
Agent Call 
Handling Table
2
Skill call distribution and preference handling distribution work together in 
the following ways to affect overall call distribution, as shown in the 
following table. Note that once a skill is chosen, then the highest priority, 
oldest call waiting is chosen. The following table discusses skill selection:The Extension Call is: LOA:
in AUX ignores this time
in Auto-In/Manual-In with no ACD 
call on holdtracks this as idle time
with an ACD call on hold tracks this as work time
in  ACW If “ACW Considered Idle?” is Y on 
the 
DEFINITY System 
Parameters form, LOA tracks as 
idle time
If “ACW Considered Idle?” is N 
on the 
DEFINITY System 
Parameters form, LOA tracks this 
as work time
Agent Goes 
Available, and 
Call Handling 
Preference is:Calls WaitingEAD-MIA—
No Calls 
WaitingUCD-MIA—
No Calls 
WaitingEAD-LOA—
No Calls 
WaitingUCD-LOA—
No Calls 
Waiting
Skill Level 
Call Handling 
Preference
(without 
Service 
Objective)Take the highest 
skill level, 
highest priority, 
longest wait 
time call in 
queue.Put the agent 
on the MIA list 
by skill level.Put the agent 
at the back of 
the MIA list.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
highest skill 
level agent 
with the least 
occupancy.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
agent with the 
least 
occupancy. 
						

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Call and Agent Selection2-5
Considerations2The considerations that users must keep in mind regarding agent 
selection when creating custom 
CentreVu Advocate solutions are 
included in the following list:
lMIA Across Splits/Skills: MIA Across Splits/Skills indicates if 
agents completing an ACD call for one split/skill should be removed 
from the idle agent list for all of their splits/skills or whether the 
agents should remain in the other splits/skills idle agent list. The 
system default for this option on the System Parameters Features is  Skill Level 
Call Handling 
Preference
(with Service 
Objective)Take the highest 
skill level, the 
highest priority 
call whose wait 
time is the 
greatest 
percentage of 
ASL.Put the agent 
on the MIA list 
by skill level.Put the agent 
at the back of 
the MIA list.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
highest skill 
level agent 
with the least 
occupancy.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
agent with the 
least 
occupancy.
Greatest Need
Call Handling 
Preference
(without 
Service 
Objective)Take the highest 
priority, longest 
wait time call in 
queue.Put the agent 
on MIA list by 
skill level.Put the agent 
at the back of 
the MIA list.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
highest skill 
level agent 
with the least 
occupancy.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
agent with the 
least 
occupancy.
Greatest Need
Call Handling 
Preference
(with Service 
Objective)Take the highest 
priority, oldest 
call whose wait 
time is the 
greatest 
percentage of 
ASL.Put the agent 
on MIA list by 
skill level.Put the agent 
at the back of 
the MIA list.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
highest sill 
level agent 
with the least 
occupancy.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
agent with the 
least 
occupancy.
Percent 
Allocation
Call Handling 
PreferenceTake the skill 
that is most 
needed to 
maintain the 
specified 
percentages of 
time per skill.Put the agent 
on the MIA list 
by skill level.Put the agent 
at the back of 
the MIA list.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
highest skill 
level agent 
with the least 
occupancy.The next 
agent 
selected is the 
agent with the 
least 
occupancy. Agent Goes 
Available, and 
Call Handling 
Preference is:Calls WaitingEAD-MIA—
No Calls 
WaitingUCD-MIA—
No Calls 
WaitingEAD-LOA—
No Calls 
WaitingUCD-LOA—
No Calls 
Waiting 
						

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No (N), which allows the agent who is active on a call for one skill to 
move up the idle agent list for all other skills. Yes (Y) is always 
recommended with 
CentreVu Advocate, as the agent who has been 
idle since the last call in any skill will be selected, which tends to 
eliminate “hot seat” call distribution (not used with LOA).
lACW Considered Idle: ACW Considered Idle determines whether 
an agent in after call work for an ACD call is considered idle. When 
administering this option on the system Parameters Features Form, 
N (no) is always recommended as this choice will not place an agent 
on the MIA list until after the agent has completed all after call work. 
Yes (Y) will place an agent on the MIA list when he or she has 
completed a call, before after call work. Selecting Yes does not 
include ACW time as work time in determining agent occupancy and 
percent allocation.
Direct Agent Calls 2Direct Agent Calls allows a call to a specific ACD agent to be treated as 
an ACD call. If that agent is logged in but not available, the call will queue 
for that agent. If the agent is not logged in, the call will follow the agents 
coverage path. Zip-tone answer, ACW, and other ACD features can be 
used with direct agent calls.
EAS Direct Agent Calls is accomplished by dialing the login with the 
proper class of restriction (COR) settings; that is, both the caller (trunk, 
vector directory number [VDN], or station) and the agent must have the 
direct agent COR settings. Customers could actually call an agent 
directly using Direct Inward Dialing (DID) if the agents login ID is a 
published number, or customers could dial a toll-free number and be 
prompted for the agents login ID extension.
Direct agent calls will be first to an agent if the agent’s call handling 
preference is Greatest Need. If the agent’s call handling preference is 
Skill Level, direct agent calls will be sent first if the Direct Agent Skill has 
the highest assigned skill level. If an agent’s assigned call handling 
preference is Percent Allocation, direct agent calls will be sent first if the 
Direct Agent Calls First field on either the Agent Login ID 
DEFINITY form 
or the Change Agent Skills 
CentreVu Supervisor form is set to yes or is 
selected, respectively. This also applies in an over threshold situation. If 
any skills assigned to an agent are in an overload situation, that agent’s 
direct agent calls will still be sent to the agent before any calls in the over 
threshold skills.
Top Skill2For an agent with Skill Level call handling preference, the designated 
highest priority skill is known as the agent’s “top skill.” The “top skill” 
represents the skill for which the agent is most likely to receive a call. Any 
time the agent becomes available, he/she will receive a call for the top  
						

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Call and Agent Selection2-7
skill. The agent will handle calls for other skills only if there are no calls 
queued for the agent’s top skill. The agent is considered a “top agent” for 
a skill if the agent has a skill level of “1” assigned for that skill.
For agent tracking purposes, the top skill can also be considered the first-
assigned, highest-level skill. This is the skill that the agent first logs into 
when logging in. In this case, any non-ACD call related time, such as 
AUX or after call work, would be recorded in this top skill. This is a key 
consideration in reports. Also, if an agent receives calls in two skills for 
which that agent has the same assigned skill level, and the calls queue at 
the same priority, the agent will receive the call in the agent’s first-
assigned skill.
Service Level 
Supervisor
2
Service Level Supervisor is an override feature used to select skills for 
agents. Service Level Supervisor has Expected Wait Time (EWT) 
thresholds set for skills and overrides normal agent call handling 
preferences to handle calls from a skill whose threshold has been 
exceeded. Additional reserve agents can also be activated automatically 
when the skill is in the over threshold condition. If you want to impact the 
percent within service level (depending on the acceptable service level), 
then set Threshold 1 approximately 5-10 seconds below the acceptable 
service level on a skill. Generally, the thresholds are set below the 
abandoned call profile for a skill, and this profile should be determined 
before thresholds are administered.
Thresholds2Service Level Supervisor allows you to administer two thresholds, based 
on the administered EWT, for each skill. When a particular skill’s EWT 
exceeds the first threshold, the skill goes into the Overload 1 state. When 
the skill exceeds the second threshold, the skill goes into the Overload 2 
state. As agents become available for calls, if any of the agents’ assigned 
skills are in an Overload 2 state, the agents’ normal call handling 
preference is ignored and they receive calls from the Overload 2 skill. If 
there are no skills in the Overload 2 state, agents will be connected to 
any calls in skills that are in the Overload 1 state. If no skills are in the 
Overload 1 state, then agents receive calls based on their administered 
call handling preference; that is, skill level, greatest need, or percent 
allocation. When one or more skills are at the same overload level, the 
skill with the highest priority call whose call selection measurement 
(current wait time or predicted wait time) is the highest percentage over 
threshold will be selected. 
						

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If you want to impact the percent within service level, then set Threshold 
1 approximately 5-10 seconds below the acceptable service level on a 
skill. Generally, the thresholds are set below the abandoned call profile 
for a skill, and this profile should be determined before thresholds are 
administered.
Reserve Agent 
Activation
2
Reserve agents can be activated at each overload threshold. These 
reserve agents will be made available to take calls from a skill only when 
it is in an overload condition. When the skill returns to a normal state, 
calls from that skill will not be sent to reserve agents.
Call Selection 
Override
2
Within Service Level Supervisor, there is a Call Selection Override 
system-wide parameter. The default setting for this parameter is ON (set 
to Y on the System Parameters 
DEFINITY form). For more information 
on administering Call Selection Override, see Chapter 11, “Administer 
CentreVu® Advocate on the DEFINITY® ECS” in this document.
Call Selection 
Override ON
2
When call selection override is on, agents will receive calls based on their 
assigned call handling preference as long as the skills are in an under-
threshold state. Once a standard or reserve skill or skills goes into an 
over threshold state, agents who become available with this skill are 
diverted from their primary tasks and start receiving calls from the skill 
that is over threshold. This includes top, backup, roving, allocated, and 
reserve agents. All agents who become available ignore their normal 
tasks and help the skill that is in trouble. As soon as a skill goes over 
threshold, all agents who have this skill as standard or reserve are 
automatically reprioritized, giving this skill immediate attention until the 
skill returns to normal.
In general, agents are less efficient when they are not working on their 
primary task. When thresholds are set too low or one or more skills are 
understaffed, one skill going over threshold can cause others to go over 
threshold, which in turn can cause others to also go over threshold in a 
domino effect. This option is not intended to improve percent within 
service level for a skill, but is designed for call centers that currently move 
agents from skill to skill or change agents’ priorities during the day to 
alleviate emergencies. In a situation when a call center is understaffed for 
a day, call selection override may be turned off on a system-wide basis 
until the emergency situation is remedied.