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Lucent Technologies DEFINITY Enterprise Communications Server Release 8 Guide To ACD Call Centers
Lucent Technologies DEFINITY Enterprise Communications Server Release 8 Guide To ACD Call Centers
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DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-31 ACD Measurement 1 Things to Know Before You Start The CentreVu CMS ACD Status window (see CentreVu Call Management System Release 3 Version 8 Administration (585-210-910) document) lists the total number of measured splits/skills, extensions (Agent Positions), trunks, and trunk groups established in an ACD. For the DEFINITY ECS and Generic 3 Version 2 and later switches, you can add, delete, or change measured trunks, trunk groups, agent extensions, agent login IDs, VDN extensions, splits, and skills without busying out the link to CentreVu CMS and losing CentreVu CMS data. Measurement of the DEFINITY ECS and DEFINITY G3 ACD For the DEFINITY ECS and Generic 3 switches, individual splits and trunk groups are assigned to CentreVu CMS measurement through switch administration. Extensions are measured by virtue of their assignment to measured splits. Trunks are measured by virtue of their assignment to measured trunk groups. The number of measured splits cannot be changed using the CentreVu CMS ACD Status screen. Measured splits need not be numbered sequentially. VDNs are measured individually. All vectors are measured. Switch Features that Affect CentreVu CMS Data There are several switch features that affect CMS data, such Conference, Transfer, Multiple Call Handling, Call Pickup, Intraflow, Interflow, Redirection on No Answer, Phantom Abandon Call Timer, Move Agent While Staffed, Expanded Agent Capabilities, Best Service Routing, and Universal Call ID. These features are explained below. Hold, Conference, and Transfer For the DEFINITY ECS and Generic 3 switches, CentreVu CMS tracks any type of call an agent puts on hold by pressing the Hold button, dialing the hold access code, pressing the Conference or Transfer button, or flashing the switchhook. Information on all calls (split/skill ACD, direct agent ACD, and extension calls) and the time spent on hold is stored in agent database tables. Information on split/skill calls only and the time spent on hold is stored in split/skill tables. Multiple Call Handling (MCH) The DEFINITY ECS and Generic 3 Version 4 switch have options to the Multiple Call Handling feature that can force agents to receive one or more ACD calls with other ACD calls or extension (non-ACD) calls on hold or active. For these forced options, talk time (and not ringing time) accumulates until the agent puts the current call on hold or releases it.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-32 ACD Measurement 1 For the DEFINITY ECS and Generic 3 Version 3 and later switches with Multiple Call Handling, an agent can put a call on hold and press the MANUAL-IN or AUTO-IN button to receive another ACD call. When multiple calls are on hold at the same time, hold time accumulates for each call on hold, and the total hold time can exceed clock time. For example, if two calls are on hold for 5 minutes each, 10 minutes of hold time accumulates. Support for MCH Use this table to determine whether a particular ECS/switch type supports multiple call handling. Call Pickup When an agent uses the Call Pickup feature to pick up an ACD call that rings at another agent’s extension, CentreVu CMS tracks the call as an AUX-IN call for the agent picking up the call. The split/skill of the agent originally called is credited with an outflow call, even if the agent who picked up the call is in the same split/skill. If an agent is logged into more than one split/skill, the call is counted for the split/skill the agent has been logged into the longest. Thus, when Call Pickup is used, CentreVu CMS does not count the call as an ACD call, even though the call queued to a split/skill and was answered. Various other types of data associated with ACD calls (for example, “Percent Answered Within Service Level” and “Average Speed of Answer”) will also not include data on calls answered using the Call Pickup feature. Because the split/skill of the agent originally called is credited with an outflow call, the call counts against the “Percent Answered Within Service Level” for that split/skill. Intraflow and Interflow When a call is intraflowed or interflowed from a split/skill, CentreVu CMS counts the call as an outflow call for the split/skill. If a call is intraflowed into a split/skill, CentreVu CMS counts the call as an inflow call for the split/skill. CentreVu CMS counts interflowed calls as ordinary incoming calls for the split/skill. However, because calls can be intraflowed/interflowed to destinations that are not splits/skills or are not measured by CentreVu CMS, an outflow call from a split/skill will not always show a corresponding inflow call for another split/skill. Conversely, because calls can be intraflowed/interflowed into a split/skill from originating locations that are not measured by CentreVu CMS, an inflow call to a split/skill may not show a corresponding outflow from another split/skill. If an intraflowed/interflowed call connects to an agent in the destination split/skill, that call is counted as an ACD call for the split/skill. Table 1-2. ECS/Switch On Request Forced DEFINITY ECS R5 G3vs/si yes yes G3si+M yes yes G3r yes yes
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-33 ACD Measurement 1 On the DEFINITY ECS and Generic 3 switches, a dummy split/skill may be established which intraflows calls to another split/skill. For CentreVu CMS to count outflow calls for dummy splits/skills, intraflow should be established using the Call Forwarding feature. If Call Coverage is used to intraflow calls, at least one agent must log into the dummy split/skill and go into ACW, and the call must queue to the dummy split/skill for at least one ring cycle for an outflow call to be counted. For switches with the Call Vectoring feature, intraflow and interflow work differently, and CentreVu CMS data related to intraflow and interflow are recorded differently. Redirection on No Answer (RONA) For the DEFINITY ECS, and Generic 3 Version 2 and later switches, when a ringing call times out and is requeued to the same split/skill by the Redirection On No Answer feature, CentreVu CMS counts an outflow and an inflow for the split/skill. That is, the redirected call appears as two offered calls to the split/skill. For the DEFINITY ECS, if the call redirects from ringing to a VDN, there is outflow from the initial VDN and from the split/skill. If the call was in another VDN prior to redirection to another VDN, then there is inflow to that VDN. Also, NOANSREDIR is incremented for the split/skill and the VDN. For Release 3 Version 2 and later of CMS, the database item NOANSREDIR is also incremented for split/skill and for VDN, if the call is in a VDN. If a split/skill is set up so that split/skill calls do not redirect back to the split/skill except by way of the Redirection On No Answer feature, the unique calls offered to the split/skill can be calculated by subtracting the value of NOANSREDIR from CALLSOFFERED. If a call redirects from ringing to a VDN (DEFINITY ECS), there is outflow from the split/skill and, if the call was in another VDN, there also is inflow to the new VDN and outflow from the initial VDN. The NOANSREDIR is incremented for split/skill and VDN. Phantom Abandon Call Timer CentreVu CMS R3V4 and later switches can collect information about phantom abandon calls. When this capability is enabled, calls with a talk time (duration) shorter than the administered value (1 - 10 seconds) are counted as phantom abandon calls. Setting the timer to zero disables it. CentreVu CMS uses the PHANTOMABNS database item to store the number of phantom abandon calls. This capability is important in areas where the public network switches do not provide disconnect supervision. Without this capability, short-duration calls that queue to a split/skill and are answered by an ACD agent or other answering position are counted as ACD calls, even if the calling party hangs up before the call is answered. This type of call is called a phantom or ghost call.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-34 ACD Measurement 1 Move Agent While Staffed G3V4 and later switch releases support moving a staffed agent between splits or changing the skill assignments for staffed agents. If the agent has any call on the voice terminal or is in ACW, then the move cannot take place immediately, but is pending the agent voice terminal going idle (all calls have been terminated), or the agent changing out of the ACW mode. CMS provides two real-time database items in the agent data, MOVEPENDING and PENDINGSPLIT, that can be accessed by using custom reports to provide information about whether agent have moves pending and, if so, the split or skill to which they are being moved. Note that in the case that the agent’s skills are being changed and the change adds more than one skill, the PENDINGSPLIT item will show the first skill that is being added. It is also possible for MOVEPENDING to be set, but for PENDINGSAPLIT to be blank (or 0). This can happen, for example, when the link to the switch comes up and a move is pending for an agent. CMS will be notified by the switch that the move is pending, but PENDINGSPLIT will not be set. Expanded Agent Capabilities DEFINITY ECS R5 and later releases support Expanded Agent Capabilities. This feature allows EAS agents to have up to 20 skills assigned. Each skill may be assigned a level from 1 to 16, where Reserve 1 and Reserve 2 are the highest levels and 16 is the lowest. (The numeric level replaces the skill type p or s used in earlier G3 EAS releases.) Agents may have a call handling preference based either on the skill level, meaning that the agent will serve calls waiting for his or her highest level skill before serving calls waiting for any lower level skills; or based on greatest need, meaning that the agent will serve the highest-priority, oldest call waiting for any of his or her skills, or percent allocation, based on the percent distribution of calls among the agent’s skills. The expanded agent capabilities feature also allows the specification of the skill to be used for the agent’s direct calls. This also allows specification of the level for the direct agent skill, which, in conjunction with the agent’s call handling preference, may affect the order in which a direct agent call is delivered to an agent. That is, direct agent calls need to be delivered for all skill ACD calls. A concept introduced in R3V5 CMS, that of the top skill, can be useful in EAS implementations that use skill level call handling preference for agents. An agent’s first administered, highest level skill is the agent’s top skill, since it is for this skill that the agent is most likely to handle calls. This is the skill that can count on the agent. Database items track the number of top agents in skills, as well as the time top agents spent available and in AUX. The expanded agent capabilities on the switch include an increased number of measured splits/skills to 600 and an increase in the number of measured agent/split or agent/skill pairs to 10,000 for the G3r processor, as well as new options for Most Idle Agent (MIA) call distribution. The new options allow selection of MIA distribution across skills, rather than for each skill, and selection of whether agents in ACW are or are not included in the agent free list. These options have no direct impact on CMS, since CMS does not keep track of the most idle agent.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-35 ACD Measurement 1 Best Service Routing (BSR) DEFINITY ECS R6 and later versions support Best Service Routing (BSR). BSR allows calls to be balanced at a single site or between multiple sites. BSR is enhanced multi-site routing that provides new call vectoring functions that build upon the Look-Ahead Interflow feature to route a call to the “best” split/skill on a single ECS or to the best split/skill in a network of DEFINITY ECSs. The “best” split/skill is defined as the local split/skill or remote ECS that offers the shortest waiting time for the call in a call surplus (calls queued) situation for the application. The waiting time is calculated using the DEFINITY ECS’s Expected Wait Time (EWT) predictor, and can be adjusted by the user. In an agents available situation, the “best” split/skill is determined based on the assigned available agent strategy. BSR data is tracked in the vector, VDN, and call history tables. Universal Call ID DEFINITY ECS R6 and later versions supports Universal Call ID (UCID). UCID is a unique tag that is assigned to a call. The tag allows call-related data to be collected and aggregated from multiple sources (for example, DEFINITY and Intuity Conversant) and multiple sites. The UCID may then be used to group all the data from various sources about a particular call. CMS will receive the UCID assigned to calls by a DEFINITY ECS R6 or later with this feature enabled. The UCID is then stored, along with data about the call itself, by the call history feature (which includes both internal and external call history). The data will be available to both Custom Reports and the Report Designer. UCID data is stored in the call history and agent trace tables. CentreVu Advocate CentreVu Advocate is available on the DEFINITY ECS, Release 6 and later. CentreVu Advocate has introduced a number of new database tracking items for CMS, as follows: nSkill State — Skills can now be in one of four states (unknown, normal, overload 1 or overload 2), based on the Expected Wait Time (EWT) threshold. Time spent in each state except “unknown” is tracked in the split/skill tables. The state is unknown when the link is down or the split is non-EAS, or when a new skill is added and the state message has not yet arrived. nReserve Agent — Agents can have a skill level of reserve 1 or reserve 2 that corresponds to skill states overload 1 and overload 2. Only when the skill is in an overload state will the appropriate reserve agents serve that skill. These agents have a special agent service role. When the agents are available, but the skill is not in the appropriate state, the agent is tracked as “other”.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-36 ACD Measurement 1 nAgent Counts — The number of agents in various states are stored in the split/skill tables by agent type. Reserve agents are stored in R1xxx and R2xxx database items. Top agents are stored in Txxx and flex agents are stored in Fxxx database items. nAgent Time in Skill — Agents’ ACD/ACW time can be tracked by skill. Non-ACD time in standard is as follows: agents with the tracked skill as the top skill use 100%, while agents who are percent allocated use the same percentage for both ACD and non-ACD time. Backup, Roving, or Reserve 1 or 2 agents track 0% of their non-ACD time toward this skill. nAgent Role — ROLE is a database item in the agent tables that describes how an agent participates in a skill. The agent’s role is based on both the agent’s Skill Level and Call Handling Preference. Agents with a reserve skill have a role of Reserve. Non-EAS agents and agents with Greatest need Call Handling Preference have a role of Roving. Top agents have a role of Top. Skill Level Call Handling Preference agents who are neither top or reserve have a role of Backup. Agents who are Percent Allocated have a role of Allocated.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-37 Exercise 1 — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) 1 Exercise 1 — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Read the items below and complete as directed. If needed, refer back to the previous Guided Reading. When you finish, compare your answers to those presented on the back of this page. Fill in the blank. In the space provided, write the term being described. 1. A call distribution method that allows the ACD software to check the splits/skills agent numbers in the administered sequence, starting with the number of the last agent connected to a call is called __________________________________. 2. A call distribution method that allows ACD software to check the splits/skills agent numbers in the administered sequence until it finds an agent with an available extension. It then routes the call to that extension, this method is referred to as ________________________________________________. 3. A call distribution method that allows ACD to find the agent extension that has been idle for the longest period of time and route the call to that agents extension. This method is referred to as _________________________________________. 4. A call distribution method based on agent skill is called _____________________ ____________________________. 5. An adjunct that collects call data for a switch resident ACD, provides call management performance recording and reporting, and can also be used to perform some ACD administration is called ______________________________. 6. A group of trunks/agents that are selected to work together to provide specific routing of special purpose calls are referred to as __________________________ _____________________. 7. A call collection point where calls are held until a split/skill agent or attendant can answer them is called ______________________________________________. 8. A group of extensions/agents that can receive standard calls and/or special purpose calls from one or more trunk groups are referred to as ______________________.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-38 Exercise 1 Evaluation — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) 1 Exercise 1 Evaluation — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Compare your answers to those presented below. Fill in the blank. In the space provided, write the term being described. 1. A call distribution method that allows the ACD software to check the splits/skills agent numbers in the administered sequence, starting with the number of the last agent connected to a call is called __Circular Hunting_______________. 2. A call distribution method that allows ACD software to check the splits/skills agent numbers in the administered sequence until it finds an agent with an available extension. It then routes the call to that extension, this method is referred to as __Direct (linear) Hunting_________________________________. 3. A call distribution method that allows ACD to find the agent extension that has been idle for the longest period of time and route the call to that agents extension. This method is referred to as __MIA (Most Idle Agent)____________________. 4. A call distribution method based on agent skill is called __EAD (Expert Agent Distribution)_. 5. An adjunct that collects call data for a switch resident ACD, provides call management performance recording and reporting, and can also be used to perform some ACD administration is called _CMS (Call Management System)._ 6. A group of trunks/agents that are selected to work together to provide specific routing of special purpose calls are referred to as __Hunt Groups.____________. 7. A call collection point where calls are held until a split/skill agent or attendant can answer them is called __a queue______________________________________. 8. A group of extensions/agents that can receive standard calls and/or special purpose calls from one or more trunk groups are referred to as __split________________.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-39 Exercise 2 — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) 1 Exercise 2 — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Read the items below and complete as directed. If needed, refer back to the previous Guided Reading. When you finish, compare your answers to those presented on the back of this page. Fill in the blank. In the space provided, write the term being described (continued). 1. A call management method that uses specialized call vector commands to provide flexible handling of incoming calls based on information collected from the caller is referred to as ___________________________________________________. 2. An optional software package that allows processing of incoming calls according to a programmed set of commands is ___________________________________. 3. Users can balance the call work load between multiple call centers on separate switching systems with ________________________ ______________________. 4. A segment of a splits/skills queue from which calls are taken first is ___________ ___________________________________________________________. 5. A feature used to train new agents and observe in-progress calls is _____________ _________________________________________________________. 6. The ability to assign, monitor, or move agents to specific splits/skills is _________ _____________________________________________________________. 7. A point in time or criteria that determines a certain action by the system is called a/an _____________________________________________________________.
DEFINITY ECS Release 8 Guide to ACD Call Centers 555-233-503 Issue 2 December 1999 Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Basics — Overview and Exercises 1-40 Exercise 2 Evaluation — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) 1 Exercise 2 Evaluation — Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Compare your answers to those presented below. Fill in the blank. In the space provided, write the term being described (continued). 1. A call management method that uses specialized call vector commands to provide flexible handling of incoming calls based on information collected from the caller is referred to as Call Prompting. 2. An optional software package that allows processing of incoming calls according to a programmed set of commands is Call Vectoring. 3. Users can balance the call work load between multiple call centers on separate switching systems with LAI (look Ahead Interflow). 4. A segment of a splits/skills queue from which calls are taken first is Priority queue. 5. A feature used to train new agents and observe in-progress calls is Service observing. 6. The ability to assign, monitor, or move agents to specific splits/skills is split/skill administration. 7. A point in time or criteria that determines a certain action by the system is called a/an threshold.