background image

  

17 

call. Obviously, agents who have just attached to the queue have 
handled zero calls, so they will have the highest priority. 

 
Agent with shortest connect time This assignment method can be 

used when you want the agents to have approximately equal times 
talking to the callers. Again, an agent who has just attached will have 
zero connect time, and so will have the highest priority initially. 

 

Note: If agent priorities are enabled, they will take precedence over the 

call assignment methods.  

 
Reset Statistics Time Sets a time when to reset the real time statistics of the 

dashboard display. The default time is 12:00am. If no reset is selected, this 
feature is disabled.  

 

 

5.2 Greetings Dialog 

 

An example of the greetings configuration dialog box is shown in 

Figure 9

.  

 
 

 

Figure 9: Greetings Dialog Box

 

 

Each of its settings is described below: 

 
 
Report Position The system provides a number of different ways to inform  

callers of their position within the queue. The “Report Position” setting 
allows the queue administrator to select which method will be used for 

callers of this queue. The choices are: 
 
Never Callers will just hear the hold music and any periodic comfort 

messages. 
 

Summary of Contents for Amanda Portal CallQ Agent

Page 1: ...1 Using Amanda Portal CallQ Agent The Amanda Call Queuing Package Version 2 0 November 5 2004 ...

Page 2: ...ent List 33 8 2 Agent Settings 36 8 3 Enabling the Call Record Feature 39 9 CALL MENU OPTIONS 40 10 REPORTS MENU OPTIONS 42 10 1 Calls Incoming Calls Report 44 10 2 Calls Call Duration Report 45 10 3 Calls Lost Calls Report 46 10 4 Caller ID Report 46 10 5 All Agents Stats 47 10 6 Specific Agent Stats 48 10 7 All Q Specific Agent Stats 48 10 8 Specific Agent Actions 48 10 9 Agent Need 49 10 10 Cal...

Page 3: ...s holding in queue such as caller id caller id name how long they ve been holding and what port their call came in on Calls can be selectively or automatically connected to agents of the queue Additionally when calls are completed comments about each call can be entered by the agents of the queue and later reviewed by running call reports Callers holding in queue can hear a number of different pre...

Page 4: ...ueue This operation needs to be done only once per mailbox unless the queue is subsequently deleted Figure 1 Enabling the CREATE QUEUE privilege 2 1 Queue Rules The basic job of a call queue is to connect callers to agents Callers are normally transferred to agents in the order the calls entered the queue and agents are normally chosen based on how long they have been available to take a call Some...

Page 5: ...cified then play the position in standard form For a transfer event an override method can be specified by QUEUE_TRANSFER_METHOD If not specified then transfer in standard form For a no more agents attached event an override method can be specified QUEUE_CLOSED_METHOD If not specified then go to voicemail For a queue timeout max enqueued time event an override method can be specified by QUEUE_TIME...

Page 6: ...6 Figure 2 Example Extended Mailbox Setting ...

Page 7: ...ng Amanda Portal to a Workgroup If your connecting Amanda Portal to a workgroup you ll need to create at least one account on the Amanda Portal PC within control panel Users and Passwords in order to access shares on the Amanda Portal PC The created user and password can later be used when trying to access the Amanda Portal server PC shared folders This is required because there is no centralized ...

Page 8: ...ons and or fax additions Additionally you can install other clients from here which include Tenant applications for tenant management TAPI Client which can be used in conjunction with CallQ Agent for CRM Power Connect and Outlook Contact Client Finally click next to continue and then click Finish to complete the installation Note With custom modifications a call and or agent can specify who gets a...

Page 9: ...Enter your mailbox number here Security Code Enter your mailbox password security code here Remember Security Code If you would like CallQ Agent to remember your security code for future logons check this box and you won t have to provide your security code in the future This makes the logon process easier but less secure Figure 4 Logging into CallQ Agent Once you ve filled in the correct remote a...

Page 10: ... have this privilege enabled you will see a message stating that the queue was created successfully Otherwise if CREATE QUEUE is not enabled for your mailbox you won t be able to create or delete a call queue and you ll see the following message You do not have the privilege to create or delete this call queue Delete Queue Use this option to delete your existing call queue The privilege CREATE QUE...

Page 11: ...cular queue then that queue will not be displayed by default Show all queues A drop down list that shows all the available queues an agent can attach to Once attached to a queue you ll see the screen like that in Figure 6 Extension When attaching to a queue the extension field can be used to change the location of where calls will be transferred when you accept a call This is useful when working i...

Page 12: ...in section 5 5 Application Pipe A way for you to pass data from CallQ Agent to another application When this is used when a new call gets assigned to an agent the information is passed to the application specified by the pipe Custom programming is required to use this feature Call Queue Priority Opens the call queue priority dialog This is used to create a call queue priority list Call queue prior...

Page 13: ...t can watch the activity in the queue if so privileged but will not automatically be assigned any calls If the agent has the privilege to take calls to pick particular calls out of the queue not necessarily the longest waiting call then the agent can do so even when in the Unavailable state When the agent finishes with a call the CallQ Agent will return to the Unavailable state after Wrap up is fi...

Page 14: ...eue administrator These buttons are Make Available To have access to the make available and make unavailable Buttons you must have the available privilege enabled When enabled clicking this button tells the call queue you re ready to take calls If you re available and a new call comes into the queue it will be automatically sent to your extension unless the queue has been configured otherwise If y...

Page 15: ...queue manager is willing to wait for a connect or fail confirmation from the call that is currently trying to transfer to them This is a fail safe time in case the call was not to come to the agent which would leave the agent in the Connecting state forever The default is 5 minutes which is the same as specifying the value of 0 Minimum lost This is the minimum number of seconds that you expect leg...

Page 16: ...queue mailbox Otherwise if not checked caller s dialed digits are ignored Greeting messages This button brings up a dialog box for configuring greetings callers will hear when they enter or leave the queue It s described in Subsection 5 2 Comfort Messages This button brings up a dialog box for configuring periodic comfort messages to be played to waiting callers This is described in Subsection 5 3...

Page 17: ...ethods Reset Statistics Time Sets a time when to reset the real time statistics of the dashboard display The default time is 12 00am If no reset is selected this feature is disabled 5 2 Greetings Dialog An example of the greetings configuration dialog box is shown in Figure 9 Figure 9 Greetings Dialog Box Each of its settings is described below Report Position The system provides a number of diffe...

Page 18: ...s played to the caller when they are be sent to voicemail Queue closed greeting Select the greeting number that is played to the caller When no agents are left who can take their call so the caller is forced to leave the queue This greeting is not necessarily the same as that which callers hear who cannot enter the queue for instance if there are no agents attached to the queue in that case caller...

Page 19: ...is queued the background of the text of the call holding is black text on a white background After n minutes where n is defined by queue call times the background color of that call can be changed to one of eight different colors Using the stop light approach the call would change to green yellow and then red after the caller has been holding for x y and z minutes where x might be 1 minute y might...

Page 20: ...alls holding in queue for that amount of time will have their background color changed to the specified color The default is black Click the Color Black button to select a color other than black Extreme queued time If enabled after the specified number of minutes calls holding in queue for that amount of time will have their background color changed to the specified color The default is black Clic...

Page 21: ...re 12 Color Selection Dialog 5 5 Display Settings The Display Settings dialog allows you to control various aspects of how the CallQ Agent appears on your desktop Click Queue then Display Settings to access the display settings below You ll see the window similar to that shown in Figure 13 Here you can remove or add columns change the order of the columns and change other aspects of the visual app...

Page 22: ...ation that there is a call holding If you don t wish to hear an audible notification on a new call you can disable this option by deselecting the check box Play ring only when unavailable When enabled CallQ Agent will only play an audible ring when the agent is in an unavailable state Display message on new call When enabled you ll get a new call notification via a screen pop You ll see the messag...

Page 23: ...entered in the display dialog for them to show up if not already there A good example of this is the custom parameter CallerId_Name Adding this custom parameter will add a new column that will display the caller id name of the caller this is case sensitive and must be entered exactly as shown Note It s important that CallQ Agent and the Amanda Portal server be setup with the same time in order for...

Page 24: ...one and Amanda will automatically change the agent s state The reason for this is that the agent may hang up go into wrap up actually be ready for another call and press Available at about the same time that Amanda is automatically making the agent available This can then result in receiving two calls one of which of course will fail and be counted as a dropped call for the agent Wrapup Comments W...

Page 25: ...tings Queue Codes are entered within the queue mailbox as a textual mmo named QCodes which is case sensitive It s a list of code and code descriptions To setup QCodes As a default the codes list is blank and ghosted out unless the queue administrator creates a list of codes To create a queue codes list do the following 1 Using Amanda Portal Station select the queue mailbox and double click greetin...

Page 26: ...cting the drop down list the agent can select any of the other code types Amanda saves call comment information in a database that can be reviewed later when running reports 5 7 Call Queue Priority When connecting to multiple call queues it s important to setup a queue priority list This way when there are calls holding in more than one queue and you make yourself available you ll get calls sent t...

Page 27: ...n example call queue priority list In this example the agent is connected to 3 queues Queue 1020 has the highest priority then 1010 and finally 171 Use the move up and down buttons after selecting one of the queues listed to set the call queue priority list ...

Page 28: ...ox of the agent where the caller can leave a message there call will not be re queued unless configured specifically to do so Supervised Transfer Amanda transfers the call to the agent s extension and waits for an answer no answer or busy If the call is answered she connects the caller to the agent If the call is not answered or the extension is busy the call is re queued in the same position This...

Page 29: ...es are created for each agent One for the queue and another for personal calls and messages You ll also need to configure the queue mailbox to use a blind transfer and the personal mailbox for a supervised transfer Additionally the personal mailbox needs to be configured to RNA retrieve the call before the call will be forwarded from the extension For example if the extension is setup to forward c...

Page 30: ... answered or the extension is busy Additionally the queue mailbox must have its RNA and Busy methods setup to send the call back to the queue mailbox this way the call is re queued for the next available agent Note The only real disadvantage to using blind transfers instead of supervised is if the calls go un answered When the call gets re queued the caller goes back into the queue as a new call l...

Page 31: ... hanging up depending on whether the agent s telephone is connected to an Amanda port directly or to a telephone switch Status When a call enters a queue there is a status showing the state each call is in Initially the status for a call holding in queue is Available Once an agent accepts the call the state status box changes depending on what happens with the call Each call will transition from A...

Page 32: ...nate that a particular caller based on their Caller ID should be directed to a particular agent This feature might be used for instance if the agent had been working with that particular customer earlier on a problem If the customer calls back it s preferable for him to speak with the same agent rather than have to start over again with a different agent in solving the problem Callback This field ...

Page 33: ...nd Figure 20 Figure 19 Agent Menu Figure 20 Agent List Dialog 8 1 Agent List The Agent List selection shows you the list of agents for that call queue Here you can add new agents and remove existing agents from the queue You can also modify settings on a per agent mailbox basis Clicking Agent then Agent List opens a window similar to that shown in Figure 18 ...

Page 34: ...navailable means they are either on an existing call in the unavailable state or not currently attached to the queue Time of Status The time that the last status change occurred for an agent Current call If an agent is currently on a call this shows the unique Call ID of the call the agent is connected to Available privilege Shows if an agent can become unavailable If enabled the agent can make th...

Page 35: ...t the bottom of the dialog box allow you to take the following actions Close This button closes the agent list window Refresh This button updates the current information in the agent list window based on changes due to call queue agent activity Settings This button allows the call queue administrator the creator of the call queue or a queue supervisor to modify agent settings on a per agent basis ...

Page 36: ... a queue supervisor determines these settings There are two ways to access the same dialog box a sample of which is shown in Figure 19 for administering these settings The first is through the Agent List dialog described in Subsection 8 1 Figure 21 After highlighting an agent in that dialog the administrator can click the Settings button to bring up the settings for that particular agent an exampl...

Page 37: ... the call queue they can be seen in the queue window If disabled that agent will not be able to see the call list for the queue Call Rejection When call rejection is enabled then that agent will have the right to refuse to take particular calls that the queue assigns to them via a pop up dialog box shown in Figure 23 Assign Control call When enabled this option gives the agent the ability to assig...

Page 38: ...ve the Rejection privilege for this queue Priority Level Each agent can have a priority level Priority levels can be used to determine which agents will get calls sent them first when multiple agents are available Priority levels are set from lowest to highest with 0 being the highest priority level When priority level is not set all agents have the same priority level Copy to Used to copy queue s...

Page 39: ...d to perform the call recordings by specifying record under the port parameters groups list At least one port must be set to record in order to use this feature preferably more than 1 Using the Call Recording Feature To record a call within CallQ Agent double click on the call to record There is a Record Call check box at the bottom of the dialog that pops up When checked Amanda uses a record port...

Page 40: ...call if an agent is already handling it and what restrictions skill requirements if any are applied to the call Figure 25 Call Settings Dialog Box The Timeout field shows the accept reject time in seconds to determine what to do with the call if the call has just be assigned to the agent and the agent has the Call Rejection privilege With this dialog you can choose to do the following Close This b...

Page 41: ...e caller will be sent to that mailbox as if they dialed it directly Figure 26 Example of the Transfer Call dialog box Play Caller Name When call screening is enabled the play caller name button can be used to hear the recording made by Amanda when screening the call This feature is not typically used with call queues but can be very useful when using a personal queue Record Call When enabled check...

Page 42: ... format as a csv file In all cases you specify the period of time that you want the report to cover You can use short cuts for the time period such as specifying Today or Yesterday for instance or choose Custom and then enter manually the exact starting and ending dates and times for the report Most reports also let you aggregate or summarize the data based on time intervals For example if you req...

Page 43: ...e of the Detail portion of a Lost Calls report Clicking set columns allows you to add remove or re order columns in the report Clicking the remove rows button allows you to remove the selected row or rows from the report You can select a single row or multiple rows by holding down the shift or ctrl keys After removing rows the totals are recalculated automatically For report column header descript...

Page 44: ...lls that entered the queue and what happened to those calls the number answered and the number that were lost hung up after the early hangup period It also shows agent activities relative to the calls during that time period the average talk time wrap up time handling time talk time plus wrap up time the average and maximum time that callers waited to reach an agent the delay times and the highest...

Page 45: ... Table 1 Call Report Reference Table 10 2 Calls Call Duration Report The Call Duration report is similar to the Incoming Calls report but it shows only the number of calls and the average and maximum duration of those calls during the indicated time periods Figure 30 Example Call Duration Report ...

Page 46: ...calls Figure 31 Example Weekday Lost Call Report For report column header descriptions see Appendix A Table 1 Call Report Reference Table 10 4 Caller ID Report This report searches the database for all calls from a particular phone number during the specified range of dates and times Naturally your system must receive the Caller ID or ANI for the caller or this report will not work For each call l...

Page 47: ...d of each agent s talk time wrap up time handling time talk wrap up time and Available time Each agent s productivity is computed as the percentage of time that they were either on a call in wrap up from a call or were available to take a call it s a percentage against the unavailable time Finally the number of times that the agent was in the Available state and was presented with a call that the ...

Page 48: ...h an MSI card Amanda cannot be aware of hold and transfer activities by agents who are connected by an external telephone switching system For report column header descriptions see Appendix A Table 1 Call Report Reference Table 10 7 All Q Specific Agent Stats This report is specific to an agent for all queues that the agent is a member of The purpose of this report is to get the global performance...

Page 49: ... as hourly In particular it can help the supervisor focus on which times the call center may be over or under staffed because it evaluates the rate that the agents available were removing calls from the queue versus the rate at which calls entered the queue during each period and from that information it calculates the optimum number of agents that should have been the right number to handle that ...

Page 50: ...ow many calls a specific agent has taken providing important information about each specific call including the time caller id number if applicable how long each caller held in queue before their call was answered delay how long the agent was on the call talk time and shows any comments entered by the agent about the call if wrapup comments are enabled Figure 37 shows an example Specific Agent rep...

Page 51: ...scriptions see Appendix A Table 1 Call Report Reference Table 10 11 Call List All Agents This report is very similar to the Specific Agent report except it shows answered by all agents Figure 38 shows an example of an All Agents report Figure 38 Example All Agents Call List Report ...

Page 52: ...This information is useful to a supervisor where they can access the caller id numbers of the dropped calls and call them back or have an available agent return their calls A dropped call report shows the time caller id and how long the caller held in queue before hanging up or dialing out of the queue Figure 39 shows an example dropped call report Figure 39 Example Dropped Call Report For report ...

Page 53: ...oard is described in Subsection 11 1 New Window Used to open a connection to another call queue Cascade When multiple call queues are open you can cascade windows for easier call management Tile When multiple call queues are open you can tile them making it easier to see calls in multiple call queues at the same time Arrange Icons When connected to multiple queues or even a single queue and call q...

Page 54: ...aiting to be connected to an agent After high time This is the number of calls which have been waiting more than the number of seconds specified for the queue in the High Queued Time parameter Longest waiting Of the calls that are currently waiting this is time the longest waiting call has been waiting Call Statistics This section displays information about calls that have entered the queue though...

Page 55: ...lls may not actually have left voicemail Calls go to voicemail either by pressing the key if dialout is allowed for the queue or because the maximum number of callers or maximum waiting time for the queue have been reached Early hangup This is the number of calls which entered the queue and Hung up after a short time The implication is that such callers may have entered the queue unintentionally T...

Page 56: ...als out or hangs up the appropriate fields will also be updated right away In contrast the data that is used for the Call Reports is for calls which have completed either finished wrap up or dialed out or hung up Therefore the Entered and Answered values will lead the values shown in a report for the current hour because the include calls that will not be journaled to the statistics database until...

Page 57: ...Custom programming is required to use this feature Answered The number of calls answered by agents of the queue Calls Incoming Calls Answered Rate The rate agents are answering calls per hours Results will vary base on how the report is summarized i e based on hours day of week week month or day of month Agents Agent Need Available The number of times within the specified time period that agents w...

Page 58: ...Calls Handled Total number of calls taken over the entire reporting period Agents Specific Agent Stats Agents All Q Specific Agent Stats Agents All Agent Stats Caller ID A caller id number is required when running a caller id report When running this type of report you must specify a telephone number to report on Agents Specific Agent Actions Call List Specific Agent Call List All Agents Call List...

Page 59: ... caller had dialed into the queue will be represented by a unique instance The information following the instance pertains only to that particular instance i e 0 is the first time they called 1 is the second etc Caller ID Agents Specific Agent Actions Call List Specific Agent Call List All Agents Call List Dropped Calls Login Time The cumulative time an agent was logged into the call queue Agents ...

Page 60: ...A percentage of the amount of time being in any other state other than unavailable If your unavailable time is high then productivity will be low Agents Specific Agent Stats Agents All Q Specific Agent Stats Agents All Agent Stats Queue Shows which queue an agent attached to or from Agents Specific Agent Actions Queue Full The number of times the maximum number of allowed calls were in the queue a...

Page 61: ...s Unavailable The number of times within the specified time period that agents were in an unavailable state Agents Agent Need Unavailable Time The amount of time the agent was unavailable over the specified reporting period Agents Specific Agent Stats Agents All Q Specific Agent Stats Agents All Agent Stats Voicemail The number of calls that were transferred to voicemail from the queue Calls Lost ...

Reviews: