Key Concepts
To administer and use CMS, you should be familiar with the following terms,
which are briefly defined:
Automatic call
Line groups
Agents
Agent splits
distributor (ACD)
Shift configurations
Main and secondary splits
Intraflow
Intraflow threshold
Logged out state
Available state
After-call-work (ACW) state
Automatic after-call-work state (Auto ACW)
Supervisory Login/Logout
Call management
Answer delay
Force delay
Priority lines
CMS is the automatic call distributor (ACD) for the MERLIN II system. As an
automated attendant, CMS distributes calls that come in on the MERLIN II
system telephone lines assigned to CMS.
The MERLIN II system telephone lines assigned to CMS are organized into
line groups. Usually the incoming calls for a line group are of the same type.
For instance, the lines for incoming sales calls are in one line group and the
lines for service calls in another. Up to 28 lines may be assigned to up to four
line groups.
Incoming calls are answered by agents who are divided into agent splits, A
split is a team of agents who handle the same type of incoming calls. Each
split is assigned to answer calls for one or more line groups. You can have
up to six splits, with a maximum of 28 agents in a split. However, no more
than 28 agents can be active in CMS at any one time.
A shift configuration is an arrangement of line groups and agent splits for
managing calls. You can create up to six different configurations to handle
different calling patterns in your business. However, only one shift
configuration can be active at a time, and no more than 28 agents can be in
that configuration.
In a configuration, some splits are main splits and others are secondary splits. A
main split has primary responsibility for answering calls for a line group. A
secondary split answers calls for a line group only if the main split for that
group is overloaded. Sending calls to agents in a secondary split is called
intraflow. The number of seconds that the call waits in the main split before it
is sent to the secondary split is called the intraflow threshold. Intraflow can be
turned on and off.
2-2 Key Concepts
