SIEBEL SYSTEMS, INC.
SIEBEL CALL CENTER AND WEB SERVICE
KEY WORDS AND PHRASES
7/16/2004
CONTENTS
W HAT IS CLOSED-LOOP CUSTOMER SERVICE? ....................................................................... 3
SIEBEL CALL CENTER AND SERVICE APPLICATIONS: MEETING THE CHALLENGE....................... 3
TOP CONTACT CENTER KEYWORDS YOU NEED TO KNOW .................................................... 5
CALL CENTER KEYWORDS – COMPREHENSIVE LIST ........................................................... 9
CALL CENTER KEY PHRASES ............................................................................................... 30
SIEBEL WEB SERVICE KEYWORD AND PHRASES .............................................................. 31
W EB SERVICE KEYWORDS ................................................................................................... 31
W EB SERVICE PHRASES ...................................................................................................... 34
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INTRODUCTION TO SIEBEL CALL CENTER AND SERVICE PRODUCTS
What is Closed-Loop Customer Service?
Closed-loop customer service synchronizes, manages and coordinates all customer service interactions
across every service department using multiple channels including the call center, Web self-service, email
correspondence, wireless, and face to face interactions with service professionals and affiliates. Providing
all service professionals a unified view of the customer is essential to the success of the closed-loop
service model.
Agents and field engineers alike must receive up-to-the-minute information and in-depth customer and
product knowledge that enables accurate problem resolution and personalized service while generating
greater selling opportunities. In addition, customers must have the access required to manage their
service issues anytime over the Web via a self-service portal and receive immediate, accurate solutions
to email inquiries. The only way for service organizations to provide consistent, personalized multichannel
service while reducing operational costs is to maintain a consolidated view of the customer at all times
through a single data repository.
Siebel Call Center and Service Applications: Meeting the Challenge
Siebel Call Center and Service applications meet this challenge. They allow service organizations to
deliver closed-loop customer service across all customer touchpoints—voice, email, wireless, field
interactions, and the Web—and across all hardware platforms, including desktops, laptops, handheld
devices, PDAs, and wireless phones and pagers.
The Siebel Call Center and Service family of products includes the following market-leading applications:



Siebel Call Center
Siebel Web Service
o Siebel eMail Response
o Siebel eService & Siebel eCollaboration
Siebel Field Service & Siebel Mobile Solutions
Siebel Call Center
Siebel Call Center helps contact centers improve productivity and customer satisfaction levels by
providing service or telesales agents with a unified, multichannel desktop that consolidates all customer
interactions to quickly solve customer issues or close the sale. This award winning application delivers a
zero-install Web client that extends the capabilities of leading Web browsers to deliver high levels of
interactivity, lowering the total cost of ownership. Supporting global contact centers of all size, Siebel Call
Center 7 provides real-time needs such as intelligent screen-pops, broadcast messaging, and instant
access to complex customer information.
Siebel Web Service
Siebel eService
Customers demand more and more - round-the-clock access, faster response and personalized
service. Meanwhile, competitive pressures drive organizations to deliver customer service with
the highest levels of customer satisfaction while simultaneously lowering costs. Furthermore,
organizations must leverage every service interaction into a revenue generating opportunity. Only
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Web-based self-service solutions enable organizations to drive revenues and ensure the highest
levels of customer satisfaction while lowering service costs.
Siebel eService helps service organizations reduce costs by providing a complete Web service
solution allowing users to receive personalized customer service over the Internet quickly and
easily.
Siebel eCollaboration
Most company Web sites provide a great deal of information, but often customers have difficulty
finding what they need. These frustrated Web users typically turn to the call center for support.
Siebel eCollaboration reduces call volume and improves service profitability by offering users the
assistance they need at precisely the moment they need it - while on the Web site. Siebel
eCollaboration enhances your customer's Web experience and elevates the levels of customer
satisfaction and loyalty with personalized, live communication assistance on the Web.
Siebel eMail Response
The Internet has provided new, less costly channels for delivering products and services to
customers. As a result, email and Web-based communications are growing faster than any other
means of customer interaction.
Siebel eMail Response helps companies make email an effective customer communication
channel by more efficiently managing and responding to high volumes of inbound email requests.
Customers automatically receive personalized acknowledgement messages when any email
request is sent, confirming receipt of the email. Advanced natural language processing and
semantic analysis automation enable faster problem resolution times by analyzing email
messages to determine the user's request and then either automatically responds to the message
with a personalized answer or intelligently route the request to an agent. Agent productivity is
enhanced with a highly optimized point and click interface that enables agents to quickly
construct replies using recommended templates that are automatically populated with live,
personalized customer information.
Siebel Field Service
Siebel Field Service provides a complete service system for all headquarter and field functions
enabling service professionals to deliver world-class customer support, extend top-line revenue,
drive improved productivity, and enhance customer loyalty. It provides users with access to
critical service information through proven and flexible device deployment options, including
pagers, wireless phones, handheld devices and laptops. By leveraging Siebel Service Analytics,
Siebel Field Service provides in-depth analysis and actionable insight into all aspects of the
service delivery process.
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TOP CONTACT CENTER KEYWORDS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Term
Abandoned Calls
(Queues)
ACD (Automatic
Call Distributor)
Answered Call
(Queues)
I think the second
paragraph would
be more readable
if it were a bulleted
list.
Definition
An incoming ACD call is counted as
abandoned when the caller hangs
up before the call is answered by
an agent or before the call is routed
off-site. The sum includes calls that
abandon while waiting for an agent
to answer the call at his/her
telephone. Calls that abandon while
in the Timed Overflow (TOF) queue
are counted against the ACD queue
that initiated the overflow.
A software feature of the telephony
infrastructure that routes a call to
groups of agents (also called a
'queue') based on first-in, firstanswered criteria. The guiding
principle is that the caller who has
been waiting the longest will be first
the caller routed to the next
available agent. The agent that
receives the call will be either the
first available agent or the agent
that has been available for the
longest period of time.
A call that was routed to an ACD
queue, and was then answered by
an agent in that ACD queue. The
number of Answered Calls is based
on the following:



If a call is Night Forwarded,
it is counted as an
Interflowed call for the
Source ACD queue in the
Queue report.
If the Night Forwarded
number is an ACD queue,
the Answered Call is
reflected in the count for
the destination ACD queue.
The call is not counted as
Answered against the
source ACD queue.
If a call is not Night
Forwarded (whether or not
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Automatic Number
Identification (ANI)
Average Handle
Time (AHT)
Average Speed of
Answer (ASA)
Night RAN is given), then it
counts as an Answered
Call against the source
ACD queue. It will not count
under Interflow in this case.
 If the Time Overflow feature
is used, the Calls Answered
value includes calls that
Time Overflowed from
another queue to this one
(TOF-IN), as well as the
number of calls that Time
Overflow to another ACD
queue (TOF-OUT) from this
one.
This shows the number of ACD
calls answered by agents for this
queue, including calls that overflow
into the queue.
A telephone network feature that
passes the number of the phone
the caller is using to the call center,
real-time. ANI may arrive over the D
channel of an ISDN PRI circuit (out
of band signaling), or before the
first ring on a single line (inband
signaling). ANI is delivered from
long distance companies. Caller ID
is the local phone company version
of ANI, and is delivered inband. ANI
is a North American term, and
Calling Line Identification (CLI) is
an alternative term used elsewhere.
The sum of Average Talk Time and
Average After-Call Work for a
specified time period. The most
important metric measured when
managing efficiency of a contact
center
The Average Speed of Answer for
calls received by an ACD queue.
The timing for answering the call
begins when the call is queued for
the ACD queue and ends when an
agent (either in the primary or
overflow ACD queue) answers the
call. If an agent in an overflow
group answers the call, Average
Speed of Answer is counted in the
overflow group. This is the sum
includes Enhanced Overflow Calls
from other queues, but not including
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Timed Overflow In Calls from
another queue nor Network ACD
calls that are answered by a remote
target agent
Computer
Telephony
Integration (CTI).
First-call
resolution
IVR (Interactive
Voice Response
Private Branch
Exchange (PBX)
Routing
Service Level
The software, hardware and
programming necessary to
integrate computers and telephones
so they can work together
seamlessly and intelligently. Typical
vendors and products in the
telephony space are: Cisco ICM,
Avaya Interaction Center (IC) or
CMS, Genesys Enterprise Routing
System (ERS)
A service issue that is resolved in
the same call where the service
issue was opened. No follow up
activities or calls are necessary to
resolve.
An option of the Northern telephone
system that gives you the ability to
route calls according to the caller's
response to your recording. Most
IVRs take the form of a recording
that states (for example) 'If you
want Sales, press one. If you want
Support, press two'.
A switching system providing
telephone communications between
internal stations and external
telephone networks. The term
generally refers to manually
operated switching equipment as
opposed to computer operated
switching.
The way a call is passed through
the Northern telephone system. The
telephone system handles the way
a call is sent, and the route the call
takes through the telephone
system. Different version of the
Northern telephone system can
route a call in different ways,
according to the available routing
features.
Also called Telephone Service
Factor, or TSF. The percentage of
incoming calls that are answered
within a specified threshold: "X% of
calls answered in Y seconds." See
Response Time.
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CALL CENTER KEYWORDS – COMPREHENSIVE LIST
Term
Abandoned Calls
(CDNs)
Abandoned Calls
(Queues)
ACD (Automatic
Call Distributor)
ACD state
Definition
The number of calls accepted into
the CDN, but abandoned before
being answered through the
controlled operation or routed
according to the CDN's script. An
incoming ACD call is counted as
abandoned when the caller hangs
up before the call is answered by
an agent or before the call is
routed off-site. The sum includes
calls that abandon while waiting for
an agent to answer the call at
his/her telephone. Calls that
abandon while in the Timed
Overflow (TOF) queue are counted
against the ACD queue that
initiated the overflow.
An incoming ACD call is counted
as abandoned when the caller
hangs up before the call is
answered by an agent or before
the call is routed off-site. The sum
includes calls that abandon while
waiting for an agent to answer the
call at his/her telephone. Calls that
abandon while in the Timed
Overflow (TOF) queue are counted
against the ACD queue that
initiated the overflow.
A software feature of the Northern
telephone system that routes a call
to groups of agents (also called a
'queue') based on first-in, firstanswered criteria. The guiding
principle is that the caller who has
been waiting the longest will be
first the caller routed to the next
available agent. The agent that
receives the call will be either the
first available agent or the agent
that has been available for the
longest period of time.
When an agent is engaged on an
ACD call, they are considered to
be in the ACD state. Also see
Agent states.
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Accepted Calls
(CDNs)
Accepted Calls
(Queues)
The number of calls that entered
the CDN and were routed by the
telephone system according to the
Enhanced ACD Routing script. The
number of Accepted Calls for the
CDN is equal to the number of
Calls Answered plus the number
Abandoned plus the number
Routed to the CDN plus the
number Disconnected plus the
number Busy plus the number
Defaulted to this CDN.
The number of calls placed in this
ACD queue, including any
Overflow by Number calls from
another ACD queue. Timed
Overflow calls from another ACD
queue are not included. The
number is based on the following:



If a call is Night
Forwarded, it is counted in
the Interflow amount for
the source ACD queue in
the Queue report. If the
Night Forwarded number is
an ACD queue, then
numbers of Calls
Accepted, Answered, or
Abandoned (among other
things) are reflected in the
count for the destination
ACD queue. The call is not
counted as an Accepted
call (or Answered, etc)
against the source ACD
queue.
If a call is not Night
Forwarded (whether or not
Night RAN is given), the
call counts as an Accepted
Call (or Answered, etc)
against the source ACD
queue. It will not count
under Interflow in this
case.
If the Time Overflow
feature is used, the Calls
Answered value includes
answered Time Overflow
calls from another queue.
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Calls to this ACD queue
that are answered by
another queue (via Time
Overflow) are not counted.
A customer/company that has a
business relationship with a field
service company, or a customer
that has products, which may
require service. The account
defines a relationship. A customer
may have many accounts.
In the Northern telephone system,
'active' is defined as having the
ability to receive ACD calls. Agents
become active when they log into
the telephone system.
A collection of activities which,
when carried out in the correct
sequence, meet a specific
objective; for example, repairing an
asset. An activity plan consists of
an activity template plus the start
date and time for the activities.
Account
Active
Activity plan
Activity template
Abandoned Call
Activity Codes
Adherence To
Schedule
After-Call Work
(ACW)
A pre-determined collection of
activities used to populate an
activity plan. These activities solve
a service objective.
Also called a Lost Call. The caller
hangs up before reaching an
agent.
See Wrap-Up Codes.
A general term that refers to how
well agents adhere to their
schedules. Can include both a)
how much time they were available
to take calls during their shifts,
including the time spent handling
calls and the time spent waiting for
calls to arrive (also called
Availability), and b) when they
were available to take calls (also
called Compliance or Adherence).
See Real-Time Adherence
Software and Occupancy.
Also called Wrap-up and Post Call
Processing (PCP). Work that is
necessitated by and immediately
follows an inbound transaction.
Often includes entering data, filling
out forms and making outbound
calls necessary to complete the
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Agent Group
Agent state
Agent turnover
Agreement
Agreement
Revenue
Agreement Value
transaction. The agent is
unavailable to receive another
inbound call while in this mode.
Also called Split, Gate, Queue or
Skills Group. A collection of agents
that share a common set of skills,
such as being able to handle
customer complaints.
The type of telephone activity an
agent either performed or is
engaged in performing. The time
an agent spends in each state is
tracked and is included in the
information sent telephony system
 Ready
 Aux
 Not Ready
 Available
 After Call Work
 Ring
 Direct ACD (on call)
The rate at which agents leave and
organization and move to another
employer. Typically this is the
most costly part of the Contact
Center operation. The lower the
turn-over rate, the more cost
effective and experienced the
contact center is going to be.
A document that defines the
obligations to perform, provide,
offer, or produce specific activities,
responsibilities, products, or
services over a determined period
of time for a specific amount of
money. Agreements can be sales,
service, or both. An agreement is
created after both parties sign a
proposal that often includes
detailed descriptions of pricing,
terms, limitations, coverage, and
conditions, in addition to legal
rights, processes, and guidelines.
The amounts payable by a
customer, according to the terms
of an agreement. Customer
payments may be periodic, upfront, disbursed over time, or
charged at the time of service.
The total amount of revenue
expected over the life of service
agreement (entire term).
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Answered Call
(CDNs)
Answered Call
(Queues)
Auto Available
Automatic Number
Identification (ANI)
This is the number of calls that
entered the CDN and were
answered with the controlled
operation or according to the
scripting of the CDN's routing.
A call that was routed to an ACD
queue, and was then answered by
an agent in that ACD queue. The
number of Answered Calls is
based on the following:
If a call is Night Forwarded, it is
counted as an Interflowed call for
the Source ACD queue in the
Queue report.
If the Night Forwarded number is
an ACD queue, the Answered Call
is reflected in the count for the
destination ACD queue. The call is
not counted as Answered against
the source ACD queue.
If a call is not Night Forwarded
(whether or not Night RAN is
given), then it counts as an
Answered Call against the source
ACD queue. It will not count under
Interflow in this case.
If the Time Overflow feature is
used, the Calls Answered value
includes calls that Time
Overflowed from another queue to
this one (TOF-IN), as well as the
number of calls that Time Overflow
to another ACD queue (TOF-OUT)
from this one.
This shows the number of ACD
calls answered by agents for this
queue, including calls that overflow
into the queue.
An ACD feature whereby the ACD
is programmed to automatically put
agents into Available after they
finish Talk Time and disconnect
calls. If they need to go into AfterCall Work, they have to manually
put themselves there. See Auto
Wrap-up.
A telephone network feature that
passes the number of the phone
the caller is using to the call center,
real-time. ANI may arrive over the
D channel of an ISDN PRI circuit
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Auto Wrap-up
AVR (automated
voice response)
Available State
Asset
Audit trail
Auxiliary Work
State (AUX)
(out of band signaling), or before
the first ring on a single line
(inband signaling). ANI is delivered
from long distance companies.
Caller ID is the local phone
company version of ANI, and is
delivered inband. ANI is a North
American term, and Calling Line
Identification (CLI) is an alternative
term used elsewhere.
An ACD feature whereby the ACD
is programmed to automatically put
agents into After-Call Work after
they finish Talk Time and
disconnect calls. When they have
completed any After-Call Work
required, they put themselves back
into Available. See Auto Available.
See IVR
An agent's telephone is considered
in the Available state when the
telephone is able to receive ACD
calls. A logged on agent enters the
Available mode when they log into
the telephone system and then exit
the Not Ready state. Some
telephone systems automatically
place agents into the Available
state at log in. A line that is
available to receive ACD calls is
also available to receive Non-ACD
incoming calls (internal or
external).
An asset is any equipment item or
component that has a unique
identity. Items with serial numbers
are automatically assets.
Components that define a
customer install base may also be
defined as assets. Parts that are
assets can be components of an
asset hierarchy (assembly, subassembly, and so on)
Tracking each change on a
particular record or transaction.
An agent work state that is typically
not associated with handling
telephone calls. When agents are
in an auxiliary mode, they will not
receive inbound calls. Commonly
referred to as “AUX”
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Available state
Available time
Average Busy Time
Available state
Average Hold Time
(HDCP time)
An agent's telephone is considered
in the Available state when the
telephone is able to receive ACD
calls. A logged on agent enters the
Available mode when they log into
the telephone system and then exit
the Not Ready state. Some
telephone systems automatically
place agents into the Available
state at log in. A line that is
available to receive ACD calls is
also available to receive Non-ACD
incoming calls (internal or
external).
The amounts of time that an agent
in the ACD queue spends in the
Available state. The Available
telephone state is one where an
agent is available to take an
incoming ACD call.
This is the sum of all Position
Manned times, minus the sum of
all waiting times, divided by the
number of positions that had any
Position Manned time accumulated
against them. What is the
business meaning of this metric, or
in other words, why do I care?
This metric gives the operator a
sense of how busy the agents are
and is an indicator of appropriate
levels of staffing. The higher the
busy time, but more accurate the
staffing
An agent's telephone is considered
in the Available state when the
telephone is able to receive ACD
calls. A logged on agent enters the
Available mode when they log into
the telephone system and then exit
the Not Ready state. Some
telephone systems automatically
place agents into the Available
state at log in. A line that is
available to receive ACD calls is
also available to receive Non-ACD
incoming calls (internal or
external).
The average amounts of time per
Answered ACD call that an agent
(or agents) placed an ACD call on
hold. Handling time is measured
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Average Handle
Time (AHT)
Average Incoming
Call Time
Average Incoming
Call Time (Trunks)
Average Manned
Time
from the time the agent puts the
ACD call on Hold to the time the
agent becomes active on the call
again or the caller abandons the
call. The average Hold time is the
sum of all ACD call hold times
divided by the number of ACD calls
answered by the agent or ACD
queue. When the telephone
system data includes Hold time,
the average Direct Call Processing
time does not include the Hold
time. In this situation, the Average
DCP time is the time that the
agents are active on the call,
excluding holding time of ACD
calls.
The sum of Average Talk Time and
Average After-Call Work for a
specified time period. The most
important metric measured
when managing efficiency of a
contact center
The average amounts of time per
Non-ACD call that an agent (or
agents) was engaged in a call on
his/her Non-ACD extensions. This
is the total duration (in seconds) of
all incoming calls on the agent’s
Non-ACD key(s) during the report
period, timed from call answer to
final call release, divided by the
total number of Non-ACD calls
received during that time period.
The average amount of incoming
trunk traffic time per Trunk call.
This is the total incoming trunk
traffic for the trunk route (in CCS)
between seizure and disconnect
(including non-ACD calls, if any)
divided by the total number of calls
that came in on this trunk route
(including non-ACD calls) during
the report period. The total number
of calls per ACD queue equals the
total number of Incoming Calls for
all trunk routes terminating on the
ACD queue.
The average amounts of time per
reporting period agents were
logged into the telephone system.
This is the sum of all Position
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Average order size
Average Speed of
Answer (ASA)
Average Time to
Abandonment
Average Wait Time
before Abandon
Average Waiting
Time
Beep Tone
Manned times divided by the
number of agent positions that had
any manned time accumulated. An
agent position is considered
Manned when an agent logs into
the telephone system, and the
agent will continue to accumulate
Manned time until the agent
engages the Make Set Busy key
(which logs them out of the
telephone system.
Total order value divided by the
number of orders.
The Average Speed of Answer for
calls received by an ACD queue.
The timing for answering the call
begins when the call is queued for
the ACD queue and ends when an
agent (either in the primary or
overflow ACD queue) answers the
call. If an agent in an overflow
group answers the call, Average
Speed of Answer is counted in the
overflow group. This is the sum
includes Enhanced Overflow Calls
from other queues, but not
including Timed Overflow In Calls
from another queue nor Network
ACD calls that are answered by a
remote target agent
The average time that callers wait
in queue before abandoning. The
calculation considers only the calls
that abandon.
The average amounts of time per
Abandoned call the customer
waited to be answered before
abandoning the call. This is the
total of all waiting times for
Abandoned calls divided by the
number of calls abandoned in the
ACD queue this reporting period.
This is the average amount of time
that an agent was available to
receive an ACD call. It is the total
amount of waiting time divided by
the number of incoming ACD calls
answered.
An audible notification that a call
has arrived (also called Zip Tone).
Beep tone can also refer to the
audible notification that a call is
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Busy (CDN)
Busy (Queue)
Busy Hour
Busy Time
Blended agent
Calling Line
Identifier (CLI)
CDNs
Centi-Call Seconds
being monitored.
The number of calls given a busy
tone when routed to this CDN, due
to a setting in the telephone
system (Supervisor Control of
Queue Size). Calls treated with the
busy tone are noted with a B next
to the entry in the telephone
system data.
An agent is considered Busy when
he/she is logged into the telephone
system and is engaged on an ACD
call, engaged on a Non-ACD call,
or in the Not Ready state. An agent
is not considered Busy when
he/she is in the Waiting state
(waiting for an ACD call to be
routed to the agent's telephone).
A telephone traffic engineering
term, referring to the hour of time
in which a trunk group carries the
most traffic during the day. The
average busy hour reflects the
average over a period of days,
such as two weeks. Busy Hour has
little use for incoming call centers,
which require more specific
resource calculation
methodologies.
The cumulative amounts of time
that an agent in the ACD queue
spends in the ACD state, the Not
Ready state, or the Non-ACD
state. Basically, the total amount of
agent position manned time minus
the total amount of agent position
waiting time.
An agent who can handle multiple
types of interaction with a
customer. (email, chat, voice,
IM…) or can do inbound and
outbound transactions.
See Automatic Number
Identification
see Control Directory Numbers.
There is no entry for Control
Directory Numbers See 3
definitions later
A unit used for the measurement of
telephone traffic analysis,
equivalent to one hundred seconds
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Connection
Control Directory
Numbers
Customer Control
Routing (CCR)
Call avoidance
Caller-Entered
Digits (CED).
Call Forcing.
Call scripting
Commit time
Compliance
Computer
Telephony
Integration (CTI).
of telephone usage.
A two-way communication path
between terminations that allows
the transmission of speech (or
other information) and supervisory
signals.
A Control DN (CDN) is a special
Directory Number not associated
with any physical telephone or
equipment. The CDN specifies a
destination ACD queue to which
incoming calls are directed.
Multiple CDNs can place calls into
the same ACD queue. The
parameters of the CDN, not those
of the ACD queue, determine call
treatment.
Customer Controlled Routing
enables the customer to customize
the treatment and the routing of
incoming calls
The theory of pushing people to
the web site or self help channels
in order to limit the number of calls
coming into the contact center.
Digits callers enter using their
telephone keypads. The ACD,
VRU, or network can prompt for
CEDs.
An ACD feature that automatically
delivers calls to agents who are
available and ready to take calls.
They hear a notification that the
call has arrived (e.g. a beep tone),
but do not have to press a button
to answer the call.
Structured storylines or questions
used during a call to enforce
standard processing of
interactions.
The date and time required to meet
the response time requirements of
an entitlement.
See Adherence to Schedule.
The software, hardware and
programming necessary to
integrate computers and
telephones so they can work
together seamlessly and
intelligently. Typical vendors and
products in the telephony space
are: Cisco ICM, Avaya Interaction
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Conversion Rate
(quotes to orders
or leads to
opportunities)
Contract
Cross-sell
CSR (Customer
Service
Representative)
Data Quality, deduplication
Dialed Number
Identification
Service (DNIS).
Directory Number
Directory Number
Key (DN Key,
Extension, NonACD line)
Center (IC) or CMS, Genesys
Enterprise Routing System (ERS)
The rate at which an offer or quote
is transitioned to an actual placed
order.
This is another name for
agreement. It often replaces
agreement in formal discussions or
communications. The term contract
is the accepted term within the
legal and business communities
Offering products to a customer
when they have not intended to
purchase them. Typically, B to C
contact centers will try to sell
customers product compatible with
the products they own, or are
ordering
See Agent
Act of address standardization and
cleansing. As data is entered into
the system, it is compared to
existing data in the database and
possible matches are presented to
the user.
A string of digits that the telephone
network passes to the ACD, VRU
or other devise, to indicate which
number the caller dialed. The ACD
can then process and report on
that type of call according to userdefined criteria. One trunk group
can have many DNIS numbers.
A numbered code (usually a four or
five digit number) used to route
calls to a collection of telephones,
otherwise known as an ACD
queue.
A Directory Number Key is a
button on a person's telephone that
allows them to take calls routed
directly to their telephone or to
make calls to other telephone
extensions. When a person calls
your telephone directly, they are
dialing the number for one of the
DN keys on your telephone. When
an agent presses a DN key to
make or receive a call, any other
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Disconnect
Erlang B What is
the meaning of ~n
and ~I in this
entry?
Erlang C
Erlang
call in progress is automatically
released (unless on hold). When
the call on the DN key is released,
the agent position is automatically
returned to whatever state it was in
before the DN key was pressed.
Any call being presented to the
ACD In-Calls key, but not yet
answered by the agent when the
DN key is pressed, is moved back
to the head of its priority grouping
in the incoming call queue for the
ACD queue.
The total number of controlled calls
that were given forced disconnect
by the system. If you want to set a
time limit to long conversations,
you can implement a Timed
Forced Disconnect timer on each
route. Any conversation that
reaches that timer threshold will be
disconnected instantly.
A formula developed by A.K.
Erlang, widely used to determine
the number of trunks required to
handle a known calling load during
a one hour period. The formula
assumes that if callers get busy
signals, they go away forever,
never to retry (lost calls cleared).
Since some callers retry, Erlang B
can underestimate trunks required.
However, Erlang B is generally
accurate in situations with few
busy signals.
Calculates predicted waiting times
(delay) based on three things: the
number of servers (reps); the
number of people waiting to be
served (callers); and the average
amount of time it takes to serve
each person. It can also predict the
resources required to keep waiting
times within targeted limits. Erlang
C assumes no lost calls or busy
signals, so it has a tendency to
overestimate staff required.
One hour of telephone traffic in an
hour of time. For example, if
circuits carry 120 minutes of traffic
in an hour, that's two Erlangs.
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Entitlement
Entitlement metric
Field Engineer (FE)
First-call resolution
Follow the sun
support
Gate
Handled Calls
Handling Time
HDCP
Hold Direct Call
Processing Time
(HDCP)
A.K. Erling was a Danish engineer
who worked for the Copenhagen
Telephone Company in the early
1900s and developed Erlang B,
Erlang C and other telephone
traffic engineering formulas.
A document that defines the level
of support for specific accounts,
contacts, and products, including
the response time and the service
level that customers can expect.
The service or extent of coverage
a specific customer receives,
based on the service agreement
The values that characterize a
level of service; for example,
response time.
An employee trained to respond to
a customer’s request for on-site
service and repairs.
A service issue that is resolved in
the same call where the service
issue was opened. No follow up
activities or calls are necessary to
resolve.
call centers located in multiple time
zones around the world and
support is offered 24x7
See Agent Group.
The number of calls received and
handled by agents or peripheral
equipment. Handled calls do not
include calls that abandon or
receive busy signals.
The time an agent spends in Talk
Time and After-Call Work, handling
a transaction. Handling Time can
also refer to the time it takes for a
machine to process a transaction.
see Hold Direct Call Processing
Time
The time (in seconds) that each
agent spent with an ACD call
placed on Hold. Hold time is
measured from the time the agent
puts the ACD call on Hold to the
time the agent becomes active on
the call again or the caller
abandons the call. When Hold time
appears, the DCP time does not
include the HDCP time; the DCP
time is the time that the agents are
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Hoteling (CTI)
IVR (Interactive
Voice Response
Incoming Calls
(Agent or Queue)
Incoming Calls
(Trunk)
Integrated Services
Digital Network
(ISDN) Do people
still care about
active on the call, excluding
holding time of ACD calls. HDCP
only appears in the data from the
telephone system is the data
output is set for Totals (rather than
the usual Averages).
Ability for an agent to move from
location to location and log into the
system without being tied to a
specific workstation. Multiple
people can use a single
workstation, and identify
themselves when logging into the
systems.
An option of the Northern
telephone system that gives you
the ability to route calls according
to the caller's response to your
recording. Most IVRs take the form
of a recording that states (for
example) 'If you want Sales, press
one. If you want Support, press
two'.
A phone call received by an agent
in the ACD queue on his/her
telephone extensions.
This is the total number of calls
that came in on this trunk route
(including non-ACD calls) during
the report period. The total number
of calls per ACD queue equals the
total number of Incoming Calls for
all trunk routes terminating on the
ACD queue. The number of
Incoming Calls equals the numbers
of (Calls Abandoned Before
Threshold) plus (Calls Abandoned
After Threshold) plus (Calls
Answered Before Threshold) plus
(Calls Answered After Threshold).
Do not try to relate this number to
those of the ACD reports
(Answered Calls, Accepted Calls,
and Abandoned Calls). This
number applies to auto-terminating
trunks and reflects how the trunk
was first handled (answered or
abandoned).
A set of international standards for
telephone transmission. ISDN
provides an end-to-end digital
network, out-of-band signaling, and
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ISDN? Yup – not
everything has
changed over to
PSTN
Internal Response
Time
Invoice
Longest Wait
before Answer
Lost Call.
Make Set Busy
(MSB)
Manufacturer’s
warranty
Multichannel
contact center
Multi-tenancy (CTI)
Non-ACD Calls
What’s a peg count
think of it as an
greater bandwidth than older
telephone services. The two
standard levels of ISDN are Basic
Rate Interface (BRI) and Primary
Rate Interface (PRI). See Basic
Rate Interface and Primary Rate
Interface. Otherwise known as the
“cloud”
The time it takes an agent group
that supports other internal groups
(e.g., for complex or escalated
tasks) to respond to transactions
that do not have to be handled
when they arrive (e.g.,
correspondence or e-mail). See
Response Time and Service Level.
A document describing the work
performed and the amount billed to
and payable by the customer.
The longest time a call had to wait
before being answered by an
agent in the ACD queue. This
excludes Time Overflow calls
answered by a target agent, but
includes Recall to Source calls
answered by a source agent.
See Abandoned Call.
Engaging the Make Set Busy key
on the agent's telephone logs the
agent out of the telephone system.
Telephone sets that are logged out
of the telephone system cannot
receive ACD calls.
Protects the product user from any
additional financial liability if the
product fails and requires replacing
during the warranty period
A contact center that is able to
manage inbound and outbound
channels through voice, chat,
email…..
The ability for a customer service
representative to act as an agent
for more than 1 company. An
agent’s screen and interaction
model of the desktop application
will change based on the DNIS
identified on the call.
A peg count of the number of times
that agents initiated or received a
call on their individual extension
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incremental
counter.
Not Ready (PCP)
Occupancy
Offered Calls
Outgoing Non-ACD
Calls
Outgoing Calls
(Trunk)
Overflow
telephone keys. Transfer and
conference keys are also included
in this category. The peg count is
increase each time the agent
engages an extension (or DN) key,
regardless of whether or not they
dial a number or whether a
telephone connection takes place.
A state an agent can engage to
finish paperwork associated with a
recently finished ACD call. Not
Ready is also called the Post Call
Processing state. Agents enter the
Not Ready state by engaging the
Not Ready Key on their telephone
sets. Agents should only engage
the Not Ready key when
performing work directly related to
completing ACD calls. The Not
Ready state should not be used for
other activities not related to ACD
calls (i.e., bathroom breaks, lunch,
etc.).
Also referred to as agent
utilization. The percentage of time
agents handle calls versus wait for
calls to arrive. For a half-hour, the
calculation is: (call volume x
average handling time in seconds)
/ (number of agents x 1800
seconds). See Adherence to
Schedule.
All of the attempts callers make to
reach the call center. There are
three possibilities for offered calls:
1) they can get busy signals, 2)
they can be answered by the
system, but hang up before
reaching a rep, 3) they can be
answered by a rep. Offered call
reports in ACDs usually refer only
to the calls that the system
receives.
The number of outgoing calls from
an agent position using extension
(DN), conference, or transfer keys.
The total number of calls outgoing
on this route. These are non-ACD
calls, but could include outgoing
calls made from the DN keys of the
ACD agent positions.
The number of calls redirected to
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On-time resolution
PBX
Poisson
Post Call
Processing
Predictive dialing
Private Branch
Exchange (PBX)
Product warranty
Purchase order
Queue
another queue with the Automatic
Overflow feature, excluding Timed
Overflowed calls.
See First Call Resolution
see Private Branch Exchange
A formula sometimes used for
calculating trunks. Assumes that if
callers get busy signals, they keep
trying until they successfully get
through. Since some callers won't
keep retrying, Poisson can
overestimate trunks required. See
Erlang B and Retrial Tables.
See After-Call Work.
A system that automatically places
outbound calls and delivers
answered calls to agents. When
the dialer detects busy signals,
answering machines or ring no
answer, it puts the number back in
queue.
A switching system providing
telephone communications
between internal stations and
external telephone networks. The
term generally refers to manually
operated switching equipment as
opposed to computer operated
switching.
Protects the customer from any
financial burden if the product fails,
for a limited period of time after
purchase. Typically, the seller,
service provider, or re-seller of the
product offers this warranty. It is
like a guarantee or quality
certification for 30 to 180 days.
This type of warranty can overlap
with the manufacturer’s warranty,
without the buyer’s knowledge
Document used to buy inventory
from external vendors
A queue is a number of calls that
are waiting to be answered by
agents in an ACD queue. The calls
are usually assigned to available
agents in a first-arrived, firstanswered basis. The queue is the
"line up" where incoming calls wait
until they are answered. The
queue sometimes refers to the
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Readerboards
Real-Time
Adherence
Software.
Response Time.
Routing
Routed by IVR
Routed by CCR
Sales order
Schedule
Compliance
Screen pops
group of agents available to
answer incoming calls to an ACD
queue.
Also called displayboards or wall
displays. A visual display, usually
mounted on the wall or ceiling, that
provides real-time and historical
information on queue conditions,
agent status and call center
performance.
Software that tracks how closely
agents conform to their schedules.
See Adherence to Schedule.
The time it takes the call center to
respond to transactions that do not
have to be handled when they
arrive (e.g., correspondence or email). See Service Level.
The way a call is passed through
the Northern telephone system.
The telephone system handles the
way a call is sent, and the route
the call takes through the
telephone system. Different
version of the Northern telephone
system can route a call in different
ways, according to the available
routing features.
A counter in a database. The
Route By IVR field is incremented
if the call is queued to receive IVR
treatment and the IVR routing
initiates a call modification to
another field. This is the number of
IVR controlled calls given a Route
To command (and no additional
processing).
The number of calls routed by
CCR and given a Route To
command by the CCR script (and
no additional processing).
Document for the sale of newfinished goods to customers,
normally from manufacturing
inventory.
See Adherence to Schedule.
A CTI capability. Callers' records
are automatically retrieved (based
on ANI or digits entered into the
VRU) and delivered to agents,
along with the calls.
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Service Agreement
Service Level
Agreement (SLA)
Service order
Service products
Service request
Service Level
SLA (Service Level
Agreement)
A type of contract that defines a
service relationship. The
agreement specifies pricing,
service level, support
requirements, maintenance,
warranty, and all terms and
conditions of the service. Other
types of contract include sales,
purchasing, and development. A
service agreement may have
several entitlements.
A type of service agreement that
defines the coverage (or
entitlement) for customers and
their assets. Service levels can be
measured and are usually
expressed as a percentage.
Service levels include the
percentage of parts received on
time out of those requested,
percentage of asset uptime,
percentage of problems fixed
within the required time frame, and
so on. SLAs can also be a part of a
larger service agreement
Document that authorizes the
request from a customer for
service on existing products,
including replacement or repair of
parts.
Specific types of services offered
by the company and set up for sale
with a common name, list price per
unit, and so on.
A record of a customer’s request
for information about or assistance
with products or services. A
service request tracks all customer
input and field service responses.
Also called Telephone Service
Factor, or TSF. The percentage of
incoming calls that are answered
within a specified threshold: "X% of
calls answered in Y seconds." See
Response Time.
Performance objectives reached
by consensus between the user
and the provider of a service, or
between an outsourcer and an
organization. A service level
agreement specifies a variety of
performance standards that may or
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Skill Group
Skill-Based
Routing
Split
Talk Time
Telephone Service
Factor (TSF)
Transferred ACD
Calls
Trunk
Unavailable Work
State
Universal Agent
Universal queuing
Universal time
zone support
may not include "service level."
See Service Level.
See Agent Group.
An ACD capability that matches a
caller's specific needs with an
agent that has the skills to handle
that call, on a real-time basis.
See Agent Group.
The time an agent spends with a
caller during a transaction.
Includes everything from "hello" to
"goodbye."
See Service Level.
The Transferred ACD number is
the sum of all the calls the agent
Transferred or Conferenced while
on an active ACD call. The number
increases when the Transfer or
Conference is complete.
Trunks are the physical links that
enable telephone communication.
A trunk route carries calls from
outside to answering positions in
your ACD queue.
An agent work state used to
identify a mode not associated with
handling telephone calls.
Refers to either A) An agent who
can handle all types of incoming
calls or B) An agent who can
handle both inbound and outbound
calls.
A CTI solution that allows all
channels of communication (email,
voice, chat) to be queued and
assigned by a single engine.
Communication items are treated
as work items that have rules and
routes associated to that type of
work item.
Universal Time or UT is the precise
measure of time used as the basis
for all civil time-keeping. Although
their exact definitions differ, most
readers can assume that
Universal Time is equivalent to
Greenwich Mean Time or GMT.
Universal Time is actually based
on the mean sidereal time as
measured in Greenwich, England.
It's also approximately equal to
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Up-sell
Voice Response
Unit (VRU).
Workforce
Management
Software.
Wrap-up
Wrap-Up Codes
Wrap-up time
mean solar time from Greenwich.
See Cross sell
Also called Interactive Voice
Response Unit (IVR) or Audio
Response Unit (ARU). A VRU
responds to caller entered digits or
speech recognition in much the
same way that a conventional
computer responds to keystrokes
or clicks of a mouse. When the
VRU is integrated with database
computers, callers can interact with
databases to check current
information (e.g., account
balances) and complete
transactions (e.g. make transfers
between accounts). See Voice
Processing
Software systems that, depending
on available modules, forecast call
load, calculate staff requirements
organize schedules and track realtime performance of individuals
and groups.
See After Call Work.
Codes agents enter into the ACD
to identify the types of calls they
are handling. The ACD can then
generate reports on call types, by
handling time, time of day, etc.
Number of seconds used to finish
action items after the caller has
dropped from the line.
Call Center Key Phrases

Our agents have to learn and toggle between multiple applications and our response times are
suffering.

I wish we had this information analysis (i.e., service request status, agent performance, customer
satisfaction levels, etc.) in real-time.

We want to make it easier to transfer calls to the right agent

We want to reduce the number of transfers a customer has to go through

How do we route the customer to the appropriate agent on the first try.

I want my agents to handle customer interactions across multiple communication channels

We want to improve our first call resolution.
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
It takes too long to train new agents.

We have a difficult time managing agents across phone calls and emails.

When an agent shift ends, I want to reassign service requests’ to agents in the call center in
another time zone.

I need to escalate service requests that haven’t been touched in a period of time.

How can my call center handle both sales and service interactions

How do I enforce best practices within the call center

My customers are complaining about service levels. How do I measure them
SIEBEL WEB SERVICE KEYWORD AND PHRASES
Web Service Keywords
24X7 support
Accurate email
responses
Auto acknowledge
Auto reply
Auto response
Auto suggest
The ability to service customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Typically, self service web sites are the most cost effective way to
provide this level of support.
The ability to respond to emails with the right answer that resolves the
customer inquiry, particularly in the first response. Accuracy is
measured by the rate of first response resolutions.
Sending an automated email to the customer acknowledging the
receipt of an incoming email. The acknowledgement email often
provides a case number, time/date by which the customer will receive
a next response, and/or other information which sets the customer's
expectation for service. The auto-acknowledge technology should be
able to substitute fields into a template from the customer database
that are specific to the customer and/or inquiry. The technology often
recognizes the sender and provides a contextual acknowledgement,
such as stating the SLA commitment based on the service level
entitlement associated with the senders Contact record.
The term used to describe automated messages that consumer email
accounts allow users to establish, typically used to inform senders of
out-of-office status. The messages are static with no context
determined by the sender’s identification.
The ability to reply to an email without human intervention. Systems
that perform natural language processing on the inbound email are
used to understand the context of the email and match it to a set of
potential responses. The highest scoring response is used in the
email as long as it exceeds an admin-determined threshold.
The ability for an Email Response Management System to suggest
likely answers to an agent whose job is to answer customer emails.
The suggestion of templates or solutions to the agent in order of likely
relevance to the customer's inquiry speeds the agent’s response time
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Call avoidance
Co-browsing
Concept Modeling
Content Management
Contextual Analysis
Desktop collaboration
Email routing
eMarketing integration
Fax capability
Follow-me browsing
Integrated customer
information
Internet self-service
Internet "Call Me"
Transaction.
Knowledge
Management
Linguistic Analysis
Morphological Analysis
Multichannel contact
and increases accuracy and consistency of response.
Techniques used to provide service without committing a service
representative to the telephone, such as IVR, email response, and
web self-service.
The ability for an agent and customer to view the same web page or
web form at the same time.
Concepts are abstract, higher-level, and rich aggregations of
keywords or phrases that refer to a general notion or intent. It is a
technique that uses a vocabulary to provide more structure than
simple narrative text.
The processes and technologies that a firm uses to manage
documents across the group, division, or enterprise. These
commonly include features such as check-in/check-out, version
control, multi-user editing, etc.
The ability of a knowledge management system to provide insight that
takes into the consideration the contextual nature of a user´s request,
based on history, associations, and subject experience.
The notion that two or more users can share desktops to work jointly
on documents or processes.
Placing emails in the inbox of the right agent at the right time, in order
to ensure that the email is answered by the employee with the
appropriate skills and availability to ensure customer satisfaction and
minimize service cost.
The ability to integrate outbound email marketing campaigns with
other aspects of the CRM system for an integrated and closed-loop
marketing, sales, and service process.
The ability to send a fax from directly within the CRM application,
including templates and substitution fields from the customer
database.
The ability for the agent to take control of the customer's web session
and navigate through forms, to alternate web pages, and/or places in
documents in the course of providing assistance.
The notion that all relevant customer information is stored, or at least
available, from a single access point such as the CRM system.
The notion that a customer may perform many service functions for
themselves on an organization's website, including profile
management, service request management, bill pay, problem solving
and troubleshooting.
A transaction that allows a user to request a callback from the call
center, while exploring a Web page. Requires interconnection of the
ACD system and the Internet by means of an Internet Gateway.
The process and technology employed to capture, organize, retrieve
and analyze knowledge in an enterprise for use in selling to and
servicing customers.
The tools used to understand the user's inquiry. The most common
are natural-language processing and syntax and grammar tools.
One of several possible techniques that knowledge management and
search technologies use for information retrieval, "MA" is specifically
a method for identifying and investigating the total set of possible
relationships or "configurations" contained in a given problem
complex.
A contact center that receives inquiries from customers through
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center
Natural language
processing
Online self-service
portal
Searchable knowledge
base
Self-learning knowledge
base
Semantic Analysis
Statistical Analysis
Text chat
Trouble ticket
management
Unassisted customer
service
Universal Queuing and
assignment
Web collaboration
Web form sharing /
filling
Web session
Workflow driven email
processing
multiple channels, including telephone, email, chat, fax, IM and other
means of communication.
Natural language processing, or computational linguistics, is the
intersection of computer science and linguistic analysis. Simply put, it
is a technology that interprets a users question, problem, or
statement that is expressed in the normal manner of speaking rather
than query language, and in turn, executes queries based upon that
expression.
A website that provides users the ability to perform a variety of
service tasks for themselves using a web browser and an internet
connection.
A body of question-answer pairs, solutions, and short documents that
a user can search in order to resolve an inquiry.
A body of information that adapts itself as it is used by customers and
agents. Popular, relevant, and particularly helpful documents are
sorted to the top of future search results and become more closely
linked to search terms and phrases that users expressed when
finding the helpful solutions.
One of several techniques applied in modern information retrieval
which attempts to understand the meaning of a section of text in order
to infer the intent of a question and return an appropriate result (e.g.,
numbers for "how many," places for "where," people for "who," etc.).
One of several means of analyzing text for the purpose of information
retrieval in a search or knowledge management system, statistical
analysis uses probability distributions and word/phrase frequency to
determine relevance.
A communication medium by which a customer and an agent can
type text messages to each other in a conversation in order to resolve
an inquiry.
The process by which a firm manages and tracks customer inquiries.
Trouble ticket is the term typically used for internal help desk
deployments, but may also be synonymous with service request and
case.
See internet self-service.
A technology used to stage and route incoming inquiries to a contact
center that originate in multiple channels, including voice, chat, and
email.
The notion that agents and customers may interact with each other to
resolve service inquiries by collaborating over the web, typically
including file sharing, co-browsing, joint form filling, chat, and/or voice
over IP.
The ability for an agent to assist a customer in filling out a web form
on the company’s website.
A distinct engagement, marked by a period of time, in which a user is
logged into a particular application context.
The notion that inbound emails in an Email Response Management
System are handled with a meta-data driven workflow system that is
configurable for specific processes by a business user.
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Web Service Phrases

We need to reduce call volumes.

How can we reduce email response times?

Does email auto response really work?

Agents are using Outlook to answer email.

It takes agents too long to respond to emails.

Email quality varies significantly based on the agent.

I want the same agent to handle both email and phone calls

How can I empower my customers to help themselves?

I want to provide a consistent quality of service, regardless of channel.

My customers do not have a consistent view of my company.

I want my customers to have access to the same support information my internal resources
leverage.

How do I reduce the cost of servicing my customers?

Agent training costs are too high.

Maintenance of my knowledge base is cumbersome and expensive.

We can't handle the volume of my incoming emails.

We need our agents to have a single view of the customer.

We want to track all customer interactions.
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