A
White Paper
On
The
Intelis
Call Center
ACD
Submitted By:
Wayne E. Wise
Intelis Inc.
5960 Crooked Creek Road
Suite 30
Norcross, Georgia, 30092
USA
Voice: 1-770-825-0032
Fax: 1- 770-825-0028
www.intelis-inc.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 3
2.
SYSTEM AND NETWORK TOPOLOGY ...................................................................................... 3
2.1.
SYSTEM COMPONENT OVERVIEW ...................................................................................... 4
2.2.
SYSTEM HARDWARE AND OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ........................... 5
3.
CALL FLOW ...................................................................................................................................... 6
4.
CALL CENTER CAPACITY ............................................................................................................ 8
4.1.
CALL CENTER ACD CAPACITY ............................................................................................. 8
4.2.
QUEUES ......................................................................................................................................... 8
4.3.
QUEUE ANNOUNCEMENTS AND GREETINGS ................................................................... 8
4.4.
CALL CENTER ADMINISTRATION ........................................................................................ 8
4.5.
AGENT PROFILES ....................................................................................................................... 9
4.6.
CALL CENTER AGENT STATUS ............................................................................................. 9
4.7.
AGENT MONITORING ..............................................................................................................10
4.8.
AGENT TRANSFER CAPABILITIES.......................................................................................10
5.
CALL CENTER REPORTS .............................................................................................................11
5.1.
AGENT ..........................................................................................................................................11
5.2.
LIVE AGENT QUEUE .................................................................................................................11
5.3.
BY AUTOMATED AGENT QUEUE..........................................................................................11
5.4.
BY SYSTEM ..................................................................................................................................12
5.5.
SPECIALIZED REPORTS ..........................................................................................................12
6.
TERM DEFINITIONS BY SECTION .............................................................................................13
7.
SAMPLE GUI SCREENS .................................................................................................................14
Intelis Call Center
Third Revision: October 27, 2004
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1. Introduction
This document is intended to show the features and high level topology of the Intelis Call
Center Automated Call Distribution (ACD) system.
2.
System and Network Topology
The network topology of the Intelis Call Center is designed for use with the Excel CSP
switch. The CSP provides the physical interface between the customer’s telephony
network and the Call Center. The internal topology of the Call Center utilizes a LAN and
or a WAN topology to connect local and remote agents to the ACD. The system is
designed for and fully supports multiple Call Centers hosted from a geographically
remote switch site.
A high level system topology is shown in Figure 1. Section 2.1 provides an overview of
their functions.
Intelis Enhanced
Services
Application Servers
PSTN
E-1
VoIP
Automated
Agent
(IVR)
FMS
and
Validation
Sources
Local Live Agent
Workstation
VoIP
Managed
VPN
Excel CSP Switch
with
Intelis Call Center ACD Host Controllers
Remote Live Agent
Call Center
Figure 1
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2.1. System Component Overview
The Excel CSP Network Element is a fully-redundant, NEBS-compliant, open
programmable switch. The CSP provides the telephony interface between the customer’s
network and the Live and Automated Agents and other ACD applications.
Intelis Call Center ACD Host Controller. The redundant ACD Host Controllers provide
the required call control interface between the CSP and the Call Center services platform.
Additionally, they provide the ACD functionality The ACD Host also contains the
customer information such as business profiles and rules that are required to process
calls.
Intelis Enhanced Services Application Servers (ESAS). ESAS Servers are used to provide
the optional specialized functions not contained within the ACD Host Servers. The
number and type of ESAS Servers deployed depends upon the customer application as
not all ESAS Servers may be required in all cases
An ESAS Billing and Rating Servers process and read switch CDR from the ACD Host
Controllers and generate switch activity records and customer call records. The CDR
information gather is utilized to create the Intelis Billing Record (IBR) which contains all
call information, including ACD activity, generated during the life of the call. The IBR
may then be used to create switch Network Access records and Agent Usage records for
billing customers.
An ESAS Validation Server interfaces to external validation sources such as customer
databases and commercial credit card validation providers.
The ESAS Validation
application also optionally supports internal custom databases.
The SQL Database Servers (Not Shown) are utilized to maintain customer information
and provide storage of call records.
The System Administration (Not Shown) provides access to the Graphical User
Interfaces (GUI) used to maintain the system
The logical associations of the various components and applications are illustrated in
Figure Two.
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Universal ACD Agent Internal Architecture
Agent
Screen
(Application)
Pops-up on a callby-call basis
based upon the
call's ANI, DNIS,
etc.
Inbound
Call
Center
Outbound
Call
Center
Customer
Service
Center
Answering
Service
O
t
h
e
r
A
p
p
l
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
s
Agent Application Interface
Application
Specific
Business
Rules
Call
Information
Database
Rating
Engine
Call
Persistence
SQL
Rating
Processor
Billing
Validation
Others
CTI
ACD Host
Call
Control
Global
Validation
Server
CSP
Switch
Figure Two
2.2. System Hardware and Operating System Requirements
The ACD and ESAS servers are “off the shelf” commercially available Server grade
Personal Computers (PC). The Automated Agent utilizes T-1 or E-1 Dialogic cards for
the required call automation. Live Agent positions utilize “off the shelf” desktop grade
PCs.
The Operating System (OS) utilized on the ACD Host Controller is Linux. The ESAS
Servers utilize either Microsoft Windows or SQL Server.
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3. Call Flow
Call flow in the Intelis Call Center ACD is designed around the call Queue rather than the
more traditional legacy switch concept of Agent, Group or Hunts, and Pilot or Hunt
number concept.
When a customer is added to the ACD they are assigned to a specific Queue. A Queue
may be dedicated to a single customer, or product, or may be used for multiple customers
or products. A Queue is defined as either for live or automated agents.
After a Queue has been defined Agents are then assigned to the Queue, based on their
Skills attributes, to service the calls. Live and Automated Agents are assigned and
managed in the same manner. Since Automated Agents normally have all of the
customer call scripts they may be shared across multiple customers or dedicated to a
specific customer through the use of Skills assignments. Agents may be assigned to a
maximum of ten Queues. This Queue assignment may be changed in near real time by
call Center management team. This ability to quickly reassign agents allows Call Center
management more flexibility in managing live and automated agents to support customer
requirements. It also allows the management team to quickly reallocate resources when
unexpected traffic patterns are encountered.
When a new call arrives the ACD Master Agent determines which Queue the caller
should be assigned through the use of the Customer profile.
Customers may be
identified by the incoming Trunk Group, Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS),
caller Automatic Number Identification (ANI) or other information received from the
network. Combinations of identifiers, such as Trunk Group and ANI may be utilized to
further identify a caller.
The call flow for this design is depicted in Figure Three
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New Call
ACD
Agents
Queues
Queue
1
Agent
101
Queue
2
Agent
102
Queue
3
Agent
103
Queue
4
Agent
104
Queue
5
Queue
Queue
Queue
Queue
Queue
1
2
3
4
5
is
is
is
is
is
being
being
being
being
being
serviced
serviced
serviced
serviced
serviced
by Agents 101 and 103
by Agents 101, 102 and 103
by Agents 101,102 and 103
by Agent 101 with Agent 104 Unavailable
by Agent 101 and 102 with Agent 104 Unavailable
Figure Three
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4. Call Center Capacity
The Call Center application has been designed with flexibility and expandability as key
concepts. The following is the current maximum capacities of the Call Center.
4.1. Call Center ACD Capacity
o A maximum of fifteen (15) separate Queues.
o Each Queue will support a minimum of one hundred (100) calls in the
Queue
o A maximum of eight hundred (800) Agents, either live or automated,
is supported.
4.2. Queues
o Assignable by:
 DNIS
 Trunk Group
 ANI
 Other unique network identifiers
o Ability to assign a customer priority.
 Allow a customer to receive priority treatment by pre-assigning
a number of seconds in Queue defined in the customer tables.
o Queue Overflow
 Queues may overflow into other Queues based upon user
defined maximum time in queue.
4.3. Queue Announcements and Greetings
o Based upon incoming network information.
 DNIS
 Trunk Group
 ANI
 Other unique network identifiers
o Multiple caller announcements supported.
 Caller may hear an initial welcome or brand greeting, and then
at customer defined intervals, hear up to 5 different
announcements at distinct intervals.
 Announcements are queue based and are assigned by queue.
o Music on hold optionally available based on queue
4.4. Call Center Administration
o Setup of Queue definitions and other ACD system information is via
an application Graphical User Interface (GUI).
o Real time administration of agent login information, Queue
configuration, and other ACD settings to be performed via an
application GUI.
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4.5. Agent Profiles
Agent Profiles are defined through the use of Skills. Skills are defined as product
capabilities or special attributes such as language or management skills.
The use of Skills Based Routing is designed to ensure the most qualified available
agent is presented the call. Supervisory positions such as a Team Leader or
Supervisor are defined as a skill. This use of Skill definitions eliminates the
requirement for a special queue for Call Center management. Other Skills required
for agent assistance, such as language, or product may also be assigned. A dedicated,
separate Skill queue, such as Supervisor or language, may be assigned if so desired.
In the case of Automated Agents the call flows that are programmed in the agent are
considered the “skills” for that agent. It is assumed that all call flows will be
available on all automated agents to allow for real time allocation with out the need
for script additions. If a caller is allowed to opt out of the Automated Agent a
retained skill choice may be optionally presented to the live Queue to speed call
processing.



Live Agent
o Sample live agent skill attributes.
 Agent
 Management skills such as a Team Leader or Supervisor
 Customer Product
 Language Identifier(s)
 Other Customer Definable Skills
Automated Agent
o Skills based automated agent attributes.
 Call flow scripts by Customer or Product
 Optional Language scripts by Customer or Product
Agent Identification
o Each agent is assigned a unique login and password.
4.6. Call Center Agent Status
Within the ACD a Live Agent has three states. An Agent that is Logged In is
available to accept a call. An Unavailable Agent is Logged In to the ACD but is not
available to accept a call. This status may be used for After Call Work time or during
Agent coaching. An Agent that is Logged Out is not being tracked with in the ACD
o Logged In. Available to accept a call
o Logged Out. Not logged in to the ACD
o Unavailable or Wrap Mode. Logged into the ACD but not available to
accept a call. (Live Agent Only)
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4.7. Agent Monitoring
The ability to monitor calls is generally considered critical for customer
satisfaction. The Call Center application not only supports traditional local
monitoring of calls but additionally may be configured to support remote
monitoring. The use of remote monitoring allows for both the Call Center
management team and their customers to determine that quality goals are
achieved. Agents may be monitored as follows:
o Automated Agent
 Automated agents may be audibly monitored to ensure proper
scripting and voice quality.
o Live Agent
 Live agent may be audibly monitored.
 Live agent screens may optionally be visually monitored, in
near real time, to ensure proper procedures are being followed.
4.8. Agent Transfer Capabilities
Call Transfers may be performed by both the automated and live agent. In the
case of an automated agent the transfer destination will be the live queue defined
in the script. Live agents may transfer to a management or other skills based
resource. Transfer options for the Automated Agent are an Unsupervised transfer
only. Live Agent transfers may be Unsupervised, Supervised or a three way
Conference may be initiated.
o Automated Agent
 Unsupervised Transfer only
o Live Agent
 Unsupervised Transfer
 Supervised Transfer
 Conference
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5. Call Center Reports
The ability to collect and utilize call data is critical in managing a Call Center. The
Intelis platform provides for collection of all call data within a Microsoft SQL database.
The basic reports to manage the Call Center, and interface to a Force Management
System (FMS), are provided. Additional detailed reporting may be performed through
SQL queries or with a third party tool such as Crystal Reports. The following reports are
a sample of the call data available:
5.1. Agent
 Live or Automated Agent
o 15 Minute statistics.
 Average Talk Time
 Number of Calls Offered
 Number of Calls Completed
 Number of Incomplete Calls
 Total Work Time
 Unavailable Time
 Queue Assignments
 Login or Logout actions
5.2. Live Agent Queue
 15 Minute statistics.
 Number of Agents Available Peak
 Number of Agents Available Average
 Average Speed of Answer
 Number of Calls Offered
 Number of Calls Completed
 Number of Incomplete Calls
 Average number of callers in queue
 Total calls queued
 Total calls abandoned while in queue.
 Longest Call in queue
5.3. By Automated Agent Queue
 15 Minute statistics.
 Average Speed of Answer
 Number of Calls Offered
 Number of Calls Completed
 Number of Incomplete Calls
 Average Talk Time
 Total calls transferred to live
 Average number of callers in queue (if permitted)
 Total calls abandoned while in queue. (if permitted)
 Longest Call in queue
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5.4. By System
 Real-time queue status information is displayed to assigned management
positions.
o Customer supplied Call Center Queue Reader display boards may be
optionally interfaced to the application.
5.5. Specialized Reports
 Additional custom or ad hoc reports may be created through the use of Crystal
Reports and the call event information stored in the SQL database.
 Reports may be optionally output from the ACD to a Force Management
System via an IP interface at scheduled interval.
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Third Revision: October 27, 2004
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6. Term Definitions by Section
ACD Capacity
Agent: A live or automated resource used to answer and process a call.
Queue: A series of calls awaiting the availability of an agent for service.
Agent Profile
Skills Based Routing: The ability to assign the most skilled or qualified agent to
handle a call. Examples of a skill are a language, customer product, or
supervisory assignment.
Announcements / Branding
Announcement: A greeting played when a call is delivered to a queue.
Branding: Assigned queue specific prompts that are defined in the application.
DNIS: Dialed Number Identification Service. In toll free applications the TFS
number dialed to access the platform.
Calling Party Number (CPN) or Automatic Number Identification (ANI). The
callers telephone number.
Reports
Average Talk Time (ATT): The average number of seconds an agent takes to
process a call.
Average Speed of Answer (ASA): The average number of seconds a call is
queued prior to being sent to agent resource for processing.
Abandoned Call: A call that was offered for processing but was not serviced by
the queue due to the caller hanging up or “abandoning” the call attempt. A call
will not be considered abandoned if the caller hangs up during the initial welcome
message or brand prior to queue assignment.
Total Work Time: The total number of seconds the agent was actually on a call
during the reporting period.
Transfers
Unsupervised or Blind: The call is transferred to the destination with out
supervision.
Supervised or Warm: The agent transfers the call to the requested skill,
announces the call, and then releases the call to the new agent.
Conference: The agent conferences the caller, themselves, and the requested skill
and remains on the call.
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7. Sample GUI Screens
This screen depicts the GUI utilized to create Queues. The Announcements and their
timing are being defined along with other Queue options.
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This screen depicts sample Skills that may be defined for an Agent. Skills are customer
definable.
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This screen depicts the Agent being assigned available Skills. The use of Levels within
the Skills assignments is designed to ensure the caller is sent to the most qualified
available agent.
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This screen depicts the Agent being defined as available for assignment to a Queue based
on their assigned skills.
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This screen depicts the Queue being assigned live agent resources. Automated Agent
assignment is performed in the same manner.
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