Admin Portal – Call Centers

Call Centers

Home > Guide library > Administrator portal > Admin Portal - Call Centers

Call Centers
Feature Prerequisites
Setting Up the Call Center
Language
Queue Settings
Holiday Service
Night Service
Welcome Message
Estimated Wait Message For Queued Calls
Comfort Message
Hold Music
Call Routing
Bounced Calls
Distinctive Ringing
Overflow
Comfort Bypass
Roles
Assigning Agents
Reporting
Queue Stats Report
Agent Stats Report

Call Centers

Call Centers temporarily hold calls in the cloud when all users assigned to receive calls from the queue are unavailable. Call Centers provide an automated “answer” with customizable greetings, comfort messages, and hold music for the caller to listen to. Queued calls are routed to an available agent when he/she is no longer on an active call. Each call queue is assigned a lead number, which is a telephone number outside callers can dial to reach the agents assigned to the call queue. Call Centers are also assigned an internal extension, which can be dialed internally to reach the agents assigned to the call queue.

To complement the cloud based call queuing functionality, the Call Center service also provides additional visibility into the calling activity of each queue via a series of reports.

Feature Prerequisites

  • A Call Center is included with each Call Center Supervisor package.
  • At least one two-way DID must be assigned to the Call Center and be active.
  • There must be at least one Call Center Agent seat in inventory at the site.
  • At least one Agent must be assigned to the Call Center.
  • At least the main greeting must be uploaded into the Call Center.

Setting Up the Call Center

Incoming Calls

Prior to using Call Center, the site administrator must set up the feature. Follow the steps detailed below to configure or edit the feature.

  1. Log in to the admin portal.
  2. Select Advanced Services in the left-hand navigation.
  3. Select Call Centers.

    4. Click image for large view
  4. Find the Call Center you want to configure and select the Actions drop-down menu.
  5. Select Edit Service.

    6. Click image for large view
  6. Then configure the Incoming Call information.
    • Call Center Name – This is the name defined for the Call Center which shows in the list of Call Centers. By default the Call Center is given the lead phone number as the name. It may be changed to provide a more meaningful label. This is a required field. Supports from 1 to 30 characters.
    • Number – This is the lead number defined for the Call Center. (If you would like to change this number at any time, go to Numbers tab in the left-hand navigation menu. Find the number and select the Options menu. Select Unassign Service).
    • Extension – Shows the extension number of the Call Center. This can be used by users in the Enterprise to call the Hung Group. By default, it is the last four digits of the lead phone number. This is a required field. From 2 to 6 digits are supported.
    • Caller ID – Enter a label which will be shown to Call Center agents as part of the Caller ID on incoming calls to queue. The caller ID will show the calling party caller ID name and number. This is a required field. From 1 to 30 characters are supported.

    7. Click image for large view
  7. Next, configure the Call Priority Settings.
    • Call Priority Settings - Calls in a Call Center are normally sent to Agents in the order that they enter the queue and based on the priority assigned to the calls based on the Call Center or Alternate Number they dialed. Priority ranges from 0 (highest) to 3 (lowest). Calls can automatically be promoted to a higher priority if they are in a queue for a set amount of time. To automatically promote calls based on their time in the queue, check the appropriate box and enter a number of seconds.

    Click image for large view
  8. Next, configure the settings for Alternate Numbers. These display settings configure the Caller ID which is shown to agents on incoming calls. The default display shows the Caller ID Name configured for the Call Center and the calling party’s Caller ID name and number. This may be helpful to call centers that receive calls for multiple ad campaigns or support different companies which have different telephone numbers. The agent can identify what number was called and answer the phone appropriately.
    • Display Alternate number to agent instead of calling number – Checking this box will display the Caller ID number which is configured under Alternate Numbers in place of the calling party’s number. This will display the calling party’s name and the alternate number’s configured caller ID number.
    • Display Alternate number to agent instead of calling name – If a custom Caller ID name is configured under Alternate Numbers below, this name will display otherwise it will be the main Caller ID name for this Call Center. The number displayed will be the caller’s caller ID number.
  9. Alternate Numbers – Alternate Numbers can be configured for a Call Center which allows up to 64 different numbers to ring the same group of agents in a Call Center. Alternate Numbers list show the added Alternate Numbers by name, phone number, extension and priority. To add a new Alternate Number, hit the Add button and fill in the required fields and the options desired.
    • Name – Enter a name for this Alternate Number queue which is shown it the Alternate Number list.
    • Caller ID – Select a Caller ID number which will be displayed to agents if the Display Setting is configured to display the DNIS number.
    • Phone Number – Select a telephone number from those available on the Site to ring to the Call Center.
    • Extension – Enter an extension number for this Alternate Number.
    • Priority – select a priority from 0 (highest) to 3 (lowest) for this alternate number queue.Use custom caller id settings – Check to box to enable and display to agents the configured first name and last name for calls to this Alternate Number. This caller ID will be used if the Display Setting is configured to display the DNIS name.
    • Allow outgoing call center calls – Checking this box enable agents to make outbound calls using the Call Center Caller ID number in place of their own caller id number.
    • Use custom announcement – Check the box to utilize announcements which are customized for this Alternate Number queue. Unique announcements for the Entrance, Wait, Comfort, Hold and Whisper may be used. From the Alternate Number list, hit the Edit button and select Announcements from the pop-up window. See section 5.5.1 below for the instructions to upload announcements.

    10. Click image for large view

Language/Timezone

On the Language/Timezone tab of the Edit Call Center page, you can select the language you would like to assign to the audio announcements for the Call Center.

Click image for large view

Queue Settings

The queue size represents the number of calls that can be held in queue before the overflow policy is triggered. While calls are held in queue, users hear the configured Announcements.

  1. Enter the number of calls to queue before overflow settings are triggered. For example, if the queue size is set to 20, the 21st caller will be sent to the configured Overflow Settings option.
  2. Check Play ringing when offering a call for callers to hear ringing when their call is being delivered to an available user. If disabled, callers hear the Music on Hold greeting until the call is answered by a user.
  3. Select Save to save your changes.

    4. Click image for large view

Holiday Service

Holiday Service allows an optional message to be played and a different routing treatment for special days and Holidays where workers may not be present. To configure Holiday Service, follow these steps:

  1. On the Queue Settings page, select the toggle to enable Holiday Service.
  2. Select one of the actions to perform. Options include:
    • Perform Busy Treatment – The incoming call is provided with Busy treatment.
    • Transfer to Phone Number – The incoming call is transferred to the configured destination phone number. If this is selected, you must enter the phone number you would like to transfer.
  3. Select a Holiday Schedule from the drop-down box to apply to this Call Center.

    4. Note: Holiday schedules must be created in Services/Scheduling section of the portal for the schedule to be available here.

  4. Select the Play announcement before holiday service action if you would like the announcement to be played before the action is processed.
    • Then, select either the Default system message or Custom. If custom is chosen, upload a recorded file.
  5. Select Save to save your changes.

    6. Click image for large view

Night Service

The Night Service option configures the announcement and treatment for calls received after normal business hours. To configure Night Service, follow these steps:

  1. On the Queue Settings page, select the toggle to enable Night Service.
  2. Choose one of the following actions to perform:
    • Perform Busy Treatment – The incoming call is provided with Busy treatment.
    • Transfer to phone number – The incoming call is transferred to the configured destination phone number. If this is selected, you must enter the phone number you would like to transfer.
  3. Select the Time Schedule for the Night Service from the drop-down menu to apply to this Call Center.

    4. Note: To be available in this drop down, Night Service schedules must be created in Services/Scheduling.

  4. The following options may also be selected for this service:
    • Force night service now regardless of business hours schedule – This policy allows the supervisor or administrator to override the time schedule and manually initiate Night Service for the queue. This manual override can also be activated by a Call Center supervisor using phone interface if the feature access code option is enabled below.
    • Allow feature access codes to manually override night service – Enables the Call Center Supervisor to use their phone to activate (*53) and deactivate Night Service (*54) through the use of a FAC.
    • Play announcement before night service action – For the busy and transfer actions, the policy can be configured to play an announcement prior to proceeding with the action. In this case, the announcement is played once to completion before the action is processed.
  5. Select the Announcement Playback Normal to one of the following options:
    • Default – The default announcement is “Your call is very important to us, but you have reached us outside of business hours. Please call back during normal business hours or wait to leave a message.”
    • Custom – Upload a custom announcement file. Up to four night service messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed. If custom is chosen, upload a recorded file.
  6. Select Save to save your changes.

    7. Click image for large view

Welcome Message

The Welcome Message is the announcement setting for the initial message a caller hears when calling into the Call Center. To configure Welcome Message, follow these steps:

  1. On the Queue Settings page, select the toggle to enable Welcome Message.
  2. Check the welcome message is mandatory, if you would like enabled and the Play entrance message is also enabled, the message is played to all callers before they are either sent to an agent or placed into the queue, if no agents are available. Note: It will not play if the Queue Size is set to 0.
  3. Assign a message type to the service. Welcome messages can be configured with the default system message or customized.
    • Default – The default announcement is “Your call is very important to us, but you have reached us outside of business hours. Please call back during normal business hours or wait to leave a message.”
    • Custom – Upload a custom announcement file. Up to four night service messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed. If custom is chosen, upload a recorded file.

    4. Click image for large view

Estimated Wait Message For Queued Calls

The wait announcement provides a message to callers giving them an indication of how long they will have to wait in the queue before their call is answered. Two wait options are available: Announce Queue Position or Announce Wait Time. To configure, follow these steps:

  1. On the Queue Settings page, select the toggle to enable Estimated Wait Message for Queued Calls.
  2. Enter the Default Handling Time in minutes. Select a number of minutes from 1 to 100. This is the announced wait time to callers when the system has not had enough calls to calculate the average wait time when the wait option is chosen.
  3. Check the Play high volume message is you would like the default system message played to callers that are beyond the maximum position or minutes defined in the next section.
  4. Choose either Queue Position or Wait Time.
    • Announce Queue Position – This option sets the Wait announcement to give the caller their position in the queue so that callers will know how many people are waiting and will be sent to an agent before them.
    • Announce Wait Time – This option sets the Wait announcement to give the caller the number of minutes estimated they will wait in queue before their call is answered.
  5. Select Save to save your changes.

    6. Click image for large view

Comfort Message

An announcement that is played after the entrance message and before the music on hold. This is typically a custom announcement that plays information such as current promotions or information about products and services. Enter the time between comfort messages and select either default or custom announcement. To configure, follow these steps:

  1. On the page Queue Settings page, select the toggle to enable Comfort Message.
  2. Select the Time between comfort messages and enter a time in seconds that defines the play interval of the Comfort message.
  3. Choose one of the announcement types.
    • Default – The default announcement is “Your call is very important to us, but you have reached us outside of business hours. Please call back during normal business hours or wait to leave a message.”
    • Custom – Upload a custom announcement file. Up to four night service messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed. If custom is chosen, upload a recorded file.
  4. Select Save to save your changes

    5. Click image for large view

Hold Music

This configures music on hold for the callers waiting in the Call Center queue. The music after the Entrance message if it enabled and between Comfort messages if it is enabled. If no Entrance or Comfort announcements are enabled, music will play until the caller is sent to an agent, sent to overflow treatment or hangs up. To configure, follow these steps:

  1. On the page Queue Settings page, select the toggle to enable Hold Music.
  2. Choose one of the announcement/music types.
    • Default – The default announcement is “Your call is very important to us, but you have reached us outside of business hours. Please call back during normal business hours or wait to leave a message.”
    • Custom – Upload a custom announcement file. Up to four night service messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed. If custom is chosen, upload a recorded file.
  3. Select Save to save your changes.

    4. Click image for large view

Call Routing

On the Call Routing tab, under How do you want your phones to ring?, you can determine the order in which calls are delivered to users assigned to the Call Center. Choose from the following options:

  • All at Once – When an incoming call is received, all agents ring simultaneously.
  • One at a Time – Rings all agents one at a time. If you select this option, select how you want the calls distributed. Choose from the following options:
    • Top Down – Ring the agents one-at-a-time, always starting with the same agent and ringing in the same order. The agent configured at the top of the “Assigned” list will ring first, followed by the agents listed beneath, in sequential order.
    • Circular – Ring the agents one-at-a-time, always ringing the agents in the same order. The order of the agents in the “Assigned” list represents the order in which the agents’ phones will ring, beginning with the individual that follows the last agent receiving a call from the Call Center.
    • Longest Idle – Ring the agent who has been idle (i.e., not on a queued call) the longest.
    • Weighted – Route calls to agents based on their pre-configured weight (percentage) assignments. If this option is selected, you must assign weights to the agents. Click Set Weighted Percentages. Use the slider to assign the percentages. The percentages must equal 100%. Agents assigned a 0% weight will only receive calls if all other users are busy.

    Click image for large view

Bounced Calls

Bounced calls are those that have been sent to an available agent, but the agent does not answer.

  • Check Mark calls as bounced after set number of rings to configure the number of rings a caller hears before the call is bounced. Then enter the number of rings.
  • Check Bounce if agent becomes unavailable to bounce a call being sent to an agent if they transition to an unavailable state while the call is en route.
  • Check Alert if call on hold for set wait time to notify an agent if a call they received from the queue was put on hold for longer than the configured time. Enter the time in seconds.
  • Check Bounce if on hold for set wait time to bounce the call from the agent if the caller was placed on hold by the agent for longer than the configured time. Enter the time in seconds.

    • Click image for large view

Distinctive Ringing

Distinctive ringing provides an alternative ringtone to an agent for Call Center calls. This allows an agent to easily recognize a call as either a direct call or a queue call through an audible tone. To enable, check the Enable Distinctive Ring. Next, select a distinctive ring pattern from the drop-down menu.

Click image for large view

Overflow

Overflow treatment is applied to calls when the Call Center reaches its size limit or when callers have been in the Call Center for a specified amount of time. For example, if the Call Center queue size limit is set to 20, the 21st caller will be routed to the overflow destination. Likewise, if the overflow timer is set to two minutes, after two minutes, callers will be routed to the overflow destination.

  • Configure the overflow treatment under More Options.
  • Choose the treatment. Options include:
    • Perform busy treatment – The caller hears a fast-busy tone.
    • Play ringing until caller hangs up – The caller hears ringing until they disconnect.
    • Transfer to phone number – If this option is selected, enter the number to which you want to transfer overflow calls. This can be an extension within any site or an external number.
  • Check Enable overflow after call wait (x number) of seconds (optional) to apply overflow treatment to queued calls after a certain amount of time. If enabled, enter the amount of time in seconds. If the maximum number of queued calls is met, the next call to be presented to the queue is treated with the overflow settings.
  • Check Play announcement before overflow processing (optional). If selected, assign an announcement file to play before the call is sent to the overflow treatment.
    • Default – The default announcement is “Your call is very important to us, but you have reached us outside of business hours. Please call back during normal business hours or wait to leave a message.”
    • Custom – Upload a custom announcement file. Up to four night service messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed. If custom is chosen, upload a recorded file.
  • Select Save to save your changes.

    • Click image for large view

Comfort Bypass

Check the Bypass comfort message box if you would like an alternate comfort message to be enabled for calls that are expected to be answered quickly instead of the usual comfort/Music-On-Hold treatments. This policy applies after the entrance message has finished playing (if applicable).
The time threshold that triggers the comfort message bypass is configurable from 1 to 120 seconds. When a new incoming call is received by the queue, if the longest waiting time for a call in the queue is less than or equal to this threshold, then the alternate Comfort Message service is triggered.

Check the Play announcement after set wait time box if you would like to configure the amount of time a caller will hear ringing until the Comfort Bypass message is played. From 1 to 120 seconds is supported. If this option is selected, choose from one of the following:

  • Default – The default announcement is “Your call is very important to us, but you have reached us outside of business hours. Please call back during normal business hours or wait to leave a message.”
  • Custom – Upload a custom announcement file. Up to four night service messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed. If custom is chosen, upload a recorded file.

    • Click image for large view

Roles

These settings apply to the agents that have been assigned to the call queue and can be modified on the Roles tab of the Edit Call Center page.

  1. Check the Automatically answer calls after box if you would like calls to be automatically answered by an agent. If selected, choose the value in seconds.
  2. Check the Allow multiple calls per agent box if you would like agents to be presented with multiple queue calls even when they already on a call if they have their Call Waiting feature enabled.
  3. Check the Allow calls to agents during Wrap-Up box if you would like to have agents receive calls from the queue even when they are in Wrap-up state when this option is enabled. If not enabled, Agents will not receive calls from the Queue when they are in a Wrap-Up state.
  4. Check the Enable maximum Wrap-Up timer box to enable and to limit the value an Agent may enter as their Wrap-Up time in their Agent portal.
  5. Check the Automatically set agent state after call box if you would like the system to automatically put Agents into the defined state when they hang up a queue call. Select the state in the drop-down box. If not chosen, the Agent will be put in an Available state by default. However, the Agent is able to configure their post call state in their Agent portal which will be used if this setting is not enabled.
  6. Select Save to save your changes.

    7. Click image for large view

Assigning Agents

Agents is where a user with a Call Center Agent package is assigned to a Call Center.

  • To assign an agent, select an agent from the Find and Assign drop-down menu.
  • To unassign, select the X next to the user you would like to unassign.
  • Select Save to save your settings.

    • Click image for large view

Assigning Supervisors

Finally, the Supervisors section is where a user with a Call Center Supervisor package is assigned to a Call Center.

  1. To assign a supervisor, select a supervisor from the Find and Assign drop-down menu.
  2. To unassign, select the X next to the user you would like to unassign.
  3. Select Save to save your settings.

    4. Click image for large view

Reporting

To view reports on the Queue and Agent Stats, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Reports tab and enter the date range date you wish to pull a report from.
  2. Select Run Report.
  3. Select Save to save your settings.

    4. Click image for large view

    The following are descriptions of the results displayed in each report:

Queue Stats Report

  • Calls Abandoned (avg. in sec) – Avg. Time callers spent waiting until they abandoned their call.
  • Number of Agents Staffed(avg.) – Average number of assigned agents to queue for the period requested.
  • Number of Agents Talking(avg.) – Average number of agents in an active conversation for the period of time requested.
  • Wait Time(avg. in sec.) – Average amount of time in seconds a caller is held in queue prior to agent answering.
  • Busy Overflows – Number of calls that came in after queue limit was met.
  • Calls Abandoned – Total # of calls that were terminated by the caller prior to speaking to an agent.
  • Calls Answered – Total number of calls answered by agents.
  • Calls Timed Out – Total number of call that remained unanswered and were forwarded out of the queue upon timeout.
  • Calls Transferred – Total number of calls transferred out of the queue.

Agent Stats Report

  • Average Calls(min) – Average time in minutes agent spends on calls from the queue.
  • Calls Handled – Total number of calls handled by the agent.
  • Total(min.) – Total amount of time the agent was busy handling calls out of this queue.
  • Total Calls – The total number of calls the agent has handled.
  • Unanswered Calls – Total number of calls extended to the agent (phone rings) that were not answered.
  • Hold Time(min.) – Total amount of time in minutes an agent locally held active calls on hold.
  • Talk Time(min.) – Total amount of time in minutes an agent was actively talking on a call.