First of all I want to explain what type of Call centre applications you can setup within IVAN™ and how to use them.
You can use two kind of Call Centres:
1. Agent phones as extension:
this one has all Agents VoIP phones connected to the same machine where IVAN™ is installed, OR use some other PBX to handle the Agents phones, this mean when a agent log-on, he need to tell the system on what extension he is reachable, this can be inside a inhouse call centre where the agents do not work every time on the same desk, so they know the extension which is used on the desk, when the agent log-on, he will be asked from the IVR which extension needs to be used and the agent enter the extension where he is now reachable.
2. Each Agent has his own phone:
this can be used for home working agent's which use there normal phones (not VoIP) to answer the calls. You need to setup for each Agent a seperate phone and the agent will not be asked from the IVR for a extension (as described above). Please read the whole tutorial, otherwise it can be difficult to understand how IVAN™ work.
Let us start with the configuration of a Call Centre Queue where the Agent phones are extensions (1), first we start seting up a Destination where we can reach afterwards the extensions of the Agent phones. In our Example we use the LOCAL Destination, all our SIP phones are reachable inside the [agent-phones] context of the Asterisk dialplan and are configured inside the ast_sippeers, a typical entry inside the SIP Peers inside the IVAN™ GUI can look like:
now let us go to setup the Destination, click on ->Services ->Destinations:
and on the Destination page we add a LOCAL Destination what we can choose on the right drop down after the click on the blue arrow, we use the following date (described below)
Name: use a name what you can easy identify afterwards
extension@context: the %AGENTEXTEN% will be replaced with the extension of the agent, agent-phones is the context of the connected phones, you can also use a SIP or IAX2 Trunk as Destination, you only need to add
%AGENTEXTEN% where you want to add the extension.
after you click on create destination, the new Destination will be added to the system, now we can go to the Queues to setup a Call Centre Queue which use this Destination:
now we setup the Queue:
inside the field Destination we choose the Destination what we have setup before, all other fields are described inside the Help section, after the click on create Queue, the fist Queue is ready and we need to add Agents for this Queue, click on Agents inside the Callcenter Menue and then on create agent, then we will add our first Agent:
Name: choose a name for this Agent
Destination: IMPORTANT you need to choose none, the destination is already choosen by the Queue, this field is only be used if you working with the 2nd scenario of Call Centers which is explained on the top of this tutorial.
Extension: the Extension of the phone, this can be set from the Agent when he log-on to the system, this entry will replace the %AGENTEXTEN% inside the destination.
Status: the status of the Agent
all other fields are described inside the Help section on the Agent page.
Feel free to add as many agents you need, there is no limitation.
After you click on create agent we can continue, the next step will be to create 2 Services (you only can add services to numbers, so you need to create for each Queue a seperate service), one for the Agent Queue and the second for the Agent login/logoff, let us start with the Agent Queue Service, go to Services Services and choose on the drop down the Agent Queue Service and click on the blue arrow to add the service:
we choose the Queue what we have setup before and give the service a name, then click on create service
now we can add the Service of the Agent Command Center, you can add the service with all the needed soundfiles automaticaly, go to Service Service and click on the top of the page on [generator]:
now choose the group you like to use activate the checkbox and click on create:
you will see the message: "agent command center created" then click on the top of the page on Services and you can see the generated service with all audio files inside, if you want to use your own voice prompts, upload the files inside the File Pool and edit the Agent Command Center Service to select your uploaded voice prompts.
now go back to the agents and edit the Agent Mike we have created before by clicking on the pen of the right side of the table, now we can add Agent Mike to the Queue by choosing the Queue and clicking on the circle on the right of the drop-down (will come to a blue arrow on mouse over):
you also can set the priority of the Agent inside this Queue,you can configure for each agent a different priorisation, the priorisation of the agent will be choosen in the selected queue, if a agent work in more than one queue you can set the priorisation of the agent in each queue.
The Agent with the highest priority get the call when he is available, if you set one agent to 2 and the other agent to 3 the agent with priority 3 will get the call.
Agents with the same priority will be choosen by random. You need to click on update agent when changing the priority.
2 more steps are required to start with your Call centre application, first we tell the system that when a call reach Number 1000 the Queue should be used, we go to ->Servicenumbers ->Numbers and click on edit (pen on the right) to that number where we want to use the Queue:
now select the Queue Service inside the Service drop-down and click on update
repeat the same for the Agent Command Center on some other Number and you can use your first Call Centre application, please attend after you click on update inside the numbers, the service will be used for the next incomming call, all your action will be processed in real-time.
2. Each Agent has his own phone: now I want to show what you have to setup, when each Agent have his own phone, there are 4 things you need to know, fist you have to use inside your Queue instead of the choosen Destination:
none - each Agent has its own phone
secondly, you need to setup for each Agent a own Destination (->Services ->Destinations), here we setup a Destination called Phone 10, we use a SIP Peer Destinatination with the following settings:
third, inside the Agent (Agent Mike) we change the destination (from: none to Phone 10):
and finaly fourthly, inside the Service Agent Command Center we choose for audio: type your extension and audio: your actual extension is none, if this is set to none, the agent do not have the option to change the extension, please take care that you change the audio-IVR prompt to a prompt which do not have the voice with the extension inside.
Now you can use the Call Centre with Agent Phones as described in: 2. Each Agent has his own phone on the top of this page.
If you have questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to go to our forum and post your comments.
Submitted by Alfred on 28 August, 2008 - 18:15.
