Convert support line from cover answer group to agent type set up 1

[rejackson]

Greetings,

I am trying to understand the components, licensing requirements, etc. of a call center where agents log in and out, calls get queued and loop around waiting for an agent, and possibly options to receive a call back instead of rolling to voicemail. Reporting on the agents activity and performance would be helpful too.

We currently have a hot line that uses cover answer groups that rings a set of support agent telephones simultaneously. If no one answers it goes to another group (second level) then goes to voicemail. The hotline number is an extension with a time of day cover path that goes through the cover answer groups then VM. After hours the answer groups vary.

So from what I have found it seems the agent process starts with a hunt group. I think it would be queued, not sure what ACD is. I think I would put all of the agents extensions in the hunt group. Does the group type need to be something specific for agent call processing? What settings are needed to make the hunt group skip agents that are not logged in?

It looks like I configure a few buttons on the agent's phone to log in and out and some other status after the call. I think at this point I only have the default agent licensing, 3 logged in at a time. If I am going to propose adding some I want to make sure I understand the whole picture. I have vectors but not variables. I am not sure if I would make use of skills. The support level on the hot line is flat except for how I described the overflow going to second level. Is that what skills do?

Sorry for all of the open ended questions. I have tried reading up on this several times but have not found anything to explain the concepts.

 

[ZeroZeroOne]

Let's see if we can help you figure this out. I'll stick with a high-level overview.

ACD = Automatic Call Distribution and is just the fancy way of talking about the Call Center

You are correct: Everything centers around the hunt groups. But Agents are not assigned as members of the hunt group. Hunt groups are assigned as "skills" to an Agent. Skills are... well, skills. What is the Agent good at? What products do they support? Example: Agent 101 speaks English and French so you would assign two Skills to that Agent ID, one for each language. Depending on how fluent the Agent is in the language, you can assign a Skill Level. Example: Agent 101 is fluent in English and speaks French reasonable well. The English Skill is assigned a Skill Level 5 while French is assigned a Skill Level 10. Agent 102 Speaks fluent French and is assigned a Skill Level of 5. Skill levels are assigned from 1 (Highest) to 16 (Lowest) so that An Agent with Skill Level 1 will always get the call (in a very simple system - there are lots of factors that control call distribution).

Agents must log into the call center and be Ready to take calls. In Avaya, when an Agent is logged in, the Skill is "Staffed". All this means is at least one Agent is logged in but not necessarily ready to receive calls. To receive calls, an Agent must be "Ready", or "Available" in Avaya terminology.

In a simple explanation, incoming calls are placed in a Queue for the skill, just like waiting in line for the next bank teller. When an Agent becomes available, the next caller is presented to the Agent's phone. Vectors can be programmed to check the Staffed levels for a Skill and route to voicemail or another skill if there aren't enough Agents logged in. To continue my bank analogy, if the bank tellers are gone for lunch, put a note on the door and redirect customers to another branch instead of putting them in line for a long time. More advanced programming is available, too, but I'll leave that out for now.

You said you have two tiers of support agents. You can do that with Agents and Skill Sets, too and there are a couple of ways to do that.

One way would be to assign all your Tier 1 Agents with a high skill level (level 5, for example) and all your Tier 2 Agents with a low skill level (15). Incoming calls will first try the Tier 1 and if unavailable, got to Tier 2. It uses the skill-level to indicate the Tier 2 Agents aren't as desirable since their level is lower.
Another way would be to assign one skill set to Tier 1 and another to Tier 2. Use Vectors to look at staffed levels, time in queue, and other factors to determine if a call should route to Tier 2. This is the better but more complex option and allows for better monitoring and tracking.

That was a pretty high-level overview. Here's a little more detail.

display hunt-group 1                                            Page   1 of   4
                                  HUNT GROUP

            Group Number: 1                                ACD? y
              Group Name: Eng-Prod1                      Queue? y
         Group Extension: 7001                          Vector? y
              Group Type: ead-mia
                      TN: 1
                     COR: 90                   MM Early Answer? n
           Security Code:               Local Agent Preference? n
 ISDN/SIP Caller Display:

             Queue Limit: unlimited
 Calls Warning Threshold:      Port:
  Time Warning Threshold:      Port:

The Group Type controls how calls are distributed to Agents. The simple, round-robin is "circular". Other options offer load-balancing based on Most Idle time and other factors. The options depend on your licensing level and may not be available to you now.

display hunt-group 1                                            Page   2 of   4
                                  HUNT GROUP

                    Skill? y      Expected Call Handling Time (sec): 180
                      AAS? n        Service Level Target (% in sec): 80 in 20
                 Measured: internal
     Supervisor Extension:


      Controlling Adjunct: none


        VuStats Objective:

   Multiple Call Handling: none


 Timed ACW Interval (sec):          After Xfer or Held Call Drops? n

You'll also want to turn this Hunt Group into a Skill, so set the Skill to Y on page 2. Again, licensing issues.

display agent-loginID 8001                                      Page   2 of   3
                                 AGENT LOGINID
      Direct Agent Skill:                               Service Objective? n
Call Handling Preference: skill-level               Local Call Preference? y

    SN   RL SL          SN   RL SL          SN   RL SL          SN   RL SL
 1: 1       15      16:                 31:                 46:
 2: 2       5       17:                 32:                 47:

The Skills are assigned to the Agent ID on page 2.

display vdn   2101                                              Page   1 of   3
                            VECTOR DIRECTORY NUMBER

                             Extension: 2101
                                 Name*: Q2 Eng-Prod1
                           Destination: Vector Number        50
                   Attendant Vectoring? n
                  Meet-me Conferencing? n
                    Allow VDN Override? y
                                   COR: 16
                                   TN*: 1
                              Measured: none


        VDN of Origin Annc. Extension*:
                            1st Skill*: 1
                            2nd Skill*: 2
                            3rd Skill*:

Assign the skills to the VDN

...
17 #    Check Staffed Level
18 goto step    50            if staffed-agents   in skill 1st          =  0
19 queue-to     skill 1st  pri h
20 wait-time    30  secs hearing music
...

The Vector will contain commands that check the staffed level and the queue-to skill commands.

Agent phones will need the log-in, log-out, AuxWorks, and Manual-in (or Auto-in) buttons. AuxWorks is Avaya-language for "Not Available" and Manual-in is "Available".

This was really high-level but I hope it provided some information and ideas for you to follow. There are tons of ideas and explanations in the forum, such as the different Group-Types and their meanings, that I didn't get into.

 

[rejackson]

Thanks for the detailed response. Sorry it took me a while to study it and see how those pages act in my system (CM 6.2). I have a few follow up questions.

I do not see how the multiple skills are created. Unless the hunt group number (not the extension of the HG) is the skill number and a hunt group needs to be created for each skill?

The agent login ID does not allow an existing extension. So I guessed this is an extension that identifies a type of agent with a listed skill or skills? But where is it used? When I try to add a aux-in or manual-in button it wants a GRP #. Is that a Hunt Group? The manual calls it a split.

I remember finding and reading a document on this way back when we were on CM 2. We didn't use it so it has all slipped from my brain. Do you know what that document is called, if it is still around?

 

[ZeroZeroOne]

No worries. Your system is probably different and I would expect you to have to "stare and compare" to figure out how it will work.

Correct: The Skill number is the Hunt Group number. You will need to create one hunt group for each Skill.
Depending on the size of a call center, Agent IDs can be "internal" extensions or can be in the DID range. Since you have a small number, I suggest setting up a range of extensions that are not used for DIDs. If your normal stations are 1000 to 1999, for example, you could add 3000 to 3999 to the dial plan for Agent IDs. Agent IDs are also "extensions" but are different from "stations".


You will need to set up the feature access codes for the call center functions:

display feature-access-codes                                    Page   5 of  10
                               FEATURE ACCESS CODE (FAC)
                                 Call Center Features
  AGENT WORK MODES
                           After Call Work Access Code: *45
                                    Assist Access Code: *46
                                   Auto-In Access Code: *47
                                  Aux Work Access Code: *48
                                     Login Access Code: *49
                                    Logout Access Code: *50
                                 Manual-in Access Code: *51

And assign at least the log-in and log-out buttons as abbreviated dials. The labels show up on the phone display.

display abbreviated-dialing system                              Page   1 of   7
                        ABBREVIATED DIALING LIST
                                SYSTEM LIST

Size (multiple of 5): 100     Privileged? n     Label Language:english
DIAL CODE                             LABELS (FOR STATIONS THAT DOWNLOAD LABELS)

     05: *49                                05: Login
     06: *50                                06: Logout

The Login, Logout and other buttons need to be assigned to the station where the Agent will log in. On the station form, go to page 4:

ABBREVIATED DIALING
     List1: personal 1         List2:                    List3: system




BUTTON ASSIGNMENTS
 1: call-appr                            5: abrv-dial  List: 3 DC: 06
 2: call-appr                            6: after-call         Grp:
 3: call-appr                            7: aux-work    RC:    Grp:
 4: abrv-dial  List: 3 DC: 05            8: manual-in          Grp:

There's nothing special about the button order.


Agents then press the Log-in button and enter their Agent ID (and password, if assigned). The system responds with 3 confirmation "beeps".
Typically, a PBX is programmed to place Agents in AUX (not ready). Press the Manual-in and you are now ready to take calls.


Are you thinking about the "Little Instruction Book?"

https://downloads.avaya.com/elmodocs2/lcc/cc_r9_2/215893_2/215955_1/215955_1.pdf

It may be worth looking at but a lot if it references CentreVu.

There's more information in the System Administration document, too. It takes a bit of digging, but you can find it all on the Avaya Support site.

 

[rejackson]

Thanks again. I gave it a try. I thought this would work without EAS as long as I didn't use the EIA group options in the hunt group/skill. Is that true? Can I build a call center with agents logging in and out without EAS? The system came with 3 agent ids so I thought I could build a demo and then ask for more agent id licensing.

What I am running into is I get the wave off and denial 1381 when I try to log an agent in. I have a hunt/skill group, an agent assigned to that skill. I found threads about already logged in, it is not, and removing the phone from a core with console priviledges, that didn't work. Is there something wrong with these HG and agent configs?


display hunt-group 1 Page 1 of 4
HUNT GROUP

Group Number: 1 ACD? y
Group Name: IT Hotline Skill 1 Queue? y
Group Extension: 10-9597 Vector? y
Group Type: ucd-mia
TN: 10
COR: 15 MM Early Answer? n
Security Code: Local Agent Preference? n
ISDN/SIP Caller Display:

Queue Limit: unlimited
Calls Warning Threshold: Port:
Time Warning Threshold: Port:


display hunt-group 1 Page 2 of 4
HUNT GROUP

Skill? y Expected Call Handling Time (sec): 300
AAS? n Service Level Target (% in sec): 80 in 20
Measured: internal Service Objective (sec): 300
Supervisor Extension: Service Level Supervisor? n

Controlling Adjunct: none

VuStats Objective:
Dynamic Queue Position? n
Multiple Call Handling: none

Timed ACW Interval (sec): After Xfer or Held Call Drops? n


display agent-loginID 7301 Page 1 of 3
AGENT LOGINID

Login ID: 7301 AAS? n
Name: Agent1 AUDIX? n
TN: 10 LWC Reception: spe
COR: 15 LWC Log External Calls? n
Coverage Path: AUDIX Name for Messaging:
Security Code:
LoginID for ISDN/SIP Display? n
Password:
Password (enter again):
Auto Answer: station
MIA Across Skills: system
ACW Agent Considered Idle: system
Aux Work Reason Code Type: system
Logout Reason Code Type: system
Maximum time agent in ACW before logout (sec): system
Forced Agent Logout Time: :

WARNING: Agent must log in again before changes take effect


display agent-loginID 7301 Page 2 of 3
AGENT LOGINID
Direct Agent Skill: 1 Service Objective? n
Call Handling Preference: skill-level Local Call Preference? n

SN RL SL SN RL SL SN RL SL SN RL SL
1: 1 1 16: 31: 46:
2: 17: 32: 47:

 

[rejackson]

Belated thanks to ZeroZeroOne for the great insights on the ACD process. My final hurdle was that EAS was not enabled in the sys features. It was licensed in the sys cust display but not enabled in sys features.

 

[ZeroZeroOne]

Excellent! Sorry I missed your last message but glad you got it!