5. Call Queues

Call queues can be added once you are on the Call Queues screen. There are four main types: Round-robin rings the user (agent) with the longest idle time or the first available. Linear groups agents into tiers and one or more agents are called when the first group times out. Ring All rings all agents simultaneously and Call Park transfers callers directly to hold. Agents are added after the call queue is added.

When the hunting type is chosen, more options will be displayed.

Round-robin

To set up a Round-robin queue:
When adding a round-robin queue you must assign a dedicated extension/owner. If the user you enter is not currently present the system will create one and indicate this by showing the green New label to the right of the Extension dialog box. If phone numbers in the inventory are not assigned to a device, one can be assigned to a call queue from the Phone Number drop down box. The default for Run Statistics is set to yes. This provides information to the Call Center Supervisor. Agent Ring Timeout is the amount of time that the phone will ring for each agent before transferring to another agent. Max Time is the length of time that the queue is active before it times out.  Expected Max Queue Wait and Max Queue Length limit waiting time or the amount of callers in the queue to avoid people staying on hold for too long. These are both calculated based on the statistics generated by the system.

Linear

When adding a Linear queue the options are the same as for round-robin except for Agents to Ring Initially and Agents to Add After Timeout. These functions allow for a tiered entry of agents into the call queue.

Ring All

The options for creating a Ring All queue are the same as for a Linear queue.

Call Park

For a Call Park all that is needed is to set up the name and extension/user. Since there are no agents to assign there is no further setup/configuration needed.

Once added the Call Queues screen should look like this


By clicking on the Callers in Queue column you can see exactly who is waiting in the queue. The Agents column displays the number of agents added to the queue and those which are online. Clicking on the hyperlinked numbers enables an edit page wherein agents can be added. Additionally can see who is assigned to that queue and who is currently available. 

Edit Call Queue

Click on the call queue name to edit a call queue. Two more options are available on the edit page: If set to 'yes', Agents Required to Queue will not allow a caller into the queue if no agents are present to take the call. Logout Agent on Missed call will switch the agents status from 'online' to 'offline' if the agent fails to pick up. This allows the call queue to be self-managed when an agent leaves the office before logging out. Care must be taken with ring times and after call work functions to avoid an active agent being mistakenly logged out.


Agents

Agents are added by clicking on the hyperlinked numbers in the Agents column. Additionally, the screen displays the agents assigned to the queue and the icon turns green for agents currently available. A mouse hover on the agent row displays icons that allow editing or deleting the agent.



On-net agents are added as follows:


The agent phone extension is added first.Then add the agents current status in the queue. An agents current status can be changed at any time via the portal and also by star codesWrap up time is the amount of time that is set aside after a call has ended and before another call can be sent to that agent. Max Simultaneous Calls is the number of calls that an agent can have active at once. Note that until the maximum is reached the agent will still be considered available. If an agent is being added to multiple queues, Queue Priority decides which queue will ring the agent more often.

Adding an off-net agent:



As soon as the system recognizes the entry of an off-net phone number you should see the green label titled Remote Agent appear. In this scenario the agent can only have a status of Offline or Online and these must be set via the portal. The Request Confirmation option is to try as much as possible to see if someone answers the off-net call or not. If no voice is detected then the call will roll to the next agent in the queue. There is a chance that: If the off-net device voice mail picks up, the call could end there and not be routed to the next agent in the queue.

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