Telrad Telecommunications Issue 2 R5 User Guide

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

SYSTEM MANUAL

76-110-0430/E Release 5 Issue 2

76-110-0430/E

Release 5

Issue 2

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

SYSTEM MANUAL

Telrad Telecommunications Inc.

Farmingdale, N.Y.

76-110-0430/E

Release 5

Issue 2

Telrad Telecommunications Inc.

Farmingdale, N.Y.

NOTICE

This publication refers to Telrad Connegy’s Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) package
running on Telrad Connegy’s UNITe IP systems, Releases SB-3 and up, as of May, 1997.

Additional copies of this manual may be obtained from Telrad Connegy, Inc. Reproduction of
this manual or parts thereof, without written permission from Telrad Connegy, Inc., is strictly
prohibited.

Telrad Connegy reserves the right to modify the equipment and the software described herein
without prior notice. However, changes made to the equipment or to the software described
herein do not necessarily render this publication invalid.

Telrad Connegy IMAGEN is a registered trademark of Telrad Connegy, Inc.

ACD I.Q. is a proprietary trademark of Telrad Connegy, Inc.

 1997, 2005 Telrad Connegy, Inc.

Farmingdale, New York

ב

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

Section 1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................1-1

1.1 CONTENTS OF THIS MANUAL ........................................................................................1-1

1.2 PRODUCT DEFINITION..................................................................................................... 1-1

1.2.1 General.....................................................................................................................................1-1

1.2.2 ACD integration with Telrad Connegy's UNITe IP systems ......................................................1-2

1.2.3 ACD I.Q. ...................................................................................................................................1-2

1.2.4 ACD integration with Telrad Connegy IMAGEN......................................................................1-2

1.3 SCOPE OF THE MANUAL................................................................................................. 1-3

1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE MANUAL ....................................................................................... 1-3

1.5 FOR WHOM IS THIS MANUAL INTENDED?.................................................................... 1-4

1.6 RELATED DOCUMENTATION .......................................................................................... 1-4

1.7 TYPOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS ...................................................................................... 1-4

1.8 ACD FOR UNITe IP AND FOR UNITe IP 400.................................................................... 1-4

1.9 SYSTEM DEFINITION........................................................................................................ 1-5

1.9.1 General.....................................................................................................................................1-5

1.9.2 ACD environment.....................................................................................................................1-5

1.9.3 Basic ACD principles .................................................................................................................1-5

1.9.4 Path of an ACD call (example)..................................................................................................1-6

1.10HOW THE ACD DEALS WITH TRAFFIC LOADS.............................................................. 1-9

1.10.1 General.....................................................................................................................................1-9

1.10.2 Overflow...................................................................................................................................1-9

1.10.3 Interflow ...................................................................................................................................1-9

1.10.4 Thresholds ..............................................................................................................................1-10

1.11 THE ROLE OF THE AGENT............................................................................................ 1-11

1.12 THE ROLE OF THE SUPERVISOR ................................................................................. 1-11

1.12.1 Agent supervision...................................................................................................................1-12

1.1.2 ACD queue supervision..........................................................................................................1-14

1.1.3 Diagnosing extremes in call traffic..........................................................................................1-15

ג

76-110-0430/E

1.13 ACD I.Q............................................................................................................................ 1-15

1.14 Telrad Connegy's IMAGEN ............................................................................................ 1-16

Section 2 ACD FEATURES........................................................................................................ 2-1

2.1 GENERAL.......................................................................................................................... 2-1

2.2 LIST OF ACD FEATURES................................................................................................. 2-1

Section 3 ACD SYSTEM FEATURES .......................................................................................... 3-1

3.1 GENERAL.......................................................................................................................... 3-1

3.2 LIST OF SYSTEM FEATURES.......................................................................................... 3-1

3.3 SYSTEM FEATURE EXPLANATIONS.............................................................................. 3-1

3.3.1 ACD groups..............................................................................................................................3-1

3.3.2 ACD routing plans....................................................................................................................3-2

3.3.3 ACD queues .............................................................................................................................3-2

3.3.4 Announcer plan........................................................................................................................3-3

3.3.5 Call routing ...............................................................................................................................3-4

3.3.6 Interflow ...................................................................................................................................3-4

3.3.7 Level Of Service (LOS) time .......................................................................................................3-4

3.3.8 Overflow program ....................................................................................................................3-5

3.3.9 Priority queueing.......................................................................................................................3-6

3.3.10 Ringback delay to answer time ................................................................................................3-6

3.3.11 SLT announcer..........................................................................................................................3-6

3.3.12 Statistics time............................................................................................................................3-6

3.3.13 Thresholds ................................................................................................................................3-7

Section 4 ACD AGENT FEATURES............................................................................................ 4-1

4.1 GENERAL.......................................................................................................................... 4-1

4.2 LIST OF AGENT FEATURES............................................................................................ 4-1

4.3 AGENT FEATURE EXPLANATIONS................................................................................ 4-1

4.3.1 [ACD QUEUE] button ..............................................................................................................4-1

4.3.2 Busy wrap up ...........................................................................................................................4-2

4.3.3 Forced busy state .....................................................................................................................4-2

4.3.4 Headset ....................................................................................................................................4-2

4.3.5 Help request and Help conference ..........................................................................................4-3

4.3.6 Login status LED ......................................................................................................................4-3

4.3.7 Not available.............................................................................................................................4-3

4.3.8 Programmable buttons ............................................................................................................4-4

4.3.9 Record calls (Telrad Connegy IMAGEN application).................................................................4-4

ד

CONTENTS

Section 5 ACD SUPERVISOR FEATURES....................................................................................5-1

5.1 GENERAL .......................................................................................................................... 5-1

5.2 LIST OF SUPERVISOR FEATURES ................................................................................. 5-1

5.3 SUPERVISOR FEATURE EXPLANATIONS ..................................................................... 5-1

5.3.1 [ACD QUEUE] button ..............................................................................................................5-1

5.3.2 Agent status display.................................................................................................................5-2

5.3.3 Display mode toggle ................................................................................................................5-2

5.3.4 Monitoring and advising agents ..............................................................................................5-2

5.3.5 Monitoring the status of queues .............................................................................................5-3

5.3.6 Programmable buttons ............................................................................................................5-3

5.3.7 Softkey operation .....................................................................................................................5-3

Section 6 INSTALLATION, CONFIGURATION AND UPGRADING OF THE ACD...........................6-1

6.1 GENERAL .......................................................................................................................... 6-1

6.2 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING A NEW UNITe IP SYSTEM WITH ACD.................... 6-1

6.3 UPGRADING AND CONFIGURING AN EXISTING UNITe IP SYSTEM WITH ACD ........ 6-2

6.3.1 General.....................................................................................................................................6-2

6.3.2 Upgrade steps (hardware and software)..................................................................................6-2

Section 7 ACD PROGRAMMING PARAMETERS .........................................................................7-1

7.1 GENERAL .......................................................................................................................... 7-1

7.2 WORKING WITH THE ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM................................................... 7-1

7.3 STEPS FOR PLANNING THE ACD CONFIGURATION ................................................... 7-1

7.4 PROGRAMMING THE PARAMETERS .............................................................................7-2

7.5 THE AUTOMATIC CALL DISTRIBUTION MENU .............................................................7-2

7.5.1 General ACD parameters CD→AP ...........................................................................................7-3

7.5.2 ACD groups CD→GR ...............................................................................................................7-3

7.5.3 Supervisor and ACD Groups CD→SV.......................................................................................7-6

7.5.4 ACD Routing plans CD→PL .....................................................................................................7-7

7.5.5 Announcer plans CD→NP .......................................................................................................7-9

7.6 RELATED SYSTEM CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS................................................ 7-11

ה

76-110-0430/E

7.7 RECORDING THE ANNOUNCER MESSAGES.............................................................. 7-13

7.7.1 General...................................................................................................................................7-13

7.7.2 Programming announcer messages via Telrad Connegy IMAGEN........................................7-13

7.7.3 Programming announcer messages using SLT announcers...................................................7-13

7.8 CONFIGURING THE ACD I.Q. ........................................................................................ 7-14

Appendix A ACD PROGRAMMING FORMS .............................................................................. A-1

A.1 GENERAL..........................................................................................................................A-1

FIGURES

Figure 1-1 Sample ACD system .............................................................................................. 1-6

Figure 1-2 ACD call progress .................................................................................................. 1-7

Figure 1-3 ACD overflow, interflow and threshold programming...................................... 1-11

Figure 1-4 AGENTS STATUS Screen .................................................................................... 1-13

Figure 1-5 AGENT DATA Screen........................................................................................... 1-13

Figure 1-6 QUEUE STATISTICS Screen................................................................................ 1-14

Figure 1-7 Telrad Connegy IMAGEN recorded announcement program .......................... 1-17

Figure 4-1 Recommended agent button arrangement - Speakerphone set....................... 4-4

Figure 5-1 Supervisor station recommended programmable button layout ...................... 5-4

TABLES

Table 1-1 Comparison of UNITe IP and UNITe IP 400 specifications................................... 1-5

Table 1-2 Threshold flash rates ............................................................................................ 1-10

Table 4-1 Agent programmable buttons ................................................................................ 4-4

Table 5-1 Supervisor programmable buttons........................................................................ 5-3

ו

INTRODUCTION

1.1 CONTENTS OF THIS MANUAL

This manual describes the Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
package for the Telrad Connegy UNITe IP family of systems. It
applies both to the UNITe IP system, and to the UNITe IP 400
system.

The manual describes the installation, upgrading, programming
and maintenance of the ACD hardware and software. It lists and
explains the main agent, supervisor and system ACD features. It
also describes the environment in which ACD is used, and the
tasks of the agents and supervisor operating the ACD.

The appendix to this manual contains programming forms for
planning and updating the software configuration of the ACD.

Section 1

1.2 PRODUCT DEFINITION

1.2.1 General

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) optimizes the distribution of
incoming calls so that incoming callers receive prompt service, and
so that the burden of answering calls is distributed evenly among
ACD agents.

ACD routes incoming calls to separate call queues, normally
reflecting different company departments, e.g. sales, billing,
customer inquiries etc. Each call queue is serviced by a group of
agents whose task is to answer the calls reaching the department.
In the event of a call queue being overloaded, calls can be
overflowed to less busy or idle queues and agents.

ACD supervisors oversee the operation of the ACD system and
agents. The supervisors can view online statistical information
concerning the status of the call queues and agents.

1-1

76-110-0430/E

1.2.2 ACD integration with Telrad Connegy's UNITe IP
systems

ACD configuration is performed via the UNITe IP system
configuration programming. Agents and supervisors use regular
UNITe IP telephones. The ACD package requires a special
software cartridge on the Main Control card of the system. The
ACD I.Q. computer (see below) connects to a UNITe IP telephone
via a data adapter card.

1.2.3 ACD I.Q.

ACD I.Q. is an optional, Personal computer-based reports software
program which provides, online, detailed graphic and numeric call
traffic information concerning the ACD. The information is based on
up to two months of call traffic data which the ACD I.Q. computer
stores. The reports can be displayed on screen, or sent to a printer.
Reports can be generated on a per hour or per day cross-section.

ACD I.Q. enables the ACD supervisor to detect online peaks and
troughs in call traffic, and to plan the most cost-efficient agent and
supervisor manning levels.

For more information on ACD I.Q. refer to the UNITe IP system
ACD I.Q. System manual.

1.2.4 ACD integration with Telrad Connegy IMAGEN

ACD can make use of two Telrad Connegy IMAGEN facilities.

First, calls handled by agents or supervisors can be recorded into
an IVM mailbox, by pressing a programmed
telephone set. The call is recorded in the mailbox assigned to the
telephone extension.

Secondly, the Telrad Connegy IMAGEN can be used to record up
to nine announcements. These announcements are played to
callers waiting in queue. The announcements can be chained and
repeated any number of times as part of an Announcer plan.

For more details of these facilities, refer to the Telrad Connegy
IMAGEN System manual.

Announcer plans can also be constructed using analog SLT
announcers.

[RECORD] button on the

1.3 SCOPE OF THE MANUAL

This manual contains all information concerning the ACD, except
for agent and supervisor operating instructions.

Topics covered in this manual include:

1-2

• Descriptions of ACD system, agent and supervisor features;

• Installation instructions for installing ACD on a new UNITe IP

system;

• Upgrading instructions, for installing ACD into an existing
UNITe IP system;

• Programming instructions for new and upgraded systems;

• Instructions for incorporating recorded announcements using

Telrad Connegy IMAGEN and SLT announcers.

1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE MANUAL

This manual is divided into the following sections:

Section 1: Introduction This section introduces the ACD and

describes the contents of the manual.

Section 2: ACD Features This section lists the system, agent and

supervisor features.

Section 3: ACD System Features This section lists and describes

the ACD system features.

Section 1: INTRODUCTION

Section 4: ACD Agent Features This section lists and describes

the ACD agent features.

Section 5: ACD Supervisor Features This section lists and

describes the ACD supervisor features.

Section 6: Installation, Configuration and Upgrading of the ACD

This section includes instructions for installing ACD on a new
UNITe IP system, and for enhancing an existing UNITe IP system
with ACD.

Section 7: ACD Programming Parameters This section provides a

field by field description of the parameters to be programmed in the
UNITe IP system configuration program, when configuring ACD.

Appendix A: ACD Programming Forms Appendix A contains the

programming forms required for planning and updating the ACD
configuration.

1-3

76-110-0430/E

1.5 FOR WHOM IS THIS MANUAL INTENDED?

This manual serves two groups of personnel:

• Marketing personnel, system administrators and ACD
supervisors concerned with fully exploiting ACD features to
configure a system of maximum efficiency (see Sections 1
through 5).

• Technicians installing, programming and upgrading the ACD
system (see Sections 6 and onwards).

1.6 RELATED DOCUMENTATION

The following UNITe IP systems documentation publications
contain information relevant to ACD:

• ACD Agent Guide (Cat. No. 76-110-0425/E);

• ACD Supervisor's User Guide (Cat. No. 76-110-0440/E);

• ACD I.Q. System manual (Cat. No. 76-110-0675/E);

• Installation manual (Cat. No. 76-110-0410/E);

• Administration manual (Cat. No. 76-110-0175/E);

• Telrad Connegy IMAGEN System manual (Cat. No. 83-130-

8050/H);

• Software cartridge Installation Instructions

(Cat. No. 76-110-0115/E).

1.7 TYPOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS

The following typographic conventions are used in this manual.

• Buttons on the telephone appear like this:

• Softkeys on the supervisor's telephone appear like this:

{<MONITOR>}.

1.8 ACD FOR UNITe IP AND FOR UNITe IP 400

The ACD packages for UNITe IP and UNITe IP 400 systems are
virtually identical.

They differ only in the following specifications (see Table 1-1,
below).

[HELP REQUEST].

1-4

1.9 SYSTEM DEFINITION

1.9.1 General

Section 1: INTRODUCTION

Table 1-1 Comparison of UNITe IP and UNITe IP 400

specifications

Parameter UNITe IP UNITe IP 400

ACD groups 16 24

Agents in system 160 300

ACD routing plans 32 48

Supervisors 8 16

Groups per supervisor 16 24

Supervisors per group 8 16

The rest of this section describes the ACD in detail. It explains and
gives examples of how the ACD works, and describes the roles of
the agent and supervisor.

Many of the terms used in this section are explained in more detail
in Sections 3, 4 and 5.

1.9.2 ACD

environment

ACD increases the efficiency of businesses which handle large
amounts of incoming call traffic. It enables businesses to provide
better and faster service, while saving resources.

The ACD package is especially effective for companies which
expend significant resources on manning telephone answering
positions e.g. for accepting orders (such as travel agents and
warehouses), and for offices which provide information (such as
train or bus time-tables).

1.9.3 Basic ACD principles

This section describes the basic stages a call routed via ACD goes
through.

1. A call arrives at the UNITe IP system.

2. The call is routed via ACD to the requested department,

3. The incoming call enters the department call queue and is

according to the number dialed.

queued according to the queue priority, programmed in system
programming.

4. The call is answered by the first agent servicing the department
queue, who becomes available.

1-5

76-110-0430/E

Figure 1-1 illustrates a sample ACD system.

Figure 1-1 Sample ACD system

1.9.4 Path of an ACD call (example)

The following sections describe the route an ACD call takes, from

the time it arrives at a fictitious travel agent's ACD system, until
answered by the agents. This description should help illustrate the
various elements in the ACD system:

• from the point of view of the caller;

• from the point of view of the ACD agent.

Figure 1-2, below, illustrates the progress of an ACD call in the
system.

Incoming ACD call path (caller's viewpoint)

1. The

2. The call may either be routed directly to the ACD group (the

caller dials the telephone number of the company with the

ACD system; the caller hears ringback tone.

caller hears ring tone), or, after a brief ringing period, it may be
answered by an announcer or Voice mail system.

The recorded announcement will say something like “Hello, you
have reached the Fly-with-us travel agency. Please hold.
Someone will be right with you”.

1-6

3. Next the caller hears either Music on Hold or a ring tone; the
call may be answered by an ACD agent at any time.

Section 1: INTRODUCTION

Figure 1-2 ACD call progress

1-7

76-110-0430/E

4. If, after a timeout elapses, the call has not been answered, the
caller may hear a new recorded announcement saying
something like, “Fly-with-us Travel Agency is still busy. Please
hold on for a little longer”.

The

caller then hears either Music on Hold or ring tone, as in

Step 3, above.

5. The caller may hear the above announcement repeated, or
other announcements in its place, as time elapses.

6. Without the caller being aware of it, the call may be overflowed
to additional ACD queues.

If the call is not answered by any of the agents in the original
and overflow ACD queues, the call may be forwarded to an
interflow destination.

7. The call is answered.

The call may be answered during any of the above steps.

Incoming call path (system viewpoint)

1. An incoming call is received; the call is routed, according to the
ACD Route plan, to the ACD group where it is to be answered.
This group is called the Main group.

• The call will either ring, or be answered by an announcer.

The announcement is followed by ring tone or Music on
hold, and optionally, by further recorded announcements.

• When an agent becomes available, the call will ring the

agent's station.

2. If the call is not answered at the ACD Main queue within a
certain timeout (if, for example, all the agents are busy), ACD
can use two call routing mechanisms to increase the likelihood
of the call being answered. These two mechanisms are:

• overflow (see Section 1.10.2, below)

• interflow (see Section 1.10.3, below)

3. If the call is overflowed to one or more ACD groups, the first
agent to become available in either the Main group or any of
the overflow groups, will receive a ring and can answer the call.

If the call is not answered within the interflow time, the call exits
the ACD and is sent to the interflow destination.

1-8

1.10 HOW THE ACD DEALS WITH TRAFFIC LOADS

1.10.1 General

The ACD uses two mechanisms, overflow and interflow, for
ensuring that calls entering the ACD will be answered, and
employs various tools, such as the
indications, to warn the ACD agents and supervisors of extremes in
call traffic.

1.10.2 Overflow

An overflow timeout is defined per ACD routing plan for the Main
ACD group queue, and also for up to two other overflow queues.
Overflow is illustrated in, Figure 1-2 above, and Figure 1-3, below.

If the overflow timeout of the Main queue elapses before a call on
queue is answered, the call is placed in the first overflow queue
while still continuing to wait in the original Main queue. If the
second overflow timeout elapses, the call waits in the Main queue,
and in the first and second overflow queues. If the third overflow
timeout elapses, the call waits in the Main queue, and also in the
first, second and third overflow queues.

Section 1: INTRODUCTION

[ACD QUEUE] button LED

1.10.3 Interflow

As with the Main ACD queue, the system programmer can specify
the priority which a call will have in each of the overflow queues.

The first agent to become available to answer the call in either the
Main queue or any of the overflow queues, receives the call. When
the call is answered it stops waiting in all queues.

In system programming the overflow can be assigned a predictive
overflow mechanism, which estimates how long the call will wait
before being answered. Based on this calculation, the ACD may
send overflow ringing to the overflow queues before the overflow
timeouts elapse.

A second mechanism for ensuring that calls are answered is
Interflow. Interflow is illustrated in Figure 1-2, above, and

Figure 1-3, below.

Interflow is a sort of "no answer forward" destination for ACD calls.
If a call waits in queue until after the interflow timeout elapses, or if
no agents are ready in the Main ACD group and all overflow
groups, the call is disconnected from the ACD environment and
forwarded to a different destination (an attendant position,
Incoming Call Identifier (ICI) queue or Hunt group). The call will
then be answered outside the ACD.

1-9

76-110-0430/E

1.10.4 Thresholds

[ACD QUEUE] button LED gives an indication of the status of the

The
ACD queue. The LED flash rate indicates whether calls are waiting
in queue (i.e. not ringing agent stations), and how long calls have
been waiting in queue - before a defined first threshold time,
between a first and second threshold time, or beyond a second
threshold time (see Figure 1-3, below). The threshold times are
programmed in the UNITe IP configuration program.

By watching the

[ACD QUEUE] button LED, agents and supervisors

can see at a glance the status of the ACD queue.

The LED color and statuses are as described in Table 1-2, below.

The threshold times are defined in system programming for each
ACD group.

Table 1-2 Threshold flash rates

Queue status LED status

No calls in queue LED extinguished

Call ringing agent(s): No calls in queue

At ringing agent(s)

At idle agents

Before first threshold Green slow flash

Between first and second threshold Red slow flash

Past second threshold Red fast flash

Green slow flash

LED extinguished

Figure 1-3, below, shows the programmed overflow, interflow and
threshold parameters of a sample system, based on the following
programmed parameters:

1-10

• First Overflow Time: 20 seconds;

• Second Overflow Time: 20 seconds;

• Third Overflow Time: 20 seconds;

• Interflow Time: 90 seconds

• First Threshold Time: 30 seconds;

• Second Threshold Time: 70 seconds.

Note that the interflow time should be greater than the sum total of
the overflow times.

Figure 1-3 ACD overflow, interflow and threshold programming

1.11 THE ROLE OF THE AGENT

Individual agents operate within groups of agents. Each group
services a single queue of calls and may be supervised by one or
more supervisors. The agents work together, to answer the calls
directed to their department queue.

Section 1: INTRODUCTION

To log in, the agent dials a Feature code or a Flexible Numbering
Plan (FNP) code, followed by an agent ID code (one to four digits).
Each agent also has a name (seven characters) for display
purposes. Note that an agent can log in to only one group at a time.

Any UNITe IP telephone may be used as an ACD agent station.
Telrad Connegy analog telephones and SLTs cannot serve as ACD
stations. The recommended agent station is the Display
Speakerphone set, with headset.

1.12 THE ROLE OF THE SUPERVISOR

The supervisor follows the call traffic and agent information which
is displayed on the supervisor's telephone display. The supervisor
can view a series of MAIN Screens which give an overall picture of
the state of the agents and queues, and can also select detailed
screens, which focus on a particular queue or agent.

1-11