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Predictive Dialing Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) ActiveX
Digital Recording Integrated Voice Response (IVR) OTS™ stand-alone switching system
Call Blending Open Predictive Dialing OTS™ attached switching system

Automatic Call Distribution

This diagram shows a typical automated call distribution setup. Note that other computer environments may have slightly different configurations. Some of the labels below are followed by corresponding, typical pseudo-code for the agent and control applications.
A. A supervisorlogs on to the control application, which in turn connects to the telephony platform. Through the control application, the supervisor can establish the campaign(s), the number of lines needed and other parameters. The control application then sends the appropriate information to the telephony platform to configure the campaign. Thereafter, the application can perform all call management and data passing automatically.

Make connection via NetBIOS or TCP/IP

START

ADD_PROJECT

SET_PROJECT_LINE

SET_INBOUND_PARAMETER

B. Agents log on to the agent application, which in turn connects to the telephony platform, indicating user and campaign ID numbers. The agents can establish when they are ready. During calls they can also issue first-party control commands to hold, transfer or make conference calls or terminate the session.
Make connection via NetBIOS or TCP/IP

SET_USER_DATA

Receive data from NetBIOS or TCP/IP

PULL_NEXT_CALL

Agent receives data

Agent finishes conversation

TERM_VOICE_LINK

Go to PULL_NEXT_CALL

C. Calls come into the telephony platform from the telephone network.

D. The telephony platform gives the control application the phone number of the caller (ANI) and the phone number called (DNIS). The control application then determines where to send the call (either to a particular agent, a group of agents or to an IVR script) and sends commands to do so to the telephony platform. It also tells OTS to assign more specific information to associate with the call for easier retrieval from the database.

SET_CALL_DATA

ROUTE_CALL

E. If there is no one available to take the call, a recorded message is typically sent to the customer and the customer is put on hold. A caller may hear and key into an IVR script during the wait, while remaining in the same place in the queue.

PLAY_VOICE_MESSAGE

F. When an agent on that campaign is available, the call is routed to that agent. Two types of communication happen at the same time:

F1. The customer is transferred to the agent telephone, establishing a voice connection.

F2. The assigned call data is sent from the telephony platform to the agent application, which immediately initiates a screen pop. In multi-user environments where only one connection is set up for all agents, the call data can include an extra field to denote which agent is talking to the customer.

G. Throughout the campaign the control application can issue further instructions to the telephony platform, such as adding or removing a project, and receives messages such as new call received.

INBOUND_ANSWER (OTS generated event)

REMOVE_PROJECT

ADD_PROJECT

SET_PROJECT_LINE

SET_INBOUND_PARAMETER

H. Communication among the agent workstations, MIS platform and telephony platform will be configured according to one's tastes and needs.
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Integrated Voice Response

This diagram shows a IVR setup. Note that other computer environments may have slightly different configurations. Some of the labels below are followed by corresponding, typical pseudocode for the agent and control applications.
The term IVR/Voice Processing includes the following features:

AUDIOTEX: Customers hear a menu of options and choose one with a touch-tone, then hear a second menu and choose from that menu. This continues until desired information in recorded voice is heard.

AUTO ATTENDANT: A device which answers a phone, offers the customer to choose an extension, and rings that extension. It can direct customers to voice mail or a live operator.

VOICE MAIL: Storing and managing recorded messages. This can include the ability to forward messages and determine how many messages are still saved.

HOST IVR: Accessing a host database for specific, individual information (eg. bank balance).

The diagram accounts for two different situations. One is in which the IVR device stands behind a switch, PBX, or other telephony device; in this case the PSTN square stands for that device. The other situation is when the IVR device is directly connected to the PSTN; then the telephony platform box represents the IVR I/O device.

A. Calls come into the telephony platform from the PSTN or host switch.

Make connection via NetBIOS or TCP/IP

B. The control application is notified that a call has come in. It then gives instructions to the telephony platform/IVR about what message to play first. It will thereafter indicate what message to play based on the input from the customer or give other instructions such as record message.

INBOUND_ANSWER

PLAY_MESSAGE

C. Voice messages are sent to the customer.

D.The telephony platform/IVR device accepts touch-tone commands or menu selections.

GET_DTMF_DIGITS

E. In some applications of IVR/voice processing, a database must be accessed by the control application, such as for retrieving personal information.

Access data

PLAY_MESSAGE

CLEAR_DTMFS

HANGUP_LINE
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Call Blending

The following is a general diagram illustrating call blending. The steps needed to initialize a campaign are omitted.
This telephony server is capable of call blending, whereby agents can be switched between duties and calls can be switched between live operators and IVR scripts. The control application would change the agents' duties according to the current demands on the call center and according to how busy agents are. One example of call blending is to route agents to inbound calls during an outbound campaign to reduce the number of hangups by customers. Another scenario is an inbound campaign making follow-up calls to customers when there is little inbound activity. Call blending can be done using the same hardware and software for each task. Separate campaigns can be established for each task, using specialized agents, or one campaign can be made responsible for handling all tasks. The blending can be done on a telephony server alone or among a server and switches. To blend predictive dialing with a separate ACD, you only need the outbound feature of OTS™.

A. During a campaign, the control application determines that either agents are idle or incoming callers are being ignored.

B. The control application informs the necessary components of a need for change.
B1. The control application tells the telephony platform to re-allocate lines for campaigns if necessary.

ESM_SET_PROJECT_LINE

B2. It tells the agent application to switch an agent's campaign

TERMINATE_SESSION (Agent command)

SET_USER_DATA (Agent command)


C. Outbound and inbound telephone calls are delivered to the telephony platform through the PSTN.
D. No matter which campaign an agent is switched to, the following occur.
D1. The party is transferred to the agent telephone, establishing a voice connection.

ROUTE_CALL

D2. The call data assigned by the control application is sent from the telephony platform to the agent application, which immediately initiates a screen pop. In multi-user environments where only one connection is set up for all agnets, the call data can include an extra field to denote which agent is talking to the party.
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Predictive Dialing

This diagram shows a typical predictive dialing setup. Note that other computer environments may have slightly different configurations. Some of the labels below are followed by corresponding, typical pseudo-code for the agent and control applications.
A. A supervisor logs on to the control application, which in turn connects to the telephony platform. Through the control application, the supervisor can establish the campaign, the number of lines needed, the initial pacing data and other dialing information. The application then sends the appropriate information to the telephony platform to configure the campaign. Thereafter, the application can perform call management and data passing automatically.

Make connection via NetBIOS or TCP/IP

SET_USER_DATA (for OAPDE)

START (for OTS)

ADD_PROJECT

B. Agents log on to the agent application, which in turn connects to the telephony platform, indicating user and campaign ID numbers. The agents can establish when they are ready. During calls they can also issue first-party control commands to hold, transfer or make conference calls or do things not related to predictive dialing.

Make connection

SET_USER_DATA

PULL_NEXT_CALL

Receive data from NetBIOS or TCP/IP

C. Calls are made to the PSTN and paced according to the predictive dialing algorithm.

D. The telephony platform does call progress analysis to determine whether a person has answered.

E. Answered calls are routed to the agent on that campaign who has been available the longest on the campaign to which the phone number has been assigned. Two types of communication are happening at the same time:

E1. Voice is being carried between the agent and the telephony platform.

E2. Data is sent from the telephony platform to the agent application. This data relates to the number dialed and pertains to the person/company with that number.
The application looks in the database and initiates a "screen pop" with a complete record based on the data provided by OTS™. In cases where only one connection is set up for all agents, data can be given an extra field to denote which agent is communicating.

F. Unconnected calls, such as calls placed to answering machines and SIT calls, are reported to the control application.

OUTBD_RESULT (OTS generated event)

G. Throughout the campaign, the control application can retrieve data on the progress of the campaign. It can change any aspects of the dialing such as the list of numbers to dial and the pacing rate.

SET_USER_DATA

ADD_PROJECT (OAPDE)

ADD_DIALING_FILE (OAPDE)

ADD_DIALING_RECORD (OTS)

GET_PROJECT_INFO (OTS)

GET_CALL_INFO (OTS)

H. Communication among the agent workstations, MIS platform and telephony platform will be configured according to one's tastes and needs.
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Digital Recording/Playback

The following diagram illustrates the digital recording/playback system at work.

It is possible for an IVR unit to record telephone conversations and to play back conversations or segments to users and/or customers. In one case there is a dedicated port connected in parallel to each agent station through which calls are recorded and played back. Another option is to connect the IVR/voice processor to a switch, PBX, etc. The IVR unit accesses a conversation for recording by using the silent supervisor monitoring feature of the switch. Two typical methods of signaling the switch with this configuration are as follows:



Using in-band signaling. The control application sends a command to the IVR instructing it to go off hook on the desired port and dial a sequence of DTMF tones and possibly other characters such as pause and flash. This will cause the switch to connect the IVR to the desired port.
Providing an out-of-band CTI link between the IVR and the switch.
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Open Predictive Dialing

The diagram shows a typical predictive dialer interfaced (not integrated) with a PBX (looped around PBX).

Users connect with the dialer by dialing a trunk access code from their PBX phone. This action connects them with specific station port on the dialer. This connection remains in effect for the entire dialing session.

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Call Center Users


Call Flow Scripting Using ActiveX

Another feature unique to OTS™ is the ability to add sophisticated call handling routines to your OTS™ system by using Visual Basic to create an ActiveX control.

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Dialogic™ stand-alone switching system

The following two diagrams depict the installation and operation of OTS™ as a stand-alone platform.

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OTS™ attached to PBX/ACD switching system

The following two diagrams depict possible installation and operation scenarios of OTS™ with a switch. Either scenario supports IVR, voice mail, and digital recording via the PBX/ACD silent observation feature.

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