Distributed call centers

Last Updated : Sep 08, 2012 |

The example involves two call centers located in New York and Denver. Calls to the New York call center are queued to up to two splits. If calls remain unanswered for a period of time, a Look-Ahead Interflow (LAI) call attempt is made to the Denver call center. If there are less than 10 queued calls in Denver, the LAI call attempt is accepted and serviced at Denver. Else, the call is denied and remains in queue in New York until an agent becomes available. The two vectors below illustrate the process.

Example application - distributed call centers

Sending Communication Manager:
VDN (extension=1080   name=New York Office   vector=80)
Vector 80:
       1. goto step 11 if calls-queued in split 1 pri m > 5 
       2. queue-to split 1 pri m
       3. announcement 3580 [All our agents are busy at the moment. Please hold.]
       4. wait-time 6 seconds hearing music
       5. route-to number 913035661081 with cov n if unconditionally
       6. check split 2 pri m if calls-queued < 5
       7. wait-time 6 seconds hearing music
       8. announcement 3581 [All our agents are still busy. Please hold.]
       9. wait-time 60 seconds hearing music
      10. goto step 5 if unconditionally
      11. busy

Receiving Communication Manager:
VDN (extension=1081   name=Denver Inflow   vector=81)
Vector 81:
       1. goto step 7 if calls-queued in split 3 pri l > 10
       2. wait-time 0 seconds hearing music
       3. queue-to split 3 pri h
       4. announcement 3582 [We apologize for the delay. Please hold.]
       5. wait-time 60 seconds hearing music
       6. goto step 5 if unconditionally
       7. disconnect after announcement none

Vector 80 is on the sending Communication Manager from a call center in New York, while vector 81 is on the receiving Communication Manager at a call center in Denver.

In the sending Communication Manager, the call is queued to split 1 at a medium priority (step 2) if the condition in step 1 is met. If the condition is not met, the call is routed to busy in step 11.

If the call is queued, but not immediately answered, the caller hears an announcement (step 3) and music (step 4). If the call is still not answered at this point, step 5 places a LAI call attempt to the receiving Communication Manager, on which vector 81 resides.

Step 1 in the receiving Communication Manager determines whether the call can be serviced in Denver. If the number of calls queued at any priority in split 3 is greater than 10, vector 81 does not service the call. In such a case, control is passed to step 7, which rejects the LAI call attempt. However, if the test in step 1 succeeds, the call is queued by the receiving Communication Manager in split 3 at a high priority (step 3) and the LAI call attempt is accepted. Accordingly, the call is removed from the main split queue in New York and the control is passed to the Denver Communication Manager, where vector processing continues at step 4.

If the receiving Communication Manager does not accept the LAI call attempt, control is passed to step 6 of the sending Communication Manager. The step then queues the call to split 2 at a medium priority, provided there are less than five calls queued in that split. Thereafter, the customary announcement-wait sequence plays (steps 7, 8, and 9). Finally, if necessary, step 10 sends the control back to step 5, which makes another LAI attempt and the cycle is repeated.

Note:

To prevent confusion, the treatment provided at the receiving Communication Manager must be consistent with the treatment provided at the sending Communication Manager. In the distributed call centers example, note that the caller hears music and never ringback or silence, at the sending Communication Manager. Accordingly, music must be featured at the receiving Communication Manager.