Overflow

Last Updated : Jun 02, 2015 |

Navigation: Group | Overflow

Overflow can be used to expand the list of group members who can be used to answer a call. This is done by defining an overflow group or groups. The call is still targeted to the original group and subject to that group's settings, but is now presented to available members in the overflow groups in addition to its own available members.

Overflow calls still use the settings of the original target group. The only settings of the overflow group that is used is it's Ring Mode. For example:

  • Calls that overflow use the announcement settings of the group from which they are overflowing.

  • Calls that overflow use the Voicemail Answer Time of the original group from which are are overflowing.

  • Calls that are overflowing are included in the overflowing group's Queue Length and Calls In Queue Threshold. They are not included in those values for the hunt group to which they overflow.

  • The queuing and overflow settings of the overflow groups are not used, ie. calls cannot cascade through a series of multiple overflows.

A call will overflow in the following scenarios:

  • If Queuing is off and all members of the hunt group are busy, a call presented to the group will overflow immediately, irrespective of the Overflow Time.

  • If Queuing is on and all members of the hunt group are busy, a call presented to the group will queue for up to the Overflow Time before overflowing.

  • If Queuing is on but there are no members logged in or enabled, calls can be set to overflow immediately by setting the Overflow Immediate setting to No Active Members. Otherwise calls will queue until the Overflow Time expires.

  • If no Overflow Time is set, a call will overflow when it has rung each available hunt group member without being answered.

  • Once one call is in overflow mode, any additional calls will also overflow if the Overflow Mode is set to Group (the default).

An overflow call is presented to available group members as follows:

  • Once a call overflows, it is presented to the first available member of the first overflow group listed. The Ring Mode of the overflow group is used to determine its first available member. However the No Answer Time of the original targeted group is used to determine how long the call is presented.

  • When the No Answer Time expires, the call is presented to the next available member in the overflow group. If all available members in the overflow group have been tried, the first member in the next listed overflow group is tried.

  • When the call has been presented to all available members in the overflow groups, it is presented back to the first available member in the original target group.

  • While the call is being presented to members in an overflow group, the announcement and voicemail settings of the original targeted group are still applied.

For calls being tracked by the Customer Call Reporter application, overflow calls are recorded against the original targeted group but using separate statistics; Overflowed Calls, Overflowed Calls Waiting, Overflowed Answered and Overflowed Lost.

These settings are mergeable. Changes to these settings do not require a reboot of the system.

Field

Description

Overflow Time

Default = Blank. Range = Off or 1 to 3600 seconds.

For a group using queuing, the Overflow Time sets how long a call queues before being presented to available agents in the group's Overflow Group List. Note that if the call is currently ringing an agent when the timer expires, it will complete ringing for the group's No Answer Time before overflowing.

Overflow Mode

Default = Group.

This option allows selection of whether the overflow of queued calls is determined on an individual call by call basis or is applied to all calls once any one call overflows. The options are:

  • Group: In this mode, once one call overflows all additional queued calls also overflow.

  • Call: In this mode, each individual call will follow the group's overflow settings before it overflows.  

Immediate Overflow:

Default = Off.

For groups which are using queueing, this setting can be used to control whether calls should overflow immediately when there are no available or active agents. The options are:

  • Off: Do not overflow immediately. Use the Overflow Time setting as normal.

  • No Active Agents: Overflow immediately if there are no available or active agents as defined above, regardless of the Overflow Time setting.

    • An active agent is an agent who is either busy on a call or in after call work. An available agent is one who is logged in and enabled in the hunt group but is otherwise idle.

    • A hunt group is automatically treated as having no available or active agents if:

    • The group's extension list is empty.

    • The group's extension list contains no enabled users.

    • The group's extension list contains no extensions that resolve to a logged in agent (or mobile twin in the case of a user logged out mobile twinning).

Overflow Group List

This list is used to set the group or groups that are used for overflow. Each group is used in turn, in order from the top of the list. The call is presented to each overflow group member once, using the Ring Mode of the overflow group. If the call remains unanswered, the next overflow group in the list is used. If the call remains unanswered at the end of the list of overflow groups, it is presented to available members of the original targeted group again and then to those in its overflow list in a repeating loop. A group can be included in the overflow list more than once if required and the same agent can be in multiple groups.
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