Use pacing to control the distribution of the number of calls, SMS, or emails you want the POM system to make or send depending upon the availability of the resources such as ports, licenses, and agents.

You can define the pacing type in the campaign strategy and associate the campaign strategy to the campaign.

POM supports time-based and skill-based pacing for call, SMS, and email.

POM supports various modes of pacing for agent-based campaigns such as preview, manual, progressive, and predictive campaign.

Time-based pacing for automated voice campaigns

Use time-based pacing to control the number of calls the POM system makes per second, minute, or hour. You can specify the pacing type in the Call node of the campaign strategy.

Time-based pacing for SMS campaigns

Use time-based pacing for SMS to monitor and control the number of SMS messages the POM system sends per second, minute, or hour. You can specify the pacing type in the SMS node of the campaign strategy.

Time-based pacing for email campaigns

Use time-based pacing for email to monitor and control the number of emails the POM system sends per second, minute, or hour. You can specify the pacing type in the Mail node of the campaign strategy.

Skill-based pacing for campaigns

You can use skill-based pacing with Avaya Experience Platform™ On-Prem or with Avaya Aura® Contact Center (AACC). Skills are monitored using Call Management System (CMS) for Avaya Experience Platform™ On-Prem .

To use skill-based pacing for campaigns with AACC, configure the skills on AACC. For more information about configuring and creating skills in AACC, see Avaya Aura® Contact Center Proactive Outreach Manager Integration documentation.

The inbound skills on Avaya Experience Platform™ On-Prem are monitored and are used to control the rate of outbound calls, SMS messages, or email messages. You must map the skills from the CMS to the skills created in POM. POM accordingly varies the outbound call, SMS, or email flow based on the traffic on the inbound skill.

You can use skill-based pacing to control the rate of the outbound calls, SMS messages, or email messages based on certain inbound parameters. The parameters are queue length, expected wait time, average speed of answer, and percentage (%) answered within service levels.

You can select the EWTLevel values as either High, Med, Low, or combination of any of these three values while configuring skill-based pacing in a campaign strategy. If you select more than one EWTLevel value, the maximum of the selected EWTLevel values is used to make the decision by comparing the value against the configured threshold value. If the maximum value of selected EWTLevel is higher than the desired level, the pacing is decreased, else the pacing is increased.

If the queue length, the average speed of answer, or the maximum value of the selected EWTLevel is higher than the desired value, the pacing is decreased, else the pacing is increased. However, if the service level parameter value is higher than the desired value, the pacing is increased, else the pacing is decreased.

Example on how POM increases or decreases the pace:

Consider you have created a skill-based campaign strategy CS1 for handling calls, with configurations as shown in the following table:

As per the configuration, POM starts pacing with initial pace 1 per minute and controls the outbound calls based on the Queue Length parameter. POM keeps calculating the pace after every 2 seconds and increases or decreases the pace depending upon the Parameter and Desired Value parameters. POM considers the Pacing Variation (%) value for increasing or decreasing the pace. To increase the current pace, POM adds the Pacing Variation (%) to the current pace value. To decrease the current pace, POM subtracts the Pacing Variation (%) from the current pace value. POM considers the maximum and minimum pace values while adjusting the pace. The minimum pace value is 1.

Pacing behavior for the Queue length parameter

The following table illustrates how POM adjusts the pace after every 2 seconds depending upon the strategy configurations:

Pacing behavior for the Expected Wait Time (EWT) parameter

Consider the following example to understand how POM increases or decreases the pace if you select LOW, Med, or High as the EWT Level:

As per the configurations, POM starts pacing with initial pace 1 per minute and controls the outbound calls based on the Expected Wait Time parameter. POM calculates the pace after every 2 seconds and increases or decreases the pace depending upon the Parameter and Desired Value parameters. POM considers the Pacing Variation (%) value for increasing or decreasing the pace. To increase the current pace, POM adds the Pacing Variation (%) to the current pace value. To decrease the current pace, POM subtracts the Pacing Variation (%) from the current pace value.

POM considers the maximum and minimum pace values when adjusting the pace. The minimum pace value is 1.

Pacing behavior for the Expected Wait Time (EWT) parameter with EWT Level value Med

The following table illustrates how POM adjusts the pace after every 2 seconds depending upon the strategy configurations:

Pacing behavior for the Expected Wait Time (EWT) parameter

Consider you select a combination of LOW, or Med, or High values. For example, if you select the EWTLevel as Low and Med, then POM considers the maximum of EWTLevel values to increase or decrease the pace as follows:

As per the configurations, POM will start pacing with initial pace 1 per minute and control the outbound calls based on the Expected Wait Time parameter. POM keeps calculating the pace after every 2 seconds and increases or decreases the pace depending upon the Parameter and Desired Value. POM considers the Pacing Variation (%) value for increasing or decreasing the pace. To increase the current pace, POM adds the Pacing Variation (%) to the current pace value. To decrease the current pace, POM subtracts the Pacing Variation (%) from the current pace value.

POM considers the maximum and minimum pace values while adjusting the pace. The minimum pace value is 1.

Pacing behavior for parameter Expected Wait Time (EWT) with EWT Level value Low, Med

The following table illustrates how POM adjusts the pace after every 2 seconds depending upon the strategy configurations:

Call pacing for agent-based campaigns

Call pacing methods are used for agent- based campaigns to control the call rate based on the availability of agents.

The pacing methods are:

• Predictive Expert Calling Ratio: You can use this method to optimize the use of agents, or manage and change call handling time, or place as many calls as possible during the job. Expert Calling Ratio allows you to change the way POM determines when to place the next call while a job is running.

  An administrator sets parameters of Predictive Expert Calling Ratio campaign for efficient agent utilization and better calling speed.

  The parameters of Predictive Expert Calling Ratio campaign are as follows:

  • ECR update probability

  • Expert Call Ratio Type

  • Minimum Hit Rate

  Alternatively, you can use a cruise control algorithm which automatically ensures efficient agent utilization and better calling speed and maintaining the desired service level as mentioned in the campaign strategy and Real Time Monitor per job setting.

• Predictive Cruise Control: You can use this method to limit abandoned or nuisance calls while maximizing the agent utilization (AU). Cruise control automatically maintains the service level of outbound dialing during a job and connects the calls to agents within a specified time period. During the job, you do not have to monitor or change the call pacing settings. The algorithm tries to maximize the AU while maintaining the service level. So in some extreme conditions such as low hit rate, the AU drops.

  For the minimum agent requirement to achieve efficient agent utilization for Predictive Cruise Control type of pacing, see the Agent Utilization section.

• Progressive: You can use this method to ensure that for each call that POM launches, an agent is available. This method ensures that nuisance calls are minimal, but also reduces the agent utilization. The pace of the job is slow as the system keeps waiting for an agent. The system does not do over dialing using forecasting as for predictive methods. You can accelerate the pacing by defining the overdial ratio as more than 1. For example, if you set the ratio as 1, POM launches 1 call for each available agent.

  For Progressive type of pacing, there is no minimum agent attachment requirement.

• Preview: You can use this method if you want the agent to preview the customer record before dialing. This helps in better customer service.

  Also, for Preview type of pacing, there is no minimum agent attachment requirement.

• Manual: Use this method to dial a customer number through a third-party software or device. You can view the details of the customer before dialing the number and record the details of the call after the call.

POM has the following port utilization for different dialing types:

• Preview: 2 ports

• Predictive: 2 ports + 1 port (INVITE/REPLACE)

• Progressive: 2 ports + 1 port (INVITE/REPLACE)

• Manual: No MPP port is required because the dialing is not done through MPP or POM.

Consult/Conference/Transfer scenarios will require extra ports. For more details on ports, refer the Sizing tool.

Custom pacing for all automated voice campaigns

You can use the web services, SetMaxAttemptsCountForTask and GetActiveJobTaskIdForTask for custom pacing. For more information on the web services, see Developer Guide for Proactive Outreach Manager.