Taske Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0 Introduction Manual

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-1-Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................2
ASSUMPTIONS.....................................................................................................................................3
CALL CENTER OVERVIEW..............................................................................................................4
ACD SYSTEM OVERVIEW.....................................................................................................................6
CALL CENTER OPERATION....................................................................................................................8
SMDR Records................................................................................................................................9
ACD Real-time Event Records.........................................................................................................9
CALL DISTRIBUTION - LONGEST IDLE AGENT.......................................................................................10
ACD MIS SYSTEM..............................................................................................................................11
RECORDED ANNOUNCEMENT DEVICES.................................................................................................11
WALL SIGN.........................................................................................................................................11
CALL CENTER PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES............................................................................12
PERFORMANCE TARGETS.....................................................................................................................12
Revenue-based Call Centers...........................................................................................................12
Cost-based Call Centers.................................................................................................................12
TASKE ACD TOOLBOX OVERVIEW...............................................................................................14
THE TASKE VIEW OF SERVICE............................................................................................................14
TASKE Historical Reports..............................................................................................................14
TASKE Real-time Displays.............................................................................................................15
TASKE ACD TOOLBOX: COMPONENTS........................................................................................16
TASKE Data Collector...................................................................................................................16
TASKE Administrator.....................................................................................................................16
TASKE Search...............................................................................................................................17
TASKE Reports..............................................................................................................................17
Traffic Analyzer.............................................................................................................................18
TASKE ACD Monitor.....................................................................................................................18
TASKE WallSign Administrator......................................................................................................19
TASKE Agent Desktop....................................................................................................................19 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-2-Introduction
Welcome to the TASKE ACD ToolBox, a collection of Microsoft Windows based
tools and utilities that enable the manager to analyze the performance of the
ACD Call Center, and fine tune its operation.
These tools and utilities operate on the Mitel SX-200 PBX, and are accessed
through the TASKE ToolBox v7 folder, as illustrated below.  Within the ToolBox
folder, each icon represents a program in the ToolBox; each program provides
the functionality for a particular aspect of ACD Call Center management.This manual provides an overview of:
· the components and operation of the ACD Call Center,
· telephone traffic and service criteria,
· Call Center management, and
· networking.
Additionally, this guide describes and explains how each of the ACD ToolBox
programs work, and how each applies to Call Center management. 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-3-Assumptions
A working knowledge of ACD Call Center technology is essential for the
operation and use of the TASKE ACD ToolBox.  Many of the common Call
Center terms and assumptions are discussed in this guide.  To ensure efficient
use of all of the tools in the TASKE ToolBox, it is assumed the terms and
concepts discussed in this guide are read and understood.  Refer to the
documentation for the telephone system to provide additional background
material necessary to use the TASKE ToolBox properly.
The Installation Guide is provided to ensure a correct install is performed for both
Supervisor (Client) and Server installs.
To access the online help for any TASKE ToolBox application, choose the Help
option from the Help menu within the application, or press the F1 key on the
keyboard while the application is running.
Each application in the TASKE ToolBox has a user guide accessed by opening
the Welcome.pdf file in the taske\docs directory. 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-4-Call Center Overview
ACDACD is an acronym for Automatic Call Distribution.  The term ACD Call
Center refers to any PBX that handles many telephone calls of a similar
nature.  Within an ACD Call Center, agents with similar skills are grouped
into Agent Groups for the purpose of routing specific calls to the
appropriate group with the relevant information. ACD call operations may
be set up with many groups of agents who are common to departments
such as Sales, or Customer Service, where a group of employees respond
to similar queries.  As all Agents within a group are answering calls of a
similar nature, it does not matter which Agent answers a particular call;
calls are received and distributed amongst the available Agents.
ACD TermsAn ACD Call Center is illustrated below.  The Central Office (CO) directs
call attempts to the PBX.  Call attempts that find an available Trunk, and
an available agent are answered immediately. When a call is Answered by
an Agent it enters a Talk Time period.  After completing a call the Caller
disconnects but the Agent may have to complete associated paperwork.
This period of time is called Work Time.
Those Callers who find a Trunk but then find no one immediately available
to talk to them, must wait in Queue for an available Agent.  While in
Queue, Callers can receive messages from a Recorded Announcement
Device (RAD).  Of the calls waiting in Queue, most are answered by an
Agent but some proportion Abandon the call before it is Answered. 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-5-AGENTS
AGENT
WORK
TIME
SUPERVISOR
TASKEACDToolBoxMIS Public
Network
Centra
l
Office CO
CO Centra
l
OfficeCO
CO2
WAITING
CALLS 1Work
TImeTalkTimeMITELPBXCALLERSCALL
ATTEMPTS
BLOCKED
CALLSANSWERED
CALLS
ABANDONED
CALLS
MISSYSTEM
RECORDED
ANNOUNCEMENT
DEVICES
(RADs)CALLCENTREOVERVIEWWALLSIGN ACD
QUEUEQueueTimeTalk
Time3TRUNKS
EXTNS.RAD
VOICEMAIL/
AUTO-
ATTENDANTVM
MIS 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-6-Purpose of ACDAn ACD Call Center accepts incoming calls and distributes them to a
group of Agents in a manner that ensures the calls are processed at
minimum cost but with acceptable service to Callers.  To accomplish this
requirement, the Telephone System manages call handling using an
Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) process.  ACD is a specialized PBX
application for rationing incoming calls, where the normal situation is to
expect more incoming calls than can be answered immediately.
ACD System Overview
As mentioned previously, the purpose of a Call Center is to handle large volumes
of calls as efficiently as possible, and at minimum cost.  To achieve this objective
calls are distributed to Agents without regard to which Agent handles which call.
The Agents are specifically trained to respond to one or more category of calls;
during busy periods calls may be transferred between Agent Groups, as
illustrated on the next page.
ACD Agent - ACD Log In/Log OutThe Agent is defined by an Agent ID (Agent Identifier) when using an
Extension as an ACD station.  The Agent using the Extension is
represented as an Agent ID.  When entering the Agent ID into the system,
the Agent effectively logs into the Call Center.  This is a signing on
process, which activates the Extension as an ACD position.  At the end of
a work shift, the Agent signs off, or logs out, of the Call Center.  A group of
Agents responsible for answering ACD calls to an ACD Queue is referred
to as an Agent Group.
ACD QueueIn a Call Center, incoming calls are placed in an ACD Queue.  If the
number of incoming calls that arrive exceeds the number of available
Trunks, then the Callers are given a busy signal.  Thus, the number of
Trunks determines the ACD Queue size, and this in turn determines the
total number of calls that can be handled at any given point in time.If all Agents are busy, calls are held in the ACD Queue.  This is the
purpose of the ACD Queue.  It allows the Caller to wait for an answer
rather than being Blocked from entering the PBX, and having to
repeatedly re-dial the number to find a free Agent. 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-7-OverflowThe Agents in a Call Center may be trained to handle calls for other
Groups.  For example, Customer Service personnel might be trained to
answer calls for the Sales department during busy periods.  One of the
special features of the ACD Function is the ability to Overflow from one
Agent Group to another.
An ACD call that cannot be answered immediately is placed in an ACD
Queue.  After a pre-determined time (the Overflow time) the call can also
be placed in the ACD Queue of a second Agent Group.  This increases its
chances of being answered quickly.  In this case the call is Overflowed
from one Queue to another.  Thus, Overflow is a mechanism which, after
a threshold time, either:
· takes a call from one Queue and places it in a second Queue (ACD-1);
or
· adds the call to a second Queue in addition to keeping its place in the
first Queue (ACD-2).
The primary purpose of the Overflow feature is to limit the potential delay
faced by Callers who might otherwise have a relatively long wait.Public NetworkCentral
OfficeCOCOCentral
OfficeCOCOMITEL PBX
CALLERSACD SYSTEM OVERVIEWTRUNK
GROUPACD GROUP 1ACD GROUP 2 TRUNKMIITEL PBX
VOICE MAIL/
AUTO-ATTENDANTACD GROUP 3
EXTENSION
3754TIE TRUNK
GROUP 88PILOT 3000ACD GROUP 4INTER-
FLOWOVER-
FLOW
OVER-
FLOW
OVER-
FLOW PATH 2600 PATH 3000
PILOT 2600VMWAITING
CALLSACD
QUEUEWAITING
CALLSACD
QUEUEWAITING
CALLSACD
QUEUEWAITING
CALLSACD
QUEUE 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-8-InterflowIf a Caller waits a particularly long time and the call is still not answered (it
is still in one or more Queues) then it may be preferable, from the Callers
perspective, to be taken out of the Queue(s) and given alternative
treatment.  This process is termed Interflow in the Mitel ACD systems.  For
example, an ACD call may have been delayed for 10 minutes in Queue.
By this point in time, the Caller’s patience has probably run out.  It may
then be desirable to re-direct the Caller to a Voice Mail system to leave a
message and have an Agent place a call back to that person.  In this
example, the call would interflow from the ACD system to the Voice Mail
system.   The call may interflow to Voice Mail, to another ACD queue with
a higher priority, to another Extension answering point, to a Trunk route, to
a RAD Device, or even to another PBX.
PathA Path contains the information necessary to control an incoming call
through the ACD system.  It specifies the resources, the order in which the
calls are encountered, and the timing of the steps.  All the options for a
specific Path are entered in the Path Assignment form on the SX-200.
Call Center Operation
Within an ACD Call Center, if there are more Agents than calls needing to be
answered, then the Agents are idle for part of the time and costs increase.
Therefore, in most cases, ACD Call Centers are designed so that at any given
time the number of available Agents is less than the number of waiting calls.
This helps to define the number of Agents that are required for a Call Center.
Acceptable ServiceIf there are more calls than can be answered by the Agents, then Callers
must be kept waiting for an Agent to become free.  Therefore, there is a
minimum number of Agents required if the service to Callers is to be
acceptable.  In between these upper and lower limits there is a balance,
where a given number of Agents provide satisfactory service at a
minimum cost; the objective of Call Center management is to achieve a
good balance.
ForecastingFor the Forecasting process, the call volumes and patterns from current
and past calls are identified using Historical Reports.  These patterns are
then used to predict expected call volumes and call patterns for future
work shifts.  From the expected call volumes and patterns, and with the 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-9-service level targets applied, the number of Trunks and Agents required
for an ACD Queue can be estimated.
Historical ReportsThe process of estimating projected traffic levels is termed forecasting.
The analysis of past levels is derived from Historical Reports produced by
the ACD ToolBox, and is based on the Station Message Detailed
Reporting (SMDR) data generated by the PBX.  Historical Reports provide
statistics on the characteristics of the calls that are received, such as the
number of calls per half-hour, and the duration of the calls.
SMDR Records
Station Message Detail Recording (SMDR) is a data stream generated by the
PBX, which provides details of where calls went, who answered them and for
how long the call was engaged.  The SMDR records are generated by the PBX at
the end of a call or call segment.  A call can produce multiple SMDR records if it
is transferred or if Account Codes are entered while the call is active.  The
information that is provided includes: the start time of the call, the duration of the
call, who started the call, and who the answering party was. External SMDR
records are initiated every time an incoming or outgoing trunk is seized. At the
same time, the called data is collected on a per-call basis, formatted into an
SMDR Record and routed to an RS-232 port for processing. Internal SMDR
records provide information about calls that are placed from station-to-station, but
are not generated for calls that involve trunks.
ACD Real-time Event Records
The PBX generates ACD Real-time Event records; the MIS uses these to
produce information on the current status of the ACD Queue(s).  The ACD Real-
time Event records generated include:
· ‘Call Activity’ event records, which describe significant call routing
activities; and
· ‘Agent Activity’ event records, generated in response to Agent activities
such as logging in.
Immediately when an action is performed or an event occurs, the MIS generates
data on the current status of the ACD Queue; the MIS provides status reports in
real time.
ACD Real-time Event records are used to provide a current view of Call Center
operations via the Real-time ACD Monitor.  The ACD Monitor provides
information such as the current status of Agents and current call handling
parameters. 
						

							Introduction                            TASKE Call Center Management Tools Version 7.0-10-The ACD Real-time Event stream contains records that are generated
immediately when an Agent enters a new call state (such as Idle or Answering
ACD Call), and immediately when an Agent activates a feature (such as Log In or
Log Out).  Agent events are reported whenever an Agent connects to a Caller,
regardless of whether or not an external Trunk is involved in the call.
SupervisionThe second major challenge in the ACD environment is adjusting the
balance between the number of calls received and the number of available
Agents.  In general terms, this is the supervision process of monitoring
and managing Call Center operations in real-time.  This can be
approached by several means including:
· reducing the number of calls that are accepted;
· increasing the number of available Agents; and
· reducing the time per call so that the same number of Agents
handle more calls.
Work TimeIf an Agent uses a Work Time period at the end of a call for performing
associated paper work, then the duration of time that the Agent is involved
in the call can be more than that of the Trunk.  When an Agent is on Work
Time, the Agents line appears unavailable and a new call cannot be
distributed to it.  However, Work Time does not tie up the Trunk, which is
free to accept another call as soon as the Caller disconnects.  This means
the Trunk can sometimes handle more calls than the Agent(s) (depending
on how long Callers spend waiting in Queue).
ASAThe Average Speed of Answer is the average number of seconds it takes
to answer a call in an ACD Queue, by a non-Announcement Device.
Call Distribution - Longest Idle Agent
An additional problem for ACD Call Centers is ensuring the equitable distribution
of calls amongst Agents.  For a Group of employees in similar job positions, there
should be an equitable distribution of the workload so that employee morale is
not adversely affected.
Call Centers can employ a call distribution process that is termed the Longest
Idle Agent.  The system tracks all calls to all Agents and forwards the next