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This chapter provides an overview of the components typically deployed in a contact center environment and the installation processes for contact center components. It also describes the types of installations and various installation strategies.
The Cisco Unified Communications System is a full-featured business communications system built into an intelligent IP network. It enables voice, data, and video communications for businesses of all sizes. The Cisco Unified Communications System is defined around commonly deployed enterprise topology models in North America and European & Emerging Markets (EUEM).
Cisco Systems provides an integrated system to meet customer needs. The system contains a number of communications products that are designed, developed, tested, documented, sold, and supported as one entity. This system is built upon individual IP telephony and contact center products including, but not limited to, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Unified Intelligent Contact Management Enterprise (Unified ICME), Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (Unified CVP), Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (Unified CCE), Cisco Unified Contact Center Express (Unified CCX), Cisco Unified IP Integrated Voice Response (Unified IP IVR), Cisco Unified Intelligence Center (Unified Intelligence Center), Cisco MediaSense (MediaSense), Cisco Finesse (Finesse), self-service and queuing capabilities, and voice-capable gateways and routers.
Cisco contact center solutions allow you to move beyond today's contact center to a customer interaction network by creating a better customer experience, making customer-service agents more efficient and productive, improving contact center reporting, and extending the workforce with expert. mobile, and remote agents.
Cisco Unified Communications System testing is a process for specifying (designing) and validating the interoperability of enterprise voice products to ensure that they work together as an integrated system.
The installation procedures described in this document provide a high-level guide to installing the Cisco Unified Communications System. This document provides installation information from a system perspective and only for the products that are part of Cisco Unified Communications System Release 9.0(1).
The Cisco Unified Communications contact center system should have the following basic characteristics and requirements:
Note |
If you have a legacy system with PBXs and other products that need to interoperate with the Cisco Unified Communication System, see Interoperability and compatibility portals for interoperability and integration information. |
Because of the variety of the installations and the complexity of the procedures that are required to completely set up a contact center system, this document does not provide installation procedures for:
The following types of deployments should be considered when installing and creating a contact center environment:
Note |
When performing upgrades, be aware of backward compatibility issues such as coexistence and interoperability with sites on previous system release versions. |
A release set is defined as the combination of products, components, and software versions that were tested to work together as an integrated Cisco Unified Communication System. A particular system release is also referred to as a release set.
If you are dealing with a legacy or "brownfield" deployment, you need to be aware of interoperability issues between legacy or existing component versions and the Cisco Unified Communications System Release 9.0(1) component versions.
You can browse a previous system release set by product release version in a summary matrix. Use the following links if you are unfamiliar with the version content of release sets deployed in contact center environments:
You can also see Interoperability and compatibility portals for information about support for legacy products and third-party product interoperability with Cisco contact center products.
If you are dealing with a greenfield deployment, be aware that certain features, applications, and components are part of the Cisco Unified Communications System Release 9.0(1) family of products and have been tested and verified for interoperability and compatibility.
Based on your specific network design, you may choose to install all or some of these features, applications, and components. For a list of components that apply to a contact center environment, see Components installation overview.
For information about the Cisco Unified Communications System Release 9.0(1) contact center components and their software and firmware versions, see Release Set Versions in Preparation for system installation.
The following table provides an overview of the tasks that are performed in the installation of the Cisco Unified Communications contact center system.
Step 1 |
See Before You Begin and refer to the tasks that are described in the individual product installation documents. |
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Step 2 |
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Step 3 |
Install and configure the software for the components to enable functionality between the installed components. |
See System installation for the installation sequence of the components. Refer to the detailed installation and configuration tasks described in the individual product installation and configuration documents. Additional configuration information for contact center call flow and components tested in the Cisco Unified Communications System Release 9.0(1) is available at: http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Category:Unified_Communications_System_Implementation |
Step 4 |
Initialize installed components and ensure that components are functional. |
Applications at the system level (such as cold start, elapse time) Each application at the node level |
Step 5 |
Perform verification and validation testing in between installing components to ensure that the installed components interoperate. |
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Step 6 |
Integrate between Cisco and third-party or legacy products to ensure interoperability. |
See Before You Begin and refer to the tasks that are described in the individual product installation documents. |
Step 7 |
The Cisco Unified Communications contact center environment consists of the following primary software components:
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Typically, in most contact center deployments, you need to install only one of these components for queuing and call treatment purposes. However, if you want to deploy a parent and child model, you can install both components. |
Note |
Typically, in most contact center deployments, you need to install only one of these components for agent desktop capabilities. |
In addition to these core components, the following Cisco hardware and software products are part of a typical contact center deployment:
The following table provides an overview of components in the Cisco Unified Communications System Release 9.0(1) product family that can be installed and configured in contact center environments.
For additional information, refer to Cisco Unified Communications System Product Comparison at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/products_category_buyers_guide.html
Note |
Some of the listed components might not apply to particular installations. Therefore, if there is an application, component, or feature listed that you do not require in your environment, you need not include them in your deployment. |
Cisco switches and routers provide switching and intelligent routing services that can deliver voice, video, data and Internet access, wireless, and other applications and provide high-speed connectivity among users, applications, and communications systems. |
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Cisco gateways and gatekeepers/proxy servers are optimized for data, wireless, and IP Communications, and support IP-to-IP connectivity between independent Voice-over-IP (VoIP) networks and analog phone gateways using your existing phone equipment. |
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Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service (formerly Cisco Unified Presence) 1 and Cisco Unified SIP Proxy (Unified SIP Proxy) are designed to help connect and manage SIP networks by aggregating SIP elements, enabling application of highly developed routing rules and simplifying large deployments. The Unified SIP Proxy module is designed to be an integrated solution in Cisco 3800/3900 Series Integrated Services Routers. The module provides multiple features including SIP trunk aggregation, name resolution, routing, scalability, and high availability. |
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Security components include firewall and policy enforcement services, intrusion prevention systems, antivirus software, and domain and web server hardening. Firewalls allow any port on the device to operate as a firewall port and integrates firewall security inside the network infrastructure. Policy enforcement services can protect networks from unauthorized access. These services combine with VPN services to enable businesses to securely extend their networks to business partners, remote sites, and mobile workers. |
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Wireless components provide for secure, scalable, cost-effective WLANs with real-time access to instant messaging, e-mail, and network resources. |
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Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Call Processing Devices |
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Unified Communications Manager provides the call-processing functionality to Cisco Unified Communications contact center networks.
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A variety of services must be activated on the publisher, subscribers, and TFTP servers that are essential for call processing in the Unified Communications Manager cluster. |
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Use different methods like auto-registration and Bulk Administration Tool (BAT) to install and add Unified IP Phones to the Unified Communications Manager database. |
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Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service (formerly Cisco Unified Presence) |
Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service links the various knowledge within each application to provide a ubiquitous and broad view of a defined user within the Cisco Unified Communication System. It provides SIP presence to deliver Instant Messaging (IM) and Click to Call features; works in conjunction with Unified Communications Manager and supports Unified Personal Communicator, Cisco IP Phone Messenger and IBM Sametime clients.
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Cisco Unified Personal Communicator is a desktop application that integrates frequently used communications applications and services such as voice, video, instant messaging, web conferencing, voicemail, and presence information from a single, multimedia interface. |
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Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster (integration with switches, routers, gateways, gatekeepers/proxy servers, JTAPI client and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Telephony client and Unified ICME) |
Install the JTAPI client on the Unified Communications Manager Peripheral Gateways and the Unified Communications Manager Telephony client on the Unified IP IVR and on the Unified CCX systems to enable communication with the Unified Communications Manager cluster. Configure dial plans, route points, groups, device parameters, and the JTAPI user to set up call processing and policy rules in Unified Communications Manager to enable interaction with switches, routers, gateways, and gatekeepers/proxy servers. |
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Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise and Contact Center Components |
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Unified CCE combines Cisco IP telephony products and Unified ICME software to create an IP-based contact management solution that provides intelligent call routing, network-to-desktop computer telephony integration (CTI), and multimedia contact management to contact center agents over an IP network. |
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Cisco Unified Communications Manager (integration with Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise) |
Unified Communications Manager provides call processing to the Unified CCE applications, but requires configuration changes to support Unified CCE such as CTI and JTAPI capabilities. |
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Cisco Unified Intelligent Contact Management Enterprise software |
Unified ICME software provides the intelligence needed to make call-by-call routing decisions for your call center using a combination of multichannel contact management, intelligent routing, and network-to-desktop computer telephony integration (CTI) capabilities. This software includes the Rogger (CallRouter and Logger), Peripheral Gateways (generic and Real-Time Administrator Workstation/Cisco Unified Intelligence Center/HDS servers. |
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Cisco Unified Intelligent Contact Management Enterprise setup |
Configure skill groups, device targets, labels, agents, scripts and others on Unified ICME to provide call routing capabilities. |
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CTI OS is a server-based integration point for third-party applications and for deploying CTI applications that provide desktops for use by call center agents and supervisors. Configuration and behavior information is managed at the server, simplifying customization, updates, and maintenance. |
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Cisco Agent Desktop is a computer telephony integration (CTI) solution that provides agents and supervisors call control capabilities, such as call answer, hold, conference, and transfer, and ACD state control and so on. |
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CTI OS includes the CTI OS Server, CTI OS Agent/Supervisor Desktop, CTI OS Toolkit, and Client Interface Library (CIL). Cisco Agent/Supervisor Desktop includes the Desktop Administrator, Agent Desktop, and Supervisor Desktop. The desktop applications provide productivity tools for agents and supervisors. The desktop allows supervisors to view agent states and call information, to send text messages to agents, to record conversations, and to provide advanced monitoring functions. You can select which application to deploy in the Unified CCE system. |
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Provides customer interaction management services for medium-sized businesses and enterprise branches with up to 300 agents; options include multichannel content management and outbound campaign management.
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Provides IP-based Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and queueing capabilities for the Unified CCE system.
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Configure media dialog groups, Unified Communications Manager Telephony connection, Unified ICME connection port, Voice Response Unit (VRU) scripts, applications, prompts and others on the Cisco Unified IP IVR system to provide call routing capabilities. |
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Unified CVP provides a call-management and call-treatment solution with a self-service IVR option. Automated speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities enable callers to obtain personalized information and conduct business without interacting with a live agent.
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Cisco Unified CVP (integration with Cisco Unified SIP Proxy) |
Cisco Unified SIP Proxy (Unified SIP Proxy) is added as a server under Device Management in the Unified CVP Operations Console. Static routes are configured in Unified SIP Proxy to route incoming calls to Unified CVP from the gateway, to transfer calls to the VXML gateway, and to transfer calls to agent devices on Unified Communications Manager. |
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Outbound Option provides outbound dialing functionality that can be "blended" with the existing inbound capabilities of Unified ICME software. Related components that require installing and configuring include the Outbound Campaign Manager, Outbound Dialer, SIP Dialer, and Media Routing Peripheral Gateway (MRPG).
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This enables Unified Communications Manager, Unified ICME and gateways to route calls to the different types of supervisors and agents within and outside the contact center environment such as CAD, CTI OS, Remote Agents and Cisco Unified Mobile Agents. |
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Finesse is a browser-based agent and supervisor desktop implemented through a web 2.0 interface that integrates traditional contact center functions into a thin-client desktop. Finesse has a customizable interface, that gives customer care providers quick and easy access to multiple assets and information sources. |
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MediaSense is an IP media recording and playback system that implements the Open Recording Architecture open interfaces. MediaSense comprises many elements to support IP based recording. It solves topology issues and accelerates the adoption of Cisco Unified Communications Solutions. |
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Cisco SocialMiner |
SocialMiner is a social media customer care solution that provides social media monitoring, queuing, and workflow to organize customer posts on social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, or other public forums or blogging sites. SocialMiner delivers posts to the social media customer care team, so they can respond to customers in real time using the same social network the customers are using. |
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Agent Greeting is defined as the ability for a computer telephony integration (CTI) application (e.g. contact center) to instruct Cisco Unified Communications Manager to automatically play a pre-recorded announcement to the customer immediately following a successful media connection to the Agent device. Whisper Announcement is defined as the ability to play a pre-recorded announcement to an Agent right before the caller is connected. The announcement is played to the Agent only and is not heard by the customer. The announcement helps the Agent answer the call correctly. |
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Unified Intelligence Center offers both a web-based Reporting application and an Administration interface. The Reporting application is designed for use with report templates that are populated by the report databases of Unified Contact Center Enterprise and Unified Customer Voice Portal. The Administration interface supports the Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning (OAMP) of the Reporting application. |
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The agent provides intrusion detection and prevention and controls system operations by using a policy that allows or denies specific system actions before system resources are accessed.
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Unified Operations Manager provides comprehensive monitoring and diagnostics for the entire system. It performs automatic discovery of the entire system and provides contextual diagnostics for rapid troubleshooting. |
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The Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is a data center platform that unites computing, networking, storage access, and virtualization into a cohesive system and integrates a low-latency, lossless 10 Gb Ethernet unified network fabric with enterprise-class, x86-architecture servers. It includes products such as blade servers, network adapters, blade server chassis, fabric interconnect and extenders and UCS Manager, which provides centralized management capabilities for the Cisco Unified Computing System. |
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The Unified Computing System (UCS) family expands to include the C-Series Rack Mount Servers. The Cisco Unified Computing System C210 M2 General-Purpose Rack Mount Server balances performance, density and efficiency for storage-intensive workloads. The system is built for applications such as network file servers and applications, storage servers, database servers, and content-delivery servers. |
For installation information on Cisco Unified Communications System Release 9.0(1) IP telephony components, see System Installation and Upgrade for IP Telephony at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/uc_system/UC9.0.1/ipt_system_inst_upg/VTGS_BK_S3E53B1F_00_system-installation-and-upgrade-manual.pdf.
This section discusses the installation strategies for contact center components in the release set being deployed. Details of individual components installations are not described unless additional information or clarification is required.
Installation of new networks in Cisco Unified Communications contact center environments (using new hardware) is supported via a flash-cut or a shrink-and-grow approach.
A completely new network is built using the components and software versions in the current Cisco Unified Communications System release set. The new system is operational once it is turned on and the required software is installed and initial configuration is completed.
A new network using the components and software versions in the current Cisco Unified Communications System release set is built alongside the legacy network. The new network is staged and configured to support the production environment.
In this strategy, you can implement the release versions on the new hardware and migrate all users from the existing legacy network to the new network in a single installation window using a flash-cut installation process.
Because interoperability is not required with the legacy system, components of the legacy system need not be upgraded and can remain at their original release versions. After all users have been moved to the newly installed system, the legacy system is decommissioned.
A new network using the components and software versions in the current Cisco Unified Communications System release set is built alongside the legacy network. The new network is staged and configured to support the production environment.
This strategy uses either a flash-cut or shrink-and-grow installation process or a combination of both to:
After all users have been moved to the newly installed system, the legacy system is decommissioned.
For large enterprises with many sites, you can install one site at a time in multiple phases. Depending on whether it is a greenfield or legacy deployment, within each site, you can either employ the single-stage or multistage installation strategies described in this section.
For information about support for legacy products and third-party product interoperability with Cisco Unified Communications contact center products, see the Cisco Interoperability Portal at:
http://www.cisco.com/go/interoperability
For software and hardware compatibility and interoperability information about Unified Communications Manager, Unified Contact Center Enterprise, Unified IP IVR and other Cisco Unified Communications contact center products, see the following sites: