Contents

• Outbound Option
• Capabilities
• Features
• Dialing Modes
• Predictive Dialing
• Preview Dialing
• Direct Preview Dialing
• Progressive Dialing
• Initial Setup and Maintenance
• Outbound SIP Dialer Call Flow
• Initial Setup Task Lists
• System Configuration for Outbound Option
• Unified CCE Configuration for Outbound Option
• Configure Dialer Component
• Configure Port Map
• Configure System Options
• Enable Expanded Call Variables
• Packet Capture
• Unified Communications Manager and Gateway Configuration
• Disable Ringback During Transfer to Agent for SIP
• Configuration of Voice Gateways or SIP Proxy for Outbound Option
• Configure SIP Trunks
• Outbound Option Software Installation Steps
• Software Installation and Database Creation
• Create Outbound Option Private Database
• Configure Logger
• Install Dialer Component on the PG Platform
• Edit Dialer-Related Registry Values
• Auto Answer Configuration on Agent Phones
• Installation of Cisco CTI Controls
• Configure CTI OS Server for Outbound Option
• Install CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop (Win32)
• Integrate Outbound Option with Standard CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop
• Set Outbound Option Expanded Call Variables
• Verify Connections
• Troubleshoot Connections
• Maintenance Considerations
• SIP Dialer Voice Gateway Over-Capacity Errors
• Update the North American Numbering Plan Data
• Outbound Option Scripting
• Outbound Option Administrative Scripts
• Outbound Option Agent Routing Scripts
• Call Type Reporting and Outbound Option Campaigns
• Administration and Usage
• Campaign Configuration
• Campaign Task List
• Configure Skill Group
• Create a Call Type
• Configure Dialed Numbers
• Create Import Rule
• Import Rule General Tab Page
• Import Rule Definition Tab Page
• Imports
• Import Procedure
• Create Do Not Call List
• Create Contact Import File
• Import Rule Schedule Tab Page
• Create a Query Rule
• Create a Campaign
• Campaign General Tab Page
• Modification of Maximum Number of Attempts in a Campaign
• Parameter Tuning
• Campaign Purpose Tab Page
• Query Rule Selection Tab Page
• Skill Group Selection Tab Page
• Call Target Tab
• Notes on Editing a Campaign in Progress
• (Optional) Configure Personal Callbacks
• Set Up Routing Scripts
• Script for Agent Campaign Without Personal Callback
• Script for Agent Campaign With Personal Callback
• Script for IVR Campaign
• Configure Queue to Agent Node
• Set Up Administrative Scripts
• Sample Administrative Script: ServiceLevelControl
• Add the IF Node
• Voice Gateway Configuration
• SIP Dialer Recording Parameters Configuration
• Verification of Dialed Number
• Verify DN Configuration
• Verify Campaign Configuration
• Reports
• Outbound Option Reports
• Campaign and Dialer Reports
• Skill Group Reports
• Agent Reports
• Import Rule Reports
• Campaign Management
• Single Campaign Versus Multiple Campaigns
• Results from Individual Customers
• Interpret Information from Dialer_Detail Table
• Management of Predictive Campaigns
• Initial Values for Lines per Agent
• End-of-Day Calculation for Abandon Rate
• Transfer of Answering Machine Detection Calls to Agents
• Limitations of Smaller Agent Groups
• Management of Agent Idle Time
• Sources of Higher Idle Times in Reports
• Dialer Saturation
• Few Available Records
• Adherence to FCC/FTC/UK Ofcom Requirements
• United States Considerations
• United Kingdom Considerations

Outbound Option

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Outbound Option enables call centers to manage outbound calls. With Outbound Option, you can configure a contact center to automatically dial customer contacts from imported lists and direct a call to an available agent. This application transfers a call to an agent only if a live contact is reached.

• Capabilities
• Initial Setup and Maintenance
• Administration and Usage

Capabilities

Features

A summary of major features in Outbound Option follows:

Automated Dialing

The dialer automatically dials contact numbers, screens for busy signals, no answers, and answering machines, and transfers calls to agents. The dialer transfers a call to an available agent only when it reaches a live contact.

Campaigns

Users create calling campaigns using a set of tabs in a graphical user interface (GUI). A campaign is a filtered set of numbers that will be automatically dialed and a set of agents who will talk to contacted customers.

More specifically, a campaign consists of imported contact lists, query rules that filter the contact list to create a dialing list, and agent skill groups.

Imported Contact Lists and Do Not Call Lists

You can import lists of customers you want to call and lists of customers who you do not want to call. You can configure Outbound Option to import both types of lists either by continuously polling or at scheduled intervals. You can also specify whether imported lists will replace existing lists or be appended to them.

Query Rules

Query rules define a set of criteria to filter contact lists. In this way, you can define specific dialing lists for campaigns. A campaign can have multiple query rules, but only one query rule and resulting dialing list is active at a time.

Agent Skill Groups

You assign agents to campaigns by using skill groups. A skill group defines a set of agents with specific capabilities, such as language skills, product knowledge, or training that is associated with a campaign. Agents might belong to multiple skill groups and thus be part of multiple campaigns.

Campaign Management

Outbound Option uses a dialing list that is associated with the active query rule in a campaign and directs dialers to place calls to customers. The dialer then directs contacted customers to agents. Advanced campaign-management features provide flexibility in campaign configurations. You can do the following:

• Assign customer records to multiple lists.
• Merge lists into a single campaign.
• Configure rules that define when the various lists are called. Only one rule is active at a time but you can set up multiple rules and switch among them.
• Assign agents to campaigns using skill groups.

Dedicated or Blended Modes

You can specify either of the following modes for agents:

• Dedicated mode is designed for agents who make only outbound calls.
• Blended mode allows agents to receive inbound calls and make outbound calls without switching between skill groups. In this mode, inbound calls receive precedence.

Choice of Dialing Modes

Outbound Option supports the following dialing modes:

• Preview mode lets the agent preview the contact information on the desktop and decide whether the SIP dialer should dial a contact.
• Direct Preview mode is similar to Preview mode; however, the dialer places the calls from the agent's phone. This mode prevents abandoned calls and false positive detection of answering machines.
• Progressive mode dials a configured number of calls per available agent.
• Predictive mode adjusts the number of calls dialed per agent based on the current abandon rate.

Callbacks

If a customer requests a callback for a later date and time, the agent can enter the request in the system, and the dialer schedules the call appropriately. The following callback types are supported:

• Personal callbacks specify that the customer receive a callback from the same agent who made the initial contact.
• Regular callbacks are handled by any available agent.

Call Analysis

The Call Progress Analysis (CPA) feature uses a combination of call signaling and media stream analysis to identify different types of calls, such as faxes and modems, answering machines, and operator intercepts.

Sequential Dialing

The sequential dialing feature allows up to ten phone numbers per customer record.

Abandoned and Retry Calls

You can configure campaigns to retry abandoned calls.

Campaign Prefix Digits for Dialed Numbers

You can configure a prefix for customer number, which can be used to identify specific campaigns.

Activity Reports

Outbound Option reporting features include agent, campaign, dialer, and skill groups report templates.

Dialing Modes

Outbound Option supports various dialing modes, described in the following sections.

Note	All dialing modes reserve an agent at the beginning of every outbound call cycle by sending a reservation call to the agent.

• Predictive Dialing
• Preview Dialing
• Direct Preview Dialing
• Progressive Dialing

Predictive Dialing

In predictive dialing, the dialer determines the number of customers to dial per agent based on the abandon rate. The agent must take the call if that agent is logged into a campaign skill group.

A Predictive Dialer is designed to increase the resource utilization in a call center. It is designed to dial several customers per agent. After reaching a live contact, the Predictive Dialer transfers the customer to a live agent along with a screen pop to the agent’s desktop. The Predictive Dialer determines the number of lines to dial per available agent based on the target abandoned percentage.

Outbound Option predictive dialing works by keeping outbound dialing at a level where the abandon rate is below the maximum allowed abandon rate. Each campaign is configured with a maximum allowed abandon rate. In Predictive mode, the dialer continuously increments the number of lines it dials per agent until the abandon rate approaches the preconfigured maximum abandon rate. At this point, the dialer begins lowering the lines per agent until the abandon rate goes below the preconfigured maximum. In this way, the dialer stays just below the preconfigured maximum abandon rate. Under ideal circumstances, the dialer internally targets an abandon rate of 85% of the preconfigured maximum abandon rate. Due to the random nature of outbound dialing, the actual attainable abandon rate at any point in time may vary for your dialer.

Preview Dialing

Preview dialing reserves an agent prior to initiating an outbound call and presents the agent with a popup window. The agent may then Accept, Skip, or Reject the call with the following results:

• Accept: The customer is dialed and transferred to the agent.
• Skip: The agent is presented with another customer call.
• Skips-Close: The customer will not be called again, and the agent is presented with another customer call.
• Reject: The agent is released. At this point, the system delivers another call to the agent, either another Preview outbound call, or a new inbound call.
• Rejects-Close: The agent is released and the record is closed so it is not called again. At this point, the system delivers another call to the agent, either another Preview outbound call or a new inbound call.

Direct Preview Dialing

The Direct Preview mode is similar to the Preview mode, except that the call is automatically placed by the dialer from the agent's phone after the agent accepts. Because the call is initiated from the agent's phone, the agent hears the ringing, and there is no delay when the customer answers. However, in this mode, the agent must deal with answering machines and other results that the Dialer Call Progress Analysis (CPA) normally handles for other campaign dialing modes.

Note	The CPA feature is not available while using Direct Preview Dialing mode. A zip tone is a tone that announces incoming calls. There is no zip tone in Direct Preview mode.

Progressive Dialing

Progressive Dialing is similar to predictive dialing (see Predictive Dialing). The only difference is that in Progressive Dialing mode, Outbound Option does not calculate the number of lines to dial per agent, but allows users to configure a fixed number of lines that will always be dialed per available agent.

Initial Setup and Maintenance

This section is intended for system administrators who install and configure Packaged CCE. It describes the one-time tasks required to set up Outbound Option. It also discusses occasional upgrade and maintenance tasks. It contains the following topics:

• Outbound SIP Dialer Call Flow
• Initial Setup Task Lists
• Unified CCE Configuration for Outbound Option
• Unified Communications Manager and Gateway Configuration
• Outbound Option Software Installation Steps
• Maintenance Considerations

• Outbound SIP Dialer Call Flow
• Initial Setup Task Lists
• Unified CCE Configuration for Outbound Option
• Unified Communications Manager and Gateway Configuration
• Outbound Option Software Installation Steps
• Verify Connections
• Maintenance Considerations

Outbound SIP Dialer Call Flow

The following sections provide diagrams that describe the outbound SIP dialer call flow. The first describes a call flow for a SIP dialer agent campaign. The second describes a call flow for an unattended IVR campaign.

Call Flow Diagram for Packaged CCE

The following figure illustrates a transfer to agent call flow in an Outbound Option deployment with a SIP Dialer.

Figure 1. SIP Dialer Agent Campaign Call Flow

The following steps describe this call flow in detail:

1. The import is scheduled and the campaign starts. The records are delivered to the dialer.
2. The dialer looks for an available agent through the media routing interface.
3. The media routing peripheral gateway (MR PG) forwards the request to the router.
4. The routing script identifies an agent and responds to the MR PG.
5. The media routing peripheral interface manager (PIM) notifies the dialer that the agent is available.
6. The dialer signals the gateway to place a call to the customer.
7. The gateway places a call to the customer, and the dialer is notified of the attempted call.
8. Call Progress Analysis (CPA) is done at the gateway. When voice is detected, the dialer is notified.
9. The dialer asks the voice gateway to transfer the call to the reserved agent by its agent extension.
10. The gateway directs the call to the agent through Unified Communications Manager (using dial peer configuration to locate the Unified Communications Manager). Media are set up between the gateway and the agent's phone.

Unattended IVR Call Flow Diagram for Packaged CCE

The following figure illustrates a transfer-to-IVR call flow in an Outbound Option deployment with a SIP Dialer.

Figure 2. SIP Dialer Unattended IVR Campaign Call Flow

The following steps describe this call flow in detail.

1. An unattended IVR campaign starts, scheduling an import. Customer records are delivered to the dialer.
2. The dialer sends a SIP INVITE to the voice gateway to start a call to a customer.
3. The gateway places the customer call.
4. The voice gateway does Call Progress Analysis (CPA) and detects an answering machine (AMD). The dialer is notified.
5. The dialer sends an IVR route request to the MR PG.
6. The MR PG forwards the route request to the router and the routing script is invoked.
7. The router sends the route response with the network VRU label to the MR PG.
8. The MR PG forwards the route response to the dialer.
9. The dialer sends a SIP REFER request for the label to the voice gateway.
10. The voice gateway transfers the call to Unified CVP.

At this point, Unified CVP takes control of the call.

Initial Setup Task Lists

This section includes summary lists of all tasks that are required for Outbound Option initial setup.

• System Configuration for Outbound Option

System Configuration for Outbound Option

The first phase is to configure Outbound Option to handle the optional Outbound Option components. The following table lists the required steps and provides pointers to where the tasks are discussed.

Table 1 Configure Packaged CCE for Outbound Option

Step Number	Procedure
1	Configure Dialer Component
2	Configure Port Map
3	Configure System Options
4	Enable Expanded Call Variables
5	Packet Capture
6	Configuration of Voice Gateways or SIP Proxy for Outbound Option
7	Create Outbound Option Private Database

Unified CCE Configuration for Outbound Option

This section provides procedures for the tasks that are associated with configuring the Unified CCE for Outbound Option.

• Configure Dialer Component
• Configure Port Map
• Configure System Options
• Enable Expanded Call Variables
• Packet Capture

Configure Dialer Component

Perform the following steps to configure the dialer component.

Procedure

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Step 1	Make sure that all Packaged CCE services are running.
Step 2	Open the Unified CCE Configuration Manager.
Step 3	Expand Outbound Option, and double-click Dialer to display the Outbound Option Dialer configuration window.
Step 4	Click Retrieve.
Step 5	Click Add to add a new dialer.
Step 6	Enter the following information in the Dialer General Tab fields. Table 2 Dialer General Tab Fields Field Description Dialer Name (required) The name of the system where the dialer is located. Maximum 32-character string, including alphanumeric characters, periods (.), and underscores (_). Alphabetic characters can be uppercase or lowercase. The name must begin with an alphaaskednumeric character, and must not contain spaces. Note    When you install the dialer component (see Install Dialer Component on the PG Platform), you must enter the Dialer Name in Peripheral Gateway Setup exactly as you enter it on the Dialer General Tab. Otherwise, the dialer cannot register with Campaign Manager. Enable Check this check box to enable this dialer for all campaigns. ICM Peripheral Name (required) Select the CUCM peripheral. Dialer Type Select SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) General Telephony Section Include Area Code when Dialing When this option is enabled, the dialer uses the area code to reach local telephone numbers. The default is Disabled. Dial prefix Enter any dialing prefix required by your location or by your campaigns. For example, some locations require the prefix 9 to reach an outside telephone line. Long distance prefix Enter the long distance area code for all long distance calls. The dialer checks the local area codes against the contact number. If the configured local area code does not match the area code in the contact number, the dialer determines that this number is a long distance call. Note    If the dialer is installed in a location outside the United States, either enter the locally specific long distance prefix in the Long distance prefix field or leave the field blank. Local area code (comma delimited) (required) Enter the area/city code that is used at your location. Enter multiple local area codes separated by commas; for example, "508,978,617" represents three local area codes. Hangup Delay (1-10) Enter the number of seconds the dialer waits before reusing a port after a hangup event. The default is 1 second. Port Throttle The maximum calls-per-second rate at which the dialer dials outbound calls. This field helps determine the calls-per-second rate at which the dialer dials outbound calls. For example, a port throttle count=5 indicates that no more than 5 calls can be started during a 1 second period. If 5 calls are ready to be dialed, they are spaced evenly over that 1 second period. The recommended range is from 1 to 10 calls per second for SIP dialer.
Step 7	Click Save.

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Configure Port Map

Perform the following steps to configure the port map for each dialer. The port map specifies the number of ports that are available on the dialer and the extension numbers that Unified Communications Manager assigns to those ports. Each configured port represents a dialer phone device on Unified Communications Manager.

Procedure

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Step 1	In the Unified CCE Configuration Manager Outbound Option Dialer configuration window, click the Port Map Selection tab to display the port map configuration.
Step 2	To begin adding ports to this dialer, click Add.
Step 3	Configure a set of ports and their associated extensions.
Step 4	Click OK. The port mappings appear on the Port Map Selection tab.
Step 5	Click Save to save all the configuration information.

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Configure System Options

Use the Outbound Option System Options component in the Unified CCE Configuration Manager to define contact dialing time ranges to apply to all of your Outbound Option campaigns.

Procedure

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Step 1	In Unified CCE Configuration Manager, expand Outbound Option, and then select System Options.
Step 2	Click the General Options tab to define the dialing time range for all your Outbound Option campaigns to use, and then click OK.

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Enable Expanded Call Variables

Perform the following steps to enable the expanded call variables.

Procedure

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Step 1	In Unified CCE Administration, click Manage > Expanded Call Variables.
Step 2	Enable all BAxxxx variables (BAAccountNumber, BABuddyName, BACampaign, BADialedListID, BAResponse, BAStatus, and BATimezone).

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Packet Capture

In order for SIP Dialer to properly capture data, you must ensure that the SIP Dialer on the call server machine is using the active interface from the Ethernet Interface list. You can find out which interface is the active interface by using a network protocol analyzer tool such as Wireshark, which you can download from www.wireshark.org. (From Wireshark, click Capture to open a Capture Interfaces dialog box; the listed interface with network packets is the active interface.)

You can change the SIP Dialer packet capture parameters to use the active interface from the Windows Registry Editor. Change the value of the interface name option (-I) in the CaptureOptions key to the number of the active interface. For example, to use the third interface, edit the value for -I to read -I 3.

Capture files are in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cisco Systems, Inc.\ICM\<customer instance>\Dialer registry key location.

Unified Communications Manager and Gateway Configuration

The next phase of installing Outbound Option is configuring Unified Communications Manager and its related gateway.

The following table lists the steps that comprise Unified Communications Manager configuration and provides pointers to where the tasks are discussed.

Table 3 Unified CM Configuration Steps for Deployments with SIP Dialer

Step Number	Procedure
1	Disable Ringback During Transfer to Agent for SIP
2	Configuration of Voice Gateways or SIP Proxy for Outbound Option
3	Configure SIP Trunks

• Disable Ringback During Transfer to Agent for SIP
• Configuration of Voice Gateways or SIP Proxy for Outbound Option
• Configure SIP Trunks

Disable Ringback During Transfer to Agent for SIP

The voice gateway generates a ringback tone to the customer. To prevent the gateway from generating a ringback, apply a SIP normalization script to the Unified Communications Manager SIP trunk.

Note

Apply this SIP normalization script only to the SIP trunk that is handling the inbound call from voice gateway for agent transfer. If you use the same gateway for both PSTN calls and the SIP Dialer, you must configure separate trunks in Unified Communications Manager and apply this normalization script only to the Dialer SIP trunk. The trunk for PSTN calls still needs a 180 ringing SIP message for inbound calls to trigger the gateway to play ringback to the PSTN. Skip Step 3 if a dedicated SIP trunk already exists for handling agent transfer dialer. Perform Step 1 if the same SIP trunk is used for normal inbound PSTN calls and dialer agent transfer calls.

Procedure

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Step 1	Navigate to https://<IP_address>:8443 where <IP_address> identifies the Unified Communications Manager server.
Step 2	Log in to Unified Communications Manager
Step 3	To create a SIP trunk in Unified Communications Manager with a SIP security profile for the dialer agent transfer calls, select Communications Manager GUI > System > Security > SIP Trunk Security Profile > [Add New]. The default port is 5060. Figure 3. SIP Security Profile
Step 4	Click Save.
Step 5	Create a New SIP trunk and associate the created SIP trunk Security Profile. Figure 4. Create a new SIP trunk
Step 6	Click Save.
Step 7	Click Reset.
Step 8	In Communications Manager GUI > Devices > Device Settings > SIP Normalization Scripts > [Create New], enter the following SIP normalization script into the content field. All other values remain set to default. M = {} function M.outbound_180_INVITE(msg) msg:setResponseCode(183, "Session in Progress") end return M Figure 5. Add Normalization Script
Step 9	Click Save.
Step 10	Associate the created normalization script with the SIP trunk. Figure 6. Associate Script with Trunk
Step 11	Click Save.
Step 12	Click Reset.

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Configuration of Voice Gateways or SIP Proxy for Outbound Option

When you configure a voice gateway for use with Outbound Option, most of the default configuration values are sufficient. However, the following values must be specifically set. If you do not know these values, request the information from your voice network administrator. You must ensure the 100rel SIP capability is enabled for Outbound Option. Otherwise, outbound calls from the SIP Dialer fail. The following two sections provide examples of voice gateway configuration from the command line.

Configure Rel1xx Supported for Dial-Peer for the SIP Dialer

The following example shows how to enable rel1xx on a voice dial-peer for the SIP Dialer. It uses 8989 for the tag of the voice dial-peer.

GW(config)#config t
GW(config-dial-peer)#dial-peer voice 8989 voip
GW(config-dial-peer)#voice-class sip rel1xx supported 100rel
GW(config-dial-peer)#exit
GW(config)#exit
GW#wr

This short procedure results in the following dial-peer configuration. (Note that only the bolded line is relevant to this discussion.)

dial-peer voice 8989 voip
incoming called-number 978T
voice-class sip rel1xx supported "100rel"
dtmf-relay rtp-nte h245-signal h245-alphanumeric
codec g711ulaw

Configure Outgoing Dial-Peer for a Dialing Customer

The following example shows how to configure an outgoing dial-peer for a dialing customer.

GW(config)#config t
GW(config-dial-peer)#dial-peer voice 97810 voip
GW(config-dial-peer)#destination-pattern 97810[1-9]
GW(config-dial-peer)#port 1/0:23
GW(config-dial-peer)#forward-digits all
GW(config-dial-peer)#exit
GW(config)#exit
GW#wr

This short procedure results in the following dial-peer configuration for a dialing customer.

dial-peer voice 97810 pots
destination-pattern 97810[1-9]
port 1/0:23
forward-digits all

Configure Rel1xx Disable for Unified CVP Voice Dial-Peer

The following example shows how to disable rel1xx for a Unified CVP voice dial-peer. It uses 8989 for the tag of the voice dial-peer.

GW(config)#config t
GW(config-dial-peer)#dial-peer voice 8989 voip
GW(config-dial-peer)#voice-class sip rel1xx disable
GW(config-dial-peer)#exit
GW(config)#exit
GW#wr

This short procedure results in the following dial-peer configuration. (Note that only the bolded line is relevant to this discussion.)

dial-peer voice 8989 voip
description CVP SIP ringtone dial-peer
service ringtone
incoming called-number 9191T
voice-class sip rel1xx disable
dtmf-relay rtp-nte h245-signal h245-alphanumeric
codec g711ulaw
no vad

Configure an Outgoing Dial-peer for Transferring Call to Agent

The following examples shows this:

dial-peer voice 11000 voip
 destination-pattern 11T
 session protocol sipv2
 session target ipv4:10.10.10.31(this is Call Manager's IP address)
 voice-class codec 1
 voice-class sip rel1xx supported "100rel"
 dtmf-relay rtp-nte h245-signal h245-alphanumeric
 no vad

Note

In an Outbound SIP Dialer with Unified CVP IVR deployment, a call-survivability script enabled on an incoming POTS dial-peer in the Ingress gateway is not invoked during dialer-related call flows. Enabling a call-survivability script on an Inbound POTS dial-peer, however, does not negatively affect dialer-related call flows.

Configure SIP Trunks

Unified CM is connected to the voice gateway by SIP Trunks, which you configure on Unified CM.

Configure a SIP trunk on Unified CM from Unified CM to the voice gateway. Specify the IP address of the voice gateway in the Destination field. See also steps in this topic: Disable Ringback During Transfer to Agent for SIP.

See also the Cisco Unified Communications Manager System Guide for instructions on how to configure SIP trunks.

For information about logging into Ingress or VXML gateways, refer to "Configure the Ingress Gateway for Courtesy Callback" and "Configure the VXML Gateway for Courtesy Callback" in the Configuration and Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal 9.0(1).

Outbound Option Software Installation Steps

This section discusses the tasks that are associated with installing Outbound Option and related components. Before proceeding, navigate to the side A data server and stop all ICM services there. Then perform the steps in the following sections.

• Software Installation and Database Creation
• Create Outbound Option Private Database
• Configure Logger
• Install Dialer Component on the PG Platform
• Edit Dialer-Related Registry Values
• Installation of Cisco CTI Controls

Software Installation and Database Creation

The next phase in installing Outbound Option is Outbound Option component software installation and associated database creation. The following table lists the steps that comprise software installation and database creation and provides pointers to where the tasks are discussed.

Table 4 Software Installation and Database Creation Steps

Step Number	Procedure
1	Configure Logger
2	Create Outbound Option Private Database
3	Install Dialer Component on the PG Platform
4	Edit Dialer-Related Registry Values
5	Installation of Cisco CTI Controls

Create Outbound Option Private Database

Before you use Outbound Option on Packaged CCE, estimate the size of the Outbound Option private database and then create it on the Logger Side A platform using the ICM ICMDBA utility.

Note	It it is important that you create the Outbound Option private database on side A only.

Procedure

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Step 1	Collect the following information: What is the size, in bytes, of each customer record in the import file? If the size is less than 128 bytes, use 128. (RecordSize) How many records will be imported? (RecordCount) Will new imports replace or append records that are already imported?
Step 2	Estimate the contact table size using one of the following formulas: If imports overwrite imports: Do not change record count If imports append imports: RecordCount = total number of rows kept in a customer table at any one time contact-table-size = RecordSize * RecordCount * 1.18
Step 3	Estimate the dialing list table size using one of the following formulas: If imports overwrite imports: RecordCount = number of rows imported * 1.5 (50% more rows are inserted into the dialing list than imported) If imports append imports: RecordCount = total number of rows kept in customer table at any one time * 1.5 dialing-list-table-size = rows in dialing list * 128 bytes * 4.63
Step 4	Calculate the database size using this formula: contact-table-size + dialing-list-table-size.
Step 5	Start ICMDBA by entering ICMDBA in the Microsoft Windows Run dialog box or command window.
Step 6	Select the Logger and select Database > Create.
Step 7	In the Create Database window, specify the Outbound Option database type.
Step 8	Click Add. The Add Device window appears. Use this window to create a new data device and log device for the Outbound Option database. Specify the disk drive letter and size in megabytes for each new device. Click OK to create the device, and then click Create. Click Start. At a later time, if necessary, you can edit the device to change storage size, or remove a device, using the Database > Expand option.
Step 9	Click Close.

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Caution

No manual changes to the contents of the outbound database are allowed. Do not use triggers in the outbound database. Triggers for the dialing lists or personal callback list should not be added or modified. The Dialer_Detail table in the HDS contains the information required by custom applications. Extract that information from the historical database server (HDS) to a separate server where the custom application can process the data without impacting the HDS.

Configure Logger

Perform the following steps to configure the logger.

Procedure

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Step 1	Click Web Setup.
Step 2	Load the Logger and click Edit Logger.
Step 3	Check the enable Outbound Option check box.
Step 4	Click Save.

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Install Dialer Component on the PG Platform

Perform the following steps to install the dialer component on the Side A PG platform.

Procedure

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Step 1	Make sure all Packaged CCE Services are stopped.
Step 2	On both the call server side A and side B run Peripheral Gateway Setup. Type Start > All Programs > Cisco Unified CCE Tools > Peripheral Gateway Setup.
Step 3	In the Cisco Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise & Hosted Setup dialog box, in the left column under Instances, select an instance.
Step 4	Click Add in the Instance Components section. The ICM Component Selection dialog box opens.
Step 5	Click Outbound Option Dialer. The Outbound Option Dialer Properties dialog box opens.
Step 6	In the initial Dialer Properties dialog box, check Production mode and Auto start at system startup These options set the Dialer Service startup type to Automatic, so the dialer starts automatically when the machine starts up.
Step 7	For Dialer Type, select the radio button for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).
Step 8	Click Next. Note    After you create a dialer, you cannot change the Dialer Type. To switch dialer types, delete the existing dialer and create a new dialer.
Step 9	An Outbound Option SIP Dialer Properties dialog box appears. Supply the following information on this page: In the SIP Dialer Name field, enter the name of the SIP dialer. There is a 32-character limit. Example: Dialer_for_Premium_Calling_List. For SIP Server Type, select Cisco voice gateway. The name entered here must match the name configured in Configuration Manager. In the SIP Server field, enter the hostname or IP address of the Cisco voice gateway. In the SIP Server Port field, enter the port number of the SIP Server port. Default is 5060. Click Next.
Step 10	On the last Outbound Option Dialer Properties dialog box, specify the following information: Campaign Manager server: The host name or IP address of the Outbound Option server. This is typically the same machine where the Outbound Option Campaign Manager (Dataserver Side A) is located. CTI server A: The hostname or IP address of the machine that has side A of CTI server installed. This is typically the same machine where the PG is located (Call Server Side A). CTI server port A: The port number the dialer uses to create an interface with CTI server side A. The default is 42027. Make sure CTI server port matches with CG configuration. Locate the CTI OS Server port number by running the Diagnostic Framework Portico page from the call server machine, and selecting ListProcesses. CTI server B: For duplexed installations, the hostname or IP address of the machine that has side B of CTI server installed. CTI server port B: For duplexed installations, the port number the dialer uses to create an interface with CTI server side B. The default is 43027. Heart beat: How often the dialer checks its connection to the CTI server, in milliseconds. The default value is 500. Media routing port: The port number the dialer uses to create an interface with the Media Routing PIM on the Media Routing PG. The default is 3800. Make sure the Media routing port matches that of the MR PG configuration. Access this registry key: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cisco Systems, Inc.\ICM\mango\PG2A\PG\CurrentVersion\PIMS\pim1\MRData\Config\ApplicationTcpServiceName1.
Step 11	Click Next. A Summary screen appears.
Step 12	Click Next to begin dialer installation.

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Edit Dialer-Related Registry Values

After you finish installing the dialer component, perform the following dialer-related configuration:

• After the dialer process runs for the first time, change the value of the AutoAnswerCall entry to 0 to disable the auto answer setting in the Dialer registry. See Auto Answer Configuration on Agent Phones for details about other options for auto answer that support agent notification of an incoming call.

• Auto Answer Configuration on Agent Phones

Auto Answer Configuration on Agent Phones

The dialer component is preconfigured during installation to auto answer Outbound Option related calls to the Outbound Option agent. However, this default configuration does not provide a zip tone to the agent (which notifies of incoming calls), so agents must monitor the agent application for incoming customer calls.

To enable zip tone, enable auto-answer on the agent’s phone configuration in Unified CM. This solution adds about a second onto the transfer time. This solution is identical to the solution that is used for Unified CCE.

For Mobile Agents using the nailed connection, the Unified CM auto answer setting does not provide a zip tone, but Packaged CCE does provide an option for playing a notification tone to the agent using the agent desk settings.

Enabling auto answer in the agent desk settings or in the dialer component in conjunction with the Unified CM can be problematic. Therefore, Cisco recommends that you disable the auto answer option in the dialer component, and enable it either in the agent desk settings or in Unified CM.

Installation of Cisco CTI Controls

This section describes the installation process for the Cisco CTI controls. It also describes how to install the Cisco CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop (Win32) for Packaged CCE.

Perform the following procedures to install CTI controls to support Outbound Option on the desktop.

• Configure CTI OS Server for Outbound Option
• Install CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop (Win32)
• Integrate Outbound Option with Standard CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop
• Set Outbound Option Expanded Call Variables

Configure CTI OS Server for Outbound Option

If you are running Outbound Option with CTI OS, perform the following procedure to add Outbound Option expanded call variables to CTI OS Server:

Procedure

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Step 1	Log in to the CTI OS server.
Step 2	Rename the <Drive Letter>:\ICM\CTIOS_bin\blendedagent_addecc.reg.txt file to blendedagent_addecc.reg.
Step 3	Right-click the file, select Properties, and then uncheck the read-only check box.
Step 4	Edit the blendedagent_addecc.reg file and globally change "InstanceName" to the system instance name from your Unified ICM setup.
Step 5	Save the file.
Step 6	Double-click the blendedagent_addecc.reg file to add the Outbound Option expanded call variables to CTI OS.
Step 7	In the Node Manager, restart the CTI OS service on the call server.
Step 8	Restart all CTI OS Desktop clients to automatically download the new expanded call variables.

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Install CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop (Win32)

A sample CTI OS Desktop (known as the “Cisco CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop (Win32)”), which supports Outbound Option, is shipped with the product. It is located in <Drive Letter>:\Program Files\Cisco Systems\CTIOS Client\CTIOS Toolkit\Win32 CIL\Samples\CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop.

Procedure

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Step 1	Install CTI OS Client and confirm that the CTI Toolkit SDK and Win32 check boxes are checked.
Step 2	Access the CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop (Win32) from the following location: <Drive Letter>:\Program Files\Cisco Systems\CTIOS Client\CTIOS Toolkit\Win32 CIL\Samples\CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop
Step 3	Double-click the CTIOSOutOptSSoftphone.exe file. The CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop (Win32) displays.

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Integrate Outbound Option with Standard CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop

Outbound Option is fully compatible with the CTI OS CIL library and the CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop (Win32). While there are no Outbound Option-specific controls available for the CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop (Win32), the standard CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop (Win32) can be modified to display all Outbound Option expanded call variables in the call variable grid.

Set Outbound Option Expanded Call Variables

After you add the Outbound Option expanded call variables to the standard CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop (Win32), you can set the values through the grid on the Agent Desktop with Outbound Option. When the agent logs in, the Outbound Option-related expanded call variables are visible. The agent can then change values for those variables.

Verify Connections

The Diagnostic Framework Portico provides details about the health of the installation even before any campaign configuration is initiated or before any call is placed. The interface contains the following details about the dialer status.

Procedure

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Step 1	Navigate to the Outbound Option Dialer component in the Diagnostic Framework Portico. The Node Name is Dialer. The Process name is BADialer.
Step 2	Verify that the Campaign Manager (CM) has a status of Active (A).
Step 3	Verify that the CTI Server (CTI) has a status of Active (A).
Step 4	Verify that the number of Configured Ports equals the number of Ready Ports.
Step 5	Verify that the MR has a status of Active (A).
Step 6	If you discover a problem in any of the previous steps, see Troubleshoot Connections.

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Troubleshoot Connections

Customer Instance Name

The customer instance name shows the dialer’s customer instance, node name, and process name. This can be used if TAC asks you to interrogate the system while debugging a problem for a case.

Campaign Manager

The Campaign Manager shows the Campaign Manager connectivity status. This status is either A for active or X for disconnected. If the Campaign Manager connectivity status is X, the dialer is not connected to the Campaign Manager.

Try pinging from the dialer to the Campaign Manager machine by hostname and by IP Address.

• If the ping fails for the IP address, recheck that the IP address is correct and troubleshoot network connectivity.
  • Check to see whether the Logger Side A node is running.
  • Check to verify whether Outbound Option has been enabled in the Logger Side A setup, and that the Campaign Manager process is running.
• If the ping is successful for the IP address but not for the DNS hostname, check that the DNS hostname is correct and that it is properly configured in the system’s DNS server.
• If the ping is successful, then recheck the dialer component setup to see if the dialer component setup contains the wrong address or port number for the side A Logger.
• Check to see if the name of the Dialer configured in Configuration Manager matches the name entered during PG setup.

CTI Server

The third block shows CTI Server connectivity status. This status is either A for active or X for disconnected. If the status is X, then the dialer cannot connect to either CTI Server on side A or side B.

Try pinging from the dialer to the CTI Server/PG machines by hostname and by IP address.

• If the ping fails for the IP address:
  • Recheck that the IP address is correct, and troubleshoot network connectivity.
  • Check to see whether the CTI Server processes are running.
• If the ping is successful for the IP address but not for the DNS hostname, check that the DNS hostname is correct and whether it is properly configured in the system’s DNS server.
• If the ping is successful, then recheck the dialer component set up to see if the dialer component set up contains the wrong address or port number for the CTI Server.
• Check that the PG is online. Check that the PG has been enabled properly in the ICM Router setup.

Ports

The fourth block shows the state of all dialer ports. The first value, C, shows the total number of configured ports. The second value, R, shows the total number of ready ports. Finally, the third value, B, reports the number of dialer ports that are blocked. (This is runtime activity; it is unusual for ports to be blocked.)

If the number of ports Configured is zero, then the dialer is not receiving port configuration from the Campaign Manager component. Check to verify that ports are configured properly.

If the number of Ready ports is zero, confirm that the PG has been started.

MR PIM

The next block shows connectivity status with the MR PIM. This status is either A for active, X for disconnected, or NR which means connected but not yet able to route. (The U status is rarely seen and indicates that a particular connectivity object within the dialer has not been created yet.)

- If the MR Status is X, check the connectivity by performing the following checks:

• Ping the MR PG address by hostname or IP address.
• Double check the MR PG address and port configured in the dialer component setup.

If the MR PG status is NR, then the Media Routing connection is established. Check to see if the MR PG is online by looking at its status window.

SIP Dialer

The final block shows connectivity status with the SIP Proxy or Voice Gateway that is connected to the SIP Dialer. This status is either A for active, X for disconnected, or D for heartbeat disabled.

Maintenance Considerations

This section contains information about maintaining the Outbound Option application.

• SIP Dialer Voice Gateway Over-Capacity Errors
• Update the North American Numbering Plan Data
• Outbound Option Scripting

SIP Dialer Voice Gateway Over-Capacity Errors

Your network monitoring tool might receive an alarm from the SIP Dialer about being over capacity. You can ignore the alarm unless it becomes an ongoing issue. This section describes the source of the alarm and remedial actions.

If the Voice Gateway in a SIP Dialer implementation is over capacity, the SIP Dialer receives the following message: SIP 503 messages if the SIP Dialer is deployed with Voice Gateway only.

The SIP Dialer raises an alarm when the percentage of SIP 503 messages reaches 1% of all messages.

If the percentage of SIP 503 messages reaches 2% of all messages, the SIP Dialer performs an automatic throttle down. This throttle down means that the SIP Dialer decreases the configured value of Port Throttle (the calls-per-second rate at which the dialer dials outbound calls, set on the Dialer General tab in Unified CCE Configuration Manager) by approximately 10%.

If one throttle down does not correct the problem, the SIP Dialer performs additional throttle downs until either the problem is corrected or the value of Port Throttle is throttled down to 50% of the originally configured value.

For each automatic throttle down, alarm and trace messages clearly provide detailed information about the adjusted port throttle value, the configured port throttle value, and time duration.

If Voice Gateway capacity becomes an ongoing issue, use one of the following measures to attempt to remedy the problem:

• Check the Voice Gateway configuration. If there are errors, fix them and reset Port Throttle to its original value.
• Check the sizing information. Adjust the value of Port Throttle according to the documented guidelines.

Update the North American Numbering Plan Data

The Regional Prefix Update Tool (RPUT) is used to update the Packaged CCE database to the latest North American Local Exchange NPA NXX Database (NALENND).

You can use this tool only if Packaged CCE is using the North American Numbering Plan.

The RPUT is composed of the following two files (installed in the ICM\bin directory on the data server):

• region_prefix_data.txt (or the <DatafileName>) Contains the data this tool uses to update the region prefix table in the Packaged CCE database. Note that you should change paths to the ICM\bin directory.
• regionfix.exe This executable reads the region_prefix_data.txt data file and updates the region prefix table.

The RPUT is run from the command line as described in the following procedure.

Procedure

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Step 1	Open a command prompt (Select Start > Run, and enter cmd, then click OK).
Step 2	Change the path to ICM\bin.
Step 3	Enter the following at the prompt: regionfix.exe <DatafileName> (where <DatafileName> is the name of the data file). Note    If the <DatafileName> is left blank, the RPUT uses the region_prefix_data.txt file as the input data file. The Regional Prefix Update Tool then shows the version of the input data file and asks if you want to proceed. If you proceed, the tool connects to the Packaged CCE database. The number of records that are to be updated, deleted, and inserted appear. These records are put into two different files: region_prefix_update.txt (which includes deleted entries) region_prefix_new.txt
Step 4	Check the contents of the two files before proceeding.
Step 5	Answer Yes to proceed with the update. When the update is complete, the tool displays the following message: Your region prefix table has been successfully updated.

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Outbound Option Scripting

Outbound Option uses Packaged CCE Enterprise scripting configured on the Administrative Workstation to manage campaigns.

There are two types of scripts:

• Outbound Option Administrative Scripts
• Outbound Option Agent Routing Scripts

• Outbound Option Administrative Scripts
• Outbound Option Agent Routing Scripts
• Call Type Reporting and Outbound Option Campaigns

Outbound Option Administrative Scripts

Outbound Option administrative scripts enable, disable, or throttle campaign skill groups for outbound campaigns. The scripts can also automatically close out a skill group for a specific campaign based on time or any other conditional factor that the admin script can access. This scripting is performed at the skill group level to provide more flexibility when managing larger campaigns that are distributed across multiple skill groups.

Enable a campaign skill group by setting the campaign mode to one of the available modes: Preview, Direct Preview, Progressive or Predictive. (For more information about these modes, refer to this section: Dialing Modes.) Schedule an administrative script to run at regular intervals. Disable the campaign skill group by the administrative script, using a script node to change the campaign mode to inbound for that skill group.

This script also provides the ability to control the percentage of agents to be used in a campaign skill group and whether this skill group is used for other campaigns or inbound calls.

Note

An administrative script controls a campaign skill group. A campaign skill group can be mapped only to one campaign at a time. A skill group can be reused if new campaigns are added. If a campaign skill group is recycled, its administrative scripting should be reused as well. However, note that although it is possible to have two administrative scripts controlling the same skill group, conflicting campaign mode requests for Outbound Option can result.

Outbound Option Agent Routing Scripts

Two types of routing scripts are described later in this document. One is for Agent Campaign and one is for IVR Campaign. For instructions on creating them, refer to Set Up Routing Scripts.

Call Type Reporting and Outbound Option Campaigns

The call type is an Unified Contact Center concept that maps a route point dialed number to a routing script. It is also a very useful reporting object for the enterprise to describe all calls that traversed a specific routing script. The call type mostly applies to inbound traffic in the call center because the dialer does not use the routing script when placing outbound calls. However, Outbound Option does use routing scripts to reserve agents and to transfer calls to the Unified CVP, so that it can provide some insight into how calls are being routed.

Because Outbound Option uses a routing script to reserve agents, the Call Type real-time and half-hour reports contain data for Outbound Option reservation calls. It is important to note that this call type data pertains only to reservation calls and does not include reporting information for any outbound calls. To eliminate any confusion regarding Call Type reporting, create a separate call type for Outbound Option routing scripts.

Administration and Usage

Campaign Configuration

Campaign Task List

The following table lists the steps that are required to create both an agent and IVR campaign, and the location of the instructions for the task.

Table 5 Steps for Creating a Campaign

Step Number	Task	Where Discussed
1	Create one or more skill groups for the campaign.	Configure Skill Group
2	Configure the call type using the Packaged CCE Call Type gadget.	Create a Call Type
3	Create a dialed number on the MR client using the Packaged CCE Dialed Number gadget. This dialed number is for agent reservation.	Configure Dialed Numbers
4	Create DN for Abandon to IVR on the MR PG for the SIP dialer.	Configure Dialed Numbers
5	Create DN for AMD to IVR on the MR PG for the SIP dialer.	Configure Dialed Numbers
6	Configure import rule using the Outbound Option Import Rule Tool.	Create Import Rule
7	Configure query rules using the Outbound Option Query Rule tool.	Create a Query Rule
8	Configure a campaign using the Outbound Option Campaign tool.	Create a Campaign
9	Configure a routing script using the Script Editor.	Set Up Routing Scripts
10	Configure an administrative script using the Script Editor.	Set Up Administrative Scripts
11	Voice gateway configuration.	Voice Gateway Configuration

Configure Skill Group

You have to add at least one skill group. For an agent campaign, you need to add at least one agent to the skill group. Log the agent in to the skill group, and make the agent ready for the agent campaign. You do not need to add an agent for an IVR campaign skill group. For information about configuring skill groups, refer to "Skill Groups" in the Packaged CCE Administration Guide for Release 9.0(x).

Create a Call Type

The dialed numbers and routing scripts that you will create will reference call types, so you should create them as needed. For information about creating call types, see "Call Types" in the Packaged CCE Administration Guide. For example, you can create one call type for an agent campaign and another for an IVR campaign. You need to associate the call types with the dialed numbers you created earlier.

Configure Dialed Numbers

You must configure at least two dialed numbers on the outbound routing client: one for the agent campaign and one for the IVR campaign. Refer to "Dialed Numbers" in the Packaged CCE Administration Guide for Release 9.0(x) for information about configuring dialed numbers.

Create Import Rule

The Import Rule defines how Outbound Option: locates the imported file. The Import Rule defines the import format of the user contact list (fixed length or comma-delimited fields), and the information to be found in the fields of the file, such as the first and last names of contacts. It also schedules updates for your calling lists imports.

There are two types of import rules in Outbound Option:

• Contact - An import rule that you create for a specific campaign. Note that it is possible to have a single import rule with many contacts, and use query rules to separate those contacts into different campaigns.
• Do Not Call - An import rule, created once and applicable to all campaigns, that provides do-not-call information to all campaigns

Before you create an import rule, you need to decide where you want Outbound Option to look for the import list.

Note	When you edit an existing import rule, changing the target table name creates a new table, but does not remove the old table. The old table remains in the database, but will not be used by the system.

Perform the following steps to create an import rule.

Procedure

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Step 1	In Unified CCE Configuration Manager, expand the Outbound Option menu, then double-click the Outbound Option Import Rule component.
Step 2	Click Retrieve.
Step 3	Click Add at the bottom of the list box area of the window. Then fill out the information that is required on the following tab pages: Import Rule General Tab Page. Import Rule Definition Tab Page. Import Rule Schedule Tab Page.
Step 4	Click Save.

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When you import records, take note of the following:

• The dialing rate/CPS is affected.
• The "record fetch query performance" is also affected if you are importing huge number of records. The performance of the query impacts the call rate.

Note	If you edit an import rule, the changes that you make to that import rule take effect on the next import.

Import Rule General Tab Page

Specify the following information on the Import Rule General tab page.

Field	Description
Import name (required)	There is a 32-character limit. Examples of import names might be "Premium_Calling_List_for)_XYZ," or "Do_Not_Call_List_for_XYZ." The default setting is "DoNotCall."
Enable option	This option enables or disables importing for the import rule.
Import type	Select either Contact or Do_Not_Call from the drop-down list. Note    If you are creating a Do_Not_Call import, be sure to also properly format the Do Not Call list file as described in Create Do Not Call List. If you are creating a contact import, format the contact import file as described in Create Contact Import File.
Target table name (required)	If you selected Do_Not_Call as the import type, the Import Rule component automatically assigns it to the DoNotCall table. If you selected Contact as the import type, you can enter any name for the target table within the following restrictions: The name must be a maximum 32-character string, including alphanumeric characters, periods (.), underscores (_), and hyphens (-). Alphabetic characters can be upper- or lowercase. The name must begin with an alphanumeric character and must not contain spaces.
Import file path (required)	Enter the directory path name for the import file. The maximum number of characters allowed is 255. Click Browse to the right of the Edit field to browse for the location.
Import data type	Select either the Comma delimited or the Fixed length setting, to indicate if the file is comma-delimited or if it uses fixed-length columns to separate fields.
Overwrite table	When this option is enabled, you can overwrite the current import with a new import. When this option is disabled, new import data is appended to the existing data. Note that you cannot append a new field to existing import data. Also, you cannot modify or remove existing fields. Note    Do not perform a file import with the Overwrite table option while a campaign is in progress. If you do, the dialer becomes unable to access records, because a database operation is in progress on the dialing List table.

Import Rule Definition Tab Page

Specify the following information on the Import Rule Definition Tab Page.

Field	Description
Standard column type	Choose a column type to use for this data field in the import rule. The following column types are allowed: AccountNumber Custom FirstName LastName Phone01 through Phone10 (allowed data: digits 0-9, pound sign (#), and asterisk (*)) PhoneExt01 through PhoneExt10 (allowed data: digits 0-9). This column is for future use; it is not currently used. Do not use it. Outbound Option removes single quotation marks present in the Import file. Outbound Option does not send data from Custom columns to the agent desktop. They are available for use only in the query rule select clause for business-specific filtering into different dialing lists.
Field name	The name that you assign to this field, dimmed unless you select Custom for the Standard column type. The maximum length is 32 characters.
Type	The field name and its drop-down list are dimmed unless you select Custom for the Standard column type. For a Custom type, select the data type that this field uses. The following Custom column types are allowed: Custom CHAR (up to 255 characters) Custom VARCHAR (up to 255 characters) Custom DATETIME (date followed by time: MM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss) Custom REAL (up to 4 characters, including the decimal point) Custom INT (up to 255 characters; decimal point counts as one character) The default is the VARCHAR data type.
Field length (1-255)	The number of characters that this field uses to store data. The default is 1.
Decimal places (1-10)	For numeric data fields, enter the number of decimal places you want the import rule to use.
Allow nulls to be entered for this field option	If you enable this option, you can have empty data in the import file for this column. If you disable this option, you must have data. The default is Disabled.

Imports

This section provides procedures for creating an import rule file, creating a Do Not Call list, and adding attributes for a contact list.

• Import Procedure
• Create Do Not Call List
• Create Contact Import File

Import Procedure

Before you run an import, you must first create an import rule file that contains the data to be imported. This import rule can have a maximum of 10240 characters per row, and can be in one of two formats:

• Comma-delimited format - Each column data is separated by a comma.
• Fixed format - Each column data is separated by spaces.

Create Do Not Call List

When creating a Do_Not_Call list file, format it correctly using the following instructions.

Procedure

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Step 1	Using a text editor, create a text file that contains all the do-not-call phone numbers.
Step 2	Enter a phone number and an extension (if applicable) for each Do Not Call entry on a new line.
Step 3	Observe the following characteristics for each Do Not Call entry: Each phone number can be a maximum of 20 characters long. Each extension can be a maximum of eight characters long. Phone numbers with associated extensions must be separated with a comma between the phone number and the extension. The Do Not Call table can support up to 60 million entries, but note that the information is stored in memory in the Campaign Manager process.
Step 4	Save the text file to the local server.

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The following is an example of a Do_Not_Call list:

2225554444

2225556666

2225559999

2225552000,4321

To add a customer to this list, import a Do Not Call list.

Do Not Call import files are read by the Campaign Manager. Dialing List entries are marked as Do Not Call entries only when the Campaign Manager fetches the Dialing List entry and only when there is an exact, digit-for-digit match. This allows Do Not Call imports to happen while a Campaign is running without rebuilding the Dialing List.

Note	If the Dialing List includes a base number plus extension, this entry must match a Do Not Call entry for that same base number and same extension. The dialer will not dial the extension.

When the Campaign Manager starts it automatically imports from the DoNotCall.restore file that is stored in the <drive>\icm\<instance>\la\bin directory. When reading Do Not Call import files, the Campaign Manager appends the data to the DoNotCall.restore file. This restore file allows recovery of Do Not Call records after the Campaign Manager stops unexpectedly or for planned maintenance, such as a Service Release installation.

The restore file can grow to approximately 1 GB if 60 million DNC records are imported, each having ten-digit numbers plus five-digit extensions. Sufficient disk space must be available on LoggerA to store the DoNotCall.restore file.

For requirements about the Do Not Call list, see Adherence to FCC/​FTC/​UK Ofcom Requirements.

Note	To clear the Do Not Call list, import a blank file with the Overwrite table option enabled.

Create Contact Import File

When creating a contact import file, you must observe the format you designed according to the database rules set up in Import Rule Definition Tab Page.

The following example assumes that you have contact information with AccountNumber, FirstName, LastName, and Phone column types.

Procedure

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Step 1	Using a text editor, create a text file that contains the information for these fields.
Step 2	Enter an account number, first name, last name, and phone number for each entry on a new line. Use either comma delimited or fixed length, as described on the Import Rule General Tab Page.
Step 3	Save the text file to the local server. The following is an example of a contact import file: 6782,Henry,Martin,2225554444 3456,Michele,Smith,2225559999 4569,Walker,Evans,2225552000

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Import Rule Schedule Tab Page

Specify the following information on the Import Rule Schedule Tab Page.

Field	Description
Schedule start time	Enter or select the time when the process starts. Because the setting uses 12-hour time notation, be sure to select AM or PM. The time is based on the local time at the data server. The default is 9:00 AM.
Weekly option	Enable this option for the import rule process to execute on the same days each week. Enable the days of the week when you want the process to execute. Disable this option if you do not want the process to execute weekly.
Monthly option	Enable this option for the import rule process to execute on selected days each month. Enter the day of the month on which you want the process to execute. Note that if you select a date that does not occur during a particular month, such as the 31st day of April, the import does not execute on that month.
Start import when file is present option	Enable this option to import a file as soon as it is copied into the specified location. Note that the folder that you specify must have write permissions. Otherwise, import file copying and renaming cannot occur. The import process polls every second to see when the import file becomes available. After the file is available, the import begins immediately.
Rename File After Import	When selected, specifies that the import file be renamed by appending ".bak" to the filename after the import is complete.
Delete File After Import	When selected, specifies that the import file be deleted after the import is complete.

Create a Query Rule

The Query Rule component defines the SQL rule that the Outbound Option Import process uses to build the dialing list for a particular campaign. Based on SQL queries to the database, the rule defines how the contact records from the Outbound Option database are selected to be inserted in the dialing list.

Perform the following steps to create a query rule.

Procedure

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Step 1	In Unified CCE Configuration Manager, expand the Outbound Options menu, then open the Outbound Option Query Rule component.
Step 2	Click Retrieve.
Step 3	Click Add at the bottom of the list box area of the window.
Step 4	Specify the following information on the Query Rule General tab page. Table 6 Query Rule General Tab Page Field Description Query rule name (required) Maximum 32-character string, including alpha-numeric characters, periods (.), and underscores (_). Alphabetic characters can be uppercase or lowercase. The name must begin with an alphanumeric character, and must not contain spaces. Enable option Specifies that the rule is available for all campaigns. The default is Enabled. Import Select the name of the import rule to use as part of this query rule. The drop-down list displays all of the import rules that you created with the Outbound Option Import Rule component. Description (Optional) Enter a description of this query rule. Rule Clause (required) To create a rule clause for selecting records, select items from the Column Name, Operators, and SQL Functions columns on this tab page, and then click Paste to enter them in the Rule Clause area of the tab page. After you have created the rule clause, click Validate Rule Clause to perform SQL syntax checks on everything in the Rule Clause area. If SQL returns any syntax warning or error messages, correct any problems before clicking Save at the bottom of the tab page. If you want a rule clause to select all records in the input, specify a rule clause of 1=1. Update Dialing List If you make changes to this query rule, clicking this button causes the changes to be updated in the dialing list for all the campaigns that use this particular query rule (dynamic update). If you do not click this button, the changes occur during the next import.
Step 5	Click Save.

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Create a Campaign

Use the Outbound Option Campaign tool to define or modify the settings that apply to a campaign. You can also add or delete a campaign through this tool.

Before you create a campaign, you must first configure the following information:

• At least one skill group
• At least one query rule
• The following dialed numbers:
  • One for accessing the agent reservation script (not required for transfer to IVR campaigns). This number must be set up under media routing (MR).
  • One for transferring the call to the IVR for abandon treatment when no agents are available. This number must be different from the previous number.
  • One for transferring the call to the IVR for answering machine detection (AMD) or transfer to IVR campaign treatment. This number can be the same as the previous number, but different from the first number.

Perform the following steps to create a campaign.

Procedure

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Step 1	In Unified CCE Configuration Manager, expand the Outbound Option menu, then open the Outbound Option Campaign component.
Step 2	Click Retrieve.
Step 3	Click Add at the bottom of the list box area of the window.
Step 4	Fill in the fields described on the following pages: Campaign General Tab Page. Campaign Purpose Tab Page. Query Rule Selection Tab Page. Skill Group Selection Tab Page. Call Target Tab.
Step 5	Click Save.

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Campaign General Tab Page

Specify the following information on the Campaign General tab page.

Field	Description
Campaign Name (required)	Maximum 32-character string, including alphanumeric characters, periods (.), and underscores (_). Alphabetic characters can be upper- or lowercase. The name must begin with an alphanumeric character.
Description	Optional description for the campaign; maximum 255 characters.
Enable option	This option enables or disables the campaign.
Power Dialing Section
Lines per agent (required)	The number of lines dedicated to each agent in this campaign. Note that if this value and the Maximum lines per agent value are both set to 1, the mode defaults to Progressive. Default = 1.5 (Three lines for every two agents.) Allowable Range = 1 - 100 This value performs as follows in the Outbound Option dialing modes: Preview mode: Ignored (always 1). Progressive mode: Used as defined. Predictive mode: Used as an initial value.
Dialing Options Section
Maximum lines per agent (required)	The upper bound for the number of customers the dialer will dial for a reserved agent at a time when the campaign is running in predictive mode. Default = 2 Range = 1 - 100
Abandon calls limit (1-100)	This option only applies to Predictive campaigns. Enable this option to set an Abandon calls limit (1-100) for the percentage of abandoned calls in this campaign. The granularity is to one-tenth of a percent. Default = 3.0. If the option is disabled, the campaign dials without regard to the abandon limit. Note    A call is considered abandoned if a person answers it and the contact center does not connect the call to a sales representative within two seconds of the person's completed greeting.
Advanced	Clicking the Advanced button opens a Predictive Dialing Settings dialog box. On this dialog box, you can change the Voice Calls Per Adjustment and the Gain parameters that control how adjustments are made to the lines per agent in this campaign. Accepting the default is recommended in most cases. For more information, see Parameter Tuning.
Dial Settings Section
No answer ring limit (2 - 10)	Defines the number of times the software allows a dialed telephone number to ring. Enter the maximum number of rings allowed. The length of one ring is specified at the dialer level in the TimeToRingCustomer registry entry. Default = 4. Note    The default behavior is to allow calls to ring for 32 seconds (No answer ring limit - 4, TimeToRingCustomer key - 8 seconds). Assuming the default 8 second TimeToRingCustomer key is used, setting the "No answer ring limit" to the minimum 2 rings meets 15-second ring-time requirements.
Maximum attempts (1 - 100)	Defines the maximum number of attempts, including callbacks and retries. Enter the maximum number of attempts to be made in zone 1 and zone 2. Default = 3. Note that increasing the number of attempts causes closed records to be reopened, which can result in slower performance. For more information, see Modification of Maximum Number of Attempts in a Campaign.
Abandoned call wait time (0 - 10) (required)	Minimum duration (in seconds) of an outbound call. If the duration of an outbound call is less than this specified value, Outbound Option considers the call as customer abandoned, and the customer record that is associated with that call is scheduled for a retry. To disable this feature, set this value to 0. Enter the number of seconds. Default = 1. Note that if this feature is disabled, then Outbound Option does not consider this call as customer abandoned. It affects the reporting of this call in the Outbound Option dialer_detail table.
Campaign Prefix Digits	Digits to be prefixed to each customer number dialed from this campaign. For the SIP Dialer, this field represents the phone number that is advertised as the calling number for the campaign. Enter a maximum of 15 digits in this field.
Retries Section
No answer delay	Defines (in minutes) how often the software waits before calling back a no-answer call. Enter the number of minutes. Default = 60.
Busy signal delay	Defines (in minutes) how long the software waits before calling back a busy telephone number. Enter the number of minutes. Default = 60.
Customer abandoned delay	If a customer abandons a call, the time (delay in minutes) when the dialer should call the customer back. Default = 30.
Dialer abandoned delay	If the dialer abandons a call, the time (delay in minutes) when the dialer should call the customer back. Default = 60.
Answering machine delay	If the call was answered by an answering machine, how long the software waits (in minutes) before calling back. Default = 60.
Customer not home delay	If the customer was not at home and should be called back, the time (in minutes) when the dialer should call the customer back. Default = 60.
Callback Settings Section
Personalized callback	Enables the personal callback option. This option allows an agent to schedule a callback to a customer for a particular date and time, which connects the customer to the agent they originally spoke to (at the time the customer requested).
Reschedule callback mode (required)	Determines how Outbound Option should handle the personal callback if the agent is not available: Use Campaign DN. Reschedule the personal callback to the same time the next business day. Abandon the personal callback.

• Modification of Maximum Number of Attempts in a Campaign
• Parameter Tuning

Modification of Maximum Number of Attempts in a Campaign

Adjusting the maximum number of attempts amount (Maximum attempts field on the Campaign General tab page) in a campaign configuration can be useful for calling customers who were not previously reached without having to import their phone numbers again. This option is particularly useful if the campaign import is an append instead of an overwrite type. Be aware that modifying this option in the campaign configuration results in an update of all customer records that were not successfully contacted. The Campaign Manager can update only about 20 records per second, and no new customer records will be delivered to the dialer for this campaign while this update is in progress; therefore, only update the Maximum attempts field when the campaign is not in progress.

You can view how many records have been closed and how many were successfully reached by using the Call Summary Count per Campaign Real Time report.

See the User Guide for the Cisco Unified Intelligence Center Reporting Application Release 9.0(1) for more information.

Parameter Tuning

The Voice Calls Per Adjustment and Gain parameters are settings in the Advanced Users configuration tab used to control the way the predictive dialing behaves. Do not modify the default values unless you understand the parameters and the possible risks incurred when changing the pacing.

• The Voice Calls Per Adjustment parameter is a count of the number of live voice connections that are required to trigger a correction. (The default value is 70 voice calls.) If the abandon rate exceeds the target by a significant margin, the dialer can make corrections before collecting 70 calls.
• The Gain parameter controls the size of the Lines per agent corrections.

Setting the Voice Calls Per Adjustment parameter to a smaller setting leads to larger fluctuations in the measured Abandon Rate because the sample size is less significant. This results in less change in the Lines per agent value over time.

Caution

Be careful when modifying both parameters (Gain and Voice Calls Per Adjustment) at the same time. For example, increasing the Gain while decreasing the Voice Calls Per Adjustment results in larger changes in the "Lines per agent correction rate," which might overcorrect changes in measured values. Decreasing the Gain while increasing the Voice Calls Per Adjustment can similarly cause too slow of a change to underlying changes in the hit-and-abandon-rates. A campaign that is reaching more than 20 live voice customers every minute (600 per half hour) might benefit from reducing the Gain, but a lower Gain becomes less effective as the number of agents in the campaign dwindles or the hit rate changes rapidly.

Campaign Purpose Tab Page

Specify the following information on the Campaign Purpose tab page.

Note	You cannot configure both Agent Based campaigns and Transfer to IVR campaigns at the same time.

Field	Description
Agent Based Campaign
Agent Based Campaign	This type of campaign uses an outbound mode that causes the dialer to transfer every customer call that is associated with a specific skill group to an agent.
Enable IP AMD	Selecting this option enables answering machine detection for the IP dialers in the system only. If this option is enabled, when the dialer detects an answering machine, it performs one of the following actions. (Default = Enabled.) Abandon Call (default): Drops the call, marks it as an answering machine, and schedules a retry. Transfer to Agent: Transfers the call to an agent. Transfer to IVR Route Point: Transfers the call to play a prerecorded message. (The IVR route point is configured in the Skill Group Selection dialog box in the Campaign Skill Group Selection tab.) Terminate Tone Detect: Transfers the call after detecting the answering machine beep.
Call Progress Analysis	If this option is disabled, all Call Progress Analysis for all calls made from this dialer is disabled on a campaign-by-campaign basis, including voice detection, fax/modem detection, and answering machine detection. (Default = Disabled.) If Call Progress Analysis is enabled, specify the Record CPA parameter. The Gateway provides a media stream and the dialer records .wav files. This improves Call Progress Analysis performance. Note    If you have a SIP dialer, you must enable IP AMD for CPA to function. If you do not enable IP AMD, the SIP dialer instructs the gateway to transfer the call to agent without waiting for detection.
Transfer to IVR Campaign
Transfer to IVR Campaign	This type of campaign uses an outbound mode that causes the dialer to transfer every customer call that is associated with a specific skill group to a service control-based IVR instead of an agent. This feature allows a contact center to run unassisted outbound campaigns using prerecorded messages in the IVR.
Enable IP AMD	Selecting this option enables answering machine detection for the IP dialers in the system only. If this option is enabled, when the dialer detects an answering machine, it does one of the following actions. (Default = Enabled.) Abandon Call (default): Drops the call, marks it as an answering machine, and schedules a retry. Transfer to IVR Route Point: Transfers the call to play a prerecorded message. (The IVR route point is configured in the Skill Group Selection dialog box in the Campaign Skill Group Selection tab.) Terminate Tone Detect: Transfers the call after detecting the answering machine beep.
Call Progress Analysis Parameters
Minimum Silence Period (100-1000)	Minimum silence period required to classify a call as voice detected. If many answering machine calls are being passed through to agents as voice, then increasing this value accounts for longer pauses in answering machine greetings. Default is 608.
Analysis Period (1000-10000)	Number of milliseconds spent analyzing this call. If there is a short agent greeting on an answering machine, then a longer value here categorizes that answering machine call as voice. If the call is to a business where the operator has a longer scripted greeting, a shorter value here categorizes the long, live greeting as answering machine. Default is 2500.
Minimum Valid Speech (50-500)	Minimum number of milliseconds of voice required to qualify a call as voice detected. Default is 112.
Maximum Analysis Time (1000-10000)	Max number of milliseconds allowed for analysis before identifying a problem analysis as dead air/low volume. Default is 3000.
Maximum Termination Tone Analysis (1000-60000)	Maximum milliseconds the dialer analyzes an answering machine voice message looking for a termination tone. If the message has an odd tone and the analysis does not recognize it, the call is not transferred or dropped until this timeout occurs. Default is 30000.
Reset to System Default	Resets all items in the Call Progress Analysis (CPA) Parameters section to the system defaults.

Query Rule Selection Tab Page

Press the Add button on the Query Rule Selection tab page and specify the following information.

Field	Description
Query rule name	The name of the query rule.
Enable	Enables the query rule for this campaign. Default = Enabled.
Start time	The local time at the Packaged CCE Central Controller when a query rule can begin to execute.
End time	The local time at the Packaged CCE Central Controller when a query rule must stop executing.
Penetration (0-400):	The maximum number of calls that this campaign tries during a query rule execution; for example, 400 contact attempts. When a query rule reaches the penetration number, it stops executing and the next query rule in the list begins to execute. Default = 100. If this option is enabled, Duration and Hit Rate are disabled.
Duration (0-120):	The total amount of time that this query rule can run; for example, 30 minutes. When the query rule reaches the time limit, it stops executing and the next query rule in the list can begin to execute. Default = 30. If this option is enabled, Penetration and Hit Rate are disabled.
Hit Rate (0-100):	The minimum percentage of calls that can be answered (excluding answers by answering machines) during this query rule execution; for example, 30 percent. If the hit rate drops below this value, the next query rule begins to execute. Default = 30. If this option that is enabled, Duration and Penetration are disabled.

Skill Group Selection Tab Page

From the Skill Group Selection tab page, press Add to display the fields available to fill out.

Field	Description
Skill Group Name	The name of the skill group that is assigned to this campaign.
Overflow Agents per Dialer (0-100)	This setting can be useful for Progressive campaigns to reduce the abandon rate at the cost of increasing agent idle times. This setting ensures that there is always at least one extra agent reserved before the dialer begins dialing. When this setting is set to 1, at least two agents need to be reserved before the dialer begins dialing. The intention is to increase the odds that an agent is available when two or more customers answer, which increases agent idle times while decreasing the abandon rate.
Dialed number	For agent campaign, enter the dialed number that you created earlier for agent campaign on the Outbound routing client. For IVR campaign, leave this field empty.
Records to cache (1-400)	The minimum number of dialing numbers that each dialer caches for each of the Outbound Option skill groups. This amount is based on how many campaigns are configured. If you have many campaigns, you should cache fewer records; that is, set the number lower. Default = 1.
Number of IVR Ports	The total number of VRU ports that are allocated for the specific skill group. This value indicates how many ports are available for the dialer to transfer customer calls. Because this value indicates the total number of ports that are supported by the IVR for the current skill group, multiple skill groups can make transfer-to-IVR calls.
Dialed Numbers for Transferring to an IVR Section
After AMD and for transfer to IVR campaigns	If the campaign is configured to transfer AMD calls to a VRU, enter the dialed number that you created earlier for transferring call to VRU on the outbound routing client. This number must be configured for an IVR campaign.
When no agents are available	This number enables the dialer to play a message to the caller when no agents are available. Enter the dialed number that you configured earlier on the outbound routing client. This number can be the same as the number for the previous field.

Call Target Tab

Specify the following information on the Call Target tab.

Field	Description
Daylight Savings Zone	Describes the default time zone to use for any numbers dialed which do not map to the Outbound Option region prefixes.
Zone 1 and Zone 2 options	Enable this option, and then enter the start and end times for reaching your calling targets. Zones are useful for distinguishing phone locations. For example, Zone 1 can be designated as work, and Zone 2 can be home. Note    The start and end times are local to your contacts (Customer Time). The same number can be assigned to one or both zones at the same time. However, Zone 1 time and Zone 2 time cannot overlap.
Numbers to dial	Lists the phone numbers in dialing order for the Zone 1 or Zone 2. To move a phone number into the Numbers to dial list, click a number in the Available numbers list and then click the left arrow to add it to the Numbers to dial list. Do not move phone numbers after the campaign has started because the phone numbers might not be dialed. To remove a phone number in the Numbers to dial list, click the number and then click the right arrow to add it to the Available numbers list. To control the dialing order, use the up and down arrows to move the phone numbers within the Numbers to dial list. Note    Customers are dialed based on the time zone of the first phone that is configured on this tab. The time zone is based on the prefix of the phone number and the region prefix configuration. If two phone numbers that are imported for the same customer have different time zones, both phones are called during times that are valid for the first phone.
Available numbers	Contains the available phone numbers that can be added to the Numbers to dial list for Zone 1 or Zone 2.

Notes on Editing a Campaign in Progress

You can edit most campaign configuration settings while a campaign is running. The changes take effect with new calls after the setting has been changed. However, avoid the following edits to a campaign in progress:

• Do not modify the Max Attempts value. Modifying this value while a campaign is in progress can cause a long delay in record retrieval and longer agent idle times.
• Do not delete a skill group while a campaign is in progress.

(Optional) Configure Personal Callbacks

Personal Callback is an optional feature in Outbound Option. Personal Callback allows an agent to schedule a callback to a customer for a specific date and time. A personal callback connects the agent who originally spoke to the customer back to the customer at the customer-requested time.

This section describes how to configure your system to handle personal callbacks. Then, when your contact center users create campaigns, they enable the callback feature on a per campaign basis. The following table outlines the steps involved and lists which steps are described in detail below.

Table 7 Personal Callback Configuration Steps

Step Number	Procedure Description
1-6	Configure a campaign.
7	Configure a call type for personal callback.
8	Configure a correctly named dial number.
9	Configure a routing script.
10-12	Configure registry keys.

Procedure

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Step 1	To enable Personal Callback, open the Unified CCE Configuration Manager.
Step 2	Select Outbound Option.
Step 3	Load the Campaign tool.
Step 4	Select the Campaign General tab.
Step 5	Open a predefined campaign.
Step 6	Check the personal callback check box. Personal callback is now enabled. To configure the personal callback registry entries, continue with Step 7 of this procedure.
Step 7	Configure a call type for personal callback. For information about creating call types, see "Call Types" in the Packaged CCE Administration Guide.
Step 8	Create a dialed number with the name PersonalCallback on the outbound routing client. Refer to "Dialed Numbers" in the Packaged CCE Administration Guide for Release 9.0(x) for information about configuring dialed numbers.
Step 9	In Script Editor, create a routing script that sets up the Personal Callback reservation.
Step 10	Open regedit on the data server (DS).
Step 11	Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cisco Systems, Inc.\ICM\<instance name>\LoggerA\BlendedAgent\CurrentVersion in the Outbound Option registry.
Step 12	Configure the personal callback registry entries listed in the following table. (Enter the values in decimal format.) Note: The minimum and maximum values in the table are enforced by Outbound Option at runtime. The registry does not validate the values. Also, the default values are sufficient for most users. Name Default Value (integers) Description CallbackTimeLimit 15 Calculates the callback time range for each personal callback in minutes. Outbound Option queries the Personal Callback List for callback records, where the CallbackDateTime value is between the current time and the sum of the current time minus the CallbackTimeLimit. PersonalCallbackTimeToRetryBusy 1 Sets the amount of time, in minutes, that the Outbound Option Dialer waits before retrying a personal callback when the customer’s phone is busy (minimum value is 1; maximum value is 10). PersonalCallbackTimeToRetryNoAnswer 20 Sets the amount of time, in minutes, that the Outbound Option Dialer waits before retrying a personal callback when the customer does not answer the phone (minimum value is 5; maximum value is 60). PersonalCallbackTimeToRetryReservation 5 Sets the amount of time, in minutes, that the Outbound Option Dialer waits before retrying to reserve an agent if the agent is not available (minimum value is 1; maximum value is 10). PersonalCallbackMaxAttemptsDefault 5 Sets the maximum number of times a personal callback is attempted (minimum value is 1; maximum value is 20). PersonalCallbackTimeToCheckForRecords 5 The interval time, in minutes, at which the Outbound Option Dialer checks the Campaign Manager for personal callback records (minimum value is 1; maximum value is 30). PersonalCallbackDaysToPurgeOldRecords 5 The number of days after the personal callback has been scheduled to keep the record before it is purged (minimum value is 1; maximum value is 30). PersonalCallbackRecordsToCache 20 The number of personal callback records to send to the Outbound Option Dialer at one time (minimum value is 5; maximum value is 100). PersonalCallbackSaturdayAllowed 0 Indicates whether personal callbacks are allowed on Saturdays: 0: Personal callbacks are not allowed on Saturdays and will be scheduled for the next allowable day. 1: Personal callbacks are allowed on Saturdays. PersonalCallbackSundayAllowed 0 Indicates whether personal callbacks are allowed on Sundays: 0: Personal callbacks are not allowed on Sundays and will be scheduled for the next allowable day. 1: Personal callbacks are allowed on Sundays. PersonalCallbackCallStatusToPurge C, M If needed, this registry entry must be created. String containing the call status types to consider when purging old personal callback records. For example, if the string contains "C,M,F,L,I," all calls with these call statuses are purged from the database. (If the registry entry is missing, the default is assumed.) Note    The call status values can optionally be delimited using a comma, a hyphen, a semicolon, or a colon. For more information about call status values, see The Schema Guide. PersonalCallbackNoAnswerRingLimit 4 If needed, this registry entry must be created. The number of times a customer phone rings before the call is classified as an unanswered call (minimum value is 2; maximum value is 10).
Step 13	Configure the Queue to Agent node. See the following section.

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Set Up Routing Scripts

Use the Script Editor application to create a reservation script that uses the dialed number for the Outbound Routing Type and routes through a Select node to the previously configured skill group.

Before beginning this procedure, you must create and configure a skill group. For information about creating skill groups, see "Skill Groups" in the Packaged CCE Administration Guide.

The following three sections contain diagrams displaying sample routing scripts.

• Script for Agent Campaign Without Personal Callback
• Script for Agent Campaign With Personal Callback
• Script for IVR Campaign

Script for Agent Campaign Without Personal Callback

The following steps and accompanying diagram provide an example of how to create a script for an agent campaign without personal callback.

Procedure

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Step 1

Using the Dialed Number tool, associate the MR dialed numbers and personal callback with the configured call type.

Step 2

Using the Script Editor Call Type Manager, associate the call type with the newly created reservation script. Note    The yellow numbers in the scripts merely number the nodes as they are created. They do not affect the operation of the script. For more information about using the Script Editor application, see the Script Editor online help. Figure 7. Sample Script for Agent Campaign without Personal Callback

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Script for Agent Campaign With Personal Callback

The following steps and accompanying diagram provide an example of how to create a script for an agent campaign with personal callback. Include the following nodes:

• Add a queue-to-agent node.
• Add a Queue to Skill Group Node after the Queue to Agent Node. Use a skill group that will handle outbound calls.
• The script should end in a release call node for a successful case; otherwise the script ends with the END node.

Procedure

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Step 1

Using the Dialed Number tool, associate the MR and Personal Callback dialed numbers with the configured call type.

Step 2

Using the Script Editor Call Type Manager, associate the call type with the newly created reservation script. Note    The yellow numbers in the scripts merely number the nodes as they are created. They do not affect the operation of the script. For more information about using the Script Editor application, see the Script Editor online help. Figure 8. Sample Script for Agent Campaign with Personal Callback

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Script for IVR Campaign

The following steps and accompanying diagram provide an example of how to create a script for an IVR campaign.

Procedure

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Step 1	Using the Dialed Number tool, associate the MR dialed numbers with the configured call type.
Step 2	Using the Script Editor Call Type Manager, associate the call type with the newly created reservation script. Note    The yellow numbers in the scripts merely number the nodes as they are created. They do not affect the operation of the script. For more information about using the Script Editor application, see the Script Editor online help. Figure 9. Sample Script for IVR Campaign

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Configure Queue to Agent Node

Procedure

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Step 1	In Script Editor, double-click the Queue to Agent node.
Step 2	In the agent expression column, enter Call.PreferredAgentID.
Step 3	Confirm that the Peripheral column is left blank.
Step 4	Click OK to save the Queue to Agent node.
Step 5	Save and then schedule the script. When scheduling the script, use the call type that is configured for personal callback. For more information about script scheduling, refer to "Scripting with Packaged CCE" in Packaged CCE Administration Guide for Release 9.0.

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Set Up Administrative Scripts

Use the Script Editor application to create an administrative script for each skill group to set the OutboundControl variable and the skill group reservation percentage. The Outbound Option Dialer uses the value of this variable to determine which mode each skill group uses.

Note	If the OutboundControl variable is not set, the skill group defaults to inbound. Make sure the routing client for the translation route labels is Unified Communications Manager, which makes the outgoing call.

Perform the following steps to create the administrative script:

Procedure

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Step 1	Open the Script Editor application.
Step 2	Select File > New > Administrative Script.
Step 3	Create an administrative script. One script can be used to control all Outbound Option skill groups or multiple scripts can control multiple Outbound Option skill groups. For example, if you want to control skill groups at different times of the day, you might need multiple administrative scripts; however, if you are going to initialize the groups all in the same way, you may need only one script (with additional Set nodes).
Step 4	Set up the script with the following nodes (required): Start, Set Variable, End, and If. The following diagram displays a very simple administrative script where both the OutboundControl variable and the outbound percentage are set for a skill group. A script in a production call center is typically more complex, perhaps changing these variables according to time of day or service level. Figure 10. Sample Administrative Script Note    The above script assumes that Unified CVP is functioning. If Unified CVP is not working, we advise you to insert an IF node in the above script to disable the IVR campaign. Also, to ensure timely responses to VRU outages, set the administrative script to run every minute.
Step 5	Set the OutboundControl variable. Setting this variable enables contact center managers to control the agent mode. Right-click on the work space and select NEW > Object > Set Variable to open the Set Properties window. For Object Type, select a skill group. For variable, select OutboundControl. Set this variable to one of the values listed in the table below. Table 8 OutboundControl Variable Values Value String Description INBOUND Agents take inbound calls only. Outbound dialing is disabled for the skill group. PREDICTIVE_ONLY Agents in the skill group are dedicated for outbound Predictive calls only. PREVIEW_ONLY Agents in the skill group are dedicated for outbound Preview calls only. PROGRESSIVE_ONLY Agents in the skill group are dedicated for outbound Progressive calls only. PREVIEW_DIRECT_ONLY Agents only place outbound calls and hear ring tones, such as phone ringing or busy signal. Note    If the administrative script is changed and the SET variable is removed, the value of the OutboundControl variable is the same as it was the last time the script was executed. However, if the Central Controller is restarted, the value resets to INBOUND.
Step 6	Right-click on the work space and select NEW > Object > Set Variable to open the Set Properties window. For Object Type, select a skill group. For variable, select OutboundControl.
Step 7	Set the OutboundPercent variable in the same administrative script; for example, select the OutboundPercent variable in the Set Properties window and enter the agent percentage in the Value field. This variable controls the percentage of agents, which are logged in to a particular skill group, used for outbound dialing. For example, if 100 agents are logged in to a skill group, and the OutboundPercent variable is set to 50%, 50 agents are allocated for outbound dialing for this campaign skill group. This setup allows the rest of the agents to be used for inbound or other active campaigns. The default is 100%. Note    This variable does not allocate specific agents for outbound dialing, just a total percentage. The default is 100%.
Step 8	Schedule the script. Select Script > Administrative Manager. An Administrative Manager dialog box appears. Click Add. On the Script tab, select the administrative script. On the Period tab, specify the run frequency of the script. (Recommended frequency is every minute of every day.) (Optional) Enter a description on the Description tab. Click OK to close the Add Administrative Schedule dialog box. Click OK to close the Administrative Manager.

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Sample Administrative Script: ServiceLevelControl

The following figure demonstrates how to control skill group modes based on "Service Level," which maximizes the resource utilization in a call center and maintains an acceptable service level at the same time.

Note	The yellow numbers in the scripts merely number the nodes as they are created. They do not affect the operation of the script. For more information about using the Script Editor application, see the Script Editor online help.

Figure 11. ServiceLevelControl Script

This script divides the day into two parts:

• Peak Traffic Period (8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.): During this period, the OutboundControl variable is set to INBOUND only, because more agents are required to handle inbound calls.
• Other Periods: During all other time periods, the OutboundControl variable is set according to the service level in the past half hour. If the skill group service level in the past half-hour period is over 85%, the OutboundControl variable gets set to PREDICTIVE_ONLY, which maximizes the efficiency of outbound campaigns. If during any half-hour period the skill group service level drops below 85%, the OutboundControl variable is switched to PREVIEW_BLENDED, so that the agents in the skill group can accept inbound calls to improve the service level. When the agents are not in an inbound call, Outbound Option presents the agents with a Preview outbound call, thereby maximizing the resource utilization for the call center at the same time.

• Add the IF Node

Add the IF Node

To add the IF node, follow these steps:

Procedure

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Step 1	Select ObjectType as Skillgroup.
Step 2	Select the skill group that was created for outbound as the Object.
Step 3	Select ServiceLevelHalf as the variable.

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Voice Gateway Configuration

For an IVR campaign, you need to configure a dial-peer in the voice gateway. This dial peer is used to instruct the voice gateway to transfer the call to Unified CVP. It must match the Network VRUL label that is configured on the MR routing client with type 10 Unified CVP network VRU.

In base configuration, this label is preconfigured with default value 66611110000. Follow the steps in this example.

Procedure

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Step 1	Add a dial-peer to match the network VRU label in the outbound routing client. Example: dial-peer voice 6661111 voip description ******To CVP1***** destination-pattern 6661111T session protocol sipv2 session target ipv4:10.10.10.10 voice-class codec 1 voice-class sip rel1xx supported "100rel" dtmf-relay rtp-nte h245-signal h245-alphanumeric no vad Note    The call can be transferred to only one Unified CVP; in the above example, the call is transferred to CVP1.
Step 2	Configure a dial-peer for the VRU leg. This is the same dial-peer as the inbound call flow whose call is transferred to Unified CVP. Example: dial-peer voice 777111 voip description Used for VRU leg service bootstrap incoming called-number 7771111T voice-class sip rel1xx disable dtmf-relay rtp-nte h245-signal h245-alphanumeric codec g711ulaw no vad
Step 3	A dialed number pattern needs to be configured on Unified CVP OAMP so that Unified CVP can route the call to the VXML gateway after it receives the run script request from the router. This dialed pattern is the same one as the inbound call flow that transfers a call to VRU. If the base configuration has not been changed, the pattern is 777111*. Note    It is possible that the procedures in Steps 2 and 3 may have been done already during installation. For more information, see "Configure Dialed Number Pattern" and "Configure Cisco IOS Enterprise Voice Gateway" in Installing and Configuring Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise 9.0(x).

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SIP Dialer Recording Parameters Configuration

When recording is enabled in a campaign, the number of recording files that result can be large. The following table lists registry settings that you can adjust to regulate the number of recording sessions and the maximum recording file size.

Registry Setting	Default Setting	Description
MaxAllRecordFiles	500,000,000	The maximum recording file size (in bytes) of all recording files.
MaxMediaTerminationSessions	200	The maximum number of media termination sessions if recording is enabled in the Campaign configuration.
MaxPurgeRecordFiles	100,000,000	The maximum recording file size (in bytes) when the total recording file size, MaxAllRecordFiles, is reached.
MaxRecordingSessions	100	The maximum number of recording sessions if recording is enabled in the Campaign configuration.

Recording files are in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cisco Systems, Inc.\ICM\<customer instance>\Dialer directory.

Note	Only the G.711 codec is supported for recording. To record outbound calls, configure the G.711 on the voice gateway.

Verification of Dialed Number

Outbound Option places agents in the Reserved state prior to using them for an outbound call. The dialer performs this action by using the dialed number to route to an agent. The following procedure describes how to verify that this mechanism works properly.

• Verify DN Configuration

Verify DN Configuration

When an Outbound Option Dialer is installed in a Unified CCE environment, the dialer uses the dialed number to make routing requests through the Media Routing (MR) Peripheral Gateway. The following verification steps assume that all the applicable configuration and reservation script generation has already been performed.

Procedure

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Step 1	Log an agent in to a skill group participating in an outbound campaign, and make the agent available. (Note the dialed number, which was configured in the Skill Group Selection tab in the Campaign component.) If a different dialed number is used for predictive and preview calls, make sure to verify both dialed numbers.
Step 2	Run the Script Editor application and select the Call Tracer utility from the Script > Call Tracer menu. Select the routing client that is associated with the MR PG and select the Dialed Number.
Step 3	Press Send Call to simulate a route request and note the results. If a label was returned for the agent who was logged in above, the reservation script is working properly and the dialer can reserve agents through this script. If a label is not returned while running this script, see the Cisco Docwiki for troubleshooting assistance.

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Verify Campaign Configuration

As a final step to verify that you configured your Outbound Option campaign correctly, create a small campaign of one or two entries that dials work phones or your mobile phone.

Reports

This section provides information about how to read and understand the Outbound Option reports.

• Outbound Option Reports

Outbound Option Reports

This section describes the Outbound Option reports, created using the Unified Intelligence Center, to view reports on the following enterprise contact center activity:

• Campaign and Dialer Reports
• Skill Group Reports
• Agent Reports
• Import Rule Reports

Note

Because Outbound Option uses a routing script along with a physical call to reserve agents, the Call Type real-time and half-hour reports contain data for Outbound Option reservation calls. It is important to note that this call type data pertains only to reservation calls, and does not include reporting information for any outbound calls. To eliminate any confusion regarding Call Type reporting, create a separate call type for Outbound Option reservation scripts.

• Campaign and Dialer Reports
• Skill Group Reports
• Agent Reports
• Import Rule Reports

Campaign and Dialer Reports

Outbound Option provides a campaign report template that describes the effectiveness of a campaign and the dialer. This list can be used for Agent and IVR campaigns.

Observe the following guidelines when using the campaign reports:

• Campaign Real Time reports describe how many records are left in the campaign dialing list.
• Both Campaign and Dialer Half Hour reports provide the call result counts.

Note	Campaign Real Time reports capture call results since the last Campaign Manager restart only. If the Campaign Manager restarts, data prior to the restart is lost.

The following list describes the data that is presented in the campaign reports.

• A summary of call results for query rules within a campaign since the beginning of the day.
• A summary of call results for a campaign since the beginning of the day. It includes a summary of all query rules within the campaign.
• A view of what is configured for valid campaign calling times for zone1 and zone2 for selected campaigns. The times are relative to the customer’s time zone.
• A view of what is configured for valid campaign calling times for zone1 and zone2 for selected campaign query rules. The zone times are relative to the customer’s time zone. The query rule start and stop times are relative to the Central Controller time.
• How many records for selected query rules have been dialed to completion, and how many records remain.
• How many records for selected campaigns have been dialed to completion, and how many records remain.
• A summary of call results for selected campaign query rules for selected half-hour intervals.
• A summary of call results for all query rules for selected campaigns for selected half-hour intervals.
• A historical table by half-hour/daily report that shows the status (summary and percentage) of each campaign for the selected time period.
• A historical table by breakdown of attempts (in percentage) of each campaign for the selected time period.
• A historical table by half-hour/daily report that shows the status (summary and percentage) per query rule of each campaign for the selected time period.
• A historical table by breakdown of attempts (in percentage) per query rule of each campaign for the selected time period.
• A summary half-hour/daily report that shows activity and performance of the selected campaigns and their skill group for the selected time period, including abandon rate, hit rate, and agent idle times.
• A historical table by breakdown of actual customer calls (outbound calls which reached live voice, inbound calls, or calls transferred to the campaign skill group) for the selected campaigns and their skill groups for the selected time period.

Outbound Option Dialer Reports

The Outbound Option Dialer reports provide information about the dialer. These reports include information about performance and resource usage. The templates also enable you to determine whether you need more dialer ports to support more outbound calls.

The following list describes the data that is presented in the Outbound Option Dialer reports:

• A real-time table that shows contact, busy, voice, answering machine, and special information tone (SIT) detection for each dialer. A SIT consists of three rising tones indicating a call has failed.
• A historical table by half-hour intervals that shows contact, busy, voice, answering machine, and SIT Tone detection for each dialer.
• Displays information about the amount of time the dialer was idle or had all ports busy.
• Displays Dialer status on a port-by-port basis used for troubleshooting. If this report does not display any records, then the data feed is disabled by default. It is enabled only for troubleshooting purposes.

Skill Group Reports

For skill group reporting per campaign, Outbound Option provides reports that represent the skill group activity for a contact center.

The following list describes the data presented in the skill group reports:

• A real-time table that shows all skill groups and their associated Outbound Option status.
• A historical table by half-hour intervals that shows Outbound Option counts for agents signed on, handle, talk, and hold states.

Agent Reports

Outbound Option is automatically enabled at setup. It provides automatic outbound dialing capability.

The Outbound Option Dialer, which places outbound calls to customers and connects these calls with agents, assigns and connects calls differently than regular Packaged CCE routing. Report data for agents handling Outbound Option calls therefore differs from data for agents handling typical voice calls and multichannel tasks.

To interpret agent data for Outbound Option tasks, you need to understand how Outbound Option reserves agents, reports calls that are connected to agents, and handles calls dropped by customers before the calls are connected.

When the Outbound Dialer initiates a call to a customer, it reserves the agent assigned to handle the call by placing a reservation call to the agent and changing the agent's state to Hold. This reservation call is reported as a Direct In call to the agent.

For typical voice calls, the agent is placed into Reserved state when Packaged CCE software reserves the agent to handle a call; the agent's state is reported as Reserved. For Outbound Option calls, reports show the agent in Hold state when reserved for a call and the time that agent spends reserved is reported as Hold Time.

When the customer answers the call, the Outbound Option Dialer transfers the call to an agent. The call is now reported as a Transfer In call to the agent. When the customer call is transferred to the agent, the reservation call is dropped by the dialer and classified as Abandon on Hold.

The abandoned call wait time, set in the Campaign Configuration screen, determines how calls are reported if the caller hangs up. Calls are counted in the Customer Abandon field in both Real Time and Historical campaign query templates only if the customer hangs up before the abandoned call wait time is reached.

For agent reporting per campaign, Outbound Option provides reports that accurately represent the outbound agent activity for a contact center, including information grouped by skill group.

The following list describes the data presented in the agent reports.

• A real-time table that shows Outbound Option agent activity related to Outbound Option calls.
• A historical table that shows agent daily performance for Outbound Option predictive calls, by skill group.
• A historical table that shows agent daily performance for Outbound Option preview calls, by skill group.
• A historical table that shows agent daily performance for Outbound Option reservation calls, by skill group.

Import Rule Reports

Outbound Option reports also enable you to view the success of record importation. Using the Import Rule templates, you can monitor whether records are being added successfully (good records) or are failing (bad records). Also, you can monitor how long it takes to import the records so that you can plan for future record importation.

The same import rule reports are used for Do Not Call and Contact List imports. The reports display a historical view of when imports were done, the number of records imported, and the number of records that were considered invalid because of length constraints or improper formatting.

For contact list imports, the reports also provide insight into the number of contacts that were assigned with the default time zone information for the campaign, as well as the number of contacts that were actually imported into the dialing list after the query rule and format validation was performed.

The following information is available in the Import Rule reports:

• Number of successful, unsuccessful, and total records imported by time range
• Current import status
• A real-time table that shows the number of successful, unsuccessful, and total records imported or to be imported.
• A historical table that shows the number of successful, unsuccessful, and total records imported by time range. The Total Records column indicates the total number of records available in the import file.

Campaign Management

To manage your campaigns most efficiently, use multiple query rules instead of using multiple campaigns.

• Single Campaign Versus Multiple Campaigns
• Results from Individual Customers
• Management of Predictive Campaigns
• Management of Agent Idle Time

Single Campaign Versus Multiple Campaigns

You might choose to run multiple campaigns because of different calling policies (for example, time rules) or to run different outbound modes simultaneously.

From the perspective of dialer port allocation, running fewer campaigns with a larger agent pool is more efficient. Dialer ports are allocated based on the number of agents assigned and the current number of lines per agent to dial. The more campaigns you have that are active, the more the ports are distributed across the campaigns, which affects overall efficiency.

Use query rules to break down a campaign into smaller requirements. These rules can be enabled based on penetration or scheduled times. Campaign reports are available on a query rule level.

Note	In multiple campaigns, the skill groups of agents handling the calls must be the same as those of a single campaign.

Results from Individual Customers

After running a campaign, you can generate a list of customers who were reached, not reached, or have invalid phone numbers. The following are options for how to receive this information from the Outbound Option solution.

• Interpret Information from Dialer_Detail Table

Interpret Information from Dialer_Detail Table

The Dialer_Detail table is a single table that contains the customer call results for all campaigns. When you view the Dialer_Detail table, note that each attempted Outbound Option call is recorded as an entry in the table. Each entry lists the number called and which numbers are invalid.

Management of Predictive Campaigns

The following sections provide guidelines to follow when working with predictive campaigns.

• Initial Values for Lines per Agent
• End-of-Day Calculation for Abandon Rate
• Transfer of Answering Machine Detection Calls to Agents
• Limitations of Smaller Agent Groups

Initial Values for Lines per Agent

Determining the initial value for the number of lines per agent is not as simple as inverting the hit rate. If a campaign has a 20% hit rate, you cannot assume that five lines per agent is the applicable initial value for the campaign if you are targeting a 3% abandon rate. The opportunity for abandoned calls increases geometrically as the lines per agent increases; therefore, set the initial value conservatively in the campaign configuration.

If the reports show that the abandon rate is below target and does not come back in line very quickly, modify the initial value in the campaign configuration to immediately correct the lines per agent being dialed.

End-of-Day Calculation for Abandon Rate

It is not unusual for a campaign to be over the abandon rate target for any given 30 minute period. The dialer examines the end-of-day rate when managing the abandon rate. If the overall abandon rate is over target for the day, the system targets a lower abandon rate for remaining calls until the average abandon rate falls into line. This end-of-day calculation cannot work until after the campaign has been running for one hour. Small sample sizes due to short campaigns or campaigns with fewer agents might not give the dialer enough time to recover from an initial value that is too high.

Similarly, if the campaign is significantly under the target abandon rate, it might begin dialing more frequently with an abandon rate over target for a while to compensate in the abandon rate.

Transfer of Answering Machine Detection Calls to Agents

When enabling the Transfer AMD (Answering Machine Detection) to agent option for an agent campaign or enabling the Transfer AMD to IVR option for an IVR campaign, consider the increase in calls to the target resources (agents or IVR) when determining the initial value. If the expectation is that the AMD rate and the live voice rate are over 50%, perhaps start out with an initial value of 1.1 or even one line per agent to stay under a 3% abandon rate.

Limitations of Smaller Agent Groups

The dialer runs for each dialer skill group, so if you have 20 agents in a campaign skill group on two dialers, then on average each dialer is allocated 10 agents. Below 20 agents, the dialer’s ability to stay near the abandon rate target degrades. With small sample sizes, the measured abandon rate has larger fluctuations, making adjustments based on abandon rate measurements difficult. Parameters have been set to adjust to most situations when 70 live connects are made per dialer skill group within approximately 10 minutes or less, allowing six corrections per hour. 70 live connects would roughly occur with 10 active agents per dialer skill group and an Average Handle Time (AHT) equal to 50 seconds. As the call rate decreases below this number, the performance degrades.

In addition, in a small agent group where the Lines Per Agent being dialed are low, it may take longer to get a live connect. While most agents are connected within the Average Handle Time, statistical fluctuations may mean occasional long waits for a live connect.

For smaller agent groups that are held to a small abandon rate limitation, consider running that campaign on a single dialer using one of the options described in the "Single Dialer options (SCCP Dialer Only)" section in the Outbound Option Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise and Hosted Release 9.0(1). Otherwise, explore running the campaign in a Progressive mode with a conservative lines per agent value.

Management of Agent Idle Time

One of the key reporting metrics for administrators managing campaigns is the amount of time agents spend idle between calls.

There are many possible reasons for longer idle times, such as a combination of one or more of the following:

• A dialing list with a low hit rate. The solution is to create a better list.
• A small agent pool results in fewer calls, resulting in slower adjustments. One solution is to add more agents to the pool.
• Shorter average handle times means agents become available more frequently. A shorter handle time means that the agent idle time percentage will climb.
• Not enough dialer ports deployed or too many agents. Deploy more ports or use fewer agents.
• A large number of retry attempts at the beginning of a day when running with append imports resulting in lower hit rates. Prioritize pending over retries.
• Modifying the maximum number of attempts up or down in an active campaign. This activity can interrupt the Campaign Manager’s processing of dialer requests for records, as mentioned earlier in this chapter. One solution is to perform the activity during off hours.
• Running out of records to dial. Import new records.

• Sources of Higher Idle Times in Reports
• Dialer Saturation
• Few Available Records

Sources of Higher Idle Times in Reports

The following Outbound Option reports provide information regarding sources of higher idle times:

• Campaign Consolidated Reports: These reports provide a very useful overview of a campaign by combining campaign and agent skill group statistics into a single report. They provide average idle time, campaign hit rate, the number of agents working on the campaign, as well as their Average Handle Time per call. Low hit rates and low average handle times result in more work for the dialer to keep those agents busy.
• Dialer Capacity Reports: These reports show how busy the dialers are and how much time was spent at full capacity when the dialer was out of ports. They also provide the average reservation call time as well as the average time each dialer port spent contacting customers.

Dialer Saturation

If both Dialers have relatively low idle times and high all ports busy times, then it is likely the Dialers have been oversubscribed. The combination of number of agents, Dialing List hit rate, and average handle time are likely more than the deployed number of ports the Dialer can handle.

To solve this problem, perform one of the following actions:

• Reduce the number of agents working on the campaign.
• Add more Dialer ports to the solution.

Few Available Records

Call Summary Count reports show how many records in the aggregate campaign dialing lists have been closed and how many are still available to dial.

Adherence to FCC/FTC/UK Ofcom Requirements

The following legislation implemented in the United States and the United Kingdom regulates how companies can use dialers and outbound dialing to advertise to home and business numbers.

• The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Telephone Consumer Protection Act, issued in 1992
• The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule, issued in 1995 and revised in 2003
• The United Kingdom Office of Communications (Ofcom) Statement of Policy on the Persistent Misuse of an Electronic Communications Network or Service, issued in 2006 and revised in 2007

The following sections highlight provisions of these acts that administrators need to keep in mind when configuring Outbound Option Dialers and Campaigns.

• United States Considerations
• United Kingdom Considerations

United States Considerations

Administrators of systems for United States based companies need to ensure that their Outbound campaigns meet the following provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule.

• Companies cannot call customers before 8:00 am or after 9:00 pm (in the customer time zone).
• Companies cannot call a customer if that customer has requested not to be called or has registered for the National Do Not Call Registry.
• Prerecorded calls cannot be placed to a customer's home, except for the following:
  • Emergency calls
  • Customer has given prior consent for prerecorded calls
  • Noncommercial calls
  • Calls on behalf of a tax-exempt nonprofit organization
  • Calls that do not have unsolicited advertisements
  • Customer has an established business relationship for example, the customer has a business transaction with the company within the last 18 months or an inquiry within the last 3 months)
  You can access information about the National Do Not Call list at the following Web site: https:/​/​telemarketing.donotcall.gov/​. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) website contains information about telemarketing rules and regulations. The prerecorded call must identify the caller in the beginning of the message, and leave a company telephone number after the message. This telephone number cannot be a 900 number or other number that requires the customer to pay a higher charge other than local or long distance. When a telemarketer abandons a call, it must deliver a prerecorded message.
• Any technology used to dial telephone numbers cannot abandon more than three percent of all calls answered by a person, measured over a 30-day period. A call is considered abandoned when it is not transferred to a live agent within two seconds of the recipient's completed greeting.
• Telemarketers must allow the phone to ring for 15 seconds or 4 rings before disconnecting any unanswered call.
• Telemarketers must maintain records to verify that the technology used to dial numbers complies with the three percent abandon rate, ring time, and the two second rule on connecting to a live sales agent. (You can verify the abandon rate through the use of Campaign Reports.)

United Kingdom Considerations

Administrators of systems for United Kingdom-based companies need to ensure that their Outbound campaigns meet the following provisions of the Statement of Policy on the Persistent Misuse of an Electronic Communications Network or Service.

• Any technology used to dial telephone numbers cannot abandon more than three percent of all calls answered by a person, measured over a 24-hour period.
• If there is an abandoned call, a very brief recorded information message is played within two seconds of an individual beginning to speak. The message contains at least the following information:
  • The identify of the company on whose behalf the call was made, which will not necessarily be the same company that is making the call.
  • Details of a no charge (0800) or Special Services basic rate (0845) number the called person can contact, so they can decline to receive further marketing calls from that company.
  • Call must not include any marketing content and cannot market to the called person.
• Telemarketers must allow the phone to ring for 15 seconds before disconnecting any unanswered call.
• When an abandoned call has been made to a particular number, any calls made to that number in the following 72 hours can only be made with the guaranteed presence of a live operator.
• For each outbound call, a Caller ID number is presented to which a customer can make a return call. This telephone number must be either a geographic or non-geographic number adopted as Presentation Number, which satisfies the Ofcom guide requirements for the use of Presentation Numbers. Also, this return call cannot be used as an opportunity to market to that person, without that person's prior consent.
• Records must be kept for six months that demonstrate compliance with the preceding Ofcom requirements. For each individual campaign, callers must maintain an up-to-date archive of dialer statistics that includes a daily summary of the following items:
  • The number of calls attempted
  • The number of calls answered
  • The number of calls connected
  • The number of calls passed to a live operator
  • The number of live calls abandoned by the dialing equipment
  Detailed calling statistics at the Call Data Record (CDR) level must me kept for all calls (connected and nonconnected calls) for a minimum of six months.