Help with AACC... scripting?

[2011sp]

I think I finally have the correct forum to ask this question after utter silence so far from Aura and Meridian forums.

I'd like some feedback if possible about my situation. Our call center books reservations for public park facilities. Our busy season is starting, meaning we are fielding up to 2000 calls in one day. We are using Meridian M3905 phones.

Background: I work in a call center with up to 20 employees taking calls. We have Avaya Aura CCM 6.4.213 as our software to route calls. We've been using the software for the most part in the same way for several years, but I was recently promoted to a technical position which allowed me to dive into understanding how to use the software. I have no prior telecom training, and I am aware that at this point understand better than our telecom guy does, but my account is only at a management level, not an admin level to let me see configuration and scripting.

I understand how the Supervisor, Agent, Skillset, and Assignments Views work. I also understand about the CCM Hierarchy of CDNs, Applications, Skillsets, and Agents.

In conjunction with Avaya we are also using a separate callback software system, Virtual Hold EyeQueue, which may or may not be compounding problems because of the algorithm of predicting callback with a minimal hold time can be affected by just 1 person going on break or lunch. I'm not sure if I'm describing this clearly. VHT works on the Application level of Avaya.

Issue:

We have 14 queues, and all agents are trained to answer all calls, but of course there are different levels of efficiency within the call center floor. We plan to transition to newer software but that will not be happening before the end of this year.

Ideally I would like to be able to have the longest call holding to be answered first (regardless of how many calls are waiting) since everyone is trained on all our queues. It doesn't seem to be operating that way. The queue with the most calls waiting is always taking priority. The other queues are being affected because there is 1 queue that is easily 2-3 times the volume of the others. 4 of the queues (including the highest volume queue) can have expected talk times ranging from 3 minutes up to 15 minutes.

It seems like because of this one high volume queue, the Avaya CCM is addressing this queue essentially to the exclusion of the other queues. I can take agents off the high volume queue to address these other queues, but it can significantly affect estimated wait times because of our relatively small pool of agents.

Two observations I've made:

I've noticed that when I take an agent off the high volume queue to take calls from the other queues, the longest call holding among the other queues is not the one getting answered first. Another queue that has less calls holding is one that gets answered first, and the queue with the longest call holding is not answered until the other queue has cleared.

I've also noticed that some but not all agents occasionally receive a call from one of the other queues even when they are still set to answer the high volume queue.

My questions:

[ul]
[li]What settings can I tell the telecom guy to check for these issues?[/li]
[li]Are there areas in the configuration that can be set to address target talk times and adjusting the routing accordingly?[/li]
[li]Is there something I can tell him to export for me to be able to review?[/li]
[li]Is there any way to tell if the Virtual Hold software being used on top of Avaya is causing problems?[/li]
[li][/li]
[/ul]

Also, is there anything with the Meridian phone setup I need to check? I hope to get more info about our actual setup beyond what I have seen and interacted with (Symposium server only or meridian PBX included? etc)

One last question I have is about the "Standby 1-48" setting for an agent. What threshold is supposed to activate an agent on standby? This doesn't seem to be activating anyone on standby.


Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[effort1584]

Please clarify if any agents are set for Standby 1-48 in any skillsets? Also are any of the skillsets queuing at a higher priortiy (in the scripting)?

 

[2011sp]

I've only briefly tested how it behaved using Standby (1-48). No one is set on Standby (1-48) on any of the queues at this time.

With regard to priority setting on the agent side, I/we may very well not understand how to properly use the Priority and Standby settings to its full potential. We only use standby to briefly take someone off the hi volume queue. Setting agent A to priority 1 to the hi volume queue and then setting Agent B to 5 on the hi volume queue and 1 in the next most important queue doesn't seem to get agent B to be answering calls in the other queue even if the other queue had a longer hold time-it still seems to favor the queue with more calls holding, which is counter to how I understand Symposium works. If I am mistaken I definitely would appreciate a clarification.

As far as priority in the scripting, I have yet to get an answer out of my telecom guy. I've asked him "Is there some scripting for (Facility X) that I can review?" and his response is "It's using the same default settings as the others". I'm trying to schedule a meeting time and go over how he creates setting up, making changes to, or removing a queue, and I may start making some headway. My other colleagues in management see these other patterns but may not be drilling deep enough in asking him questions.

I've been starting to poke around more on Symposium scripting. I understand the basic logic of if/then routines and am trying to sort of devise how the logic of the call routing is set up and see if it will match what is actually set up.

Thanks for your reply. Let me know if you have other questions.

 

[effort1584]

The Avaya CCM is almost certainly doing exactly what it is told to do. There are various ways to control which calls are answered and under what circumstances that changes. First to ensure an understanding of the basics.

Here is an overview of how priorities work:

Agent Priorities - Agents have a priority assigned in each skillset that they are able to answers calls. This priority is ONLY relative to this one skillset (has NO bearing on other skillsets). The priority is relative to other agents within that skillset who are available to answer a call.

So if there is only one agent available, the agent will get the call. If there are two or more available in a skillset the priority will determine who will get the call (lower number gets the call first).

Do not number agent priorities consecutively. I tend to go by 5, starting at 5. This leaves space to make changes if needed without redoing all agent priorities.

This setup ensures you have the best or most desirable agents answering calls first. However during busy times has virtually no effect as there is only one agent typically available at a time (calls waiting present to an available agent right away).

Standby with a priority is a whole different beast and for another discussion.

Call Priorities - Set in scripting on the queue to skillset command or with a change priority command. This is relative between calls. A call may be queued at a specific priority. However if no priority is set (default) then the lowest priority is assigned. For voice we deal with priorities of 1 - 6.

Scenario...All agents are in all skillsets. All agents are on the phone or in Not Ready. Call A queues to skillset CustSvc at priority 6. 10 seconds later call B queues to Sales at a priority 2. Both are waiting for an available agent. 20 seconds later an agent becomes available. The Sales call will be presented to the available agent even though it is older, it has a higher priority.

Priorities for calls can be set or changed based upon the number of calls waiting, longest call waiting, and several other conditions. In addition to priorities there are a couple of other configuration settings that can change how calls are presented in some scenarios.

From your description I would say you do not have all default settings. It sounds like scripting is setting priorities for some calls. It is hard to say if that is always true, or just true when certain conditions are met. If you are able to see scripts you will easily see if priorities are set as it always uses the word PRIORITY in scripting. If you do not see that word, then queuing is default at priority 6.

Be careful with scripting yourself. Anyone can write a script that says queue to a skillset and the logic is easy to follow. However there are impacts that go beyond the logic component. It is what you don't see or don't know that will get you. I am a fan of templates and testing. But even testing you have to know the pieces to test. Like before, anyone can get a call answered. But what if a call returns to queue? What if agents all log out for a brief time? And other what-if scenarios. Work with someone who has experience (often not the telecom person).