Is it OK to Delete Make Set Busy?

[frazierr]

Can I delete MSB from the 10 affected instruments for ACD Queue without any side effects? I'd hate them to end up with MSB set and no way to get it back if someone doesn't answer within a number of rings.

Environment:
CS1000 on Opt 11C, basic ACD (no symposium) and 3904 instruments. A smallish "mountain resort" front desk and back office are involved.
10 Queue phones. x5811-5820.
Phones have 599 (the queue number) showing on them in primary position (green button, Key 0). Each phone also has other lines ("private, non queue" lines).
The ACD serves extension 333 (a DID number). Because some of these phones also need to answer the 333 line when ACD is not active, it also appears on each of the phones.

I set all this up several years ago, but queue has not been properly utilized (personnel management issue). I don't remember everything that was done to get it all set up, but it seems to be functioning normally.
I'm an IT guy, not a phone wizard. Therefore, I don't always know which LD is needed for various activities, nor the specifics of how to use it once I'm there.
The poor guy that works for the contractor that has our switch "maintenance" is old-school lineman and has only been taught enough to do basic checks and backups, and his eyes get all defocused any time I ask him about anything else...

Due to a management/personnel problem that seems unresolvable (Can't fire the manager), most of the instruments are set with Make Set Busy on so the folks in the Back Office don't have to hear them ring. Because MSB is set, nobody seems to notice there are calls waiting in queue they could take. As a result, some potential customers get tired of waiting and hang up. To correct this, upper management has directed me to delete MSB from each set, but I'm concerned that there are conditions that may cause MSB to be set and without the button, no way to unset it on a given instrument.

Thanks
--Rick

 

[tgolds]

If you remove the MSB key then there would be no way to log the phone/phones out and the Night Service feature for the Queue would never be reached. Many Call Center Supervisors think you can program the phones instead of training the agents. Like the Dog Whisperer says, it is not the dog (phone) that needs to be trained, its the humnan (agent)....

 

[GHTROUT]

I would convert it from ACD to a series of lines on the phones, or even a series of wall mounted bells you do Pickup on. Is there really an application for "ACD" here. I doubt it.

~~
Gene at GHTROUT.com

 

[frazierr]

Thanks Tgolds and GhTrout!
I suspected there was a very good reason to keep the MSB key.
There really is a need for ACD here, and it would do quite well if we actually used it properly.
I don't know of another application or process that can easily manage a phone queue equitably with a variable number of "agents" available. We just need to get the "management problem" fixed and use what we have properly.

Thanks
--Rick