User Controlled Annoucement (Advance Vectoring)

[bankingguy]

I got this requirement from our business:

Where there is a bad weather condition in the country, 'Admin' user can login and activate the bad weather annoucement. When customer call in, bad weather annoucement will be played during office hours. In the event customer calls after office hours, after office hour annoucement will be played.

Any idea how to do this in vectoring?

I'm on CM8, Elite License enabled.

 

[ZeroZeroOne]

One method I've used is to set a Global variable to control a manual-closed message.

change variables                                                Page   1 of  39
                              VARIABLES FOR VECTORS

Var Description                 Type    Scope Length Start Assignment       VAC
A   Counter                     collect L     2      1
B   Counter                     collect L     2      1
C   Closed Option               collect G     1      1     1

In your main vector, you use C as a flag to go to the "closed" message instead of the "open":

03 wait-time    2   secs hearing ringback
04 #    Check for Night
05 goto step    22            if C               =      1
06 goto step    22            if service-hours    not-in table 2
07 #    Day Menu

If the Main Vector has an auto attendant, you can put a "silent" prompt on there for a Sub-Menu:

09 collect      1    digits after announcement 1222  for none
10 route-to     number 1234                     cov y if digit           =  1
11 route-to     number 5678                     cov y if digit           =  2
12 goto step    27            if digits           =      #   
...
27 #    Admin Menu
28 #    Check Password
29 collect      7    digits after announcement 9001  for none [COLOR=#FCAF3E]---> "Please enter your security code"[/color]
30 goto step    32            if digits           =      13579
31 disconnect   after announcement none
32 #    Prompt for Day or Night
33 collect      1    digits after announcement 9002  for none [COLOR=#FCAF3E]---> "For open, press 1, for closed, press 2"[/color]
34 goto step    38            if digits           =      1
35 goto step    41            if digits           =      2
36 goto step    32            if unconditionally
37 #    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
38 #    Set Day
39 set          C     = none   ADD   0
40 disconnect   after announcement 9003 [COLOR=#FCAF3E]---> "The day greeting is active"[/color]
41 #    Set Night
42 set          C     = none   ADD   1
43 disconnect   after announcement 9004 [COLOR=#FCAF3E]---> "The night greeting is active"[/color]
44 stop

While this example is only for "Open" or "Closed", if you want different announcements for different events you can easily expand out the "Admin Menu" to include different values.
0 = Normal Open
1 = Weather Closed
2 = Power/Facility
3 = Air Quality
4 = Radiological Event
5 = Tofu in the Sandwiches

Then either assign different destinations to play announcements or route calls differently depending on the option selected.

If you don't want the hidden prompt off the main menu for security purposes, you can always give users a separate dial in number or extension. Make sure your password is not too easy to guess.

 

[bankingguy]

Thank you very much.

May I ask, how many DID numbers and VDN is this setup? Or is this on a single vdn/vector all in?

Are you calling a dedicated number to on and off your variables?

 

[Sean655]

Something similar to trigger the announcement can be using a holiday table or create a hunt group and log an agent into it; have the vector check to see if an agent is logged into the HG and play the annc if staffed agents > 0.

I've used both methods in the past as well as the variable method mentioned by zerozeroone. Being able to control the announcement via phone is nice in case I don't have internet/vpn access to the system.

 

[ZeroZeroOne]

This example would just be for one DID / Business, using their individual Auto-Attendant to access the "admin" menu for just that Business. You could set up a second number that would only be used for the "Admin" menu.

If you have multiple locations, such as bank branches off one central PBX, you could have a centrally controlled number that sets the global variable for ALL DIDs with vectors. You would not want to give that central control to individual branch managers. That works if they are all geographically close together and are all experiencing a weather closure. But if they are far apart, it may not be best to turn everyone off at the same time.

 

[bankingguy]

May I request if you can elaborate how does the variable C works with the vector?

How do you understand the set command in step 39 and 42? How does this work in the vector?

I have vague understanding on this and a little confuse how does that work.

How can a contact center supervisor can reach the "Admin" step if this is a single vector/VDN kind of setup?

 

[ZeroZeroOne]

Well, C is set as a global variable so that it keeps the value that you set.
We can assign a value to C by using the SET command. SET C = NONE ADD 1, will clear any existing value in C and add "1" to it, making the value of C to be 1.

In our "Admin" section, we need give the caller the ability to pick a selection. In this example, we only have two choices: "Open" or "Closed". We then assign values to those choices so that "Open" has a value of "0" and "Closed" has a value of "1".

So our Admin Menu message says "To Activate the Day Greeting, Press 1. To Activate the Night Greeting, Press 2" to prompt the supervisor how to make their selection. Then, depending on their selection, we go to the specific steps.
[ul]
[li]If the supervisor selects "1" then we go to step 39 where C is assigned the value of "0". The caller hears the confirmation announcement to indicate "Day Greeting Activated" and the call is disconnected.[/li]
[li]If the supervisor selects "2" then we go to step 43 where C is assigned the value of "1". The caller hears the confirmation announcement to indicate "Night Greeting Activated" and the call is disconnected.[/li]
[/ul]

Now that we have C set (Open or Closed), we look at the Main Vector Step 5. When a call comes in, this step checks the value of C and if C= 1 (Closed) then the call goes to Step 22 that plays the "our office is closed" message [This step was not shown in the example].
If C is 0 (Open) then the call continues to Step 6 where the time of day is checked and then to the normal Menu.

In the Main Menu, normal customers hear the prompt "For Option 1, press 1. For Option 2, press 2. For Option 3, press 3" for however many options you need.
What callers DO NOT HEAR is an option for the Admin Menu. We program that option but we DO NOT INCLUDE IT IN THE AUDIO ANNOUNCEMENT. This is known as a silent or hidden prompt because we don't advertise that it is a valid option off the menu. This isn't very secure since there is a certain subset of people that like to play around and find prompts like this, or try to find dial tone for free calls. I can pretty much guarantee that someone will find that prompt. That's why we include the steps for a security code. The security code isn't really secure either but it is just annoying enough to keep most prying eyes from attempting too many times. Keep the security code long and random. "13579" was used for the example but is not secure.
But even if a nefarious caller guesses correctly and gets in to the Admin Menu they can only turn put the call center in night mode (or whatever messages you want). That certainly is bothersome but doesn't do much damage. Using a non-published DID for the Admin Menu helps but again, some nefarious caller will likely find it - just maybe not as quickly as if it is part of the published number.

You will have to educate your call center supervisor that the "#" exists off the Main Menu and they can press it at any time during the Menu. You also don't need to use "#". That's just an example.

I somewhat stick to using the business' published number because that is easy for Supervisors to remember.

I hope that helps.