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Call Center FAQ's

1. My agents keep getting missed calls when they are busy. How can I make sure that the Call Centre detects that the agent is busy?

This normally happens when the agent has been created in the Callflows App. You will need to delete the agent from the Callflows app and create them in the SmartPBX. When an agent is created in the Callflows app, the presence ID is not assigned. The presence ID tells the call center queue when an agent is busy and will not put calls through. By creating the agent in the SmartPBX, the presence ID is automatically created.

2. What determines an abandoned call?

A call is considered an abandoned call when an event happens that is not related to an agent's action, for example

  • The call disconnects.
  • The caller hung up the call while waiting in the queue.
3. What determines a missed call?

Missed Calls are calls that were offered but were not answered by the agent. Each time a call is offered to an agent and the agent does not answer, the call is considered missed and the count increments. If a call rings the agent again, the count increases if the agent does not answer the call.

4. How do I record a call center queue?

See Setting up call recording for a queue.

5. If call recording for a queue is set up in the Call Center app, do I still need to configure it in the Call Recording application?

No, call recording on a queue level is independent of all other settings.

6. If call recording is enabled for a queue, do I still need to include it in the queue callflow?

No, if Record Queue is enabled, it updates the callflow behind the queue and adds a "start recording" action on each call before putting the call into the queue.

7. If a call leaves one queue for another queue after timing out, does it show as missed in the first queue?

It depends on the reason that it moved queues and which report level you are viewing, for example: If a call comes in on Q1, times out and goes to escalation Q2 where it is answered, the same call is reported as follows:

  • Inbound Queues Q1: missed
  • Inbound Queues Q2: answered
  • Inbound Agents:
    • missed (for all agents to whom the call was offered);
    • answered (only for the agent who answered it)
  • Incoming Calls: answered (because it was answered in Q2)
  • Inbound Summary: appears as missed in Q1 (only when the route to Q2 is escalation from Q1)

Note: If there was another route to Q2, such as transfer or predefined callflows, then the call does not appear as missed in Q1.

8. How do I transfer to another internal user if I am using Call Center and MS Teams?

To transfer a caller to another internal user, you must dial the users's extension number. Do not click on the name or phone in your MS Teams contacts or speed dials.

Note: After you transfer the caller to another user, currently the status in the Call Center App will show that you are still on a call.

9. Can I set up BLF's to indicate when agents are busy or away in queues
  1. Log into the Advanced Provisioner app > Devices.
  2. Click Settings > Configure.
  3. Select Combo Keys.

  4. Select the key you want to program.

    • Type - select BLF.
    • Account - select Account 1.
    • Value - enter the queue followed by the extension number e.g., queue131
    • Label - enter the name of the agent you are monitoring.

  1. Click Save.
  2. Restart the phone to enable the LED configuration.

Status indications

Flashing red = Agent is away Red = Agent is ready Green = Agent is logged out

10. What are the pro features routing strategies?

The pro features in Call Center are related to Skill Based routing settings. A manager can assign skills to each agent and then set incoming call choices to match these skills. Common examples include support for foreign language speakers, topic-specific experts, hardware v. software specialists, or assigning unique clients priority to agents trained for their market. The two settings support “Strict” or “Loose” associations with the skill, which trigger the following:

Strict-based Skill

This will send a call only to an agent that matches the skill defined. If there are no agents with the (Spanish speaking or API implementations, for example) skill(s), then the call will be escalated to a predefined escalation route.

Loose-based Skill

This will try send a call to an agent that matches the skill defined. If there are no agents with the (Spanish speaking for example) skill, then the call will go to the next available agent. If the agent with the Spanish speaking skill is not available, then the caller will be placed on hold until the agent becomes available.

11. I have a "loose skills" routing strategy but, if the agent with the matching skill is busy, I don't want calls to be placed on hold. How do I fix this?

If there are no agents that match the skill requirement for the call, then the call will move to the next agent. However, if there is an agent that matches the skill requirement but that agent is busy, then the loose skills routing strategy will keep trying to offer the call to that agent until he becomes available. To avoid this, you can set up a workaround similar to the following:

  1. In the queue settings "Queue Timeout", limit the number of seconds that an agent has to answer an incoming call and configure the queue to escalate the call when the time expires.

  2. Escalate the call to a device (it might be landline or softphone) that redirects the call to a extension number, for example 4864 as shown in the example.

  3. Create a call flow for that extension to receive the call and redirect it to the queue.

The second call won't have any agent with the "callee number id" skill tag and it will be routed to the next available agent.

12. In the list of queues, some queues show the option to activate or pause the queue and others do not. What is the difference?

If you are seeing some queues that do not show the button for activating it, this is because you have a manager or admin status within Call Center, but are not a member of that specific queue. You can view it and see its activity, but to manage settings for any queue specifically you must be a member as well as an admin.

13. My window is showing "longest wait" for queue A as 20 seconds, and my colleague's window shows the "longest wait" for queue A as 3 minutes. Why are they different?? 
The "longest wait" value shown in the queue bar is calculated based on each agent's individual session.  If your colleague has been in the queue for a different timeframe the values will be different.
14. If an agent is logged in and active on multiple call queues that are set to round-robin strategy, does it interweave the customers on wait across all logged-in/active call queues?

For instance, this sequence of activity:

1. agent 1 logs into queues A, B, and C
2. customer 1 calls queue A
3. customer 2 calls queue B
4. customer 3 calls queue A
5. customer 4 calls queue C

Will that order of customers be maintained when delivered to agents? Or is it a free-for-all across call queues?

The queues are independent of each other, so while queue order is guaranteed within a specific queue, if there are multiple queues trying to reach the same agent it will be random based on whenever the lookup happens to see if the agent is available.
15. What "Hold Treatment" options do I have?

Managers can set the order of the actions, create more than one media file, and finally create a loop that cycles the actions during hold. The actions are:

  • Announce caller’s position in the queue
  • Announce an estimated wait time
  • Insert a pause and define how long it will be (in seconds)
  • Add one or more media files
16. How does this hold treatment differ from the setting in SmartPBX?

The hold settings in Call Center define what the caller hears while in each queue. The Hold Music setting in Smart PBX defines what the caller hears when calling a specific agent's extension or account line that is not associated with or forwarded to a queue.