Starting DiallerConsole

DiallerConsole will have a link in Start > All Programs menu. It may also have a link on the desktop.

When it is run, drag the application window via the title bar to an appropriate place on your screen; also stretch the window to a preferred size. The window size and location will be saved when the application closes and will be automatically used when you next use the application.

If DiallerConsole can connect to the Dialler you will see the top panel (trunk usage) get populated with data.

If it cannot then after a short wait a diagnostic will be presented.

The Screen Contents

When DiallerConsole is started the user is presented with screen above. The DiallerConsole summary has 5 main sections.

Agent and Trunk usage

The bar at the top most section of the view shows the real-time capacity usage of the Dialler. It provides information on:

• Agents: The number of agents logged on to the dialler across all campaigns.

• Call Capacity: The number of trunks/calls available system wide.

• Usage: the number of trunks currently being used.

• Peak: The maximum number of trunks that have been in use so far.

• Peak Time: When that Peak was reached.

• Remaining: How many trunks are remaining – free to be used.

• Minimum: The number of trunks that remained free when the usage peaked.

Note: If you are selecting different routes for different telephone numbers, those routes may have a smaller capacity than the entire system. Future versions of DiallerConsole will contain real time data for route and port usage.

Live/Closed Campaign Selection Tabs

This Vertical Tab list allows users to switch between viewing live and closed campaigns.

The arrow icon button allows the user to expand and collapse the Campaign list. This may be useful if the user requires more space to display the agent list of the Desk View.

Campaign Summary and Detail

This section can provide a summary list of all active/live or closed campaigns, depending on which view has been selected via the campaign selection tabs. If an individual campaign is selected (by clicking on it):

• The Campaign detail screen is presented for that campaign (see later).

• The agent list is filtered to show only agents logged on to that campaign.

For the meaning of the columns in the campaign list see the description of the “Campaign detail screen” later.

To unselect a campaign and return to the summary list simple press the “Campaign” column header.

Campaign Detail

When a campaign is selected (by clicking on the campaign title in the campaign list) the Campaign Detail window is presented (as shown above).

To unselect a campaign and return to the summary list simple press the “Campaign” column header.

The Campaign Detail window is available for live and closed campaigns. For live campaigns the window shows real time values, for closed campaigns the window shows final values.

Basic Campaign Information

• Started. The start time and Date.
• Closed. The end time and date - only displayed for closed campaigns.
• Target. The meaning of target rate is determined by the Dial Method. It applies to Predictive and OverDial dial method only. This can be changed dynamically.
  For Predictive it represents the target abandon rate. The Predictive dialling algorithm will dynamically alter the dial rate to get as close to, but not exceed the target rate. Values permitted are 0.0 -> 10.0.For OverDial it represents the fixed dial rate at which the dialler will operate. This will produce an unpredictable amount of abandoned calls. Most countries have legal limits on the abandon call rates of call centres. The user should be aware of these and act appropriately.
  
• Actual Rate. The Current (or final) rate being achieved for the Dial Method. Its meaning relates to that of the Target and likewise its meaning is determined by the Dial Method.
  For Predictive Dial Method it represents the abandon rate; this is the percentage of calls that could not be connected to an agent as a percentage of all connected calls – not all calls made. When AMD is set the number of connected call included those automatically coded as Answer Machine.
  For OverDial Dial Method it represents the Over Dial Rate Achieved.
• Dial Rate. The Dial Rate is the current percentage at which calls are made per free agent. For Over Dialling this should be close to the Target Rates. For Predictive the value will depend on the number of agents currently free, and the number of agents predicted to become free. For predictive the value will fluctuate.
• Dial Avg. The Dial Rate Average is the average dial rate achieved over the life time of the Campaign.
• Answer Time. This is the average time Respondents take to answer calls. It is used in the predictive calculation. This can be changed dynamically.
• Method. The Dialling Algorithm to be used. This can be changed dynamically. Values can be either:
  Progressive: Dialling will be paced at one call per free agent. When dialler calls are connected it is switched to the longest idle agent. This will evenly distribute the wait time between calls more evenly.
  Predictive: Dialling will result in more than one call per agent. The rate at which dialler calls are made depends on the proportions of connected calls to non connected calls, and the average length of time agents are in interviews. This latter statistics allows the diallers to predict how many agents are about to become free.
  OverDial: dialling will be paced multiple calls per free agent. The ratio of agents to calls is fixed. The base is a dial rate is 100% dial which is one call per free agent. The dial rate can be increase as a percentage above 100%. For example 250% would produce 2.5 calls per free agent.
  External: Dialling means that the dialler will place a call for every dial number it receives, and when it receives each one. This allows the pacing to be controlled by an external sample provider.
  Preview: The dialler will not make any calls on this campaign. The agent will initial “manual” calls.
• NoAns Timeout.  The No Answer Timeout may be applied to this project. This is the time after which a ringing dialler call is defined as a “No Answer”. This can be changed dynamically Some MR and CRM tools provide this to the dialler when a campaign is started. Such a value will be shown in the Dialler Console. Some MR and CRM tools provide a no answer timeout with each call sample. If so, the value shown here will only apply to records passed without its own NA timeout.
• AMD. Denotes if Answer Machine Detection is applied on this project. This can be changed dynamically.
• Call Record. Sets the call record function on or off. After being set to “on”, all new calls made will be recorded. Calls already in progress when this function is enabled will not.
• CLID. This field sets the number that is presented to your telephony provider as the originating number for all calls made on this campaign. Please note this has to be a valid Call Line ID number as defined by your provider.

Call Results

The Call results table shows the history of calls made using the sample provided to the campaign. The data is presented as running totals and percentages.

• Total Dials. The total calls placed by the Dialler for that Campaign.
• Connected. The total number of Dialler calls connected. These are deemed to be successful dialler outcomes. All others are considered failures. Outcalls made by agents are not considered to be dialler outcomes.
• No Answer. The total number of Dialler calls that were failed because they were not answered.  
• Busy. The total number of Dialler calls that were failed because they were Busy.  
• Bad Addresses. The total number of Dialler calls that were failed because the numbers provided were not recognised by the network – bad addresses.
• Congestion. The total number of Dialler calls that were failed because the network reported congestion. This may be caused by a local trunk failure or a failure on the network. Beware of high congestion, or congestion spiralling out of control. It usually means a trunk is down.
• Other. The total number of Dialler calls that were failed because of reasons unknown. Sometimes the network returns an uncommon call failure code. This may be due to temporary network failures of calls terminating on analogue or non standard compliant equipment.
• AMD. The total number of Dialler calls that were detected as “answer machine” by the dialler. If a campaign’s dial parameters have AMD (answer machine detection) set to on the dialler will run a short (around 2 seconds) voice path test on a connected call before either coding it as an AMD or passing it to an agent.
• Fax. The total number of Dialler calls that were detected as “Fax machine” by the dialler. If a campaign’s dial parameters have AMD (answer machine detection) set to on the dialler will run a short (around 2 seconds) voice path test on a connected call before either coding it as an AMD or passing it to an agent.
• Fast Drop. The total number of Dialler calls that were failed because even though the call connected it was dropped (released or possibly hung up) before the call could be switched to an agent. It is normal to see just a few of these; however it becomes more common with AMD on. A call dropped during AMD is classed as Fast Drop, however as many MR and CRM tools do not have an equivalent code, they may display them as abandoned (many national standards permit 2 seconds of silence within which a respondent may hang up without the call being considered a “nuisance call” and being classed as “abandoned”).
• Out (Agent). Total number of connected calls made by an agent and not by the dialler. These may include preview dials. Agent ‘Out Calls’ as well as ‘Dlr Call’ are considered in the ‘In Call’ time calculation. These calls are not dialler calls and so are not part of the dialler total or percentages.

Agent Status

Agent Status shows the total number of logged on agents and the number and percentage of agents in any one state.

• Total. The total number of agents logged on to the dialler.
• In Call. The total number of agents connected to a respondent. This could be a dialler call a follow-up call or a preview call.
• Wrap Up. The total number of agents in wrap up mode. That is: in an interview but no longer in a call.
• Waiting. The total number of agents waiting for the dialler to connect them to a respondent.
• Unavailable. The total number of agents logged on but not available for dialler calls. They may be involved in preview dialling.

Agent Statistics

Agent Activity Times show the proportion of time that agents spend in each state as:

• minutes per hour

• percentage

• per call

• total time

Each column represents the total or average across all agent session on the campaign – live and old. The rows are:

• In Call. The average time agents have spent on calls.
• Wrap. The average time agents have spent in wrap up during interviews.
• Wait. The average time agents have spent between interviews waiting for dialler calls.
• Unavailable. The average time agents have spent logged on but not available for dialler calls.

Campaign Trunk Usage

The Campaign Trunk usage panel at the top right of the Dialler Console window shows the trunks in use by the selected campaign at the current time, and the maximum that the campaign has used so far.

It shows:

• Dialling. The number of calls progressing – made but not yet connected or failed
• Peak. The maximum number dialling calls
• Connected. The number of connected calls – calls at agents
• Peak. The maximum number connected calls
• All. The number of connected and dialling calls
• Peak. The maximum number trunks used by this campaign

Altering Campaign Parameters

When an active campaign is selected and the Campaign detail window is showing, a supervisor is able to change some of the campaigns running parameters.

The changeable values are: Dial Method, Target, No Answer Timeout, AMD, Call Record and the CLID.

To alter these values simply click the “Change” button. The relevant fields will change to data entry fiends like so.

There is some data validation on the fiends to prevent inappropriate values being entered. To save changes press the “Commit” button. To reject the changes press “Cancel”.

When a campaign’s parameters have been altered that can be permanently saved using the “Save” button. This will apply those parameter values at the start of a campaign for any campaign with the same name.

Agent List

Live/Old Agent Selection Tabs

This Vertical Tab list allows users to switch between viewing live (currently logged on) and old (logged off) agents. The “Old Agents” tab cannot be viewed until a campaign is selected for detail view

When viewing a live campaign in detail, both live and old agents can be viewed. When viewing a closed campaign in detail, only old agents can be viewed – the top tab is inactive.

The arrow icon button allows the user to expand and collapse this section. This may be useful if the user wishes to limit the display to the campaign summary section only.

Agent Summary and Detail

This section can provide a summary list of all active/live or old (logged off) agents, each group presented on a different tab.

Live Agent List

Below the Campaign Summary list is the Agent List. This shows current status and cumulative statistics for each agent session within a campaign. Each row represents an agent session.     

The list shows both currently logged on and logged off agents. An agent session starts when the agent logs on and ends when an agent logs off.

Each agent row is shown in its own colour band indicating the agent’s status

Green – in call

Red – Waiting

Blue – Wrap up

Yellow - Unavailable

The last column 'A' is to indicate if the interviewer is in a Preview/Agent call (blue dot).

The list is ordered by “LoggedOn” time. The meaning of the columns is as follows:

• Name. The name of the agent provided by the CATI or CRM application level.
• Campaign. The Campaign the agent is logged on to.
• Location. The handset address or remote telephone number at which the agent is logged on.
• Duration. The length of time the agent has been in that state - either: Unavailable, In Call, Wrap Up or Waiting.
• LoggedOn. The time that the agent logged on.
• Dlr Calls. The number of dialler calls handled by the agent.
• Manual Calls. The number of connected non-dialler calls placed by the agent.

In Call, Wait, Wrap and Unavail are agent states and the columns show the proportion of time they spend in each state. This can be presented in any one of four different presentations:

% - as a percentage of the total session time

/h - per hour; the minutes and seconds of an hour

/c - per call

T - total time spent in that state     

• In Call. The time that the agent spends on calls during the session.
• Wait. The time that the agent spends waiting for dialler calls to arrive on his/her handset.
• Wrap. The time that the agent spends in “wrap up” during interviews. This is the time between ending one call and requesting another call.
• Unavail. The time that the agent spends not in a call and also unavailable to receive dialler calls; the agent may in manual call mode.
• Monitors. This column shows if an agent is being monitored. In the cell a single green block signifies a monitor. The cell will show a block for each monitor on the agent. To discover who is performing the monitoring, simply place the mouse over the block.
• Rec. This column shows a red block if the agent’s conversation is being recorded.

Old Agent List

The old agent list displays a row per agent. An agent session starts when the agent logs on and ends when an agent logs off.

The list is ordered by “Last Log Off” time. The meaning of the columns is as follows:

• Name. The name of the agent provided by the CATI or CRM application level.
• Sessions. The number of sessions the agents was logged on in the campaign.
• Location. The handset address or remote telephone number at which the agent logged on.
• Duration. The length of time the agent has been in that state - either: Unavailable, In Call, Wrap Up or Waiting.
• First Log On. The time that the agent first logged on to the campaign.
• Last Log Off. The time that the agent last logged off the campaign.
• Dlr Calls. The number of dialler calls handled by the agent.
• Manual Calls. The number of connected non-dialler calls placed by the agent.
• In Call. The time (as a percentage) that the agent spent on calls during the session.
• Wait. The time that the agent spent waiting for dialler calls to arrive on his/her handset.
• Wrap. The time that the agent spent in “wrap up” during interviews. This is the time between ending one call and requesting another call.
• Unavail. The time that the agent spent not in a call and unavailable to receive dialler calls; the agent may be logging on or in manual call mode.

By selecting an agent (click on a row) the agent session detail will drop down. This will list all of the sessions the agent logged on during the life of the campaign.

To unselect an agent simply click on the list header.

Calls List

The Calls list shows all calls made on a campaign. To view live data the campaign must be selected. Below is an example of the Calls tab being greyed out as no campaign is selected, and a view of the tab when a Campaign is selected.

Once a Campaign has been selected the Calls list view is made available.

For closed Campaigns the DiallerConsole displays the calls in the order they were made. By selecting different headers in the view it is possible to order the calls by other attributes.

The meaning of each column is as follows:

• Call Made. The time and date the call was initiated
• Type. Whether or not the call was made by the Dialler (on predictive or progressive campaigns) or by the agent (on preview campaigns)
• Code.  How the call outcome is coded by the CATI tool.
• Outcome. This is the telephony result of the call, outling a cause of failure for calls that were not tranferred to agents. Values are:
  Noanswer: The respondent failed to answer within the NATimeout
  Busy: The respondent line was engaged
  Badaddress: The sample is not a valid telephone
  Congestion: The telephony network (local or public) was unable to establish a call to the respondent
  Other: The call failed for  a reason unknown or unspecified by the public network
  AMD: The call connected to an answer machine
  Fax: The call was automatically detected as connecting to a fax machine
  Fastdrop: The respondent was connected, but disconnected before the call could be passed to an agent
  Abandon: The call connected to the respondent but the dialler could not find an available agent
  Success: The call connected and was transferred to an agent successfully
• Number. Called The telephone number used in the call.
• DataBaseID. The ID associated with the sample provided by the CATI tool.
• InterviewID. The ID associated with the interview itself, provided by the CATI tool.
• Agent. The name or ID of the agent who was passed the call.
• Ring -> Con. If the call was successful, the time it took for the call to go from “Ringing” state to a “Connected” state.
• Ring -> Fail. If the call was unsuccessful, the time it took for the call to go from “Ringing” state to a “Failed” state. This value is almost always the NATiimeout.
• Connected. The length of time the call was connected for.
• Idle -> Comp. The time spent between the end of a call and the end of an interview, equivalent to “Wrap-up” time.

Desk View

Desk View is a topological representation of a call centre. Users may position agent stations or desks in their relative positions, or they may group those locations my some other criteria, such as Supervisor groupings (this may be most appropriate for home workers). At its core a desk represents a location or telephony point at which an agent can logon, so an essential part of a desk is the telephone number/address that is used to log on the agent   

Desk Views are stored on a dialler so is Dialler Console is being used to access multiple diallers, each one will present its own set of Desk Views. When a new dialler is installed or it is used for the first time with a Dialler Console that supports Desk Views, each dialler presents a single, blank Desk View called “Default”.

Content of a Desk View

Desk View has 3 representations of a Desk.

Logged off: No interviewer is logged, just the telephone number/address of the desk is displayed (6000 above)

Logged on: the agents name and the corresponding project is displayed. The centre band represents the agent state (colour coded) and the length of time they have been in that state (B06001 above).

Detailed: hover the mouse over any desk with a logged on agent and a larger, detailed view of the agent information is presented (B06002 above). Moving the mouse off the detailed view will remove it.

Changing the Content of a Desk View

With the help of the operation bar at the top of the Desk View content may be added, deleted or moved.

Adding a desk:

Pressing the add button places Desk View into add state. At this point moving the mouse over the Desk View will pull a rectangular mat that represents the location that a desk might be dropped.

When green the mat shows a valid dropping point for a desk. When red the mat shows an invalid dropping point. When the mat is located over the intended dropping point simply left click and a new desk will appear. Moving the mouse off the Desk View when in add mode will end add mode without a new desk being added.

When a new desk is placed on the Desk View a user must enter the telephony Address of the desk. Entering an empty address will result in the desk being removed.

Populating – adding several desks at one time:

To simplify the addition of multiple desks with valid telephony addresses the Populate button is provided. This will automatically add a desk for the location of every agent currently logged on to an address that does not already have an associated desk. These desks are placed in available spaces at the top of the desk view. Users can ten move them to correct topological locations

Moving:

To move a desk simply left-click on the desk and hold the mouse button down for half a second. The desk will appear to rise from the floor of the Desk View; this indicates it is in move mode and (still holding the mouse button down) can now be dragged to a new location.

Deleting:

To delete a desk simply select it by left clicking on it; selecting the desk will cause a black border to appear around it. After it is selected press the delete button on the Desk View operations bar.

Saving a Desk View and creating new ones

Once a user has changed the content of a Desk View it must be saved in order to make the change permanent (if the Dialler Console session is closed without saving the changes, they will be lost). To save the changes press the “Save” button. This will then present the user with a prompt to save the Desk View with the same name or with a new name. Saving with a new name will create a new Desk View. The Desk view with the old name will still exist.

The list of available Desk Views is taken from a dialler when any Dialler Console connects to it. For other users to access any changes to a Desk View (that they have not made themselves) or to access new Desk Views they must either reconnect to a particular dialler or must start Dialler Console again

Selecting a different Desk View

The set of available Desk Views are available in a drop down list on the Desk View Operations bar.

When Dialler Console is closed it remembers which Desk View was selected and will select that Desk View for the next Dialler console session on that dialler.

Monitoring Agents

At the top of the live agent list is a monitor control pane.

Firstly, a supervisor should open up a voice path to the dialler. To do this enter into the data field (next to the “Log on Telephone” button) the number of the local or remote telephony device that they wish to connect to the dialler. They then press the “Log on Telephone” button. Within a few seconds the telephone should ring. Soon after it has answered the area will show green to signify a connection.

At this point, to monitor an agent the simply click on the agent in the list. When this is done the agent name will appear in the monitor control pane and will be marked in red to show an active monitor.

To monitor a different agent simply click on the new agent. To monitor no agent (but stay connected to the dialler) click the header of the agent list. If the monitoring telephone is hung up the monitor session ends; any existing monitor will be removed.

Instead of monitoring – just listening - a supervisor can set up a coaching session. This will produce a conference similar to a monitor but the supervisor is able to speak to the agent without the respondent hearing the supervisor (be aware that the handset/headset of the agent may cause some slight echo that may be audible by the respondent).

Coaching sessions are set up identically to monitor sessions, but with the “Coaching” box ticked. An existing monitor session can also be converted to and from a coaching session by ticking and un-ticking the coaching box while a session is already live.

Exporting Data

An important feature of the DiallerConsole is the ability to export campaign data.

This feature is only available on closed campaigns, therefore live data cannot be exported.

The export menu is available by clicking the dropdown menu column header shown below:

You can export data relating to a single or multiple campaigns. To include a campaign for exporting you must select its row. Click on the row to select. You can de-select and multi-select rows by using Ctrl-Click.

With the “Old Agents” tab selected users can export campaign statistics or agent data. The export menu items will result in the following data being exported

Campaigns All the data available in the Campaign summary for each selected campaigns

Agent Summaries Summarised data for activity for each agent within the selected campaigns

Agent Sessions Detail for each of agent session within the selected campaigns. A session is considered to be the period between when an agent log on and log off. An agent my log on (and off) several times within the life of a campaign.

With the “Calls” tab selected users can export campaign statistics or Call data.  

Campaigns All the data available in the Campaign summary for each selected campaigns.

Calls Detail for each of Call within the selected campaigns.

Managing Dialler Connections

The application is capable of connecting to one of several diallers. New dialler connection details can be easily added and selected if required. Dialler connections are controlled through a Dialler Management Window. This can be accessing using the icon button at the top left of the screen. As well as an icon, this button also shows the currently selected dialler

When this is pressed the Dialler Management Window appears.

The window is divided into a list of dialler connections on the left, and an add/edit section on the right.

Users can:

• Connect to a different dialler. Simply select the dialler connection details in the list and press the “select” button. This will close the window, close the connection to the current dialler and initiate a connection to the newly selected dialler.

• Add a new dialler. Pressing the “+” button on the right adds a new entry in the list and sets the focus to the add/edit section. Once the user has completed the connection details they can “confirm” to commit the addition

• Alter a dialler’s connection details.  Pressing the  button on the right sets the focus to the add/edit section. Once the user has completed changed to the connection details of the currently selected dialler they can “confirm” to commit the changes

• Remove a dialler. Pressing the “-” button on the right will remove the currently selected dialler.

Errors

Dialler Console is capable of reporting general dialler information and errors. These may be general dialler, CATI system connection, campaign, or agent issues.

The Error pane is at the bottom of the Dialler Console window. By default it is hidden but may be made visible by pressing the expansion button at the bottom left of the screen. 

Within the Error pane there is a list of errors. These range in severity

 Info: Major normal system events and CATI connections.

 Warning: Unusual events that should be noted but do not necessarily represent errors

 Minor: Problems that will not impact the general operation of the system

 Serious: Problems that may cause general operational failure to some or all of the system

 Critical: Problems that cause severe failure.

Within the Error pane there is a vertical row of severity icons. Pressing anyone of these will toggle a filter on that severity type.

When an error it will not be seen in the Error pane if the error pane is not visible. However users will be alerted in the Error alert row just above the Error pane (or at the base of the window if the Error pane is not visible. The Error alert row shows which errors have occurred and the number of those errors. For example

Clicking on each error button will dismiss this error count until it occurs again.