Enterprise Portal: Modify Call Queues

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What you need to know

Call queues temporarily hold calls in the cloud when all users (agents) assigned to receive calls from the queue are unavailable. Queued calls are routed to an available agent when he/she is no longer on an active call. Each call queue is assigned a Lead Number, which is a telephone number outside callers can dial to reach users assigned to the call queue.

Call queues are also assigned an internal extension, which can be dialed internally to reach users assigned to the call queue.

This article includes the following Call Queue features, all configurable from the Enterprise Portal:

  • Activating and deactivating Call Queues
  • Modifying Call Queue profile information and settings
  • Assigning users (agents) to a Call Queue
  • Viewing call queue reports
  • Modifying greetings and announcement settings
  • Configuring overflow call routing

Call Queue Feature Notes

  • Users assigned to receive calls from the Call Queue are referred to as agents.
  • Multiple call queues can be configured on your account, settings described in this article apply to each unique call queue.
  • Auto Attendants often include an option to route callers to a particular Call Queue; however, each Call Queue is configured with a number for callers to dial directly to the queue.
  • Toll free numbers are often used to route callers to Call Queues. These numbers will not be available to assign from the Enterprise Portal; they will instead be pointing to a specific site.
  • User features, such as Call Forwarding, are not invoked on calls to users from the Call Queue.
  • Agents (users) can “sign out” of the queue by activating Do Not Disturb.
  • All greetings must be formatted as CCIT U-Law, 8.000kHz, 8-bit Mono attributes as a .wav file.

Help Topics

A
Getting Started
B
Call Queue Incoming Call Information
C
Call Queue Size and Announcements
D
Call Routing
E
Agent Settings
F
Queue Reports

A. Getting Started

To get started managing Call Queues:

  1. Log in to the Enterprise Portal.
  2. Select the site from the drop-down menu.
  3. Select the Advanced Services tab.
  4. Select Call Queues located under Call Routing.
  5. Call Queues that have been assigned to your account will be listed. Note: To deactivate a Call Queue, change the status slider in the Status column. This will disable calls from being routed to this Call Queue.
  6. Select Edit Service from the Actions drop-down menu next to the Call Queue to modify.
  7. The Edit Call Queue page will appear

B. Call Queue Incoming Call Information

  1. Enter a Call Queue Name for the Call Queue. For example, New Car Sales.
  2. Enter the Extension of the queue. By default, this is the last four digits of the lead number that has been assigned. Extension-Only Feature Note: If you have the extension-only feature enabled and have assigned a call queue an extension only, you may not see a phone number assigned here. For more information about the extension-only feature, click here.
  3. Enter the Caller ID. This name, along with the actual caller’s ID, is displayed on the user’s phone when a new call from the queue is presented.
  4. Click Save to save your changes.

C. Calls Queue Size and Announcements

The Queue Size represents the number of calls that can be held in queue before the overflow policy is triggered. While calls are held in queue, users hear the configured announcements.

  1. Enter the number of calls to queue before overflow settings are triggered. For example, if the queue size is set to 20, the 21st caller will be sent to the configured overflow settings option.
  2. Check Play ringing tone to callers when their call is sent to an available agent. If disabled, callers hear the Music on Hold greeting until the call is answered by a user.
  3. You can also choose to reset caller statistics once the caller has entered the queue by checking the Reset caller statistics upon queue entry.
  4. Next, configure the overflow settings. This is what will happen to new calls that exceed the queue size. Options include:
    • Perform busy treatment - The caller hears a fast-busy tone.
    • Play ringing until caller hangs up - The caller hears ringing until they disconnect.
    • Transfer to phone number - If this option is selected, enter the number to which you want to transfer overflow calls. This can be an extension within any site or an external number.
  5. To mark the calls as overflow after the queue wait time, check the box next to Mark calls as overflow after queue wait time.
  6. Check Play announcement before overflow processing (optional) to assign an announcement file to play before the call is sent to the overflow treatment. Then choose the announcement type:
    • Default - This is the default system comfort announcement: "Your call is very important to us, but due to the high volume of calls, we cannot answer your call. Please hold while we transfer you to the voice messaging, so that we can help you as soon as possible."
    • Custom - If a custom announcement is selected, at lease one recording file must be uploaded. Enter the required name of the announcement and upload the custom announcement.
  7. Select Save to save your changes.

Advanced Settings – Call Queue Announcements

Call Queue announcements are messages and music that callers hear while waiting in queue. There are five types of call queue announcements:

  • Welcome Message - Played when callers first reach the queue. For example, “Thank you for calling ABC Company. An agent will be with you shortly.” It can be set as mandatory. If the mandatory option is not selected and a caller reaches the call queue while there is an available agent, the caller will not hear this announcement and is transferred to an agent.
  • Estimated Wait Message for Queued Calls - Notifies the caller with either their estimated wait time or position in the queue. If this option is enabled, it plays after the entrance greeting and before the comfort greeting. This greeting is only played once while the caller is waiting in queue.
  • Comfort Message - Played after the entrance message and before music on hold. This is typically a custom announcement that plays information, such as current promotions or information about products and services.
  • Hold Music - Played after the comfort message in a repetitive loop. This announcement is typically a music file.

Welcome Message

To configure the Welcome Message, from the Edit Call Queue page:

  1. Select the toggle next to Welcome Message under Advanced Settings.
  1. Click Welcome message is mandatory. This plays the entrance message to all callers regardless of agent availability.
  2. Assign a message to the queue. Welcome messages can be configured with the default system message or customized.
    • Click Default to select the default message option.

      • OR

    • Click Custom to select the custom message option and upload a .wav file. Up to four entrance messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed.
      • Click (1) in the File # column.
      • Enter the description of the message, e.g., Welcome Message. There are not any character limitations.
      • Click the Upload button.
      • Browse for the file on your computer. All greetings must be formatted as CCIT U-Law, 8.000kHz, 8-bit Mono attributes as a .wav file.
      • Click Open.
    • If necessary, repeat these steps to add additional messages.
  3. Click Save.

Estimated Wait Message for Queued Calls

To enable and configure the estimated wait message for queued calls, from the Edit Call Queue page:

  1. Select the toggle next to Estimated Wait Message for Queued Calls under Advanced Settings.
  2. Select the type of wait message to be played:
  3. Select Announce Queue Position to notify the caller of their position in queue. Enter a maximum number. For example, if this was set to 20 or lower, callers 20 and lower hear their position in queue. The 21st caller and higher would not hear the message.
  4. Select Announce wait time and enter the maximum wait time. For example, if this was set to two minutes or lower, callers with an estimated wait time of two minutes or less hear their wait time.
  5. Select Play High volume message (optional). A high-volume message is played to callers with an estimated wait time greater than the configured maximum and if the call number is greater than the maximum queue position. The estimated wait time is calculated by: Estimated Wait Time = Caller’s position in queue (average call handling time) / Number of agents available. If the system cannot calculate the handling time, default handling time is used to calculate the estimated wait time.
  6. Click Save.

Comfort Message

To enable and configure the Comfort Message from the Edit Call Queue page:

  1. Select the toggle next to Comfort Message under Advanced Settings.
  1. Enter the time between messages (in seconds) to configure the frequency in which the comfort message is played. Once the comfort message has played to completion, the caller hears hold music (if enabled).
  2. Configure the message to be assigned to the queue. Comfort messages can be configured with the default system message or customized.
    • Click Default to select the default message option.

      • OR

    • Click Custom to select the custom message option and upload a .wav file. Up to four comfort messages can be stored. If multiple messages are stored, they are played in the order listed. Note: These messages will not alternate; they each play to completion.
      • Click (1) in the File # column.
      • Enter the description of the message, e.g., Website Message. There are no character limitations.
      • Click the Upload button.
      • Browse for the file on your computer. Note: All greetings must be formatted as CCIT U-Law, 8.000kHz, 8-bit Mono attributes as a .wav.file.
      • Click Open.
      • Click Upload.
  3. Click Save.

Hold Music

To enable and configure the Music On Hold from the Edit Call Queue page:

  1. Select the toggle next to Hold Music under Advanced Settings.
  1. Configure the Music On Hold to be assigned to the queue. You can modify the Recording Normal Source and/or the Recording Alternate Source. Music On Hold can be configured with the default system message or customized.
    • Click Default to select the default music on hold option.

      • OR

    • Click Custom to select the custom music on hold option and upload a .wav file. Up to four music on hold messages can be stored. If multiple files are stored, they are played in the order listed. Note: These files will not alternate; they each play to completion.
      • Click (1) in the File # column.
      • Enter the description of the message, e.g., Standard Message. There are no character limitations.
      • Click the Upload button.
      • Browse for the file on your computer. All greetings must be formatted as CCIT U-Law, 8.000kHz, 8-bit Mono attributes as a .wav file.
      • Click Open.
      • Click Upload.
  2. Click Save.

D. Call Routing

On the Call Routing in the Edit Call Queues page, the “How do you want your phones to ring?” setting determines the order in which calls are delivered to users assigned to the call queue.

  1. Select how you want calls distributed in the Queue.
    1. All at once - When an incoming call is received from the queue, all queue agents ring simultaneously.

      2. OR

    2. One at a time - Rings all queue agent one at time. If you select this option, select how you want the calls distributed. Choose from the following options:
      • Top Down - Ring the agents one-at-a-time, always starting with the same agent and ringing in the same order. The agent configured at the top of the “Assigned” list will ring first, followed by the agents listed beneath, in sequential order.
      • Circular - Ring the agents one-at-a-time, always ringing the agents in the same order. The order of the agents in the “Assigned” list represents the order in which the agents’ phones will ring, beginning with the individual that follows the last agent receiving a call from the queue.
      • Longest Idle - Ring the agent who has been idle (i.e., not on a queued call) the longest.
      • Weighted - Route calls to agents based on their pre-configured weight (percentage) assignments. If this option is selected, you must assign weights to the agents. Use the slider to assign the percentages. The percentages must equal 100%. Agents assigned a 0% weight will only receive calls if all other users are busy. Click Apply to save these changes.
  2. Click Save to save your changes.

More Call Routing Options - Bounced calls

Bounced calls are those that were sent to an available agent but the agent does not answer. These calls are then placed back into the queue at the top of all the queued calls.

To configure, from the Call Routing tab on the Edit Call Queue page, select from the following options:

  1. Check Mark calls as bounced after set number of rings to configure the number of rings a caller hears before the call is bounced. Then enter the number of rings.
  2. Check Bounce if agent becomes unavailable to bounce a call being sent to an agent if they transition to an unavailable state while the call is en route.
  3. Check Alert agent if call on hold for set wait time to notify an agent if a call they received from the queue was put on hold for longer than the configured time. Enter the time in seconds.
  4. Check Bounce if on hold for set wait time to bounce the call from the agent if the caller was placed on hold by the agent for longer than the configured time. Enter the time in seconds.
  5. Click Save to save your changes.

More Call Routing Options - Distinctive Ringing

The distinctive ringing setting allows Admins to designate a different ring tone to play on agent’s phone when they receive incoming calls from the Call Queue. This allows them to audibly differentiate inbound queued calls from non-queued calls.

You can configure from the Call Routing tab on the Edit Call Queue page.

  1. Check Enable Distinctive Ringing to activate the feature.
  2. Select the unique ringtone from the ring pattern menu.
  3. Click Save.

E. Agent settings

These settings apply to the agents that have been assigned to the call queue.

  1. Allow multiple calls per agent – Check this box to present agents with multiple queued calls even when on an active call received from the queue. By default, this feature is disabled and calls are queued until the agent disconnects with the current call.
  2. Enable calls to agents in wrap-up state - The wrap-up state allows agents to perform post-call work prior to receiving the next queued call. This feature only applies when the Call Center Service is active.
  3. Enable maximum wrap up timer -Check this box to set the maximum wrap-up time an agent should have while performing post-call work. Enter the time in minutes and seconds.
  4. Select Save.

More Agent Options - Agent Licenses and Assignments

Users that will receive calls from the queue are defined as agents and must be assigned to the queue. Note, agents can be assigned to multiple queues.

  1. Select the Agents tab on the Edit Call Queues page.
  2. Search in the Find and Assign search box and a list of agents available with agent licenses will be displayed.
  3. Select the agents you would like to assign.

    Note: If the certain options in the one at a time Ring Policy are used, the order of the agent in the “Assigned” list here will determine the order in which the calls will be routed to agents.

F. Queue Reporting

  1. To view reports on the Queue and Agent Stats, go to the Reporting tab on the Edit Call Queues page.
  2. Select the date field and enter the date you wish to pull a report from.
  3. Then select Run Report.