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Attendant Console Queuing

I'm trying to use the queuing feature in Attendant Console but am having a problem. When I check the "Queuing Enable" check box, CUCM queues calls and does not send to the "always route memeber" even though I have no ATT Console users logged in. I only want to queue calls if I have an ATT console user logged in and online. Am I missing a service parameter somewhere?

AC version 6.1.2_c

CUCM version 6.1.3.3101-1

Thanks,

Glenn

14 Replies 14

Rob Huffman
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hi Glenn,

You may be missing this setting on the Pilot/Hunt;

Hold Time - This field specifies the maximum time (in seconds) that Cisco CallManager Attendant Console keeps a call in the queue. If the call is in the queue for longer than the "HoldTime," the call gets redirected to the "AlwaysRoute" member. If you do not configure an always route member, the call remains in the queue until an attendant becomes available.

Hope this helps!

Rob

The call will always wait until the Hold Time value, even if there are no operators online.

Rob,

I have an "always route member" configured and this works fine as long as I don't enable queuing. Once I enable queuing, the call never goes to my "always route" member.

Thanks,

Glenn

asafayan
Level 4
Level 4

I'm on a earlier version of CCM and AC so don't know what differences may exist.

The way I use "always route member" differs from the way you are attempting (or at least my understanding) to use it.

When you specify AC users/lines in your Hunt Group, you should specify the "last" Hunt Group member with the "always route member". That way, if all agents lines are busy, including the last line in the Hunt Group, your caller will not hear a busy.

If for example, your last Hunt Group member is a voice mail DN and someone is being routed on that line, if another call hits that last member, they will still be routed to voice mail b/c you've checked "always route member". If you hadn't checked it, they would have busy'ed out.

Rob Huffman
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hi Glenn,

Sorry about that poor explanation! The point was not the Always Route Member (like my poor writing indicated) it was to check the Hold Time - is not set @ 0. Which I believe is infinite.

Cheers!

Rob

Rob,

I've tried both ways and it doesn't really help me. I don't understand why CUCM queues the call when no AC users are logged in. That makes no sense to me.

Glenn

What you need to appreciate is that Attendant Console is a very basic application which does not offer all the bells and whistles of products such as Arc Enterprise (and the rebadged Cisco products based upon it).

Cisco have end of life'd Attendant Console from CUCM7 so in the future if you want operator functionality you will have to buy a standalone product.

Personally I think that this is very short sighted and it is really annoying having to have a Windows server to host Arc etc. just as Cisco move everything to Linux. if I could program I would be developoing an Attendant Console application for the AXP module!

Hi Glenn,

This is one of the drawbacks of broadcast hunting :( Can you please let us know what you set the Hold Timer to (in seconds)

Cheers!

Rob

Hi Rob,

We have a hospital that has had broadcast hunting via AC in place for two years. A Gold Reseller did the implementation. I remember when I first called the hospital main line - you hear the following sequence:

ring tone, Music on hold (can be anywhere in the loop), then an agent picks up. If no agent is available, the caller can literally just be listening to music on hold WITHOUT any idea that they have called our hospital.

What would be a more graceful way of handling this with Attendant Console?

TIA,

Amir

Hi Amir,

The problem here is that Attendant Console (or in the "old" days Switchboard) designs are made for rapid answer/dispatch of calls not Call "Queueing" per say :) If you have ever watched a well trained Operator you will see that calls are always answered very quickly and the caller is asked to hold. Once new calls are holding (receiving MOH etc.) the Operator goes back to each caller in order and routes the call appropriately to the requisite destination. These setups are not properly designed for "Queueing" because that is more of a Call Centre function than a Switchboard function.

That being said, one of the best things you can do with AC Queueing is to get a proper MOH / informational recording done by a professional and applied to the AC config, that has something like "hello you have reached XXXXX, all of our representatives are currently busy etc. etc." looped in fairly quick succession with MOH. This way at least the setup approximates an actual Call Centre setup.

Cheers!

Rob

That's it Rob! Frankly, I never thought to simply ask for a very bried MOH recording instead of the current MOH loop which goes on and on and thus many callers basically hear a ring and then some crummy elevator music and then eventually an agent picks up.

Thanks again!

Amir

What I can't understand is why build queuing into AC if it doesn't bother to check logged in/online status of the AC user. I can't imagine a scenario where queuing a call when no one is logged in is useful. I don't care how good the receptionist is. I think Cisco dropped the ball on this one...big time.

Glenn

Hi Glenn,

I don't think anyone here would disagree with your assessment here :) I remember the first time I read about the Broadcast Queueing feature within AC not being able to have some sort of a simple logic for this most basic requirement. Why would you ever Queue your valued callers up when you know no one is available?? But, this is where we are at with the "older" AC setup.

You may want to look into the "newer" and Cisco recommended Cisco Unified Enterprise Attendant Console, which can deal with more of this functionality;

Night mode service

Operators can use a time and day or manual switch within the application to turn on night mode service. This feature can be used to alert callers that it is after hours and that the business is closed

Cisco Unified Enterprise Attendant Console

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/voicesw/ps6789/ps7046/ps7282/data_sheet_c78-520987.html

Hope this helps!

Rob

Jose Robles
Level 1
Level 1

I'm having the exact same problem as the initial question for this conversation. Did you found a solution for this? Thanks.

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