IPCC Express- How does it compare?

iptuser55 · ‎01-09-2009

- I`ve also posted this in the Call Centre forum so forgive me if you have read this

I`ve been asked to look in to a possible IPCC express solution. I also worked on Nortel Symposium SC200 - larger solution as opposed to their express version and have written the Call Centre scripts

Our possible Call Centre is based upon an Internal service desk, HR, Building Services etc with different requirements in their Q`s not a Credit Card company or Health type one, number of seats 100 tops

Questions

How does the express version compare to the full blown IPCC- in Nortel you are limited to what you can do in their express as tee scripts are all predetermined- how flexible is Cisco Express to the full one

Is there any major difference in feature set between the Express and IPCC

Can you create the same type of scripts in Express as in IPCC or are there limitations based upon our type of call centre as above

In Symposium you create a many scripts for routing but for reporting point of view you have a final basic script which just states "route to skill xxxx" This is so that when the supervisor runs reports on avg, time to answer etc the script does not have press1, press2 type delays where the caller may delay keying in the digit so altering the time to answer- Can you, do you create sub-scripts in IPCC Express for the same reason

I`m thinking on going on the deployment course- is it worth it and also are any cisco or any other documents I can down load with script examples

Thanks

Jonathan Schulenberg · ‎01-13-2009

UCCX = Unified Contact Center Express

UCCE = Unified Contact Center Enterprise

1. Scripts are not "predetermined" within UCCX. You are given a hybrid Java editor with pre-built Java beans. This provides a "drag and drop" ability; you can build the script as you see fit. In the Premium version of the product, you can also include Java code to extend beyond the beans that are pre-built. In addition you can interact with XML, HTTP, and ODBC connections for external data sources depending on the product license.

2. Comparing CCCE and UCCX is a fairly lengthy discussion. As long as you are less than 300 agents, UCCX is most likely the correct route though. It all comes down to the features you need. UCCE has a much different deployment differences from UCCX.

3. UCCX can be used as an IVR in a larger UCCE deployment. If that is the case, the same script can be used with minor modifications. UCCE also supports Cisco CVP which uses entirely different (VoiceXML) "scripts".

4. Yes you can create subordinate scripts or hand a caller from one script to another. From a reporting perspective, there are specific statistics surrounding these that separates "IVR time" from "queue time".

Unfortunately there is very little in the way of self study materials outside of the UCCXD and UCCXA courses. UCCXD does a good job of getting you going with the product. If you will be writing scripts as part of your primary job responsibilities, I would strongly recommend taking UCCXA as well.

iptuser55 · ‎01-14-2009

Thanks for your reply- the difference between IPCCX and full IPCC as you mentioned is down to features you require which is the same with Nortel Express and full SC200

I`ve now been informed the total number of seats across the different locations as I`m trying to been the different "service desks" under a single CC as at the moment they are on independent Nortel`s may be over 300 - is the limit on IPCCX 300 as I`m led to believe if above the 300 mark does it force you the full IPCCE?

IVR - We have Unity Connection though this will move to full Unity UM, can IPCCX or full IPCCE provide it`s own IVR prompts- press1 , press 2, you are held in a Q, play music etc or would you need Unity Connection / Unity to do this?

Jonathan Schulenberg · ‎01-14-2009

Cisco has imposed an absolute limit of 300 agents on a single UCCX cluster. This is not necessarily a hard limit of the software but you will not be able to exceed it as Cisco will not issue more than 300 licenses. One note of clarification: this is 300 CONCURRENTLY LOGGED ON agents. When approaching this level you also need to run some calculations on the BHCA (Busy Hour Call Attempts) to ensure that UCCX can handle the call load.

If you have more than 300 concurrently logged on agents you can either go with UCCE; or, install multiple UCCX clusters. You can tie multiple UCCX clusters to a single UCM cluster. This is not a common route but is possible if you can break the departments apart cleanly. Example: All of HR and the Help Desk go on UCCX cluster A. All of Customer Service and Accounting go on cluster B.

As for the IVR: Absolutely. UCCX/UCCE are much more capable IVR systems than Unity will ever be.

iptuser55 · ‎01-14-2009

Thanks- If you use multiple IPCCX clusters on a single CUCM because of the 300 agent log in -you mentioned that you break departments which I presume you mean allocate like departments to a single IPCCX Cluster and other departments to another IPCCX cluster so to expend the max. number of agents beyond 300 ? so does this mean you can not split agents in a single skills set or resource across different IPCCX as below?

Can you route call across different IPCCX cluster as in Symposium you can set up Network Call Centres in that the Original CC keeps the call but then monitors the remote CC checking if there are agents free and if so reserves the agents and sends the call across to the other CC ? Or can you do this but only by other the call to "complete" departments i.e Queue to skill set, Resource overflow and not view the different agents on multiple IPCXX as a single resource

Is there a limit on the number of Agent ID`s you can have say 1000 but only 300 can be logged in ?

Hope it makes sense

CHRIS CHARLEBOIS · ‎01-14-2009

The ability to route a call across different IPCCX clusters is a function of IPCC Enterprise. You could pass a call from one IPCCX cluster to another without IPCCE, but the original cluster would not track the call nor could it pass reporting, queuing, or collected digits from the call. It would be a pure hand-off. Also, IPCCX clusters cannot share resources, queues, or skillsets without IPCCE.

The 300 limit is on concurrent agents. You could have 1000 agents defined, but no more than 300 agents can log in at one time.