Manage contact centers with AT&T Collaborate

You can edit existing contact centers for a site or create new ones. For each contact center you create, you can manage announcements, privacy settings, agents and supervisors, call features, routing policies, and more.

Profile and privacy settings
Agents and supervisors
Call features
Advanced settings
Announcements
Routing policies
Company contact center settings

Profile and privacy settings

For a contact center, you can update:

• • Profile information, including its phone number, name, and time zone
  • Privacy settings, when you want to show or hide its name in directories
  • The caller ID information that appears when a call is redirected (transferred to an agent by the contact center)
  • The ring pattern that differentiates contact center calls from other calls an agent receives.

View and manage a contact center

1. On the Collaborate homepage, click Select a site or Switch sites, search for or select the site you want to manage, and then click Save.
2. On the left menu, expand Call handling, and then click Contact Center. The Manage contact centers page appears.
3. Under the contact center that you want, click the Edit icon. The manage page for that contact center appears.

Update the profile

1. On the manage page, click Manage profile. The Manage profile page appears.
2. Update the contact center name.
   Contact center names appear in the company directory and other lists.
3. To update the contact center phone number and extension, do 1 of these things:
   • Enter a different phone number and extension.
   • Click the Search icon and select a different phone number.
     Note: If you select a number from the list of available numbers, the extension is automatically updated. You can also enter an extension manually.
4. Select a different department and change the time zone.
   Note: If the contact center is associated with a department, the name appears in the directory as part of the department.
5. Update the privacy settings:
   • To hide the contact center phone number from directories, check Exclude this contact center’s information from the company directory.
   • To hide the contact center extension from auto attendants, check Exclude this contact center’s information when a caller selects the Auto Attendant dial-by-extension option.
   • To hide the contact center name from auto attendants, check Exclude this contact center’s information when a caller selects the Auto Attendant dial-by-name option.
6. Update caller ID settings to specify what information shows on the caller’s phone and on the recipient’s phone.
7. Update the call policy to use when searching for an available contact center agent:
   • Circular
   • Sequential
   • Simultaneous
   • Uniform
   • Weighted
8. To update distinctive ringing, check the Distinctive ringing, and then select a ring pattern.
9. Click Save.

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Agents and supervisors

You can assign agents and supervisors to contact centers and manage agent and supervisor lists. You can also set a contact center’s weighted call distribution.

Assign and manage agents and supervisors

Assign agents and supervisors

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Assign agents and supervisors. The Assign agents and supervisors page appears.
3. In the Agents section, click Search sites.
4. Search for or select sites to assign to the contact center, and then click Save. You return to the Assign agents and supervisors page.
5. To the right of the site name, click Assign agents. The Assign agents window opens.
6. Search for and select the agents you want to assign to the contact center from this site, and then click Save.
   Note: Only users who are assigned the contact center agent feature appear in this list. If you don’t see a user you want to assign to the contact center, go to the user’s feature list and assign Contact Center.
7. Click Save.

To assign supervisors, in the Supervisors section, follow the same steps.

Unassign agents and supervisors

1. To unassign an agent from the contact center, on the Assign agents and supervisors page, in the Agents section, click <x> agents are assigned to this contact center. The View and manage members list window opens.
2. Select the agent you want to unassign from the contact center, and then click Save.
3. To delete agents and supervisors from the contact center, click the Delete icon next to the group name, and then click Save.
4. When you’re prompted to confirm the deletion, click Confirm.

To unassign supervisors, in the Supervisors section, follow the same steps.

Assign agents to supervisors

1. To add agents for a supervisor to monitor, on the Assign agents and supervisors page, in the Manage supervisors section, next to the supervisor’s name, click Assign agents. The Assign agents window opens.
2. Search for and select the agents you want to assign to the contact center from this site, and then click Save.
3. At the bottom of the Assign agents and supervisors page, click Save.

Set up call distribution

If you selected weighted call distribution when you created the contact center, you can set the percentage of total calls each agent receives. By default, all agents are weighted equally.

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Assign agents and supervisors. The Assign agents and supervisors page appears.
3. Under Weighted call distribution, click Contact center is at <x>% or click Percent of distribution. The Set up weighted call distribution window opens.
4. Search for and select agents.
5. To adjust the percentage of calls an agent receives, type a new number under Distribution.
6. Change other agents’ percentages so the total equals 100%.
7. Click Save.

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Call features

To manage call handling features, first assign the feature to a contact center.

Assign call features

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Set call features. The Set call features page appears.
3. If no features are assigned, click Edit features.
4. Check the box for each feature you want to assign to this contact center, and then click Assign. You can turn on or set up each feature.

For help managing each feature, see Manage user features, and then search for the feature you want:

• Alternate Numbers
• Anonymous Call Rejection
• Call Forwarding – Busy
• Call Forwarding on a Schedule
• Site Forwarding
• Selective Call Acceptance
• Selective Call Rejection

Note: The Alternate Numbers, Site Forwarding, and Selective Call Acceptance features show only if your organization purchased the Enhanced Voice Features bundle.

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Advanced settings

You can update threshold levels for call length and queue size. Collaborate can send emails to alert supervisors when thresholds are exceeded. Make sure the email addresses you provide for a contact center are up to date.

Specify when agents are available to answer phones and the actions Collaborate takes when agents are unavailable. You can use default settings to give all agents across the company the same calling policies, or select different calling policies.

You can also change audio codecs, which define how call signals are processed. Most customers use the default selections.

Update advanced settings

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Adjust advanced settings. The Adjust advanced settings page appears.
3. To change audio codecs, do the following:
   • From the Audio codec for announcements inside the company list, select the audio codec to use for calls that originate inside the company.
   • From the Audio codec for announcements outside the company list, select the audio codec to use for calls that originate outside the company.
     Note: Most customers use the default selections.
4. In the Contact center call settings section:
   • Enter the number of calls you want held in the queue before a call is handled per the busy settings.
   • To play both an announcement and ringing for callers before they’re connected to an agent, check Interrupt announcement with ringing when calls are offered to an agent.
5. To update agent settings, check 1 or more of the following boxes:
   • Allow agents to join contact center—Agents can choose to join contact centers. If unchecked, agents will automatically be joined to a specific contact center.
   • Allow call waiting on agents—Send a call to an agent when the agent is already on a current call (the queue sends it as a call-waiting call).
   • Set maximum wrap–up time to (in minutes and seconds) —Enter the maximum time an agent can take to wrap up a call before being available to take another call.
   • Send calls to agents during wrap-up— Route calls to agents who are wrapping up their previous call.
   • Set agent status after calls to—Select the status you want for agents when they end a call.
6. In the Threshold profiles section, update the levels at which supervisors are notified that the contact center exceeds a threshold.
   • Next to each threshold, click the Edit icon.
   • Enter the yellow (moderate) and red (extreme) threshold levels, and then click Save.
7. Update supervisor notifications when thresholds are exceeded:
   Check or uncheck Turn on email notifications.
   Enter an email address or add new email addresses, and then click Save.
8. When you’re finished, at the bottom of the page, click Save.

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Announcements

You can create and manage the contact center announcements that callers hear while waiting in a call queue. The greetings and announcements are stored as audio files in the site’s announcements repository. After you add announcements, you then decide how you want to use them. You can record, upload, or change custom announcements. For details, see Manage announcements.

The entrance message is the first message a caller hears. You can set this message to always play, or you can skip the message and send the call directly to available agents.

After the entrance message plays, comfort messages and music on hold play until the call is answered by an agent, or until the call is handled by a contact center policy, such as Call Forwarding- Busy.

Note: You can use any audio file with the Music on Hold feature, including messages, greetings, music, and announcements.

The estimated wait time message provides queue information to the caller and is played after the entrance message and before any other announcement (based on your configuration). The message continues to play during the interval you specify.

Use an entrance message

You can greet callers with a message when they enter the queue.

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Manage announcements. The Manage announcements page appears.
3. Next to Entrance message, click the Edit icon. The Entrance message page appears.
4. Check 1 or both of the following boxes:
   • To use an entrance message, check Play entrance message.
   • To make the greeting mandatory even if an agent is available, check Entrance message is mandatory.
5. Determine which message callers hear when they enter the queue:
   • To play the default message (“Your call is very important to us. Please wait for the next available agent.”), select Default message.
   • To play a custom message, select Custom message, click Add audio file, enter a file name, click Upload, select or record an audio file, and then click Save. For help, see Manage announcements.
6. Click Save.

Update music on hold messages

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Manage announcements. The Manage announcements page appears.
3. To add audio files to play when callers are on hold in the queue, next to Music on Hold, click the Edit icon. The Music on Hold page appears.
4. Check Play the Music on Hold announcement.
5. Select the Music on Hold announcement:
   • To play the default message or system-provided music when a caller is on hold, select Use the default audio file.
   • To play custom music or a custom message when a caller is on hold:
     – Select Use a custom audio file, and then click Add audio file.
     – Upload an audio file, or record a new audio file, and then click Save. For help, see Manage announcements.
     You can select up to 4 messages. The files will be played in the order listed.
6. To play a different message when an internal caller is on hold, check Use the alternate announcement.
   • To play a custom message:
     – Select Use a custom audio file, and then click Add audio file.
     – Enter a file name, upload or select an existing file, or record an audio file, and then click Save. For help, see Manage announcements.
7. Click Save.

Use a comfort message

You can play a comfort message for callers in the queue.

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Manage announcements. The Manage announcements page appears.
3. Next to Comfort message, click the Edit icon. The Comfort message page appears.
4. Check Play comfort message, and then enter the number of seconds to pause before repeating the message.
5. Select which message to play:
   • To play the system-generated comfort message (“Your call is very important to us. Please wait for the next available agent.”), select Use the default audio file.
   • To play a custom comfort message, select Use a custom audio file, click Add audio file, upload, select, or record an audio file, and then click Save. For help, see Manage announcements.
     You can select up to 4 messages. The files will be played in the order listed.
6. When you’re finished, click Save.

Use an estimated wait time message

You can give a caller in the queue an estimated time when the call will be answered.

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Manage announcements. The Manage announcements page appears.
3. Next to Estimated wait time message, click Set up. The Estimated wait time message page appears.
4. Check Turn on estimated wait time messaging for calls in the queue.
5. To set the timing for the wait message, check Play an updated wait time message every, and then enter the number of seconds to pause before repeating the message.
6. Decide what information to provide in the estimated wait message:
   • To tell callers their queue position, select Queue position announcement.
     – Enter the highest queue position that you want to tell callers.
     – To play a message that explains there’s a high volume of callers in the queue, check Play message during high volume call times.
   • To tell callers how much longer they’ll be on hold, select Wait time announcement.
     – Enter the longest wait time that you want to announce to callers.
     – To play a message that explains there’s a high volume of callers in the queue, check Play this announcement during high volume call times.
     – Enter the default wait time.
7. Click Save.

Manage queue overflow messages and settings

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Manage announcements. The Manage announcements page appears.
3. Next to Queue overflow message, click Set up. The Queue overflow message page appears.
4. Select the message to play when the queue overflows:
   • To play a system-generated message, select Use the default audio file.
   • To play a custom message, select Use a custom audio file, click Add audio file, enter a file name, upload, select or record the audio file, and then click Save. For help, see Manage announcements.
5. Select up to 4 messages. The files will be played in the order listed.
6. To decide what to do when the queue is too full, click Change the queue overflow message settings. The Set routing policies page appears.
7. In the Manage queue overflow section:
   • To play a busy signal to the caller when the queue is full, select Play a busy signal.
   • To transfer calls when the queue is full, select Transfer calls to, and then enter a 10-digit phone number or an extension.
   • To play a ring tone to callers until they hang up, select Play ring tone to callers until they hang up.
   • To limit the amount of time a caller can be in the queue, check Limit the time a caller can be in the queue to, and then enter the maximum number of seconds a call can wait in the queue.
   • To play an announcement before the queue overflows, check Play an announcement before the queue overflows.
   • To return to the Queue overflow message page, click Manage queue overflow audio files.
8. Click Save.

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Routing policies

Routing policies control how calls in the contact center queue are handled. You can manage call routing policies for different situations, such as if an agent doesn’t answer the call, when there are a lot of calls in the queue, or if there are no available agents to answer calls. A call is bounced when it moves from agent to agent without being answered.

Manage bounced calls

1. View and manage a contact center.
2. On the manage page, click Set call routing policies. The Set routing policies page appears.
3. To bounce calls after an agent’s phone rings a specified number of times, check Bounce calls after. Then enter the number of times the call will ring before it’s routed to the next available agent based on your queue policies.
4. To bounce calls if an agent becomes unavailable while the call is being routed, check Bounce calls if agent becomes unavailable while routing the call.
   The call will be routed to the next available agent based on your queue policies.
5. To alert an agent when a call has been on hold for a specified amount of time, check Alert agent if call is on hold for longer than. Then enter the number of seconds to wait before alerting an agent.
6. To bounce a call that’s been on hold for a specified amount of time, check Bounce calls on hold for longer than. Then enter the number of seconds to wait before bouncing the call.

Manage queue overflow

1. Decide what to do when the contact center call queue overflows:
   • To play a busy signal to the caller when the queue is full, select Play a busy signal.
   • To transfer calls when the queue is full, select Transfer calls to, and then enter a 10-digit phone number or an extension.
   • To play a ring tone to callers until they hang up, select Play a ring tone to callers until they hang up.
2. To limit the amount of time a caller can be in the queue, check Limit the time a caller can be in the queue to, and then enter the maximum number of seconds a call can wait in the queue.
3. To play an announcement before the queue overflows, check Play an announcement before the queue overflows, and then click Manage queue overflow audio file. The Queue overflow message page appears.
4. Select the message to play when the queue overflows.

Manage calls when all agents are signed out

1. On the Set routing policies page, scroll down to the Manage calls when agents are signed out section.
2. Decide what to do if calls are stranded (held in the queue when there are no agents signed in):
   • To leave calls in the queue, select Leave calls in the queue.
   • To transfer calls, select Transfer calls to and enter a 10-digit phone number or an extension where calls will be transferred.
   • To play a busy signal or send to a call forwarding busy number, select Play a busy signal.

Finally, decide how to manage calls when no agents are available.

Manage stranded calls when agents are unavailable

1. On the Set routing policies page, scroll to the Manage stranded calls when agents are unavailable section.
2. Decide if you want to turn on a routing policy to handle calls when they’re in the queue and no agents are available:
   • To turn on this routing policy, check Route calls, enter the number of unavailable agents, and then select the agent unavailable code from the list.
   • To turn off this routing policy, uncheck Route calls. Click Save and you’re done.
3. If you turned the policy on, decide how to handle the calls:
   • To leave calls in the queue, select Leave calls in the queue.
   • To transfer calls, select Transfer calls to and enter a 10-digit phone number or an extension where calls will be transferred.
   • To play a busy signal to a caller, select Play a busy signal.
4. When you’re finished making changes on the Set routing policies page, click Save.

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Company contact center settings

You can set up or edit options for contact center agents and routing policies.

Access the Contact center settings page

1. On the Collaborate homepage in company view, on the left menu, expand Administration, and then click Company settings. The Company settings page appears.
2. In the Contact centers section, click the Edit icon. The Contact center settings page appears.
3. For each of the following sections, follow the procedures below to set up or edit the settings and policies:
   • Default agent settings
   • Agent threshold profile settings (optional)
   • Agent settings
   • Routing policies

Update default agent settings

1. On the Contact Center Agent Web Client page, set the guard timer, which specifies a short time (usually between 2 and 5 seconds) between when a call ends and when a new call is offered to the agent. Select an option:
   • Use the default setting (preselected, with the timer set to 5 seconds)
   • Use the user’s guard timer setting
2. To turn on the guard timer, check the box and select the number of seconds (1 to 25) from the list.
3. Set the agent status:
   • Keep Use the default setting—Agents appear as unavailable after 3 unanswered calls.
   • Select Use a company setting, and then check 1 or more of these boxes:
     • Set agent status to unavailable when Do Not Disturb is turned on—Agents appear as unavailable.
     • Set agent status to unavailable after consecutive bounced calls <x>—Agents appear as unavailable when they’re unreachable, such as when the power goes out.
     • Set agent status to unavailable when calls aren’t answered—Agents appear as unavailable after a set number of unanswered consecutive calls.
4. Click Save.

Update agent threshold profile settings

An agent threshold profile defines when supervisors are notified about the average length of time that agents spend on calls, are unavailable, are wrapping up calls, and so on. You can add new agent threshold profiles and manage existing ones. Agent threshold profiles are optional.

1. To add or edit a profile, on the Contact center settings page, in the Agent threshold profile settings (optional) section, click the Edit icon. The Agent threshold profiles page appears.
2. Search for a profile, add a new profile, or edit an existing profile.
3. When you create or edit a threshold profile:
   • Enter a profile name and description that you want to appear in the company directory.
   • Next to each threshold setting, click the Edit icon and enter the maximum time (in minutes and seconds) for the yellow and red threshold levels.
   • In the Agents section, add agents.
   • In the Notifications section, specify who to notify when thresholds are exceeded. Check Turn on email notifications, add emails, and then click Save.
4. When you’re finished, click Save.

Update agent unavailable codes

To see agents’ status at a glance, supervisors can use agent unavailable codes. For example, you might define agent unavailable codes for times when agents are at lunch or away from their desks. A supervisor can look at the contact center agent list and see what task each agent is performing. You can use default codes or define new ones, and you can create reports based on these codes.

1. On the Contact center settings page, in the Agent settings section, click Set up. The Agent unavailable codes page appears.
2. To add a code, click Add code, check Use codes when agents are unavailable, enter a unique number and code description, and then click Save.
3. In the Code preferences section, to turn on agent unavailable codes, check Use codes when agents are unavailable, identify which codes correspond to the default codes, and then select unique codes from the lists.
4. Click Save.

Set up contact center routing policies

Contact center routing policies define the rules that Collaborate uses to route calls when agents are part of multiple contact centers. Usually, Collaborate directs calls to contact centers in the order of priority that you assign.

1. On the Contact center settings page, in the Routing policies section, click the Edit icon. The Set routing policies page appears.
2. Select the policy you want to use:
   • To route calls to the contact center that has the current longest wait time, select Longest wait time, and then click Save.
   • To route calls to each contact center based on the priority you set, select Priority order, drag each contact center to the order that you want. Or, click Rearrange to assign a number to each contact center (1 is the highest priority). When you’re finished, click Save.

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