Networked ACD - Programming

Before You Begin

You must have ACD Active Agent licenses programmed in the License and Option Selection form.

NOTE: The maximum number of remote agent subgroups on a system is one-half of the number of agent skill groups selected.

Clustered ACD

On the Queuing Gateways, program the ACD Paths to direct calls to remote ACD Agent Skill Groups in the cluster via IP/XNET or Direct IP Routes. SDS is enabled on all cluster members.

To program an ACD Path (on Queuing Gateway) to a remote ACD Agent Skill Group (on ACD Agent Controller) in the cluster:

On the ACD Agent controllers, program the ACD Agents and the ACD Agent Skill Groups.
Program the ACD Agent Skill Group DN in the Telephone Directory form ( ) of the ACD Agent Controller system. SDS distributes the DN to all cluster elements.
On the Queuing Gateway, program the ACD Path to the remote ACD Agent Skill Group in the cluster by entering the ACD Agent Skill Group DN in the Primary Agent Skill Group ID field or into one of the Overflow Agent Skill Group ID fields of the ACD Paths form.

Networked ACD Resiliency

For ACD resiliency:

The ACD Paths remain separate from the ACD Agents and additional Queuing Gateway Controllers and ACD Agent Controllers are added.
Resiliency is achieved by:
Duplicating the ACD Path programming across one or more Queuing Gateway Controllers. The RADs and MOH recordings should be identical on the Queuing Gateway Controllers.

NOTE: Use the same Path Reporting Number in these instances.

Programming Hot Desk ACD Agent Resiliency and ACD Agent Skill Group Resiliency across multiple ACD Agent Controllers.

This allows call queuing across multiple Queuing Gateway Controllers eliminating any single point of failure for queuing.

This also allows failover and failback between Primary and Secondary ACD Agent Controllers.

If Contact Center Management and Interactive Contact Center are configured in the customer environment, ACD Resiliency will maintain real-time monitoring and Interactive Contact Center ACD Agent and queue control on resilient phone systems, with real-time monitors that notify you immediately if ACD Agents re-register with the failover controller and reports that provide seamless coverage without breaking up the shift.

There are many ways to configure resiliency. For detailed architectures and configuration information, refer to the Resiliency Guidelines, available on Mitel OnLine.

ACD Agent Skill Group Resiliency

Hot Desk ACD Agents and IP Devices are programmed as resilient via the User and Services Configuration form ( ). ACD Agent Skill Group resiliency is programmed in the ACD Agent Skill Groups form.

Before programming the Secondary ACD Agent Controller of a resilient ACD Agent Skill Group, you must change the Secondary ACD Agent Controller of the resilient ACD Agent members.

Remote Directory Number Verification

In the Remote Directory Numbers form ( ) on the Primary ACD Agent Controller, verify:

Hot Desk ACD Agent IDs on the Secondary ACD Agent Controller are displayed and the Primary and Secondary controllers are indicated.
IP Devices on the Secondary ACD Agent Controller are displayed and the Primary and Secondary controllers are indicated.
ACD Agent Skill Groups on the Secondary ACD Agent Controller are displayed and the Primary and Secondary controllers are indicated.

In the Remote Directory Numbers form on the Secondary ACD Agent Controller, verify:

Hot Desk ACD Agent IDs on the Primary ACD Agent Controller are displayed and the Primary and Secondary controllers are indicated.
IP Devices on the Primary ACD Agent Controller are displayed and the Primary and Secondary controllers are indicated.
ACD Agent Skill Groups on the Primary ACD Agent Controller are displayed and the Primary and Secondary controllers are indicated.

Resilient Queuing Gateways Solution

The following best practice is a means of facilitating the rerouting of calls from the Central Office in the event that a Queuing Gateway Controller in the cluster fails.

NOTE: When discussing resilient Queuing Gateway Controllers, the terms Primary and Secondary are used to distinguish between any two Queuing Gateway Controllers.

A resilient Hunt Group can be used as a call rerouting point to send calls to the Secondary Queuing Gateway Controller immediately. Since ACD Paths are not resilient, a resilient Hunt Group allows the programming of a single DN that can be used as the rerouting point for incoming calls.

To program this configuration:

Stop sharing a specific record in the Call Rerouting Always Alternatives form. ( ) This example uses 99. In the SDS Form Sharing Form, select the Call Rerouting Always Alternatives form. Select the exception radio button and then select Add Criteria. In the Minimum Value field, enter 99. This is the record that will no longer be shared.
In the Call Reroute Always Alternative form on the Primary Queuing Gateway Controller, program the Always Alternative Number from Step 1 to route to the ACD Path that is programmed on the Primary Queuing Gateway Controller. This example uses ACD Path 1011.
In the Call Reroute Always Alternative form on the Secondary Queuing Gateway Controller, program the Always Alternative Number from Step 1 to route to the ACD Path that is programmed on the Secondary Queuing Gateway Controller. This example uses ACD Path 1022.
In the Hunt Groups form ( ), add a Voice Hunt Group with no members. Designate the Secondary Element for the Hunt Group to be resilient. This example uses Hunt Group 7002.
In the Call Rerouting form ( ) on both controllers, apply the Always Alternative Number (99) to the Hunt Group DN (7002).

Distributor System and Answering Point System not in a Cluster

Use the following procedures to program Networked ACD if the Distributor System and the Answering Point system are

networked but are not in a cluster,
in different clusters, or
running pre 3300 ICP Release 7.0 software.

Program Networked ACD on the distributor system:

Program an Automatic Route Selection (ARS) route, route list, or route plan with routing digits that translate to the Agent Skill Group ID Number on the overflow Answering Point system.
ARS Node Identities form

Assign the same Directory Number 1 to each node in the network. Each node ID in the network must be identical.

ACD Agent Skill Groups form

Program a new Agent Skill Group.

ACD Paths form

Add the Agent Skill Group programmed in step 3 to the Primary or Overflow Agent Skill Group ID (Note: The programming is the same as that described for ACD).

Program Networked ACD on the Answering Point system:

Program an Automatic Route Selection (ARS) route, route list, or route plan with routing digits translating to the Path Directory Number on the Distributor system where calls are overflowing from.

Distributor System and Answering Point System in the Same Cluster

Use the following procedures to program Networked ACD if the Distributor System and the Answering Point system both have 3300 Release 7.0 or later software and are in the same cluster.

To program Networked ACD on the Answering Point system:

Create the ACD Agent Skill Group on the Answering Point system. OPS Manager updates the Remote Directory Number form of the Distributor system with the Agent Skill Group ID.

To program Networked ACD on the Distributor system:

Verify that the Agent Skill Group ID that was created on the Answering Point system is present in the Remote Directory Numbers form on the Distributor system.
Create the ACD Path and assign the Remote Agent Skill Group ID as the Primary Agent Skill Group in the ACD Path.
Ensure that the ACD Path DN is also a Portable Directory Number (that is, the ACD Path DN is in the Remote Directory Numbers Form on the Answering Point system).

Path Programming for Clusters

When your site is configured as a cluster, you can program the paths to direct calls to remote cluster agent skill groups. This simplifies programming and does not use up agent skill group resources (agent sub-groups) on the Distributor system.

To program a path to a remote cluster agent skill group:

Log into the System Administration Tool on the Answer Point system. Program the agent skill group into the ACD Agent Skill Groups form.
Program the agent skill group directory number into the Telephone Directory form ( ) on the Answer Point system. SDS distributes the directory number to all of the cluster elements.
On the Distributor system, program the path to the remote cluster agent skill group by entering the agent skill group directory number into the “Primary Agent Skill Group ID” field or into one of the “Overflow Agent Skill Group ID” fields of the ACD Paths form.
Enter values for the “Remote Agent Skill Group Priority” field and “Remote Agent Blocking Timer” fields in the ACD Paths form. The values in these fields are applied only when calls are queuing remotely to the agent skill group.