New to viciDial with many questions :)

[anoluck]

Hello everyone!
I'm new to ViciDial but I came from Asterisk community.
I wanted to try ViciDial, as it appears very stable with a large community.
I'm a self taught programmer and I've been programming and using my own custom Dialer with Asterisk and NodeJS.
I wanted to see what viciDial have to offer; so far so good.
After fooling around a bit with viciDial it appears the program is written heavily Php Javascript, and Mysql which is awesome.
Php was my first love.

Currently using Hyper-VM as a Dev Box
2 Cores w/ 4GB of Mem
I've installed the latest ViciDIal Server Package located at
http://vicibox.org/server/index.html
OpenSuSE Leap v.42.3 64-bit
Kernel v.4.4.155
Asterisk v.13.21.1-vici
DAHDI v.2.11.1
LibPRI v.1.6.0
Amfletec VoiceSync v.1.3.8
OpenR2 v.1.3.3 for MFC/R2 support
ViciDial SVN v.2.14-689a build 180922-0958 revision 3035

If anyone can help me on my new adventure with viciDial, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

Sorry if I dont know the lingo very well but here goes..

1. Is it possible to dial outbound and use AMD with dial 0-9 campaign then redirect call out to another remote pbx?
a. Currently reading the manual it appears it can use AMD with campaign but why must the agent use the portal/gui?
b. If I send calls remotely to a different pbx must the agents use the portal/gui or can they ignore?
c. If I have local agent must they use the portal/gui or can they only use their softphone only?

2. Is it possible to control the dialing by whether the agent is on a call and how many is in queue?
a. If agent is on a call and there is a client in queue to NOT call any new numbers? Basically, I don't want to overwhelm the agent with calls if he/she already on a call with one in the queue.

3. Can I use centOS 7 instead of OpenSuse 42.3 or can I installed ViciDial on already running centOS 7?
a. I did google and it appears there are tutorial out there to install older version of centOS but is there an official way to install stand alone vicidial on centOS 7?

Sorry in advance if I broke any of the forum rules, please enlighten me if I've does so.

[williamconley]

If anyone can help me on my new adventure with viciDial, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

Sorry if I dont know the lingo very well but here goes..

1. Is it possible to dial outbound and use AMD with dial 0-9 campaign then redirect call out to another remote pbx?
a. Currently reading the manual it appears it can use AMD with campaign but why must the agent use the portal/gui?
b. If I send calls remotely to a different pbx must the agents use the portal/gui or can they ignore?
c. If I have local agent must they use the portal/gui or can they only use their softphone only?

2. Is it possible to control the dialing by whether the agent is on a call and how many is in queue?
a. If agent is on a call and there is a client in queue to NOT call any new numbers? Basically, I don't want to overwhelm the agent with calls if he/she already on a call with one in the queue.

3. Can I use centOS 7 instead of OpenSuse 42.3 or can I installed ViciDial on already running centOS 7?
a. I did google and it appears there are tutorial out there to install older version of centOS but is there an official way to install stand alone vicidial on centOS 7?

0) Look in /usr/src/astguiclient/trunk/docs
Execute the perl scripts in /usr/share/astguiclient with "--help" which shows options for each (as a rule). Also read them as there are often notes at the top of each script.
Read the top of the agi scripts (written in perl) in /var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin/, also have some very nice notes regarding usage. Same with php pages in both /vicidial/ and /agc/
Note that some of those files may not appear in the Manual. I *highly* recommend getting the paid version of the Vicidial Manager's Manual for someone like you, it can jump start a great many "holy crap, it can do that?" with step by step instructions and offer insight into some of those undocumented scripts at the same time. Considering the cost, it's spectacular.

1) Yes. Use a "remote agent" as a funnel to send calls to the other PBX. You can create a user for each remote agent, or create a remote agent with multiple lines and it will "auto-generate" users after the first one for you. But ONLY the real users linked to remote agents will be visible in the Real Time Screen. So if you create user 1100 and assign it to a remote agent with 50 lines and do not create any of the other users, only that first user will be visible and only when that user is on a call. Thus 95% of the time, you may see nothing on the real time for those users. Creating all the users can be helpful.
a) Only users with computers use the GUI. The GUI allows data collection, without it you must have a completely different method to record all data. The GUI automatically brings up the correct data record simultaneously with the call landing in the agent session. No delay. It allows the user to say "Hi, bob!" to bob immediately. It can also have a script which specifically says "hi, bob, hows the weather up there in michigan today?"
b) If they have computers, give them the gui. If they do not, make them remote agents. Note that you can map phones in Vicidial directly to phones in FreePBX (or any other system, or even cell phones) so that Vicidial knows how and where to call each agent for statistical tracking of agent performance. Very Necessary.
c) ANY phone or audio device Vicidial can call can also be used as an agent phone. Have a look at the ViciPhone project (which is a bit of a misnomer: Since there's no phone! It's handled in the web page! No installation for the agent!)

more later if I get time ...

2) That's by design. That's why Vicdial exists. "Available Only Tally" is the setting.

3) GoAutodial.com's website has installation wiki for CentOS. Upgrade right after install to blow away the modified screens and use the latest version of Vicidial. Note that the Viciphone is unlikely to work in this environment. My advice would be to use the Stock system from Vicibox until you have your legs under you. Seriously.

[anoluck]

0) Look in /usr/src/astguiclient/trunk/docs
Execute the perl scripts in /usr/share/astguiclient with "--help" which shows options for each (as a rule). Also read them as there are often notes at the top of each script.
Read the top of the agi scripts (written in perl) in /var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin/, also have some very nice notes regarding usage. Same with php pages in both /vicidial/ and /agc/
Note that some of those files may not appear in the Manual. I *highly* recommend getting the paid version of the Vicidial Manager's Manual for someone like you, it can jump start a great many "holy crap, it can do that?" with step by step instructions and offer insight into some of those undocumented scripts at the same time. Considering the cost, it's spectacular.

1) Yes. Use a "remote agent" as a funnel to send calls to the other PBX. You can create a user for each remote agent, or create a remote agent with multiple lines and it will "auto-generate" users after the first one for you. But ONLY the real users linked to remote agents will be visible in the Real Time Screen. So if you create user 1100 and assign it to a remote agent with 50 lines and do not create any of the other users, only that first user will be visible and only when that user is on a call. Thus 95% of the time, you may see nothing on the real time for those users. Creating all the users can be helpful.
a) Only users with computers use the GUI. The GUI allows data collection, without it you must have a completely different method to record all data. The GUI automatically brings up the correct data record simultaneously with the call landing in the agent session. No delay. It allows the user to say "Hi, bob!" to bob immediately. It can also have a script which specifically says "hi, bob, hows the weather up there in michigan today?"
b) If they have computers, give them the gui. If they do not, make them remote agents. Note that you can map phones in Vicidial directly to phones in FreePBX (or any other system, or even cell phones) so that Vicidial knows how and where to call each agent for statistical tracking of agent performance. Very Necessary.
c) ANY phone or audio device Vicidial can call can also be used as an agent phone. Have a look at the ViciPhone project (which is a bit of a misnomer: Since there's no phone! It's handled in the web page! No installation for the agent!)

more later if I get time ...

2) That's by design. That's why Vicdial exists. "Available Only Tally" is the setting.

3) GoAutodial.com's website has installation wiki for CentOS. Upgrade right after install to blow away the modified screens and use the latest version of Vicidial. Note that the Viciphone is unlikely to work in this environment. My advice would be to use the Stock system from Vicibox until you have your legs under you. Seriously.

You're freakin awesome!! Makes me excited to dive in. I was hoping that it could do it all because a couple of times I would dive into a project realize half way in, its doesn't do what I need and would take to much time to reverse engineer and make it do what I want.

I will look through the codes thanks
I read somewhere about the available tally, didnt realize thats exactly what I needed.
Thanks for the advice about learning vicidial compeltely which I attend to do first before I use centOS as I can do trail and error to see how all the features work.

[anoluck]

I have one more technical question. Lets say I need 4 servers as dialers, but one list of leads. I can either manually split the leads or program a way for each servers to grab the data from one database but does vicidial do this already. Load and balance the leads?
In other words, using a huge list to call same campaign for 10 agents but needing 4 servers as dialers. I want to be sure the 4 dialers dont call the same numbers.

[williamconley]

When you "multi-server" or "cluster" install (so they share the database), agents log into campaigns. Any number of agents on the same campaign are sharing leads. This has ZERO relation to which server they are on or where the agents are physically or anything else: Campaigns are meant to share leads among agents.

Which brings me to my BEST advice: Stock install Vicidial using the PDF on Vicibox.com's site. After you finish installation, switch to the Vicidial Manager's Manual from EFLO.net, free and paid both available although free isn't as visible due to coloration, free is fine for this. Start at page one. DO NOT skip anything. You'll probably get to a section you don't need and want to skip it. Slap yourself. DO NOT skip anything.

Consider: You are using about $1M of software (development cost) or $100k of software (comparative pricing if you purchase proprietary software and pay to configure it and license it). And you've paid exactly nothing for it. That alone justifies spending a couple hours going through EVERY step in the manual before you move on.

If you screw up the installation, or anything else complex, wipe the HD (delete the partitions) and Start Over. Several reinstalls and one or two good workthoughs of the Manager's Manual and you should be more than competent to Manage a Vicidial system. But even two installs (one to bluster through and one to perform carefully) and ONE full run-through on the Manual and you'll have a fully functional system.

Free.

We also have a three hour training course which is only $35/hr total $105 IF scheduled a couple weeks in advance in which we take from "Well, it's installed and it autodials ... now what?" to "Dialing!" with ONE agent on ONE campaign with ONE (fake) list. At that point, all you need do is create more users and load more leads and you're up and running.

If you want to go "all in", you can attend a seminar by The Vicidial Group in Florida. Information is on their site (top left corner here will take you there). You'll leave that training more than just competent. You will actually know what you're doing without question.