how to transfer inbound call to vicidial agent from menu

[acappello]

Is it possible to have inbound calls which are directed to my main toll free number to be transfered to a vicidial agent with caller/lead data (if lead is in system). Meaning caller dials in gets our IVR presses lets say #1 to speak with an agent...call is then transfered to a vicidial agent and their agent screen is populated with the data if lead is in the system already.

I know how to have inbound campaign but this would add a menu allowing the caller to reach other departments besides just an agent.

Thanks

[mflorell]

Yes, this can be done, you can look at the examples for how to send an inbound call into VICIDIAL in the examples.conf.sample file included with the VICIDIAL release.

[williamconley]

The functionality for this is in FreePBX, within FreePBX if the client chooses "sales" of course they can be transferred into the inbound for Vicidial to get an agent or to other personnel.

In our systems we generally make sure there are two inbound lines for the program: 1 for management/service and one for Sales. The inbound line for sales is also the outbound callerid during campaigns (so that if a client misses a call from sales and calls back they are popped into the campaign as if they had just answered, only with a higher priority as it is Inbound).

Of course, if you feel up to it, you can duplicate this behavior yourself by putting in an IVR; However: Menuing, etc, in FreePBX is fairly easy to use compared to creating voice menus manually.

Just remember that when you add FreePBX to your system to keep vicidial and FreePBX separate except for the ability to send calls to each other when they choose to. The overhead for a call in FreePBX makes it VERY CPU intensive and it should not be used for normal calling connected to Vicidial.

[acappello]

I actually have the inbound working quite well, however all calls are being directed into the campaign. I was hoping that inbound could first be directed to a selection menu where the caller could choose the dept they wanted to speak with. Thats my issue, I am not wuite sure how to take an inbound call, play the menu, have caller select dept they want and if its sales...I would need to transfer that call to a specific extension i presume to make sure call is routed through vicidial...
This way I can have just one main number...

[Op3r]

create an IVR first. Then point the selected extension to use the inbound agi.

[williamconley]

The point of all this, i think: If you want to offer the caller a menu before getting to a vicidial agent, you need to build an IVR. This can be done in Vicidial scripting manually or done outside of Vicidial and then send the caller into Vicidial ONLY if they choose that menu item. Otherwise, they would go to some other queue or department and never enter vicidial at all.

The scripting in vicidial can be altered to accomplish this, but is not presently designed to do so. On the other hand there are several other menued front-end PBXs that ARE designed to do this. If you use one of those, then you would send the caller into Vicidial ONLY if they chose that particular extension.

[acappello]

well currently I use asterisk for my IVR. It is easy to configure and change as needed.. my issue is not how to set up an IVR or how to allow inbound calls within vicidial, but how to make the twoi work in concert.

I write a menu
press 1=>directs to ext 101(which has its own sub menu listing names or dial by last name...) already exists...
press 2=>directs caller to VICIDIAL and an agent... how would I direct this caller to VICIDIAL is the issue.

I dont need free PBX as I am pretty good with asterisk and it can do all the same things and no issue with bandwidth and cpu usage......

i just dont know how to take the caller once they press 2 and direct them to the proper extension in VICIDIAl that will allow them to be transfered to a VICIDIAL agent...

cant be that hard... with a simple inbound campaign I am directing my calls to my agents as it is...I just want to stick an interactive menu inbetween the caller and the VICIDIAL agent.

That being said:: where should I direct the call when the caller presses whatever choice should direct to a vicidial agent...? I presume I can direct to a VDAD extension which would take over from there...is this correct?

I also presume this would also work for a press 1 campaign...

[williamconley]

Just takin a shot here, but try 8365 (or whatever outbound will meet your needs) but if you want it to maintain the "inbound" methodology ... you need only read the "Manager's Manual" for inbound campaigns.

it will then go to your IVR first, and to an inbound route with the appropriate priorities including agi-VDADcloser_inboundCIDlookup.agi. If you look that up in extensions.conf, you will find the priority list. But if you read the manager's manual and are comfortable writing your own IVR, you should have no problems setting it up.

Remember to test it as a straight inbound and leave that in place while you "insert" your IVR and the inbound extension. For instance, have two phone numbers working for inbound, then insert your ivr before ONE of them, leaving the other one intact. that will remove the "inbound doesn't work" by being able to easily test to see that the other line still works for inbound nicely.