On-Hook Agent for Outbound List

[keepers]

Hey guys, to my knowledge there isn't a way to do this but I wanted to start this topic and share with you my scenario.

On-Hook Agents for Inbound is working great for us btw.

Scenario:
I have agents logged into a campaign with designated Ingroups for Inbound. They take calls using the On-Hook Agent feature. The problem is we started a program where we have real time leads posting into a list (a few a day) so the system would need to dial out to the agent (similar to on hook) and once connected then dial out to the real time lead. If it doesn't get a connection to the agent then the lead should stay in the list until it does. Perhaps it should ring the agent Phone that is Ready and if the agent doesn't answer it moves them to Pause. (and tries the next agent if any). Then when the agent moves off Pause later and back to "Ready" it should try them again.

This would allow for me to have my agents on the On-Hook Agent feature at all times for both Inbound and "Outbound". Perhaps this could be a special list with this feature or a List Override of some sort.

*I know this is not ideal for a typical outbound campaign but it would be for the scenario described.

Thoughts?

VERSION: 2.4-338a
BUILD: 110923-2043

[mflorell]

So you want to call a customer, and have them hear ringing when they pick up?

[keepers]

No not at all. (what you described can kind of already be done by setting drop seconds to 1 and drop action to ingroup, then it rings the agent phone on hook) That is not what I am looking for.


As in my example earlier, I'm looking for it to ring the Agent's phone and then when the agent answers, dial out to the lead.

This is obviously best utilized in the scenario I described but we are getting this request a lot as well as would use it internally. This is ideal for centers that are mostly Inbound with some real time leads posting to a list.

The way I would see this working would be a special list override that rings the agent's phone (On-Hook). If the agent doesn't answer the connection call it tries the next agent.

(This is already done manually by clicking the "ring" link at the top of the agent screen before attempting a manual call when utilizing the On-Hook feature.

Let me know if you want me to explain further.

[mflorell]

That is not currently a feature of Vicidial, but it sounds like a good feature request to put into the Issue Tracker, or possibly consider sponsoring development.

[keepers]

Hey Matt, I know it has been a while but if we wanted to sponsor this feature, how many hours would it be? This is something we would love to use. Let me know.

[mflorell]

This would not be a simple feature to add, it would require adding a new process that would check for leads to dial in designated campaigns and place a local call to an in-group and then when an agent connects it would have to place the live call to the new lead.

From everything that is involved in doing this, it would probably be a 15-hour project. If you are interested in proceeding please email sales@vicidial.com

[williamconley]

Hey! One year anniversary for the project. Eerie. That would be a tough one to do even with a script, due to the "logged in agent" portion. It would be excellent as an added feature, though. I'm not sure a lot of call centers would use it, but I've never heard of another dialer application that could do it. So having it available as an "option" could open some doors for smaller call centers. Vicidial is cooler every day.

[VFRDavid]

What if this only worked for the "Inbound and Man" campaign? When the agent clicks "dial" via the preview style agent screen, it could ring the agent prior to dialing the outbound number...kind of the way "monitor" works from the real time screen...would this make this feature easier to implement? (Since we would leave out the traditional outbound / predictive dialing that needs to check for available / waiting agents to place the call with? Even if the Preview dial uses the conference room - knowing what extension the Agent is sitting at, and knowing that extension is flagged as "On Hook" should make it possible to call the agent, when they answer, they can still get the "You are currently the only member in this conference" message - and once ViCi detects that this agent has answered / is available - then it can make manual calls. I think that trying to find an available agent with a traditional predictive campaign is what complicates it - but for the ability to blend in preview dialing, where you know who the agent will be before the call is dialed - while I'm not saying it would be SIMPLE...I do think that it would certainly be SIMPLER than predictive...no?

How many hours do you think it would take under these circumstances? Where it only worked for Manual and / or Preview dialing?

[durgashankar]

i have an error in dial plan i am using a outbound dial plan but when i am dialing with prefix it is giving the error "please remove the 0 before the dialing"

the dial plan is here

[from-pstn]
exten => _66X.,1,Set(DIRNAME=${CALLERID(num)}/${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%Y%m/%d)})
exten => _66X.,n,Set(FILENAME=/var/www/html/GO4C/${DIRNAME}/${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%H%M%S)}-${EXTEN:2}-)
exten => _66X.,n,System(/bin/mkdir -p /var/www/html/GO4C/${DIRNAME})
exten => _66X.,n,Set(FILE=${FILENAME}.gsm)
exten => _66X.,n,Set(TIME=${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%H:%M:%S)})
exten => _66X.,n,MixMonitor(${FILENAME}.gsm,av(0)V(0))
exten => _66X.,n,AGI(agi://127.0.0.1:4577/call_log)
exten => _66X.,n,Set(dnum=${EXTEN:2})
exten => _66X.,n,NoOp(${CHANNEL})
exten => _66X.,n,Dial(${TRUNKC}/${EXTEN:2},,To)
exten => _66X.,n,Hangup

[durgashankar]

i have an error in dial plan i am using a outbound dial plan but when i am dialing with prefix it is giving the error "please remove the 0 before the dialing"

the dial plan is here

[from-pstn]
exten => _66X.,1,Set(DIRNAME=${CALLERID(num)}/${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%Y%m/%d)})
exten => _66X.,n,Set(FILENAME=/var/www/html/GO4C/${DIRNAME}/${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%H%M%S)}-${EXTEN:2}-)
exten => _66X.,n,System(/bin/mkdir -p /var/www/html/GO4C/${DIRNAME})
exten => _66X.,n,Set(FILE=${FILENAME}.gsm)
exten => _66X.,n,Set(TIME=${STRFTIME(${EPOCH},,%H:%M:%S)})
exten => _66X.,n,MixMonitor(${FILENAME}.gsm,av(0)V(0))
exten => _66X.,n,AGI(agi://127.0.0.1:4577/call_log)
exten => _66X.,n,Set(dnum=${EXTEN:2})
exten => _66X.,n,NoOp(${CHANNEL})
exten => _66X.,n,Dial(${TRUNKC}/${EXTEN:2},,To)
exten => _66X.,n,Hangup

please help me out

[williamconley]

This thread relates to on-hook agents for outbound lists. Hijacking it for your own purposes is not cool. Post fresh ...

i have an error in dial plan ...,n,Hangup

please help me out

[williamconley]

What if this only worked for the "Inbound and Man" campaign? When the agent clicks "dial" via the preview style agent screen, it could ring the agent prior to dialing the outbound number...kind of the way "monitor" works from the real time screen...would this make this feature easier to implement? (Since we would leave out the traditional outbound / predictive dialing that needs to check for available / waiting agents to place the call with? Even if the Preview dial uses the conference room - knowing what extension the Agent is sitting at, and knowing that extension is flagged as "On Hook" should make it possible to call the agent, when they answer, they can still get the "You are currently the only member in this conference" message - and once ViCi detects that this agent has answered / is available - then it can make manual calls. I think that trying to find an available agent with a traditional predictive campaign is what complicates it - but for the ability to blend in preview dialing, where you know who the agent will be before the call is dialed - while I'm not saying it would be SIMPLE...I do think that it would certainly be SIMPLER than predictive...no?

How many hours do you think it would take under these circumstances? Where it only worked for Manual and / or Preview dialing?

As long as it's limited to Manual Dial campaigns: Minimum two hours. Probably four. Depends on the implementation.