Cisco Customer Response Applications Editor Step Reference Guide (3.1)
ICD Step Descriptions
Download this chapter
ICD Step DescriptionsICD Step Descriptions
 Feedback

Table of Contents

ICD Step Descriptions
 Connect
 Dequeue
 Get Enterprise Server Data
 Select Resource
 Set Enterprise Server Data
 Set Priority

ICD Step Descriptions

The steps in the ICD palette of the Cisco Customer Response Applications (CRA) Editor provide script designers with a way to queue calls and connect them to available resources.

Note   Refer to the Cisco Customer Response Applications Administrator Guide for configuration information about Integrated Contact Distribution (ICD) and Contact Service Queues (CSQ).

The ICD palette contains the following steps:

Figure 13-1 shows the steps in the ICD palette as they appear in the Palette pane of the CRA Editor.


Figure 13-1   ICD Palette Steps


Note   IREFOB J:79204The Set Priority step functionality is specific to the Cisco IP ICD Enhanced product. This step does not appear if the product you have licensed is the Cisco IP ICD Standard product. If you have not licensed any of the Cisco IP ICD products, this entire palette and its steps will not appear in your CRA Editor.

Connect

Use the Connect step to connect a contact to the specified resource.

Note   This step works only when the Connect option in the Select Resource step is set to No.

The Connect step has two output branches:

  • Connected—The Connect step successfully connects the contact to the resource.
  • Failed—The Connect step fails to connect the contact to the resource.

Figure 13-2 shows the customizer window for the Connect step.


Figure 13-2   Connect Customizer Window


Table 13-1 describes the properties of the Connect customizer window.

Table 13-1   Connect Properties

Property Description

Contact

Contact for which the resource has been selected.

Resource ID

Resource assigned to handle the call.

Timeout

Length of time, in seconds, before the contact is retrieved back into the queue.

This value must be lower than the Call Forward No Answer timeout in Cisco CallManager.

To use the Connect customizer window to specify the resource to which a contact will be connected, perform the following procedure:

Procedure
Step 1   From the Contact drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the triggering contact information for this step.

Step 2   From the Resource ID drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the Resource ID information.

Step 3   From the Timeout drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the timeout information, or click the Expression Editor (...) button to enter any valid expression.

Step 4   Click OK.

The Connect customizer window closes, and the name of the triggering contact appears next to the Connect step icon in the Design pane of the CRA Editor.




Dequeue

Use the Dequeue step to remove a call from one or more queues.

Figure 13-3 shows the Dequeue customizer window.


Figure 13-3   Dequeue Customizer Window


Table 13-2 describes the properties of the Dequeue customizer window.

Table 13-2   Dequeue Properties

Property Description

Call Contact

Triggering Contact or other variable that holds the call to dequeue.

Select a Variable

Contact Service Queue variable from which you want to remove a call that is queued.

Dequeue All

Removes a call from all queues in which it exists.

To use the Dequeue customizer window to remove a call from one or more queues, perform the following procedure:

Procedure
Step 1   From the Call Contact drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the triggering contact information for this step.

Step 2   In the Contact Service Queue field, take one of the following actions:

  • In the Select a Variable field, enter a value directly or take one of the following actions:
    • Click the Select a Variable radio button and then click the Select a Variable drop-down arrow to choose the variable that specifies the CSQ from which you want to dequeue the call.
    • Click the Expression Editor (...) button and enter an expression that specifies the CSQ from which you want to dequeue the call.
  • Click the Dequeue All radio button to dequeue a call from all the queues in which it exists.

Step 3   Click OK.

The Dequeue customizer window closes, and the name of the triggering contact appears next to the Dequeue step icon in the Design pane of the CRA Editor.




Get Enterprise Server Data

Use the Get Enterprise Server Data step to retrieve an Enterprise Server field and store it in a script variable.

Figure 13-4 shows the customizer window for the Get Enterprise Server Data step.


Figure 13-4   Get Enterprise Server Data Customizer Window


Table 13-3 describes the properties in the Get Enterprise Server Data customizer window.

Table 13-3   Get Enterprise Server Data Properties

Property Description

Data Type

The list of numeric data types to retrieve, separated by the delimiter character

Return Data Value

The return value list, separated by the delimiter character

To use the Get Enterprise Server Data customizer window to retrieve an Enterprise Server field and store it in a script variable, perform the following procedure:

Procedure
Step 1   From the Data Type drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the list of numeric data types to retrieve, or click the Expression Editor (...) button to enter any valid expression.

Step 2   From the Return Data Value drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the return value list.

Step 3   Click OK.

The Get Enterprise Server Data customizer window closes, and the name of the required data type appears next to the Get Enterprise Server Data step icon in the Design pane of the CRA Editor.




Select Resource

Use the Select Resource step to queue a call to a specific set of agents and optionally to connect the call to the agent the system chooses.

The Select Resource step offers a call to a Contact Service Queue (CSQ), which contains an associated set of agents who are capable of handling a certain type of call. The incoming call will be handled by one of the available agents in the CSQ.

An example of a Contact Service Queue is sales department, whose resources can be all the sales representative within your company.

The Select Resource step has two output branches:

  • Connected/Selected—The Select Resource step successfully connects the contact to an agent.
  • Queued—The Select Resource step places the contact in queue.

The Connected output branch appears if you click the Yes radio button in the Connect field of the Select Resource customizer window. The Selected output branch appears if you click the No radio button.

You can create script logic that puts a queued call into a loop until it can be connected to an available resource. The purpose of such a loop can be to play a message every 30 seconds that tells the caller to continue to wait or to put a call on hold to play back Music on Hold while the caller waits. If an agent becomes available, the CRA Engine will attempt to interrupt the execution of this loop. (Refer to the "Using Script Interruption" section on page 2-20 in the Cisco Customer Response Applications Developer Guide.)

Figure 13-5 shows the Select Resource customizer window.


Figure 13-5   Select Resource Customizer Window


Table 13-4 describes the properties of the Select Resource customizer window.

Table 13-4   Select Resource Properties

Property Description

Call Contact

Variable that stores the call to connect to a resource.

Resource ID

Variable that stores the Resource ID of the chosen agent.

Contact Service Queue

The CSQ from which to find a resource.

Connect

Option for the call to be connected to the specified Resource ID the instant the resource becomes available.

If Yes, the call is automatically connected to the available resource.

If No, the resource, if available, is selected but not yet connected.

Timeout

Length of time, in seconds, before the contact is retrieved back into the queue. (Default is 10 seconds.)

This value must be lower than the Call Forward No Answer timeout in Cisco CallManager.

To use the Select Resource customizer window to queue a call to a specific set of agents, perform the following procedure:

Procedure
Step 1   From the Call Contact drop-down menu, choose the variable that represents the triggering contact.

From the Resource ID drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the Resource ID of the chosen agent.

Step 2   In the Contact Service Queue field, enter a value directly or take one of the following actions:

  • From the Contact Service Queue drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the Contact Service Queue value.
  • Click the Expression Editor (...) button and enter an expression that specifies the Contact Service Queue value.

Step 3   In the Connect field, click the Yes radio button to connect the call the instant a resource becomes available, or click the No radio button to add additional script steps before connecting the call to the resource.

If you choose not to connect the call the instant the resource becomes available, the Cisco IP ICD Desktop of the chosen resource will be designated Reserved. Because the agent's phone will not ring until a Connect step executes in the script, a few seconds may elapse while other steps in the Selected output branch execute prior to the execution of the Connect step. During this extra time, the agent's state remains in Reserved state.

Step 4   In the Timeout field, enter a value directly or take one of the following actions:

  • From the Timeout drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the timeout value.
  • Click the Expression Editor (...) button and enter an expression that specifies the timeout value.

Step 5   Click OK.

The Select Resource customizer window closes, and the triggering contact and the CSQ variable appear next to the Select Resource step icon in the Design pane of the CRA Editor.




Set Enterprise Server Data

Use the Set Enterprise Server Data step to set the specified Enterprise Server field to the provided value.

Figure 13-6 shows the customizer window for the Set Enterprise Server Data step.


Figure 13-6   Set Enterprise Server Data Customizer Window


Table 13-5 describes the properties of the Set Enterprise Server Data customizer window.

Table 13-5   Set Enterprise Server Data Properties

Property Description

Enterprise Data Type

The numeric data type of the value to be set

Enterprise Data Value

The actual value of the data type

To use the Set Enterprise Server Data customizer window to set the numeric data type and the actual value of the data type, perform the following procedure:

Procedure
Step 1   In the Enterprise Data Type field, enter a value directly or take one of the following actions:

  • From the Enterprise Data Type drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the numeric data type of the value you want to set.
  • Click the Expression Editor (...) button and enter an expression that specifies the numeric data type of the value you want to set.

Step 2   In the Enterprise Data Value field, enter a value directly or take one of the following actions:

  • From the Enterprise Value Type drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the actual value of the data type you want to set.
  • Click the Expression Editor (...) button and enter an expression that specifies the actual value of the data type you want to set.

Step 3   Click OK.

The Set Enterprise Server Data customizer window closes, and the name of the enterprise data type appears next to the Set Enterprise Server Data step icon in the Design pane of the CRA Editor.




Set Priority

Use the Set Priority step to assign a call higher or lower priority in a queue.

Note   This functionality is available only to users of the ICD Enhanced package.

Every contact has one priority for all CSQs for which it is queued. The priority of the contact can be set or changed at any time during the execution of the script. All calls have a default priority of 1.

Figure 13-7 shows the customizer window for the Set Priority step.


Figure 13-7   Set Priority Customizer Window


Table 13-6 describes the properties of the Set Priority customizer window.

Table 13-6   Set Priority Properties

Property Description

Select Contact

Contact for which to change the priority

Assign Priority To

Assigns a numerical priority from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)

Increase Priority By

Increases the priority by a specified amount

Decrease Priority By

Decreases the priority by a specified amount

To use the Set Priority customizer window to set the priority of a call in a queue, perform the following procedure:

Procedure
Step 1   From the Select Contact drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the contact for which you want to set or change the priority.

Step 2   Take one of three actions:

  • Click the Assign Priority To radio button, and take one of the following actions:
    • In the Assign Priority To field, enter a value (from 1 to 10).
    • From the Assign Priority To drop-down menu, choose the variable that stores the priority value (from 1 to 10).
    • Click the Expression Editor (...) button and enter an expression that specifies the priority value.
  • Click the Increase Priority By radio button, and select a number from the Increase Priority By drop-down menu to increase the priority of the selected variable.
  • Click the Decrease Priority By radio button, and select a number from the Decrease Priority By drop-down menu to decrease the priority of the selected variable.

Step 3   Click OK.

The Set Priority customizer window closes, and the name of the selected contact and its assigned priority appear next to the Set Priority step icon in the Design pane of the CRA Editor.