Genesys Cloud - Main

Hello,

I've encountered something a bit strange in one of my test flows today.  Specifically, I experimenting with an in queue call flow and noticed that my Play Estimated Wait Time action is not actually doing anything.

I've done some testing with this and found that the variable it uses for the prompt: Call.EstimatedWaitTime has no value in it, or at least when I attempt to play the value of the variable in a prompt, it interprets it as silence.  I can't actually use debug mode with it as it is within an in queue flow.

I am doing this with a test queue that does not normally receive production calls in my testing, and at first I thought it might be that there isn't data on recent calls because it doesn't normally receive production calls.  I conducted a few test calls to myself and answered them, and it doesn't seem to have an impact unless there's some threshold value I didn't conduct enough calls to reach.

I was curious if anyone can suggest potential factors which could drive this behavior.

Thanks,

Matt

#ArchitectureandDesign

------------------------------
Matt Riedl
AdaptHealth LLC

https://www.credly.com/badges/4823ffbe-4cfc-4552-bcb0-0506a0dc978c/public_url

https://www.credly.com/badges/4a90f46f-6c8e-4863-8e05-ea08701328ca/public_url
------------------------------

Hello Matt,

Estimated Wait Time calculation does require cached wait time data. You mentioned that you are experiencing this in a test flow with very low activity and I would say that this is expected. You can "populate" with test calls, but make sure these calls qualify the caching criteria.


The computation process also checks against utilization factors and agent population in the queue. Full details on the calculation process can be found here.


------------------------------
Nico Feliciano
Genesys - Employees
------------------------------

Thanks for the reply!

I've experimented with this further and added more test calls to myself, making sure that they do not meet the criteria to be excepted from the cache which you shared here.

As of this writing I've done 6 test calls with myself today, with varying queue lengths from 37 seconds to 12 minutes, but the behavior seems to be the same.  I am thinking there must be another factor to this.

Thanks,

Matt

------------------------------
Matt Riedl
AdaptHealth LLC

https://www.credly.com/badges/4823ffbe-4cfc-4552-bcb0-0506a0dc978c/public_url

https://www.credly.com/badges/4a90f46f-6c8e-4863-8e05-ea08701328ca/public_url
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 06:11
From: Jan Nico Feliciano
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

Hello Matt,

Estimated Wait Time calculation does require cached wait time data. You mentioned that you are experiencing this in a test flow with very low activity and I would say that this is expected. You can "populate" with test calls, but make sure these calls qualify the caching criteria.


The computation process also checks against utilization factors and agent population in the queue. Full details on the calculation process can be found here.


------------------------------
Nico Feliciano
Genesys - Employees
------------------------------

Hello Matt,

The situations where I've seen EWT in action are all in production environments with substantial call volume. I want to say that it might help having more calls in, but I don't want you to put a lot of effort where I'm not sure of the outcome myself.

@Sanjana Seetharam could you help us figure out what might be going on? Matt is using a test environment and is performing test calls to fulfill the caching requirements.

------------------------------
Nico Feliciano
Genesys - Employees
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 10:56
From: Matt Riedl
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

Thanks for the reply!

I've experimented with this further and added more test calls to myself, making sure that they do not meet the criteria to be excepted from the cache which you shared here.

As of this writing I've done 6 test calls with myself today, with varying queue lengths from 37 seconds to 12 minutes, but the behavior seems to be the same.  I am thinking there must be another factor to this.

Thanks,

Matt

------------------------------
Matt Riedl
AdaptHealth LLC

https://www.credly.com/badges/4823ffbe-4cfc-4552-bcb0-0506a0dc978c/public_url

https://www.credly.com/badges/4a90f46f-6c8e-4863-8e05-ea08701328ca/public_url
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 06:11
From: Jan Nico Feliciano
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

Hello Matt,

Estimated Wait Time calculation does require cached wait time data. You mentioned that you are experiencing this in a test flow with very low activity and I would say that this is expected. You can "populate" with test calls, but make sure these calls qualify the caching criteria.


The computation process also checks against utilization factors and agent population in the queue. Full details on the calculation process can be found here.


------------------------------
Nico Feliciano
Genesys - Employees

Have a read here:
https://developer.genesys.cloud/routing/routing/estimatedwaittime-v2
One thing to note it only uses calls that are answered and completed.

It does state though:
Once these samples of recent observations are made, the formula uses the Median of these sampled AdjustedAHTs to create a single PredictedAHT value to be used in the following calculation to generate EWT inference of the target interaction. In the situation where there is only a limited number of cached records (up to 3), the PredictedAHT uses Mean instead.

So you should expect some results with only a few calls, I would still try at least 15 calls.

Also are you getting NULL result or a -1 results.

------------------------------
Anton Vroon
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 10:56
From: Matt Riedl
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

Thanks for the reply!

I've experimented with this further and added more test calls to myself, making sure that they do not meet the criteria to be excepted from the cache which you shared here.

As of this writing I've done 6 test calls with myself today, with varying queue lengths from 37 seconds to 12 minutes, but the behavior seems to be the same.  I am thinking there must be another factor to this.

Thanks,

Matt

------------------------------
Matt Riedl
AdaptHealth LLC

https://www.credly.com/badges/4823ffbe-4cfc-4552-bcb0-0506a0dc978c/public_url

https://www.credly.com/badges/4a90f46f-6c8e-4863-8e05-ea08701328ca/public_url
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 06:11
From: Jan Nico Feliciano
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

Hello Matt,

Estimated Wait Time calculation does require cached wait time data. You mentioned that you are experiencing this in a test flow with very low activity and I would say that this is expected. You can "populate" with test calls, but make sure these calls qualify the caching criteria.


The computation process also checks against utilization factors and agent population in the queue. Full details on the calculation process can be found here.


------------------------------
Nico Feliciano
Genesys - Employees

OK,

As others have said, the value will be unreliable if there is low volume and / or highly variable AHT, but you should still get something.

So I'm shooting from the hip here, but I seem to remember seeing something similar before (I may be completely wrong!) and I don't have a system in front of me at the moment.

Anyway, can you verify if the EWT for the queue in question is available in the Inbound flow before you transfer?

Also, are you playing it directly in the In-Queue flow or from a Common Module?

If my (unreliable) memory serves me correctly, there are situations where the value doesn't get passed correctly and you have to manually do it (Participant Data for Inbound -> InQueue or parameter for anything->Common Module)

It might be worth creating a data action to grab the EWT and then using that instead (although be warned, the API returns a value in seconds and a straight conversion of an Integer to a Duration assumes milliseconds - been caught out by that one a few times!

HTH

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group
------------------------------

The common module thing is yeah if you are passing Call.EstimatedWaitTime as an input it won't work, no need for a Participant Data though, simply having a separate variable lets say Task.EWT and set that value to Call.EstimatedWaitTime , and then pass that Task.EWT as the input, that works fine.

------------------------------
Anton Vroon
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:34
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

OK,

As others have said, the value will be unreliable if there is low volume and / or highly variable AHT, but you should still get something.

So I'm shooting from the hip here, but I seem to remember seeing something similar before (I may be completely wrong!) and I don't have a system in front of me at the moment.

Anyway, can you verify if the EWT for the queue in question is available in the Inbound flow before you transfer?

Also, are you playing it directly in the In-Queue flow or from a Common Module?

If my (unreliable) memory serves me correctly, there are situations where the value doesn't get passed correctly and you have to manually do it (Participant Data for Inbound -> InQueue or parameter for anything->Common Module)

It might be worth creating a data action to grab the EWT and then using that instead (although be warned, the API returns a value in seconds and a straight conversion of an Integer to a Duration assumes milliseconds - been caught out by that one a few times!

HTH

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group
------------------------------

My point is that you have to pass it. I couldn't remember if it was CMs or IQ Flows that had the issue.

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:50
From: Anton Vroon
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

The common module thing is yeah if you are passing Call.EstimatedWaitTime as an input it won't work, no need for a Participant Data though, simply having a separate variable lets say Task.EWT and set that value to Call.EstimatedWaitTime , and then pass that Task.EWT as the input, that works fine.

------------------------------
Anton Vroon
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:34
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

OK,

As others have said, the value will be unreliable if there is low volume and / or highly variable AHT, but you should still get something.

So I'm shooting from the hip here, but I seem to remember seeing something similar before (I may be completely wrong!) and I don't have a system in front of me at the moment.

Anyway, can you verify if the EWT for the queue in question is available in the Inbound flow before you transfer?

Also, are you playing it directly in the In-Queue flow or from a Common Module?

If my (unreliable) memory serves me correctly, there are situations where the value doesn't get passed correctly and you have to manually do it (Participant Data for Inbound -> InQueue or parameter for anything->Common Module)

It might be worth creating a data action to grab the EWT and then using that instead (although be warned, the API returns a value in seconds and a straight conversion of an Integer to a Duration assumes milliseconds - been caught out by that one a few times!

HTH

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group

Hello,

I've experimented with this a bit with some of the items suggested here and will share the results:

Q1: Also are you getting NULL result or a -1 results.
A1: I've not been able to establish this clearly, but NULL seems to be the likely answer based on the results.  If I play the variable in an audio prompt, it returns silence.  I tried setting it in participant data, and when I did so, it resulted in no entry within participant data at all.  I subsequently added a test value with a static string of "Test" in the same set participant data action, and it worked as expected..



Q2: What type of flow is this being conducted in?
A2:  I am doing this in an in queue call flow.  The design does implement a common module, but I have tested the Estimated Wait Time both before and after the common module, and it behaves the same.

Q3: What happens if I set Task.EWT to Call.EstimatedWaitTime?
A3: This didn't change anything however...


One of my test calls mysteriously worked while I was experimenting with this and produced the following:


I retraced my steps on the test call and I figured out what was different with this one vs the others:  I was on queue at the beginning of the call.

In most of my test calls, I don't want it to answer right away, so I leave myself off queue until I am ready for the call to deliver to me.  Apparently being on queue at the outset allows the variable to be set.

I've tested it with both Call.EstimatedWaitTime and Task.EWT and it worked both ways as long as I was on queue.

So, in an actual production situation, this should be a non-issue.

Thanks,

Matt

------------------------------
Matt Riedl
AdaptHealth LLC

https://www.credly.com/badges/4823ffbe-4cfc-4552-bcb0-0506a0dc978c/public_url

https://www.credly.com/badges/4a90f46f-6c8e-4863-8e05-ea08701328ca/public_url
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 17:26
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

My point is that you have to pass it. I couldn't remember if it was CMs or IQ Flows that had the issue.

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:50
From: Anton Vroon
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

The common module thing is yeah if you are passing Call.EstimatedWaitTime as an input it won't work, no need for a Participant Data though, simply having a separate variable lets say Task.EWT and set that value to Call.EstimatedWaitTime , and then pass that Task.EWT as the input, that works fine.

------------------------------
Anton Vroon


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:34
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

OK,

As others have said, the value will be unreliable if there is low volume and / or highly variable AHT, but you should still get something.

So I'm shooting from the hip here, but I seem to remember seeing something similar before (I may be completely wrong!) and I don't have a system in front of me at the moment.

Anyway, can you verify if the EWT for the queue in question is available in the Inbound flow before you transfer?

Also, are you playing it directly in the In-Queue flow or from a Common Module?

If my (unreliable) memory serves me correctly, there are situations where the value doesn't get passed correctly and you have to manually do it (Participant Data for Inbound -> InQueue or parameter for anything->Common Module)

It might be worth creating a data action to grab the EWT and then using that instead (although be warned, the API returns a value in seconds and a straight conversion of an Integer to a Duration assumes milliseconds - been caught out by that one a few times!

HTH

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group

Good working through that, but that makes sense, if we look at the main part of the EWT calculation from the link i sent
"EWT = PredictedAHT * PositionInQueue / NumberOfAgents

where:

• NumberOfAgents: The number of agents activated and online (On Queue) in the queue when the EWT inference was done for the completed interaction at a point in time in the past

"

So if no agents where on the queue when you calculating EWT, well then its x / 0 which will of course not work.

------------------------------
Anton Vroon
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 18:51
From: Matt Riedl
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

Hello,

I've experimented with this a bit with some of the items suggested here and will share the results:

Q1: Also are you getting NULL result or a -1 results.
A1: I've not been able to establish this clearly, but NULL seems to be the likely answer based on the results.  If I play the variable in an audio prompt, it returns silence.  I tried setting it in participant data, and when I did so, it resulted in no entry within participant data at all.  I subsequently added a test value with a static string of "Test" in the same set participant data action, and it worked as expected..



Q2: What type of flow is this being conducted in?
A2:  I am doing this in an in queue call flow.  The design does implement a common module, but I have tested the Estimated Wait Time both before and after the common module, and it behaves the same.

Q3: What happens if I set Task.EWT to Call.EstimatedWaitTime?
A3: This didn't change anything however...


One of my test calls mysteriously worked while I was experimenting with this and produced the following:


I retraced my steps on the test call and I figured out what was different with this one vs the others:  I was on queue at the beginning of the call.

In most of my test calls, I don't want it to answer right away, so I leave myself off queue until I am ready for the call to deliver to me.  Apparently being on queue at the outset allows the variable to be set.

I've tested it with both Call.EstimatedWaitTime and Task.EWT and it worked both ways as long as I was on queue.

So, in an actual production situation, this should be a non-issue.

Thanks,

Matt

------------------------------
Matt Riedl
AdaptHealth LLC

https://www.credly.com/badges/4823ffbe-4cfc-4552-bcb0-0506a0dc978c/public_url

https://www.credly.com/badges/4a90f46f-6c8e-4863-8e05-ea08701328ca/public_url
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 17:26
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

My point is that you have to pass it. I couldn't remember if it was CMs or IQ Flows that had the issue.

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:50
From: Anton Vroon
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

The common module thing is yeah if you are passing Call.EstimatedWaitTime as an input it won't work, no need for a Participant Data though, simply having a separate variable lets say Task.EWT and set that value to Call.EstimatedWaitTime , and then pass that Task.EWT as the input, that works fine.

------------------------------
Anton Vroon


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:34
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

OK,

As others have said, the value will be unreliable if there is low volume and / or highly variable AHT, but you should still get something.

So I'm shooting from the hip here, but I seem to remember seeing something similar before (I may be completely wrong!) and I don't have a system in front of me at the moment.

Anyway, can you verify if the EWT for the queue in question is available in the Inbound flow before you transfer?

Also, are you playing it directly in the In-Queue flow or from a Common Module?

If my (unreliable) memory serves me correctly, there are situations where the value doesn't get passed correctly and you have to manually do it (Participant Data for Inbound -> InQueue or parameter for anything->Common Module)

It might be worth creating a data action to grab the EWT and then using that instead (although be warned, the API returns a value in seconds and a straight conversion of an Integer to a Duration assumes milliseconds - been caught out by that one a few times!

HTH

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group

Its great to see teamwork in action!

Thank you Anton and Paul for chiming in and providing different perspectives. And thank you Matt for the patience and enthusiasm in pursuing the topic. Cheers!

------------------------------
Nico Feliciano
Genesys - Employees
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 18:51
From: Matt Riedl
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

Hello,

I've experimented with this a bit with some of the items suggested here and will share the results:

Q1: Also are you getting NULL result or a -1 results.
A1: I've not been able to establish this clearly, but NULL seems to be the likely answer based on the results.  If I play the variable in an audio prompt, it returns silence.  I tried setting it in participant data, and when I did so, it resulted in no entry within participant data at all.  I subsequently added a test value with a static string of "Test" in the same set participant data action, and it worked as expected..



Q2: What type of flow is this being conducted in?
A2:  I am doing this in an in queue call flow.  The design does implement a common module, but I have tested the Estimated Wait Time both before and after the common module, and it behaves the same.

Q3: What happens if I set Task.EWT to Call.EstimatedWaitTime?
A3: This didn't change anything however...


One of my test calls mysteriously worked while I was experimenting with this and produced the following:


I retraced my steps on the test call and I figured out what was different with this one vs the others:  I was on queue at the beginning of the call.

In most of my test calls, I don't want it to answer right away, so I leave myself off queue until I am ready for the call to deliver to me.  Apparently being on queue at the outset allows the variable to be set.

I've tested it with both Call.EstimatedWaitTime and Task.EWT and it worked both ways as long as I was on queue.

So, in an actual production situation, this should be a non-issue.

Thanks,

Matt

------------------------------
Matt Riedl
AdaptHealth LLC

https://www.credly.com/badges/4823ffbe-4cfc-4552-bcb0-0506a0dc978c/public_url

https://www.credly.com/badges/4a90f46f-6c8e-4863-8e05-ea08701328ca/public_url
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 17:26
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

My point is that you have to pass it. I couldn't remember if it was CMs or IQ Flows that had the issue.

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:50
From: Anton Vroon
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

The common module thing is yeah if you are passing Call.EstimatedWaitTime as an input it won't work, no need for a Participant Data though, simply having a separate variable lets say Task.EWT and set that value to Call.EstimatedWaitTime , and then pass that Task.EWT as the input, that works fine.

------------------------------
Anton Vroon


Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 16:34
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Call.EstimatedWaitTime Has No Value?

OK,

As others have said, the value will be unreliable if there is low volume and / or highly variable AHT, but you should still get something.

So I'm shooting from the hip here, but I seem to remember seeing something similar before (I may be completely wrong!) and I don't have a system in front of me at the moment.

Anyway, can you verify if the EWT for the queue in question is available in the Inbound flow before you transfer?

Also, are you playing it directly in the In-Queue flow or from a Common Module?

If my (unreliable) memory serves me correctly, there are situations where the value doesn't get passed correctly and you have to manually do it (Participant Data for Inbound -> InQueue or parameter for anything->Common Module)

It might be worth creating a data action to grab the EWT and then using that instead (although be warned, the API returns a value in seconds and a straight conversion of an Integer to a Duration assumes milliseconds - been caught out by that one a few times!

HTH

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Eventus Solutions Group