PureEngage On-Premises

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PureEngage Premise - Remote Agent/Home Agent Using Nailed Up Connection 

03-23-2020 04:14

Due to the ongoing CoronoVirus Pandemic, many contact centers is asking agents to work from Home.

When Agents work from Home using WDE+SIP Endpoint,  though the Internet bandwidth/speed is good, there can be Voice Quality issues caused by delays in voice transmission, intermittent interruptions, introduction of jitter, NAT issues and a general decrease in call quality, which is outside the control of Genesys.

In those situations, one can use Nailed up connection functionality of SIPServer.

What is Nailed-Up Connection:

 

SIP Server supports a persistent “nailed-up connection” for agents, where it maintains an extended telephone call between SIP Server and the agent. During this time, the agent can handle multiple customer interactions without dropping the telephone connection to SIP Server.

 

Figure: Remote Agents – Nailed-up

Benefit:

 

Nailed-up connections offer a few key benefits, including:

  • Minimal delay between the time an agent is selected and the audio path to the customer is established
  • Improved overall reliability—the connection is already established when delivering a customer “call”, and the agent is less likely to take non-contact center calls.
  • One typical use of nailed-up connections is for agents who use a legacy PSTN phone. These agents could be working from their homes, or in a branch office that has simple PSTN connectivity.
  • Another typical use of nailed-up connections is for agents behind a third-party PBX, when the PBX is connected to SIP Server through a gateway or simple SIP trunk.

Agent Functionalities Supported on Nailed-Up:

  • SIP Server supports virtually all agent functionality in conjunction with nailedup connections.
  • The agent can make calls, receive calls, transfer calls, consult with other agents, use call supervision, and more.
  • SIP Server’s call recording functionality is fully compatible with nailed-up connections.
    Inbound calls to an agent with a nailed-up connection are delivered by default with “auto answer”—meaning the audio connects immediately.
  • If this “auto answer” experience is not desired, then Preview Interactions should be used to provide the agent the opportunity to see call information in their agent desktop and accept or reject the call.
  • Nailed-up connections can be established or disconnected either by SIP Server or by the agent.

 

Nailed-Up Setup:

Nailed-up connections can be established by three different methods:

 

  • SIP Server establishes the nailed-up connection on agent login or when an agent is in Ready state.
  • SIP Server establishes the nailed-up connection on the first customer call.
  • Agent establishes the nailed-up connection by calling into a contact center Route Point (DID or Toll-free).

 

We will use the 1st Method for our set up and the same has been mentioned below.

Configurations:

 

Application Prerequisites:

 

  • SIPServer Version 8.1.102.93 (released November 14, 2017)
  • If you are installing SIP Server above version 8.1.103.65 [10/08/19], FlexNet Publisher License Manager version 11.13 or later has to be installed.

Below is are the settings need for SIP Server setting the connection up.


1. Agent DN:

 

Note: The below DN created will consume a Agent Seat (tserver_sdn) license, so remove an existing extension before creating the below.

  1. Created a DN (HomeAgentPhone1) of type Extension within the SIP Server Switch Object.
  2. Configured the following options within the Annex Tab of the Extension

HomeAgentPhone1

[TServer]

connect-nailedup-on-login=gcti::park

contact=sip:172.XX.0.XX:5060 (this field will be sip:<MediaGatewayIP>:<Port>)

cpn=04260XXXX (this field will be CLI displayed for outbound calls)

disconnect-nailedup-timeout=5400

drop-nailedup-on-logout=true

dual-dialog-enabled=false

line-type=1

record=true

refer-enabled=false

reject-call-incall=true

reject-call-notready=true

request-uri=

rfc-2976-dtmf=true

sip-signaling-chat=false

voice=true

remove sip-cti-control methods (sip-cti-control should NOT be configured for the extension DN)

  1. Created a Place (HomeAgent1) and assign the above to DN(HomeAgentPhone1) to this place.
  1. SIPServer Options:

[TServer]

Drop-nailedup-on-logout = true

sip-treatments-continuous = true

  1. WDE Option:

Create a new WDE Application (HOME); its better to do a “MakeNew” from an existing WDE Application Object. Configure the following options.

[interaction-workspace]/login.voice.prompt-dn-less-phone-number = true
[interaction-workspace]/login.enable-same-agent-place = false
[interaction-workspace]/voice. auto-answer= false

  1. Agent Role:
  • Disable the role 'Use SIPEndpoint' for the Home Agent or 
  • Un-install the SIPEndpoint from the Home Agent PC
  1. Agent & Customer Greeting:

Configure agent and customer greeting as

AgentLoginàAnnex

  • TServer option [TServer]/ agent-greeting = music/10
  • TServer option [TServer]/ customer-greeting = music/11
  1. Routing Strategy

Configure Strategy as follows:

 

  1. Start block connects to announcement
  2. Play any announcement or silence
  3. Create function block to TRoute the call:
    • TRoute to 'gcti::park' (DN DOES NOT exist in CME)
    • Use RouteTypeUnknown
  4. Load strategy on RP (DID)

 Testing:

 

  1. Agent Logins to new WDE Application configured
  2. Agent uses the new place configured
  3. Agent is logged into WDE
  4. Agent dials the RP (DID) from the same PSTN phone configured as extension in Genesys.
  5. A Nailed up connection is established between the PSTN Phone and SIPServer (MCP)
  6. Make an Inbound call to Agent or an Outbound call from WDE.
  7. All call operations to be done from WDE and most importantly the PSTN call (NailedUp Connection) should not be dropped/disconnected.
  8. If a nailed-up connection is terminated for any reason, SIP Server places the agent in the NotReady state.

Important Points to Note:

 Note 1:

  • Inbound call will be auto answered, and Home agent cannot manually answer the call.
  • Since the PSTN call between Genesys and Remote/Home Agent will be established throughout the shift, there will increased Telephony/PSTN costs.

Note 2:

 If agent choses to use Mobile phone for Nailed Up connection,

  • Agent to ensure that Mobile phone has a good mobile network coverage.
  • Agent should ensure that the mobile device is sufficiently charged to last through the shift.
  • Agent should use a proper headphone/earphone

Pre-Requisites from Customer:

  • Genesys Servers communications to be opened via VPN. (contact Genesys Partner for details)
  • VPN connection timeout must be disabled (this will ensure that agent doesn’t get logged out automatically after timeout).
  • A PSTN Phone number (Landline or Mobile) for the Agent that will be working from Home.
  • Additional channel in PRI for each agent (nailed up connection) working from Home.
  • Arrange an Agent with Laptop & separate Internet for Testing.
  • Disable sleep & hibernation settings in the remote PC.


#Implementation
#Integrations
#SIP/VolP
#Telephony

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