Develop IVR application with MySQL

Posted on March 10, 2008 | By Voicent

Are there some available IVR “templates” to get the gist of how the various tools are used and integrated? Specifically, more example of how to use the various elements, how to use Prompts and Actions and Variables – Without some examples it’s hard to envision how to make a detailed working system that nicely utilizes all the facilities (and ability to extend the system) you have provided.

I found some good basic examples of the proper use of VXML on your site. The TOD sample application. That’s good.

I’m specifically looking to see any samepl “complex” .IVR files that show the proper use of the various settings when using the IVR to rapid deploy a system. I think I’ll be using IVR Studio the most. It’s easy and I like that approach. Some pieces will also need to make calls out to a MySQL database to get data. That would probably use http requests and VXML.

Understanding the interplay of IVR Studio and integrating it with a Database…that’s what I’m trying to figure out. I have a nice database that I would like to have voice access to by telephone. There may also be some “posting” to a database about who called, when, what they accessed, etc. Sort of a “metadata” application to better understand what data people are accessing by phone, and when.

To develop your own IVR application using Voicent Gateway as a platform, you have two choices. One is at the VoiceXML level, and the other at a higher GUI level.

At the VXML level, you can take a look at the Gateway tutorials and sample applications. The Time-of-day is such a sample. This is the lowest level of application development, you will have the most flexibility, but does require a lot of coding.

At the GUI level, you use IVR Studio, where you draw a call flow diagram using elements and actions. At deployment time, this call diagram is automatically converted to VXML files.

Actually, there is a mixed approach. You can use IVR studio to generate the VXML files, and then edit them manually to add features that are currently not supported by IVR Studio. But we encourage you to contact us for suggestions. For example, the exception handling (call failed, etc) is not handled in the currect IVR Studio release, but we are planning to support that in future releases.

Use IVR Studio is the recommended way of developing your IVR applications. To learn the system, you can first start with the IVR Tutorial.

The IVR templates you mentioned are the sample IVR applications. They are included in the IVR Studio installation. You can access them from the Library menu from the program main menu.

For integration with MySQL database, you can use the Java action of IVR Studio. The Java action is a generic extension method, you can use that to do almost all software integrations possible. Your application is a typical IVR Studio application.

Posted in IVR Developer |

Skype IVR

Posted on March 10, 2008 | By Voicent

Starting from release 6, Voicent IVR Studio supports Skype.

One advantage of Skype is that you no longer need a physical phone line or a voice modem. You can install Voicent and Skype on your laptop computer and making calls anywhere in the world, and receive calls anywhere in the world.

For inbound calls, you can receive calls from other Skype users over the internet for free. In order to allow regular landline phone or cell phone to call you, you must have SkypeIn number. A SkyeIn number is a like a regular number, the caller can not tell any difference from your office phone number. The only difference is that you can receive the call on you computer from the Internet. For IVR system, it does not matter whether the calls are from a landline or internet.

For outbound calls, Skype calls are made over the Internet. Calls to other Skype users are free and calls to landlines or call phones are cheap. For example, calls to any phone number is the US is 2.1 cents per minute, regardless where the call is originated. To call a skype user in Voicent product, such as Broadcast By Phone autodialer, specify skype:username as the phone number; to call a landline, simply specify the phone number with the areacode.

You can also mix use Skype with voice modems to increase the system call capacity.

Voicent also supports running multiple Skype instances to make concurrent phone calls. Each Skype instance represents one line. One SkypeIn number should support multiple incoming calls also.

More information can be found at Voicent and Skype.

Download release 6 here

Posted in IVR Developer, IVR General, IVR Usage |

IVR auto attendant extension assignment

Posted on February 23, 2008 | By Voicent

How do I assign extensions to the IVR auto attendant?

My main menu is using entries for 1-9… I would like to assign extensions starting with 201… but when I make the key prompt 201… it tells me 2 is already being used by another menu item.

Yes, the error message is correct.

Let’s assume the software allows you to have 201 for an extension, and 2 for replay the message. So when the caller presses 2, the system finds a match and will replay the message. It will never get to extension 201.

You can either introduce another level of choice menu, or do not use 2 for other choices.

Posted in IVR Usage |