SPA3102 Dial Plan

Dial plans can be very confusing at first glance. However they are an invaluable feature of the SPA-3000′s so you should at least learn the basics of how they work. The following dial plans are to show how to use the various features of dial plans. You should play around with them to suit your needs.

One example of a real world use: One of our clients had a PBX system where dialing 9 was needed to call outside of the PBX, the problem was that their system was auto-dialing so fast that the PBX did not know the 9 that was pressed was to dial out, it interpreted it as a regular number. To solve this they needed a simple Dial plan that looked like, (<:9 ,,,>xxxxxxxxxxx) which would basically take any number they used to call and it would automatically dial 9 first, then followed by 3 dial tones.


Dial Plan Syntax

  • ( )
    The entire dial plan must be surrounded by an open and close bracket.
  • |
    Each individual dial plan must be separated by a pipe | character.
  • 0-9
    Treated as normal digits
  • x
    Treated as any normal digit 0-9 on phone
  • *
    Treated as normal * character on phone
  • #
    Treated as normal # character on phone
  • .
    Repetition
  • < : >
    Replacement, eg <02:612> means replace 02 with 612
  • <: @gw0>
    Gateway 0 is the PSTN line
  • <: @gw1>
    Gateway 1 (Advanced Feature)
  • <: @gw2>
    Gateway 2 (Advanced Feature)
  • <: @gw3>
    Gateway 3 (Advanced Feature)
  • <: @gw4>
    Gateway 4 (Advanced Feature)
  • S0
    Dial Immediately
  • !
    Barring a number, place this at the end of the number to bar it
  • ,
    Provides a dial tone
  • [ ]
    Limiting choices, eg [24] means either 2 or 4, [2-5] means 2,3,4 and 5, [24-68] means 2,4,5,6,8


Example Dial Plans

Dial Plan 1: (000S0<: @gw0>)

Description: The above dial plan is extremely simple, yet extremely important. When you dial 000 (Emergency number) your call will go out through Gateway 0(<: @gw0) which is your normal PSTN line, immediately (S0) after you haven dialed the 3rd 0.

Dial Plan 2: (000S0<: @gw0>|1800xxxxxxS0<: @gw0>)

Description: The above dial plan contains two individual plans, building on from Dial Plan 1. You will notice that a | separates the 1st dial plan from the 2nd. The 2nd dial plan is used to route 1800 numbers through the your PSTN line. It works the same way as the 1st dial plan, in that when you dial a 1800 number followed by 6 other digits (0-9) it will be directed through your PSTN line.

Dial Plan 3: (< *1:0123456789>)

Description: This plan demonstrates replacement. If you dial a * followed by a 1 then the number 0123456789 would be dialed.

Dial Plan 4: (<0:61>[2-9]xxxxxxxxS0)

Description: This plan demonstrates replacement and limiting choices. When you dial an 0 followed by a 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or 9 and then nine of any other digit (0-9) it will prepend 61 and remove the 0. So if you rang 02 123456789 the actual number that would be called would be 61 2 123456789.

Dial Plan 5: (1900xxxxxx!)

Description: This plan demonstrates number barring. If you enter a 1900 followed by 6 more digits (0-9) your call will not be placed.

Dial Plan 6: (< #9:>xx.<: @gw0>)

Description: This plan demonstrates replacement and repetition. When you enter a #9 followed by any number of digits(a timeout is used to determine the end) it will go out through the PSTN line (Gateway 0).

Putting it all together

Dial Plan 7: (000S0<: @gw0>|1[38]xxx.<: @gw0>|1900xxxxxx!| 0[2-9]xxxxxxxxS0|< #9:>xx.<: @gw0>)

Description: This plan combines elements from all the above dial plans. It routes all 000, 1800, 1300 calls out via the PSTN line. Its bars 1900 numbers. It allows an Australian land line to be called and it also allows you to select the PSTN line by dialing a #9.

Reference: http://www.jmgtechnology.com.au/spa_3102_guide.pdf

Posted in Predictive Dialer | Tagged ,

Call Center Manager – Rules Engine

Introduction

The Call Center Manager(CCM) Rules Engine is a new tool created by Voicent Communications. This new feature gives you a lot more control over your campaigns, agents, and lines used. Some basic examples are:

  • Use specific agents based on the type of campaign.
  • Use specific agents based on the type of lead.
  • Use specific agents based on a column value.
  • Use specific lines based on campaign, lead, or column value.

CCM Rules Engine Keys

Below are some types of keys within the CCM Rules Engine that will allow you full control of your lines used and agents. The rules in the CCM are prioritized from the top first to the bottom last. Conflicting rules are treated as a ‘OR’. To prevent conflicting rules, try to combine as many rules into the same Call/Line specs.

Campaign Keys

  • __Camp__.Name : The name of the call list
  • __Camp__.Tool : The name of the software, BroadcastByPhone, AgentDialer, AutoReminder, ...
  • __Camp__.Message : The name of the Message ID or name of IVR app


Call Keys

  • __Call__.Name : The name on the name cell
  • __Call__.Phone
  • __Call__.IsSms
  • __Call__.IsVoice
  • __Call__.column_name : where column_name is any column name in the spreadsheet
  • __Call__.msgid : (AutoReminder specific) reminder message ID
  • __Call__.user : (AutoReminder specific) the current calendar user for the call


Line Keys

  • __Line__.Number : 1-based line number


Agent Keys

  • __Agent__.Name
  • __Agent__.custom_field: where custom_field is any manager defined agent field, such as 'skill level' etc. Please also note that any space in the name of the custom field needs to be replaced with an underscore. For example, "skill level" should be entered here as __Agent__.skill_level.


Operators

  • +, -, *, /
  • < , <=, ==, !=, >, >=
  • &&, ||, !


Built-In Functions

  • isextension(extno)
  • list_contains(list, key)
  • list_size(list)
  • list_get(index)
  • compare_currency
  • compare_date(d1, d2)
  • compare_time(t1, t2)
  • compare_datetime(dt1, dt2)
  • areacode(phoneno)
  • ac_state(ac)
  • ac_timezone(ac)
  • {string}.length()
  • {string}.indexof(key)
  • {string}.substring(startIndex, endIndex)
  • {file}.fileexists()
  • {file}.filesize()
  • {file}.fileremove()

Examples

Below are some rough examples of what you would want to use the CCM Rules Engine for. To add rules, launch Call Center Manager, and go to “Manage” tab, then select “Set Line Usage Rules” or “Set Call Transfer Rules”.

BroadcastByPhone Example

BBP uses IVR Studio message. If IVR is licensed for x number of lines, the app/message will only be deployed in the first x lines. So for BBP to use this message, it is better to limit the line usage to the first x lines. The example below will make sure BroadcastByPhone only uses lines less than or equal to 10 if the message selected is ‘sampleid’. If your message has a different name it will not use any rules and use any available line.

  • Name: limit BBP lines
  • Call Spec: __Camp__.Message == ‘sampleid’
  • Line Spec: __Line__.Number < = 10

  • Name: BBP Example
  • Call Spec: __Call__.Important == 'Yes'
  • Line Spec: __Line__.Number == 1

In the below example, the CCM Rules are set to search a BBP column name ‘Important’ and if that columns value is ‘Yes’ it will set the line to only use line 1. If the columns value is ‘No’ it will use any available line because we have no rules set for the scenario ‘No’.

Maybe you want BroadcastByPhone to always only use line 1, here is what that would look like

  • Name: BBP Line 1
  • Call Spec: __Camp__.Tool == 'BroadcastByPhone'
  • Line Spec: __Line__.Number == 1


AgentDialer Example

AgentDialer call list contains a column named state, which can contain ‘customer’, ‘prospect’, and empty string for unknown. For all customers, transfer calls to agent john, and for prospects to agent mary, and others to mary also.

  • Name: Transfer customer to john
  • Call Spec: __Call__.state == 'Customer'
  • Agent Spec: __Agent__.Name == 'john'

  • Name: Transfer prospect to mary
  • Call Spec: __Call__.state == 'prospect' || __Call.state == ''
  • Agent Spec: __Agent__.Name == 'mary'

call center software rules

Call center rules

IVR Studio BroadcastByPhone Example

The CCM Rules Engine allows you to control your channels/lines based on what IVR Studios applications name is or what the Message ID is, below BroadcastByPhone is using an IVR Studio created message named ‘BBPIVRAPP’. If your IVR Studio is only licensed for 1 line, then you can only force it to use line 1. Even if BroadcastByPhone has more lines licensed to it.

  • Name: Limit IVRBBP Lines
  • Call Spec: __Camp__.Message == 'BBPIVRAPP'
  • Line Spec: __Line__.Number == 1

Posted in Call Center Software | Tagged , , , ,

Using Wireshark to diagnose VOIP problems

Nowadays, VOIP services and software are easier to setup. But from time to time, you may still have issues like not being able to connect to your VOIP service, not getting audio when a call is made, or just getting one way audio. These issues are usually related to your network connection, such as your router, firewall on your router, firewall on your computer, etc, and they are relatively hard to diagnose.

A nice tool to use to diagnose these problems is Wireshark, which is a networking traffic monitoring tool that understands VOIP protocols. It is also free.

It is a technical tool and may only be suitable for tech savvy users.

Here are the steps to use this tool:

1). Start the capture and set “sip” or “rtp” as the filter, hit apply
2). Restart Voicent gateway
3). Make a test call.
4). Check the capture result and stop the capture.

If you have audio related issues, select “rtp” as your filter. If you have two way audio, you should see packets sent and received from the computer. If you only see one way traffic, then the audio for that direction is somehow blocked.

If you have connection issues, select “sip” as your filter.

Posted in Call Center Software, Developer, voip | Tagged , , ,