Call Queues with No Agents

[CRumble]

Hi All

I thought I'd share a workaround that I've seen some users requesting or looking at ways to keep callers in call queues when all the agents are logged out. A bit of background for our setup, we use the custom DND status as 'Wrap Up' as this time is a variable for our call agents to update cases and contact relevant parties. The issue we have is that when they all are in this DND status, logs them out of the queue callers are then directed to the 'Destination if no answer', pretty frustrating there isn't an option to keep callers in the queue if no agents are logged in or a way to manage the Wrap Up time in the system better than just setting a fixed time.

To get around this originally we used the 'Dummy' extension method mentioned on the forums. This was ok, but has issues if the polling strategy is set to anything other than Ring All as there was a lot of queue jumping. The second issue is call backs won't work correctly as the 'Dummy' extension is always 'Available'.

I spent some time yesterday and created the following workaround, though not perfect. Allows us to stop callers from being moved/dropped out of the call queues. I've created an IVR for each call queue that plays our on hold music once, then redirects back to the call queue after this prompt has played and a 1 second delay. If there are still no agents available the call queue redirects back to the IVR again and the process repeats until an agent is logged back into the queue.

The issue I can still see happening is if there are many callers and they are getting routed at different times then the queue positions will change. Though for us it's not very often that all agents are logged out of the queue.

Hope this helps any one is a similar position. @Mods please move thread if there is a better location for this.

Cheers

Curtis

 

[Alphabetic]

Add a dummy extension in to the queue, set the mobile number to 0 and then have "ring my mobile simutaneously" enabled

 

[CRumble]

Add a dummy extension in to the queue, set the mobile number to 0 and then have "ring my mobile simutaneously" enabled

We've resolved it now by doing the above. The 'Dummy' extension is ok but causes other issues as per my original post. This thread is more of a post to help others in the same situation. Thanks for the reply though.

 

[patrickb_de]

Add a dummy extension in to the queue, set the mobile number to 0 and then have "ring my mobile simutaneously" enabled

This works; however, it completely fills your logs with each call, as the destination cannot be reached. So, for each attempt, you get an entry from the caller's number to the 0. This is utterly insane for longer-duration queues.

I've worked on a solution for a very long time that eliminates all these issues. If you're interested, please feel free to send me a message. I've been using my solution in a call center with 120 hotlines for months, and it's been working without any problems.

 

[Alphabetic]

This works; however, it completely fills your logs with each call, as the destination cannot be reached. So, for each attempt, you get an entry from the caller's number to the 0. This is utterly insane for longer-duration queues.

I've worked on a solution for a very long time that eliminates all these issues. If you're interested, please feel free to send me a message. I've been using my solution in a call center with 120 hotlines for months, and it's been working without any problems.

Why not publically post for the benefit of everyone?

 

[patrickb_de]

Hi normaly i do but in this case i've worked more than two business days on the solution and wants to control who is using it.

 

[Alphabetic]

Thats fair enough.