CCM Architecture Introduction

CCM interoperates with the NobelBiz SMRT subsystem. SMRT projects contain rules for queuing and routing calls based on DNISs, number groups, IVR input, and schedules. For skill based routing, calls are assigned skill tags before they are queued for CCM processing. CCM is notified when a new call is queued via a webhook message that includes the skill tags associated with the call.

Upon notification, CCM searches for available agents with skills that match those specified for the queued call. If no matching agent is available, the call remains queued in SMRT. As agents become available, their skills are compared with those required for queued calls in order of longest wait time.

When an agent with required skills is matched with an inbound call, CCM instructs SMRT to dequeue and bridge the call to a specified Sytel Softdial tenant, queue, agent specification. SMRT bridges the call. Both SMRT and CCM monitor the transfer. If the call is not successfully connected to the specified agent within a configurable timeout period, SMRT requeues the call. CCM times out the dequeue request.

Figure 1

Important Note:
There are open issues with Sytel regarding the operation of the agent routing “hint”. Under certain conditions, a call may be assigned to an unintended agent.

When an agent (Agent A) is selected to be moved from an outbound queue to an inbound queue in a blended environment as the result of the "hint", it is understood that they may be connected to an outbound call before the inbound call with the hint arrives. The expected behavior under this condition is that bridging the call fails and it is requeued. The caller might hear a pause, followed by resumption of the hold recording. This is the behavior as designed.

The issue arises when, as the scenario described takes place, another agent (Agent B) on the same inbound queue dispositions a call. Normally, Agent B is automatically returned to the outbound queue to which they were moved for the inbound call. But if a call for Agent was transferred, and Agent A was unavailable because they were connected to an outbound call, and the call has not yet been requeued when Agent B dispotitions their call, the call may be connected incorrectly to Agent B.

Because CCM requires the inbound queue to have the associated skills for the call, Agent B will have the appropriate skills, but the CCM monitor will show incorrect status for Agent A until they change state (usually a short time in blended ops), therefore the issue is usually not noticed.

There is a support ticket regarding this with Sytel.