Call Routing

Call Routing is designed to monitor various devices on the telephone system and route any ringing calls in one of several ways:

Route all calls based on the result of a database lookup using the DID or Caller ID of the incoming call.
Route calls that are queuing at the device (a busy Hunt Group for example)
Route calls to the last agent that had contact with the caller

When routing calls, the target destination can be one of the following:

A device on the telephone system (Extension, Hunt Group, CRA)
An agent on the telephone system (DB return values only)
An external number (Calling Party Number and Name can also be provided)

An agent can only be used as a routing target when using the database lookup and when there is a device as an overflow.

Licensing

The call routing feature is a licensable feature within the MiVO Application Suite. If your system is licensed, the ‘Call Routing License’ should be visible within the Communication Service section of the Site License section of the website.

Call Routing Rules

The call routing engine monitors 1 or more rules that define how and where the engine should route calls to. Each rule has a ‘Monitored Device’ this device is an extension on the telephone system that the engine will monitor for incoming alerting calls. An incoming call will trigger the rule to be fired and the database look up to be made.

How Calls Are Routed

The routing process starts when a call starts alerting a Monitored Device. If the AlphaTag parameter and/or the AccountCode properties are populated for the rule, the call will first be modified using the _MD command. Once this command completes (the response has been received from the telephone system) or if neither the AlphaTag nor the AccountCode properties are set, the call will be routed to the target destination using the _MO (move call) command or the _DF (deflect call) command. The command used will depend on how the call is being presented to the Monitored Device.

If the command to route the call fails, the engine will attempt to route the call to the Overflow destination for the rule. If the target for the call is an agent and the agent is not logged in and in the free state, the call will also be routed to the Overflow destination.

Telephone System Configuration - Routing All Calls

To route calls using the Call Routing feature, the telephone system must be configured to send calls to the Monitored Device for each rule.

The monitored device can be a phantom on the telephone system or a physical extension. In addition to setting up the Monitored Device, it is advised to program a UCD hunt group on the telephone system for each Monitor Device for the following reasons:

The Call Routing engine only has to deal with a single call per rule at any point in time. This means there is less chance of routing failures.
The recall destination of the hunt group can be used to move the call on to an overflow if the call routing engine is failing or the MiVoice Office Application Suite is offline for any reason.
There is less load on the target database because only one query per rule can ever been run at any point in time.

The Monitored Device should be added to the UCD hunt group and any calls to be routed should be pointed at this hunt group

When routing calls to external numbers, the Class of Service of the Monitored Extension will be used by the telephone system when evaluating whether to allow the external call.

Adding/Editing Call Routing Rules

The following settings are required when configuring a call routing rules

Rule Name & Description

A unique name & description to allow the rule to be identified.

Enabled

This setting controls whether the rule is currently being implemented by the server or not.

Monitored Device

Enter the number of the device the rule will monitor and route calls from. For Queuing events, this will be a hunt group.

Routing Type (All Calls/Queuing Event)

This setting controls whether all calls that ring at the device are routed or only calls that are in the 'Queuing' state.

Queue Length

If the routing type is set to 'Queuing Event', this setting controls at which position in the queue calls will start to be routed. A value of 0 means all queuing calls will be routed. A value of 1 would mean 1 call can queue, but any more would be routed.

Dynamic

If the routing type is set to 'Queuing Event', this setting controls whether the Queue Length property is static or whether it looks at the number of agents logged into the group. If set to 'Dynamic', the 'Queue Length' setting is multiplied by the number of agents logged into the monitored hunt group. A dynamic queue length value of 2 when 4 agents are logged in would result in the 9th call being routed (2 x 4 = 8, 8 calls are allowed to queue).

Destination Type (Fixed/Database Lookup/Route to Last Agent)

Specify how the routing destination for the call should be retrieved.

Destination

If the destination type is set to 'Fixed', this setting should be populated with the device number.

Distribute To Busy Hunt Groups

If the destination of the call routing is a hunt group, this setting controls whether the hunt group should be checked for free agents. If there are no free agents the overflow destination will be used (or the rule will not fire in the case of a queuing event).

Overflow

The destination the call will be used if the preferred destination has no free agents.

Account Code

If an account code is enter here, it will be applied to any call that is routed. This provides a way to track routed calls through call reporting.

Calling Party Number

If the destination is an external number, this setting controls the calling party number that will be used for the external call.

Calling Party Name

If the destination is an external number, this setting controls the calling party name that will be used for the external call.

Calling Party Name should only be used if the trunks support it. Configuring this on a system that does not support it can cause the call to fail.

For more information, please refer to the following sections: