External data sources can be used with the Real-Time elements of the MiVoice Office Call Reporter to display information from data sources external to the call/status logging platform. It provides a method for displaying important information on a Real-Time Wallboard/Dashboard that hasn't come from the telephone system. Some examples of the data from external data sources might be displayed:

• Sales information such as targets or orders processed
• Support information such as open tickets or escalated tickets  

The external data feature can be used to query information from any ODBC or OLE DB compliant database. Data returned from these queries can be displayed on single statistic, multiple statistic and ticker tiles.

Licensing

The external data feature is a licensable feature within the MiVO Application Suite. If your system is licensed, the ‘External Data Sources' should be visible within the MiVoice Office Call Reporter area of the Site License section of the website. 

Once the feature has been licensed, any number of external database connections can be configured. 

Configuring an External Data Source

This section outlines the steps involved in configuring a connection to an external database and pulling back one or more pieces of data. The connection string and command details will vary depending on the type of database being connected to.

Connections

The connection is the first step in configuring MCS to communicate with an external data source. The following properties need to be configured:

• Name, used to uniquely identify the connection to anyone managing the MCS website
• Type, ODBC or OLE DB. Select the connection type required by the target database
• Refresh Interval, how often the MCS will requery the external database for updated information (minimum 15 seconds)
• Connection String, this provides all the information necessary to connect to the external database including location and authentication

The connection string will vary depending on the target database's type and location. To help in setting up a connection, some example connection strings are provided. In the examples below, the parameters myServerAddress, myDataBase, myUsername & myPassword need substituting with the actual values for the target database. Once the connection string has been entered, it must be successfully tested before the website will allow the command details to be configured.

SQL Server ODBC

Driver={SQL Server Native Client 11.0};Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;/p>

SQL Server OLE DB

Provider=SQLNCLI11;Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;

MySQL ODBC

Driver={MySQL ODBC 5.2 UNICODE Driver};Server=localhost;Database=myDataBase;User=myUsername;Password=myPassword;Option=3;

MySQL OLE DB 

Provider=MySQLProv;Data Source=mydb;User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword;

IBM DB2 ODBC

Driver={IBM DB2 ODBC DRIVER};Database=myDataBase;Hostname=myServerAddress;Port=1234;Protocol=TCPIP;Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;

IBM DB2 OLE DB

Provider=IBMDADB2;Database=myDataBase;Hostname=myServerAddress;Protocol=TCPIP;Port=50000;Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;

Command

The command is used to query information from the target database once a connection has been established. The command can be in the form of an SQL select statement (Text) or a stored procedure call.

Once the command has been entered, pressing the 'Test' button will execute the command on the target database. If successful, the 'Data Fields' tab will be enabled and will be populated with results of the command.

Data Fields

The data fields represent the data returned from the external database. The grid displays the resulting data from the test command with the index and field name of the columns returned.

The 'Display Name' is the name that will be displayed to Real-Time users when selecting external data to add to a tile. This is pre-populated with the field name returned from the database but can be overridden if required.

Once all display names have been updated as required, saving the external data source will make it available for Real-time Wallboard and Dashboard users.