Contents
- Introduction
- Starting Your Working Session
- Starting Agent Desktop
- Selecting a Phone Device
- Logging into Agent Desktop
- Installing and Updating the Agent Desktop Helper Application
- User Interface Overview
- Changing Your Agent Desktop Appearance
- Understanding Screen-pop
- Configuring Your User Profile
- Configuring Your Voicemail
- Listening to Voicemail Messages
- Call Forwarding
- Using the Calendar
- Getting Help
- Understanding and Handling Your States
- 1 How to Interpret Your Current State Information
- Handling Calls
- How to Answer an Incoming Call
- How to Reject an Incoming Call
- How to Make an Internal Call
- How to Make an Outbound Call
- How to Send Numeric Information
- How to Use the Directory
- How to Redial a Previously Dialed Number
- How to Use Favorite Contacts
- How to Mute a Call
- How to Release a Call
- How to Wrap Up After Call Work
- Dispositions and Notes
- How to Hold and Retrieve a Call
- How to Make a Consultation Call
- How to Transfer a Call
- How to Host a Conference
- How to Participate in a Conference
- How to Place a Call in a Service Queue
- How to Connect a Voice Application to Your Call
- How to Use Prerecorded Messages
- How to Record a Call
- How to Stop or Pause Call Recording
- Voice Signatures
- How to Schedule a Follow-up Activity
- How to Send SMS Messages
- Participating in an Outbound Campaign
- General Information About Outbound Campaigns
- How to Review a Calling Record
- How to Reject a Calling Record
- How to Reschedule a Call Attempt
- Handling Service Chats
- How to Accept a Chat Request
- How to Reject a Chat Request
- Chat Messages
- How to Send and Receive Pictures and Documents
- How to Transfer Your Chat Session
- How to Create and Edit Canned Chat Responses
- How to End a Chat Session
- How to Send a Secure Form
- Handling Multiple Chat Sessions
- Co-browsing
- Handling Mobile Interactions
- Handling Email
- General Information About Handling Email
- Understanding Email Cases and Threads
- How to Accept an Email
- How to Retrieve an Email from the Team Queue
- How to Retrieve an Email from My Queue
- Overview of the Email Working Area
- How to Review an Incoming Email
- How to Mask Sensitive Data
- How to Close an Email without Replying
- How to Change an Assigned Email Service
- How to Transfer an Email
- How to Forward an Email
- How to Change Default Email Font
- How to Compose a Reply
- How to Use My Follow-ups to Send a Follow-up Outbound Email
- How to Use Cases to Send a Follow-up Outbound Email
- How to Send a New Outbound Email
- How to Save an Email as a Draft
- How to Search Email Cases
- Knowledge Base
- General Information About Knowledge Base
- How to Use a Knowledge Base Article
- Contributing Content to the Knowledge Base
- Other Useful Functions
- Dashboard
- Wallboard
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Ways to Request Assistance
- How to Use Internal Chat
- How to Report a Call Quality Problem
- How to Send Agent Desktop Application Logs to Your Administrator
- Ending Your Working Session
- Error Messages
How to Interpret Your Current State Information
The agent state is the indication of your current availability to handle service calls. This information is used by the system to decide whether a new service call can be delivered to you. The information about the time you spend in each state also appears in reports about your performance.
The Agent Desktop application uses icons to represent agent states. Your current state is shown in the upper left-hand corner of Agent Desktop. These icons, the states they represent, and descriptions of those states are described as follows.
Note: Information in the main text of this section is valid if your system is configured to let you handle one customer interaction at a time. This configuration is most typical when you handle calls only. If you process interactions of other types (e.g., chats or emails), then, depending on your contact center practices, you may be expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously. The differences in interpretation of your states in this case are briefly explained in the notes following a state description. For a more detailed explanation, see sections Handling Multiple Chat Sessions and General Information About Handling Email.
Agent States
Ready
You are available to take a service call. In most cases, you make yourself Ready manually. See How to Make Yourself Ready for more information.
Depending on your contact center practices, the Ready state may also be applied automatically under some of the following conditions:
- Upon login
- As soon as you finish a previous service call
- When the time allocated for after-call work associated with the previous call expires
- When the rest time associated with the previous call expires
You may also be forced into the Ready state by your supervisor.
Note: If you are expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously, the Ready state will only be applied when you do not have any active interactions on your desktop. However, in this case you may receive new interactions in states other than Ready.
Ringing
You are unavailable to take service calls because one service call is already being delivered to you. The ringing icon is briefly displayed while your phone is ringing.
Busy
You are unavailable to take new service calls because you are already handling a service call. This state is displayed from the moment the call is connected and until it is released. For outbound calls, it also includes the call dialing phase. When your service call is released, depending on your contact center practices and the services that you provide, you will be switched automatically to either the After Call Work state, the Not Ready state, or the Ready state.
Note: Even if you are expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously, your state will be displayed as Busy as long as you have at least one active interaction of any media type. However, your actual availability will depend on the number of interactions you are currently handling versus the maximum number of interactions you are expected to be able to handle simultaneously. Therefore, you may receive new interactions when you are in the Busy state.
After Call Work
You are unavailable to take new service calls because you are processing information related to the call that you previously handled. This state may or may not be used depending on your contact center practices and the services that you provide. If it is used, you will be switched to this state automatically as soon as the call is released by either the customer or yourself. You will remain in this state until you manually make yourself Ready or Not Ready to take another call. Note that your After Call Work state may also end automatically if the time allocated for the after-call work exceeds the limit set by your administrator.
Note: If you are expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously, you may receive new interactions when you are in the After Call Work state. You will be switched to this state only when the last live interaction on your desktop is finished. (Otherwise, you will continue to be in the Busy state.)
Not Ready
You are unavailable to take service calls because you are temporarily away from your desktop or busy doing some work that is not directly related to handling of service calls. Under normal circumstances, you make yourself Not Ready manually. Your system may also be configured to let you indicate a specific reason for being Not Ready. See How to Make Yourself Not Ready for more information. These reasons are specific to your contact center. You will get detailed instructions about the meaning and usage of such reasons from your administrator.
Depending on your contact center practices, the Not Ready state may also be applied automatically under some of the following conditions:
- Upon login
- As a short rest time after finishing processing of a service call
- Upon rejection of a service call
- If you do not answer a ringing service call within a reasonable time
- When your Agent Desktop loses connection to the system
You may also be forced into the Not Ready state by your supervisor.
Note: You will not receive any interactions while you are in this state regardless of how many interactions you are expected to handle simultaneously.