Configure Call Center hunt groups

Overview

A Call Center hunt group consists of:

• A group of company members working as Call Center agents
• An associated waiting queue, which allows incoming calls to be placed on hold when all agents are busy or unavailable

The agents can belong to multiple Call Center hunt groups.

Each Call Center hunt group is defined by a name and an internal extension number. Optionally, a public number can also be added.

Call Center hunt groups allow agents to:

• Monitor all incoming calls on hold
• Manually answer any call on hold (not just the one that has been automatically assigned)
• If configured:
  • Perform offline tasks between calls: agents switch to an automatic wrap-up state at the end of a conversation. The expiry of the wrap-up state is displayed in the Rainbow application.
  • Automatically withdraw agents if they fail to answer a certain number of calls
  • Switch agents to an automatic wrap-up state at the end of a conversation

When created, Call Center hunt groups are automatically assigned to a bubble, which gives their members access to services such as conferencing, shared files, call logs, voice mail and statistics.

Call handling in the waiting queue

When all agents are busy or unavailable, incoming calls are placed in the waiting queue for the Call Center hunt group:

• A voice prompt is played. When the timeout expires, and a call overflow is configured, calls on hold are transferred to the destination configured for the hunt group.
• If configured, periodic voice messages are played to indicate the average expected wait time before an agent becomes available.

Call distribution on Call Center hunt group

Call Center hunt group calls are distributed to the agents according to the type of search selected for the hunt group:

• Parallel search: all free agents in the hunt group are called at the same time.
• Serial search: the search starts with the first agent in the hunt group, and continues with other agents in the order in which they are listed in the hunt group.
• Circular search: the search starts with the agent immediately after the one that just took the last hunt group call, and continues with other agents in the order in which they are listed in the hunt group.

Configuration overview

Configuration of Call Center hunt groups is performed from the hunt group management window.

From the hunt group management window, you can:

• Create a Call Center hunt group
• Manage the Call Center hunt group settings, with following operations:
  • Define the member role in hunt group:
    • Agent: member answers phone calls
    • Administrator: member manages hunt group settings (destination of call overflow and public number of hunt group), but does not answer phone calls
    • Administrator & Agent: member manages hunt group settings and answers phone calls

  • Manage the destination of call overflow on busy and on no answer. The destination can be a company member, another hunt group, an internal or public number, a voice prompt, an Automated Attendant, a voice mail or a welcome service

    Note: The default voice prompts and waiting music used for call overflow can be customized: see article: Customize voice prompts.
  • Authorize/forbid the last member to withdraw from the hunt group. When forbidden, the last member is warned he/she cannot withdraw from the hunt group
  • Authorize/forbid members with administrator role to manage the public number of the hunt group
  • Authorize/forbid agents to switch to an automatic wrap-up state at the end of a conversation
  • Configure call recording for the hunt group (not available for hunt groups with waiting queue)

  • Customize voice prompts when the destination of call overflow on busy and or no answer is a voice mail

    Warning: The default voice prompts cannot be downloaded for archive. After customization, it is no more possible to switch back to the default voice prompts.
  • Set up an automatic wrap-up timer between calls 
  • Set up automatic withdrawal when agents fail to answer a certain number of calls
  • Play voice messages to inform callers of their waiting time before an agent becomes available
  • Analyze hunt group activity (number of incoming, answered and missed calls) of the last 28 days and download a hunt group activity report in csv file
  • Block some incoming calls to the hunt group by managing a black list (blocked phone numbers)
    Blocked incoming calls overflow to the destination configured for the hunt group.

Before you start

The Call Center agents must be granted a Voice Enterprise license.

Accessing the hunt group management window

1. From the Rainbow application, click on Manage your company in the left panel.
2. In the MY COMPANY panel, click on the name of your company.
3. In the left panel, click on Communication.
4. In the right part of the window, click on the Groups tab.

Creating a Contact Center hunt group

1. From the hunt group management window, click on Create.
2. In the Name field, enter the name of the hunt group.
3. In the Type field, select Hunt group with waiting queue.
4. In the Subtype field, select Call center.
5. In the Distribution field, select the type of search to apply to the hunt group for call distribution (Parallel, Serial, or Circular).
6. If the selected type of search is Serial or Circular, you can configure the timer for overflow to another member of the group (10 seconds by default).
7. In the Internal number field, select the internal extension number of the hunt group among listed available numbers (mandatory field).
8. In the Public number field, select the public number of the hunt group among listed available public numbers.
9. Optionally, select the Lock the last member (no empty group) check box to forbid the last member to withdraw from the hunt group.
10. Optionally, unselect the Allow the group manager to modify the DDI check box (enabled by default).
11. Optionally, unselect the Call overflow check box, or keep it selected (enabled by default), and manage the destination of call overflow on busy and on no answer. For details, see: Managing a hunt group.
12. Optionally, when the Call overflow is selected, unselect the Immediate call overflow when the group is empty (no queuing) check box (enabled by default).
13. Optionally, unselect the Enable auto-withdraw check box, or keep it selected (enabled by default) to manage the maximum number of unanswered calls before the automatic withdraw is activated (three by default).
14. Optionally, select the Enable announces check box (disabled by default) and manage the frequency between voice messages (300 seconds by default) and the minimum expected waiting time for voice messages to be triggered (60 seconds by default).
15. Optionally, select the Enable Wrap-up check box (disabled by default) and manage the wrap-up duration (30 seconds by default).
16. Click on Next.
17. To add members, enter the first letters of their name or email address. A list of matching entries appears allowing you to select the member of your choice.
    
18. In Roles column, select the role of members in hunt group: Agent, Administrator or Administrator & Agent.
19. Click on Apply.
    The hunt group with waiting queue is created and displayed in the group list.

After creating the hunt group, manage the destination of call overflow when no member is available to handle queued calls: see: Managing a hunt group.

Managing a Contact Center hunt group

1. From the hunt group management window, search the target hunt group using any of the following:
   • From the list of hunt groups: click on Groups tab and select the target hunt group.
   • From the list of members of hunt groups: click on Members tab, click on the right arrow in front of the member of the target hunt group, and select the target hunt group.
2. Select the Members tab.
3. Perform any of the following:
   • To change the member role: in Roles column, click on the down arrow in front of the target member and select the role: Agent, Administrator or Administrator & Agent.
   • To remove a member: click on in front of the target member.
   • To add a member: enter the first letters of the member name or email address and select the member of your choice in the list of matching entries.
4. Select the Information tab.
5. Select/unselect Lock the last member (no empty group).
6. Select/unselect the Allow the group manager to modify the DDI.
7. In the call recording field (not available for hunt groups with waiting queue), select the calls that will be recorded: All calls, External calls only, or Internal calls only, or select None to disable call recording for the hunt group.

8. In the Call overflow field, configure the Destination type of call overflow on busy and no answer:

   • If Member is selected, enter the first letters of the name or email address of target company member. A list of matching entries appears allowing you to select the member of your choice.

     Note: Only company members configured with an extension number can be selected as destination of the call overflow.
   • If Voice prompt is selected, select either the voice prompt configured by default, or a customized voice prompt if available: see article: Customize voice prompts.
   • If Voicemail is selected, customize the voice prompt to be played when accessing voice mail: see: Customizing voice prompts for call overflow on voice mail.

   For hunt groups with waiting queue, you can unselect this field. In this case, the destination is the waiting music configured by default, or a customized waiting music if available: see article: Customize voice prompts.

9. In the Overflow Timeout (s) field, enter the ringing time before call overflows to its destination (60 seconds by default).
10. Select/unselect Enable auto-withdraw, and if selected, configure the maximum number of unanswered calls before the automatic withdraw is activated (three by default).
11. Select/unselect the Enable announces check box, and if selected, manage the frequency between voice messages (300 seconds by default) and the minimum expected waiting time for voice messages to be triggered (60 seconds by default).
12. Select/unselect the Enable Wrap-up check box (disabled by default), and if selected, manage the wrap-up duration (30 seconds by default).
13. Optionally, to block some incoming calls to the hunt group, select the Blacklist tab, enter the phone numbers to be blocked in the desired format and click on + Add.
14. Click on Apply.

Customizing voice prompts for call overflow on voice mail

1. From the hunt group management window, click on the target Contact Center hunt group and select the Voicemail prompts tab.
2. From the voice prompt configuration panel, click on Browse and select the wav file to upload.
3. In the Voice prompt field, select the voice prompt type.
4. Click on Upload.
   The customized voice prompt is displayed in the list with Customized type and active status ().

Deleting a Contact Center hunt group

1. From the hunt group management window, move your mouse over the target Call Center hunt group, click on , and select Remove group.
2. Click on Remove.
   The Contact Center hunt group is deleted from the group list.