NEC Aspire Manual page 73

Description
Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) uniformly distributes calls among member agents of a pro-
grammed ACD Group. When a call rings into an ACD Group, the system automatically routes the
call to the agent that has been idle the longest. Automatic Call Distribution is much more sophisti-
cated and comprehensive than Department Calling and other group services - it can accurately
judge the work load at each agent and distribute calls accordingly. The system allows up to 64 ACD
Groups and 512 ACD agents.
You can put any agent in any group. In addition, an agent can be in more than one group. This allows,
for example, a Technical Service representation to answer Customer Service calls at lunch time when
many of the Customer Service reps are unavailable.
The ACD Master Number is the "extension number" of the whole group. Calls directly ringing or
transferred to the ACD Master number enter the group and are routed accordingly. Although the
master number can be any valid extension number, you should choose a number that is out of the
normal extension range.
Automatic Call Distribution operation is further enhanced by:
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Product Description
ACD Call Queuing
When all agents in an ACD Group are unavailable, an incoming call will queue and cause the
Queue Status Display to occur on the ACD Group Supervisor's display. The display helps the
supervisor keep track of the trafÞc load within their group. The Queue Status Displays shows:
- The number of calls queued for an available agent in the group.
- The trunk that has been waiting the longest, and how long it has been waiting.
For each ACD Group, you can set the following conditions:
- The number of trunks that can wait in queue before the Queue Status Display occurs.
- How often the time in queue portion of the display reoccurs.
- If the supervisor should hear a Queue Alarm whenever the time in queue portion reoccurs.
This alarm is a single beep tone that reminds the supervisor to check the condition of the
queue.
ACD Overßow (With Announcements)
ACD offers extensive overßow options for each ACD Group. For example, a caller ringing in
when all agents are unavailable can hear an initial announcement (called the 1st Announce-
ment). This announcement can be a general greeting like, "Thank you for calling. All of our
agents are currently busy helping other customers. Please stay on the line and we will help
you shortly." If the caller continues to wait, you can have them hear another announcement
(called the 2nd Announcement) such as, "Your business is important to us. Your call will be
automatically answered by the Þrst available agent. Please stay on the line." If all the ACD
Group's agents still are unavailable, the call can automatically overßow to another ACD
Group or the Voice Mail Automated Attendant. If all agents in the overßow ACD Group are
busy, Lookback Routing automatically ensures that the waiting call will ring into the Þrst
agent in either group that becomes free.
You can assign an ACD Group with any combination of 1st Announcement, 2nd Announce-
ment and overßow method. You can have, for example, a Technical Service group that plays
only the 2nd Announcement to callers and then immediately overßows to Voice Mail. At the
same time, you can have a Customer Service group that plays both announcements and does
not overßow.
Section 3: Features
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