Creating Predicted Outbound Call Tasks

Prerequisites

• To create an outbound call task, you have completed the operations in Preparations for Creating Outbound Call Tasks.
• At least one voice skill queue exists. For details about the configuration method, see Maintaining a Tenant Space Skill Queue. The skill queue has been associated with the agent who needs to make an outbound call. For details about the association method, see Associating an Allocated Employee ID with a Business Account and Skill Queue.
• If the tenant space is in trial commercial use, you have contacted O&M personnel to add the numbers used for making outbound calls to the tenant space trustlist.
• To send SMS notifications for failed outbound calls, you have configured an SMS template on the Configuration Center > Workbench Configuration > Notification Template page. For details about the configuration, see Configuring Notification Templates as an Administrator.
• To configure a callback address, an application has been submitted to the system administrator and approved to add the callback address to the address trustlist.

Context

A predicted outbound call depends on algorithms. The system provides the following algorithms for a call center to automatically calculate the number of calls to be allocated to each agent:

• Algorithm for Empirical Prediction: monitors and collects statistics on parameters such as the off-hook rate, average call duration, and number of queuing calls in real time to control the outbound call speed to indirectly reduce queuing calls. In this way, the agent usage is maximized under acceptable call loss conditions.

  This algorithm applies to the scenarios with more than 15 agents, a relatively stable call process, and all factors following the normal distribution, that is, objective factors such as the off-hook rate, call duration, number of agents in working state, wrap-up state duration, and queuing duration do not change dramatically and can be collected.

• Algorithm for Agent Usage: dynamically adjusts the number of calls allocated to each agent by controlling the agent usage and call loss rate.
• Algorithm for Outbound Call Connection Rate: dynamically adjusts the number of calls allocated to each agent by controlling the call loss rate, user waiting time, and call connection rate.
• Algorithm for Offhook Rate: makes predicted outbound calls based on the current off-hook rate. This algorithm reduces the changes in the number of agents and call duration, and minimizes the call loss caused by the change.

Procedure

1. Sign in to the AICC as a tenant administrator and choose Outbound Call > Call Mgmt.
2. Click New and choose Robot outbound call template and select a creation mode. The page for creating a key chatbot outbound call task is displayed.

   You can select either of the following modes:

   • Create Directly: Click Create Directly. The Basic Information tab page is displayed.
     Figure 1 Page for creating a predicted outbound call task (Basic Information)
     

3. Configure basic information.
   • Task Name: Enter a user-defined task name.
   • Caller Number: Select an existing calling number of the current tenant space. A maximum of 100 calling numbers can be added.
   • Start Time: Set this parameter to a value not earlier than the current time.
   • End Time: Set this parameter to a value not earlier than the start time.
   • Task Type: Select Predicted Outbound Call. For an outbound call task created using a template, the value of this parameter is the type configured in the template by default and cannot be changed.
   • Skill Queue: Select an existing skill queue. For details about how to configure a skill queue, see Maintaining a Tenant Space Skill Queue.
   • Questionnaire: Select a released manual survey. You can select a survey based on the version number.
   • SMS Template for Failed Outbound Call: Select a configured SMS notification template. For details, see Configuring Notification Templates as an Administrator.
   • Priority: Select a value from 1 to 5. A smaller value indicates a higher priority. If tasks are started at the same time, the task with a higher priority is called preferentially.
   • Callback Address: Enter the address for callback upon call connection or release on the customer side.
     

     The callback address is a third-party address and can carry data. The carried parameters include dataId, taskId, sessionId, calledNo, beginTime, vdnId, failCode, callId, filePath, and customFiled.

     In the integrated environment, the callback address can be configured only in the outbound call task.

   After the configuration is complete, click Next.

4. Set the outbound call time.
   Figure 2 Outbound Call Duration
   
   1. In the Set Outbound Call Time area, set the start time and end time of working hours. The examples are as follows:

      9:00–11:30

      14:00–18:00

   2. Click Add Special Date in the lower right part to specify weekends as special dates.
   3. In the Set Special Date Outbound Call Time area, set Start Time and End Time to 00:00 and 23:59, respectively.
   4. After the configuration is complete, click Next.

5. Configure the outbound call policy based on Table 1. The following table describes the key parameters for each algorithm and their descriptions.
   

   The following parameter settings must be verified and optimized for multiple times. If you are not sure about the initial settings, retain the recommended settings and adjust them later based on the outbound call effect.

   Figure 3 Outbound Call Policy
   

   Table 1 Predicted outbound call policy

   Algorithm Type	Parameter	Description
   Algorithm for Empirical Prediction	Outbound Call Speed	Prediction factor of the maximum outbound call speed, which is calculated by the system based on the empirical model. You are advised to set this parameter based on the project type and dialing test result for each average call duration. Set this parameter to 70 for projects whose average call duration is less than 100 seconds, to 40 for projects whose average call duration is between 100 seconds and 140 seconds, and to 20 for projects whose average call duration is between 140 seconds and 180 seconds.
   Algorithm for Agent Usage	Min. Call Loss Rate	The call loss rate is the ratio of calls that are hung up during queuing to the total off-hook calls. Set this parameter to the minimum call loss rate. When the call loss rate calculated by the system exceeds the value of this parameter, the system reduces the calls allocated to the current agent to prevent the call loss rate from increasing.
   	Agent Usage	Agent usage threshold. When the agent usage calculated by the system exceeds the value of this parameter, the system reduces the calls allocated to the current agent to prevent the call loss rate from increasing.
   	Method for Calculating Agent Usage	Whether the numerator includes the working state duration (that is, the wrap-up state duration).
   Algorithm for Outbound Call Connection Rate	Min. Call Loss Rate	The call loss rate is the ratio of calls that are hung up during queuing to the total off-hook calls. Set this parameter to the minimum call loss rate. When the call loss rate calculated by the system exceeds the value of this parameter, the system reduces the calls allocated to the current agent to prevent the call loss rate from increasing.
   	Outbound Call Connection Rate	Ratio of connected calls to the total calls. Set this parameter to the maximum connection rate. When the call connection rate is less than the value of this parameter, the system reduces the calls allocated to the agent.
   	Called Party's Waiting Time	Maximum user waiting time, in seconds. If the waiting time exceeds the value of this parameter, the system reduces the calls allocated to the agent to prevent users from waiting for a long time.
   Algorithm for Offhook Rate	Calculation Factor	Off-hook rate calculation factor. If multiple agents meet the routing rules, the system preferentially allocates calls to the agent with a high off-hook rate.

   After the configuration is complete, click Next.

6. Configure Outbound Call Logic, including the call policy, outbound call result policy, and business result policy.
   1. CALL POLICY: Customize the pre-called customer numbers. You can configure Call Mode, Call Filtering, and Call Sorting based on Table 2.
      Figure 4 Outbound Call Logic
      

      Table 2 Parameters on the Outbound Call Logic page

      Parameter	Description
      Call Mode: Mode for calling multiple numbers of a customer.
      In sequence	Call multiple numbers of a customer in sequence.
      By round	Call multiple numbers of a customer in rounds. The options are By number type and By number sequence.
      By number type	You can select Existing number type or New number type. After the configuration, the number with the specified type placed ahead is called first. New number type can be selected for all outbound call tasks. Only one number category can be added at a time. If there are multiple number categories, you need to add them multiple times.
      By sequence number	You can enter the sequence numbers of numbers. After the configuration, the number with a smaller sequence number is called first.
      Call Filtering: Customize filter conditions. The system initiates an outbound call only when the pre-called customer number meets the conditions. Encrypted attributes cannot be used as filter criteria.
      	Add attributes. You can select attributes and set their quantities.
      Add Subcondition	Add a subcondition as an additional filter condition.
      Call Sorting: Customize the call sequence of pre-called customer numbers.
      Add Attribute	Click Add Attribute, select attributes, and set Order Type. You can adjust the attribute sequence after adding the attributes.

   2. OUTBOUND CALL RESULT POLICY: Response method when an outbound call is not connected due to an unallocated number, busy line, or other exceptions. Select Global policy or Contact Policy for PolicyType.
      • Global policy
        • Disable Configure policy based on results.

          Set Max. Days for Call Attempts Before Connection, Max. Number of Daily Call Attempts, and Call-Out Interval (s).

          Click and set Add non-retry result code. If the result of an outbound call to a customer matches the value of Add non-retry result code, the retry calling to the customer is stopped.

          Figure 5 Disabling Configure policy based on results
          
        • Enable Configure policy based on results.

          Click Add Policy and set Result, Retry Times, and Call-Out Interval (s). Click Add Policy for multiple times to add multiple policies one by one. Policies with the same values of Result cannot be added.

          Click and set Add non-retry result code. If the result of an outbound call to a customer matches the value of Add non-retry result code, the retry calling to the customer is stopped.

          Figure 6 Enabling Configure policy based on results
          
        

        If the outbound call interval is set to a large value, outbound call operations indicators, such as the call connection rate, may be affected. You are advised to use the default value.

      • Contact Policy
        • Default contact number: Set Whether to configure based on the result to configure the policy.

          If it is set to No, you can set Max. Days for Call Attempts Before Connection and Max. Number of Daily Call Attempts.

          Figure 7 Setting Whether to configure based on the result to No
          

          If it is set to Yes, you can set Result, Retry Times, and Call-Out Interval (s). Click Add for multiple times to add multiple policies one by one. Policies with the same values of Result cannot be added.

          Figure 8 Setting Whether to configure based on the result to Yes
          

        • Adding a contact number: Click Add Contact Policy. The Add Result Policy page is displayed. You must set Add DataType first regardless of whether Configure policy based on results is enabled, and then set other parameters.

          If Configure policy based on results is disabled, enable Add DataType and set Add DataType, Max. Days for Call Attempts Before Connection, and Max. Number of Daily Call Attempts.

          Figure 9 Disabling Configure policy based on results
          

          If Configure policy based on results is enabled, enable Add DataType, set Add DataType, click Add Result Policy, and set Result, Retry Times, and Call-Out Interval (s). Click Add Result Policy for multiple times to add multiple policies one by one. Policies with the same values of Result cannot be added.

          Figure 10 Enabling Configure policy based on results
          

   3. BUSINESS RESULT POLICY: Configure the call policy for the business result returned by the system when an outbound call is made.
      1. Click to enable the business result policy.
      2. Click Add Business Result Policy.
      3. Set Business Result, Substate, Policy, and Interval(Second), and click Save.
      4. Click Add Business Result Policy for multiple times to add multiple business policies one by one.
      Figure 11 Business result policy
      

   After the configuration is complete, click Next.

7. (Optional) Click Save As Template. In the dialog box that is displayed, enter a template name and click OK to save the current configuration as an outbound call template.
8. Click Save. The predicted outbound call task is created successfully.
9. Return to the Call Mgmt tab page, select the new outbound call task, and click Outbound Call Data to add outbound call data for the outbound call task. For details, see Configuring Outbound Call Data.
10. Return to the Call Mgmt tab page, select the new outbound call task, and click Start to start the outbound call task.

Follow-up Procedure

You can click Suspend to modify an outbound call task.

After the task is suspended, you can click Edit to modify the outbound call task. The procedure for changing the calling number is as follows:

1. Click Caller Number. The page for selecting a calling number is displayed. The selected calling number is displayed by default.
   Figure 12 Select Calling Number
   

2. Click Add and select another calling number. The selected calling number cannot be selected again. The number of new calling numbers cannot exceed the Maximum number of calling numbers configured by an administrator.
   Figure 13 Adding Calling Numbers
   

3. Click OK. Return to the Select Calling Number page and click OK.

To view the task result, you can click a task to access the outbound call task details page and click the outbound call result on the outbound call task details page to view the outbound call result for each customer.

On the task result page, you can perform the following operations:

• Click Details to view all outbound call results of all called numbers under the customer.
• Click Business Result to remark the called outbound numbers.
• Click Export to export the task result.
• Click View Export Result to view the export result. On the displayed page, you can download the result.
  

  The exported data contains personal data. Exercise caution when processing the exported data to prevent personal data leakage and abuse.