Remotely manage agents State?

[hartmv]

Hello,

We are looking to reduce the overhead that our floor managers spend "chasing" agents about their states. We know we can setup ACW to put an agent back "in queue" after a set number of minutes, but we have agents that are then "hiding" in other aux states, requiring almost constant review and chasing.

Is there a tool/configuration that would prevent agents from going into a specified Aux state, but allow supervisors to set that state for the agent remotely, with a time limit to automatically push them back into queue when it was over?

This will allow us to more effectively manage our call avoidance, and reduce the supervisor overhead to do so.

I hope this makes sense, please let me know if additional color or ideas are needed!

[shaikht]

Hi,

In CMS r17, we have something called interrupt. Using it, supervisor can remotely interrupt agent state and force agent to pick up calls.

Below is example for dataitems:

Agent login/logout tables
This item stores the interrupt type of agent LOGONSKILL and LOGONSKILL2 through LOGONSKILL120. Valid values are:
0 - NA, not interruptible
1 - auto-in, the agent will automatically become available upon interrupt
2 - manual-in, the agent will manually become available upon interrupt
3 - notify, the agent will be notified of the interrupt and can decide whether to accept or reject the interrupt
The SKINTRTYPE and SKINTRTYPE2 through SKINTRTYPE120 items are available with the EAS feature for Communication Manager Release 6.0 and up.

I hope it helps.

[marzahn]

Shaikht's solution is a better solution that an automatic one for this reason. The business side of your firm needs the "floor managers" to do their job. The problem you present here is not one that can be solved by technology alone.

Despite what you are being told, I suspect that these are low level managers who want an easy fix so that they don't have to watch and (much harder) to correct and discipline the "slackers." I would go one step further than Shaikht's solution. That is, I ask a manager to go to HR to request new written policy that agents get three (or more) strikes and they are out. That is if an agent gets ...

1 inturrupt = mandatory coiunceling.
2 interrupts = a written warning in the agents file.
3 interrupts = unpaid time off ( an option )
4 interrupts = dismissal.

or any other arrangement HR feels is more appropriate. The point is we support the business. It is not our job to manage. Yes it's fun to come up with inovative new tricks. However we must always be ready to ask the second question. After answering: "yes . . . we have the technology to do that." we should also ask ourselves: "Is it good for the business to do this?"

My Director's policy is that any change affecting the business must be reviewed by a colleague and then approved by the support manager. All three of us (Telecomm Geeks) here have been guilty of doing something for someone that sounded reasonable on the face of it that later turned out to be detrimental to the firm.

It's a Word to the Wise. I hope that helps.