Hunt Groups Automatic Call Distribution

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) is the ability to use features within the telephone system to deliver incoming telephone calls to an organized group of extensions in a predefined manner. Typically, the members of the group would be referred to as Agents, with potential requirements for reporting and management layered on top of the actually call management. A group that has membership to an ACD is commonly referred to as a Hunt Group.

ACD is an inherent feature of the Avaya IP Office.  Reporting on the members of the ACD is an optional, paid component

When calls are delivered to an ACD group, we can support a number of methods of presenting those calls.

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�������� Collective:� All devices that are members of the ACD group will ring or display notification of the incoming call.� Any member of the ACD can pick up the call. Users that are on calls will not have their call interrupted

• ��������� Linear:� Calls are delivered to the first member of the ACD Group.� If that user is already on a call, the call will be passed to the next member of the group. Calls will continue to be distributed to other members of the group in a specific manner of ranking until an earlier person is no longer on the phone and is available to take a call again. The next call will be presented to them.
• ��������� Circular/Round Robin:� Each new call is handed to the next member of the group, eventually coming back to the first member of the group. If that member is still on a call, it will pass to the next person and continue to go through the group until it is time for the first person to take their turn again.

We are able to configure overflow groups for when a group is experiencing unusual call volumes, and able to provide features to queue calls and hold them until an agent is available. As part of the queue, we can provide expected wait time and position announcements, advertising, comfort messages, and options to allow users to opt out and leave a voice mail message.

The ACD within the Avaya IP Office does not include options for skills based routing. There are 3^rd Party options that are compatible with the Avaya IP Office that can provide that feature set, as well as multichannel (fax, email, text, chat) integration. Please contact your sales representative for more information about our products.

Yes, but this can cause issues with reporting being done on the ACD group. It would be recommended for users that are being tracked that they maintain membership to only one group.

  There is not inherent support for AUX features (The ability for users to make themselves unavailable using different codes for track purposes.) The feature can be added to certain editions of Avaya IP Office, but it is considered a licensed feature on a per agent basis, and restricts a customer to using the Avaya Contact Center Reporter (CCR) for reporting.

There is not inherent support for AUX features (The ability for users to make themselves unavailable using different codes for track purposes.) The feature can be added to certain editions of Avaya IP Office, but it is considered a licensed feature on a per agent basis, and restricts a customer to using the Avaya Contact Center Reporter (CCR) for reporting.

Callers cannot be queued to multiple groups at the same time. Any manipulation of an incoming caller must be done through escalating the call to a higher priority group, but the caller cannot keep their existing position in line without being reset, and put back at the beginning of the queue.

Service Observing, the ability to listen to an in progress call, is inherently a part of the Avaya IP Office. Managers can silently listen to a call in progress, break into an active call and take over the call, and can set up a coaching session with a user that allows them to whisper to the user without the caller being able to hear them.

The Avaya IP Office Manager can be used by an administrator to force users to log in or out of a group, making them available to receive calls. A setting can also be used that will force logout a user if a call rings to their extension and they do not pick up the call, ensuring that the next call will be delivered more promptly to the next available agent.

Anything that requires the ability to distribute calls to multiple people can be considered a call center. For example, if all calls that come in primarily ring to a front desk or attendant. Other people can be added to the distribution group for overflow purposes. The Linear distribution method means that all calls will attempt to be presented to the first member of the group (The Attendant), with the ability to queue calls until that person is able to answer them, or have the calls escalated to a larger group of people.

A group can be used as a page group. Add different extensions to the group, and create multiple groups to act as Zones. This will allow people to make page announcements over the phones in specific locations within the enterprise, or an all zones page for every device connected.

Sets in different locations can be configured as a night ring group for incoming calls after hours. This would allow after hours calls to be picked up from multiple locations within the enterprise.

A billing group may make outbound collection calls that might require a certain type of handling, including logging, tracking, and potentially call recording. The group can be set for their caller ID to display an inbound number that callers can return the call to that will be directed automatically to that group of users in order to handle those calls.

Service Observing can be used as a training tool to allow for new users to listen to active calls by other users to gain ideas on appropriate questions to ask, phone conduct, and other items. The feature can also be used by management personnel to spot check users in order to gauge their conduct on the phone.