Queue1 vs. Queue2

[RarJacobsen]

Hi,

I'm new to Cisco (Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Release 9.0) and I have a question regarding a queue priority over another queue.

Is it possible to prioritize which queue an agent answer first, without looking at FIFO

For example, if we have calls in both Queue1 and Queue2, then we always answers Queue2 first regardless FIFO?

And is it possible to do this on agent level or is it only possible global for all agents?

Thanks in advance

pr

[Anthony Holloway]

No, unfortunately it is not.  CSQ's do not have priorites, only Contacts do (aka the callers (aka the customers (aka the people who are always right))).

I have written about this a few times before.  Here's three threads where it was discussed:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3422119#3422119

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3691733#3691733

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3642590#3642590

Anthony Holloway

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[RarJacobsen]

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for your quick reply

I've been looking at your previous replies and I found something in this thread

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3691733#3691733

shawneec1 wrote:

I thought the only way to prioritize what calls go frist is by setting the set priority step in the script.

That  is correct.  It is the scripting that sets the priority of the caller  (not the agent, nor the queue), and is done exclusively with the Set  Priority step.  You should know that, because it's the priority of the  caller being changed, it follows them around from subflow to subflow,  and from transfer to transfer.  So while you may not see a Set Priority  step in the immediate script, it could be in a leading script.

- See more at: https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3691733#3691733

That is  correct.  It is the scripting that sets the priority of the caller (not  the agent, nor the queue), and is done exclusively with the Set Priority  step.  You should know that, because it's the priority of the caller  being changed, it follows them around from subflow to subflow, and from  transfer to transfer.  So while you may not see a Set Priority step in  the immediate script, it could be in a leading script. - See more at:  https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3691733#3691733

You write something about a Priority step in the script - so as I understand it, then I can prioritize all calls in one queue on a caller level, but not on a queue level?

My problem is that I don't do the scripting my self, it's an external company and I need all callers in one queue to be answered before other queues. As I undersstand from your replies then this might be accomplished by setting Priority step for the call in the script?

Or can you see any other way of doing this?

[Anthony Holloway]

I replied to Chris below, and I think it pertains to your follow up question.

The short answer is yes.  If you use the Set Priority step correctly, you could accomplish are pseudo CSQ prioritization.

My Reply: https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3868407#3868407

Anthony Holloway

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[Chris Deren]

Anthony,

Are you saying that priority step is not going to accomplish what Rar wants to do here?  I was under the impression that priority step carries over between all CSQs. From step reference guide:

Every contact has one priority for all CSQs for which it is queued. The priority of the contact can be set or changed at any time during the execution of the script. All calls have a default priority of 1.

Chris

[Anthony Holloway]

Thank you for asking for clarification, because it prompted me to go back and reread the OP's original question.  And though he is tip toeing on the line of circumventing FIFO, his exact example would fit the model for the priority "hack."

I call it a hack, because in reality, you are not prioritizing one CSQ over the other, rather you are prioritizing all of the Contacts queued in a CSQ over all of the Contacts queued in another CSQ.

Which is why my initial answer to these types of "CSQ Priority" questions is always the same.  You simply cannot increase priority on a CSQ.

The hack works fine for most simple implementations, but in my opinion, it does not scale well when adding in things like: more than two CSQ's, cross trained Agents, actually increasing the priority of your caller's based on membership status (E.g., Silver, Gold, Platinum), etc.  I am referring to the implementation of the hack as well as challenges in the default reporting package.

Anthony Holloway

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[RarJacobsen]

Anthony Holloway wrote:
The hack works fine for most simple implementations, but in my opinion, it does not scale well when adding in things like: more than two CSQ's, cross trained Agents, actually increasing the priority of your caller's based on membership status (E.g., Silver, Gold, Platinum), etc.  I am referring to the implementation of the hack as well as challenges in the default reporting package.

What is the disadvantage with for example cross trained agents - just so that I have everything in mind before requesting the change. Is it that we risk "forgetting" the other CSQ's with a constant queue on the priotized "queue"?

Regarding cross trained agents, then all of our agents are cross trained at this moment

[Anthony Holloway]

My immediate exmaple would simply be this:

If you had two groups of Agents: security support and network support, and the security support group can take network support calls, but you want them to take security calls first, you would simply do the priority hack and bump the security contacts priority to like a 3.

But if you have both teams covering for each other, and each respective team should take their own calls first, you can't just simply bump all the contacts to a 3.  That defeats the priority hack.

I wrote about cross training here:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/1050914

Anthony Holloway

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