Trouble understanding response times

[david.garwood]

Hi, we have a Cisco UC540 and use TIM Plus for reporting. When I joined the organisation someone told me that the figure given for response was in milliseconds, so a number of 20 would mean it was answered in 2 seconds. All good so far.

When I look at response times in TIM, there are some ranging from "4" to "595". According to what I was told, a figure of 4 means that the call was answered in 0.4 seconds, which whilst possible, is unlikely, and this sort of low number appears too much to be true. That would imply it was 4 seconds, but then the 595 would be 595 seconds which is clearly wrong. In addition, with the 595, even being 59.5 seconds must be wrong as the system is set up to divert to our overflow call handling company after 40 seconds, so no call should have a response time of longer that 40 (or 400?).

I'm confused about what the response number actually represents, when the time starts, stops, and what it includes. As a result I don't trust the numbers so can't set any answering targets until I sort it out.

If anyone can help me understand that would be great. Sorry if this is a stupid question.

[chrihussey]

What you were told and your understanding of milliseconds is incorrect.

1ms = .001 second.

20ms = .020 second

100ms = .100 seconds (or 1/10 of a second)

1000ms = 1 second

A response time of 595ms = .595 seconds (or just slightly more than 1/2 a second.)

Hope this helps and makes sense.

[david.garwood]

Thank you for the response and for clarifying.

So if the figure of 595 means that the call was answered in just less than 1/2 a second, then a figure of 4 would mean that it was answered within 0.004 seconds, which is clearly incorrect (my team aren't that good haha!). 

I just can't work out how there can be a figure of 4 and a figure of 595 for the answering time of 2 different phone calls. However I look at it, one (or both) of the figures look incorrect and I can't work out why.

Thanks. 

[chrihussey]

I'm not familiar with TIM Plus or what is being reported, but milliseconds are milliseconds. So if the values are indeed in milliseconds then what exactly is being reported needs clarification or possibly adjusted. I agree that there is no way a person can answer a phone in 4ms, let alone 595ms.

In the world of IP Telephony, the TCP signaling exchange for ringing a phone, call pickup, putting on hold, transferring, etc. happens in milliseconds. Hundreds of packets are exchanged for the simplest functions. It is in these areas you can get variations of 4 to potentially 595 ms. That's all dependent on the amount of traffic, quality of service, available bandwidth, server utilization, etc. So as stated, the question of what is being reported needs clarification.

Just my thoughts.

[david.garwood]

Indeed, I need to find out what the number in the "response" field represents. I can't find much on the internet, and the UC540 is unsupported/end of life so I can't go straight to Cisco.

Thanks for the help.