IPCC Express 3.5(1) Skill based routing question

[l.mourits]

Hi,

I have a question regarding IPCC Express which I am quite sure of it is not in the books or on CCO (maybe I should say, I searched for days, but could find none, but anyhow)

I am running IPCC Express 3.5(1) together with CCM 4.0(1) (latest service releases for both, of course)

The way it is setup is that we use skill based call routing within the CSQ. The CSQ is configured to select the most skilled agent first. This works fine, however, I am trying to have two agents within the same CSQ with the highest skill level (10) and others as well, and I discovered that this works okay, but that when the two most skilled agents are logged in, one and the same agent get the call at first.

It appears that IPCC uses "sort descending" on the last name from the agents when they have the same skill level and the CSQ is configured to select the most skilled agent first.

For example, if I have the followin:

CSQ_Sales with three agents:

Agent1 (Barbara Whatever), SkillSales(10)

Agent2,(Simon Whatshisname), SkillSales(8)

Agent3,(Erik Thehalfabee), SkillSales(10)

Erik will be selected every time as long as he is logged in, even if Barbara is logged in, she only gets a call as soon as Erik is busy (not ready).

Now, I am curious and love to know if there is some setting to make sure that whenever the skill levels are exactly the same it does not use the "sort descending" method but a random method.

Is there anybody who ha run into this question, knows the answer, and like to share it?

Or would this be a feature request?

Kind regards,

Leo

[adignan]

First off, it does not do a "sort descending". Taken from the IPCC Express Release Notes:

Used for expert agent call distribution. Selects the agent with the highest competency level and who has been available for the longest amount of time.

So as you can see it looks for the agent with the highest competency level, andn if there is a tie, longest available algorithm is used.

Let me ask you this, do your agents have any other skills assigned to them? For example, even though Agent1 and Agent3 have a Sales skill of 10. If they have another skill it addes the values together.

Agent1 SkillSales 10 and Spanish Skill of 10

Agent3 SkillSales 10 and Spanish Skill of 9

Agent 1's skill total is 20 while Agent3 has a total of 19 so Agent1 will always be picked.

[l.mourits]

Well, the agents do have ore skills, but those skills are not associated with that CSQ but with other CSQ´s.

But I am happy to read that the release notes state that it should be using the "longest available" algorithm on a tie because that is exactly what I want.

Thanks,

Leo

[venkasub]

Hi,

Competency based routing is not implemented until 3.1.

In 3.0, if an agent meets the minimum competency for a CSQ, they will be considered as an eligible resource. The actual Agent selection criteria (eg. Longest Available) determines which of the eligible agents will get the call.

In 3.1 there are new Agent Selection criteria. Most Skilled and Least Skilled. This allows for an eligible agent with a higher (or lower) competency level to be selected first.

Here is some info from documentation.

From CCO:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/sw_ap_to/apps_3_1/english/admn_app/cra_adm/prov_icd.htm#1030484

Most Skilled-Used for expert agent call distribution. Selects the agent with the highest total competency level and who has been available for the longest amount of time. The total competency level is determined by adding the agent’s competency level in each assigned skill.

Least Skilled-Used for expert agent call distribution. Selects the agent with the lowest total competency level and who has been available for the longest amount of time. The total competency level is determined by adding the agent's competency level in each assigned skill.

Example of Most Skilled :

Agt1 has competency of 7

Agt2 has competency of 9

CSQ has minimum competency of 6

Selection model = Most Skilled

Agt2 gets selected first.

In the case of multiple skills, the competency levels are summed and the higher total gets picked.

In the case of a tie (equal competency levels) the selection automatically defaults to Longest Available.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Venkat

[l.mourits]

I don´t think that it is just as you state. I do think that it only should calculate the total number of skill levels from the skills that are associated with the particular CSQ, and not just al skills associated with the agents.

Comments welcome of course :-)

Thanks,

Leo

[yogeswar]

Hi,

In 3.0, if an agent meets the minimum competency for a CSQ, they will be considered as an eligible resource. The actual Agent selection criteria (eg. Longest Available) determines which of the eligible agents will get the call.

In 3.1 there are new Agent Selection criteria. Most Skilled and Least Skilled. This allows for an eligible agent with a higher (or lower) competency level to be selected first.

Here is some info from documentation.

From CCO:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/sw_ap_to/apps_3_1/english/admn_app/cra_adm/prov_icd.htm#1030484

-Most Skilled-Used for expert agent call distribution. Selects the agent with the highest total competency level and who has been available for the longest amount of time. The total competency level is determined by adding the agent's competency levels for each of their assigned skills that are also assigned to the CSQ.

Example 1:

Agent1 has Skill1(5) and Skill2(6) and Skill3(7)

Agent2 has Skill1(4) and Skill2(6) and Skill3(7)

CSQ1 has Skill1(min=1) and Skill3(min=1) and selection criteria "Most Skilled"

For CSQ1, the total competancy level for Agent1 is 12(NOT 18) and Agent2 is 11(NOT 17).

In the above case Agent1 will always be selected. Only if Agent1 is busy/logged out Agent2 will be selected.

Example 2:

Agent1 has Skill1(5) and Skill2(6) and Skill3(7)

Agent2 has Skill1(5) and Skill2(5) and Skill3(7)

CSQ1 has Skill1(min=1) and Skill3(min=1) and selection criteria is "Most Skilled".

Hence for the CSQ1, the total competancy level of Agent1 is 12 and Agent2 is also 12. In this the selection criteria defaults to longest available agent.

Regards

Yogi

[l.mourits]

Yogi,

Thanks for the reply. My setup is that every CSQ ahs one skill level associated. I have 4 CSQ´s and thus 4 skills. Agents all have the four skills but with different levels per skill.

Still, if I have two agents with the same skill level for a particular skillthe call always gets routed to the same agent and not to the longest available.

I will check to see if there is no error within my configuration. If the "longest available" algorithm is used when there i a tie, I should not have this problem with CSQ´s that do have one skill associated, right?

Still, it turns out that for a CSQ where agents do hae the same skill level for the associated skill one agents gets the call first every time.

Thanks so far, and if you have any thought on how to debug I will certainly appreciate the effort.

Leo

[l.mourits]

Thanks for the answer so far. They did not help me yet, because the doocuments posted explain how it should work, but for some reason my setup does not use the logest available when there is a tie of skill within the CSQ.

Allow me to give a more detailed overview of my setup (there are more CSQ´s but they all follow the same method where every CSQ has one skill):

CSQ_SalesSouth (skill SalesSouth, min level=5)

CSQ_SalesNorth (skill SalesNorth, min level=5)

Agent1, skills: SalesSouth(10), SalesNorth(10)

Agent2, skills: SalesSouth(10), SalesNorth(9)

Agent3, skills: SalesSouth(8), SalesNorth(7)

Agent4, skills: SalesSouth(7), SalesNorth(8)

Now, from everything that I read so far, and all the replies you are giving, the expected way it should work is that if both agent1 and agent2 are logged in and in ready state, the one that is logged in as first gets selected on a call to CSQ_SalesSouth, right? And if he answers the call, and he has been busy for a while, but back in busy state, the call should be routed to agent2 on a new call, or at least at a certain point the call should be routed first to agent2, because of the tie in on CSQ and not any other skills being associated with that particular CSQ, correct?

Well, for some strange reason this turns out to not work that way in my setup. The call gets routed to agent2 whle his last name starts with an "O" and agent1´s last name starts with a "K". Strange huh? Anyway, that´s why I started to think that this is the default.

Maybe I am just on he wrong way of implementing my functional requirements. The way I want it to work is that I can have agents being a member of more CSQ´s, where within the CSQ the most skilled agent gets the call first, and if there is a tie it gets selected as longest available.

Regards and thanks in advance for the effort,

Leo

[yogeswar]

Hi Leo,

Q#1 : Now, from everything that I read so far, and all the replies you are giving, the expected way it should work is that if both agent1 and agent2 are logged in and in ready state, the one that is logged in as first gets selected on a call to CSQ_SalesSouth, right?

Ans : Yes.

Q#2 : And if he answers the call, and he has been busy for a while, but back in busy state, the call should be routed to agent2 on a new call, or at least at a certain point the call should be routed first to agent2, because of the tie in on CSQ and not any other skills being associated with that particular CSQ, correct?

Ans : Yes

Now I have few questions :

1. Does the call gets transferred to Agent2 when agent1 is logged out / busy state?

2. If Agent2 doesnot receive any ICD call, in that case you need to check if this extension is configured properly. Here are few tips

Cisco IP ICD Fails to Route Call to an Agent Phone - Calling Search Space

Issue -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech

_note09186a008020f1d7.shtml

Unable to Route Calls to Agents - CTIERR_MAXCALL_LIMIT_REACHED -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech_note091

86a008026e0d6.shtml

Agent Goes into Reserved State after End of Call - Interruptible Play

Prompt -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech

_note09186a0080262545.shtml

Cisco IPCC Express: Troubleshooting Calls Stuck In Queue -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech_note091

86a00801c82ea.shtml

Integrated Contact Distribution (ICD) Agents Stuck in RESERVED State With IP

Contact Center (IPCC) Express -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_field_notice

09186a00801d3aa0.shtml

Also check if agent phone does not have any unsupported configuration.

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/sw_ap_to/apps_3_5/engl

ish/admn_app/rn35_r2.pdf - Pg.No:6

3. Also check the configuration of CSQ, if the "Resource Selection" criteria is set for "Most Skilled".

If nothing is helping out, open a TAC case with MIVR log level - SS_TEL, SS_RM, SS_CM, SS_RMCM, ICD_CTI and ICD_RTDM along with Jtapi traces.

Regards

Yogi

[l.mourits]

Yogi,

Thanks again for the perfect reply. Answers to the question asked:

1. Does the call gets transferred to Agent2 when agent1 is logged out / busy state?

Answer: Yes, it sure does, but as soon as both are in ready state agent1 gets the call first every time. Strange huh?

3. Also check the configuration of CSQ, if the "Resource Selection" criteria is set for "Most Skilled".

Answer: All CSQ's are set to most skilled with minimum skill level 5.

I will go check everything once again, and if nothing found I will open a TAC case with the traces you gave.

Thanks for all,

Leo

[yogeswar]

Hi Leo,

Forgot to ask this question before...

Whats the CRS and CCM version along with patches?

Regards

Yogi

[l.mourits]

CCM 4.0(1)sr2a

CRS 3.5(1)sr3

regards,

Leo

[adignan]

Yogi,

Same versions as above. Having the same issues. Stuck in Reserved, Stuck in Queued, etc. I have exhausted my knowledge and have gone through and verfied I am adhering to all best practices. Delay at beginning of script, goto after fail of Connect, set contact handled everywhere, you name it I have checked. Any other thoughts or open bugs with the versions above.

[venkasub]

Hi,

check out the following Tech notes and see if it resolve the stuck in reserved and queue problem.

Cisco IP ICD Fails to Route Call to an Agent Phone - Calling Search Space Issue -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech_note09186a008020f1d7.shtml

Unable to Route Calls to Agents - CTIERR_MAXCALL_LIMIT_REACHED -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech_note09186a008026e0d6.shtml

Agent Goes into Reserved State after End of Call - Interruptible Play Prompt -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech_note09186a0080262545.shtml

Cisco IPCC Express: Troubleshooting Calls Stuck In Queue -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech_note09186a00801c82ea.shtml

Integrated Contact Distribution (ICD) Agents Stuck in RESERVED State With IP Contact Center (IPCC) Express -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_field_notice09186a00801d3aa0.shtml

If all the above does not fix your problem, please open a TAC case and provide the following traces to determine the cause for call stuck in queue and agent in reserved state.

Gathering Traces for Calls Stuck in Queue:

Traces are needed from the time frame when call that shows stuck in queue was received.

The Contacts Real time report can be used to get the Start time of the call and the ImplID which will identify the call we need to look for in the traces.

Send screenshots of Contacts and CSQ IP ICD Stats Real Time reports.

Turn on following MIVR trace Debug levels:

SS_TEL, SS_RM, SS_CM, SS_RMCM, & ICD_RTDM, ICD_CTI

Increase the number of Trace files to 100.

We also need Jtapi logs and the Call Manager logs.

For collecting the Jtapi logs:

Go to Start->Programs->Cisco Jtapi->Preferences

1) Under "Trace Levels" tab, please check all the boxes except

"MISC_DEBUGGING"

2) Under "Log Destination" tab, please select the option "Rotating files",

increase the no. of files to 100.

3) Click OK.

The MIVR & JTAPI logs will get generated under C:\Program Files\wfavvid\log folder.

Note: A restart of the CRA Engine is required for the number of files and

file size changes to take affect for the MIVR & JTAPI traces.

For the Call Manager / CCM logs do following:

On the CCMAdmin page,

1) Click on Application->Cisco CallManager Serviceability

On the Cisco CallManager Serviceability page,

2) Click on Trace->Configuration

3) Select the Cisco CallManager Service

4) Verify Trace On is selected & the Debug Trace Level = Detailed

For the Call Manager / CTI Manager logs do following:

On the CCMAdmin page,

1) Click on Service->Service Parameters

2) Select the server

3) Click on Cisco CTI Manager link present on the Left hand side

4) scroll all the way down and set the SdlTraceFlag to True &

sdlTraceTypeFlags to default 0x0000CB15

5) Click on Service->Service Parameters

6) Select the server

7) Click on Cisco CallManager link present on the Left hand side

8) scroll all the way down and set the SdlTraceFlag to True &

sdlTraceTypeFlags to default 0x0000CB15

We will need following logs for the Call Manager / CTI manager which will get created in following folders

1) C:\Program Files\Cisco\Trace\SDL\CCM (sdl trace files)

2) C:\Program Files\Cisco\Trace\SDL\CTI (sdl trace files)

3) C:\Program Files\Cisco\Trace\CCM (ccm trace files)

Regards

Venkat

[yogeswar]

Hi,

When the contact is sucessfully connected to an agent, the contact gets handled by default.

Check if your script flow appears as follows...

--->Main_SelectResource:

--->Select Resource(CSQ1)

------>Selected

---------->Connect

-------------->Connected

-------------->Failed

------------------>Go to Main_SelectResource

------>Queued

---------->Queue Steps

---------->Go to Main_SelectResource

Note : The failed branch of select resource step should go to the top branch of select resource step. Otherwise the call will be stuck.

Refer the following tech- note...

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_tech_note09186a00801c82ea.shtml

Inaddition to the above do check the CSS/Partition of the CTIPorts with that of Agent extension DN.

Regards

Yogi