Add DNIS routing to your ShoreTel ECC Contact Center!

Why Route by DNIS?

Routing by the number the caller dialed, or DNIS is the preferred routing strategy for any Call Center call flow.  Clearly you can assign a DID phone number to a specific call flow and anyone who knocks on that door is answered by the same group of agents.   It is much more efficient to grab the DNIS information, however, and use it to index a database to retrieve the call routing information.  In this way, we only need one door to the call center!  The DNIS might be used to route a call to the proper product or service group and it may also be used to retrieve client information that the call center Agent needs to see displayed  in order to provide a custom care answer prompt.

Consider the requirements of a Hospital that is providing “centralized scheduling services” for 1000’s of primary care physicians.  When the inbound call is presented to the Agent, the requirement is that the caller be greeted with a customized answer prompt.  For Example:  “Doctor Leary’s office, are you calling to make an appointment?” or “Thank you for calling Doctor Williams”.  This type of dynamic call handling can best be managed by using DNIS information to retrieve the Doctor’s name from a database   We do this regularly in CISCO UCCX and ShoreTel ECC Call Center solutions and the process is essentially the same for both solutions.

ShoreTel ECC Route by DNIS example

First, we need to create a DNIS Map in the ShoreTel PBX; a ‘route point/IRN ‘ combination to pass the call to the ECC;  and an ODBC connector from the ECC server to your favorite SQL database server.   The SQL server would host the database your scripting application needs to access in order to obtain the correct answer prompt.  Lets assume that the database contains a very simple table structure:

DABASE = DNIS_listofDoctorsOffices = (Field1 = DNIS Number, Filed2 = OfficeName, Field3 = QUEUE_IRN)

You would then write a simple script to take the incoming DNIS information and use it to index the database and get the OfficeName and maybe the Customer Service Queue that handles that office (City or State or what have you).  There is no limit to the information you could retrieve and present to the Agent,  For example: Name, Service Class (Platnium, Gold or Silver), Renewal date, last order, shipment date, the list goes on.   In this simple example the script would take the DNIS and use a SQL expression to retrieve the answer prompt data:

Select * from DNISlistof DoctosOffices where DNIS = %DNIS_NAME%Sample ECC Script Screen

Creating a DNIS MAP in ShoreTel iPBX

In the ShoreTel iPBX Trunk Group it is necessary to create a DNIS map for two reasons:  First, the ShoreTel ECC can not read the DNIS directly, it requires the administrator to fill in the “dialed number” column in the DNIS map.  The ECC has a mandatory call profile filed named DNIS-NAME which will be auto filled with the information you provide in the DNIS map “dialed number” column.     Secondly, unlike a DID number that might be directly mapped to an extension, we need a way to get the incoming call connected to the IRN on the ECC that is running the DNIS SQL lookup  Script.   In this example, the Destination field of the DNIS Digit Map in the ShoreTel iPBX Truk Group points to the Route Point/IRN in the ECC that supports the script.

 

DNISMAP

POPing the Agent Display with useful Data

The ShoreTel ECC has two variables data types: Mandatory or System Variables; and User create Variables.  The Mandatory variables are system call parameters like ANI or DNIS and a long list of other system based data.   ANI contains the digits that make up the caller identification and that is also often used to retrieve database information.   If you are using ANI you will need to do some string manipulation to strip off the +1 from the 10 digit number, or format to match your database.   User created variables are the name you create for the fields you will get from your database.  Useful examples would be CustomerName, DateOfService, AccountBalance and RenewalDate.    Any Variable, User created or System,  can be pushed out to the Agent Display within the ShoreTel Communicator.

ScreenPop

What is your Call Center Application Requirement

We have seen it all, so we are always interested in your requirements for custom CRM integration and Call Flow management.  Give us call or drop us an email and play “stump the vendor”.   We would love the challenge of finding yet another new ShoreTel ECC or CISCO UCCX Contact Center application requirement!

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What Carrier can provide Fiber to my branch office?

What Carrier do I use for this location?

If are responsible for planning out a WAN connectivity solution for your VoIP deployment, you need to know what carrier services your target circuit location. This can lead to the most frustrating experiences an engineer can have! You actually have to rely on someone else to provide information so you can finish your work! Even a simple point to point VPN tunnel requires you to figure out what carrier options are available at your target location. How do you do that? Start calling a list of carriers and asking the first line call center sales folks if they can provide an internet circuit to your branch office in Syracuse, New York? You do a google search and you end up with a list of possible candidates and then you start your outbound calling! Maybe you have a friend who is a sales rep for a circuit aggregator, so you try that option.

The secret Carrier database!

What if you could go to a website, you don’t even need to talk with a sales person, you just plug in an address and Viol! A list of all the Carriers that can service that location magically appears! X marks the spot of every Fiber drop that carrier has in the specified distance from your target address. Not just the carrier your aggregator wants to show you, but all the carriers that can service that target location. You even get a Google map street photo of the location! What if you could just click on that magic X and get a quote! Now that is freaking awesome!

We have been working on a very large WAN deployment to a ShoreTel system that has over 500 branch offices! Now try and knit together that circuit map without a database resource that you can directly tap. We discovered a website that makes the process as simple as entering a location address. Blow out your candle Pilgrim you search has ended, just click here  enter a Street location and you you will get a list of carrier solutions.

buildinglit.com

The good folks at BuildingIT have made finding WAN solutions as simple as locating an Uber Driver!    You don’t have to talk to a sales person, but if you do, they have some of the smartest circuit folks in the industry.  Can’t find fiber for  your Laramie WO location, ask sales to quote a solution through the website and they will come back with any number of alternative solutions, priced and ready for the next phase of your deployment, installation.   They even offer  bundled project management so you don’t have to worry the deploy.  One throat to choke, one website to research and one solution that makes a lot of sense to us!