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Determining Your Communications Deployment Needs

This task is a step in Process of Configuring Communications Server. The multichannel support offered by Siebel Communications Server and its architecture requires that you plan your communications deployments carefully and thoroughly. Read all the relevant sections of this book before you start the configuration process.

NOTE:  If you use an external communications system (such as CTI middleware or email server) that is not supported by an existing communications driver, you may need to create your own driver. For details, see Developing a Communications Driver.

Consider the following issues as you plan your implementation of Siebel Communications Server in support of Siebel Business Applications:

• Determine the Siebel applications and other products you will be using in your implementation. Determine the communications channels and external communications systems you will be supporting for your Siebel applications. Channels may include voice, email, fax, and so on.

  Applications or modules may include Siebel Call Center, Siebel Service, Siebel Sales, Siebel Email Response, and so on. Related modules include Siebel CTI, Siebel CTI Connect, Siebel Universal Queuing, and so on. (Not all modules are available for all applications or parent modules.)

• Determine which Siebel application features, technologies, or advanced configurations you will implement, such as global or distributed deployments, application integration, work-item routing, hoteling, multitenancy, Send Email, Send Fax, or Send Page commands, workflow-based communications, the customer dashboard, and so on.
• Determine whether the third-party communications products you expect to use are supported by Siebel Systems. For information about supported products, see System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Siebel SupportWeb.
• For communications activities that make use of communications configurations, determine the number of agents for each supported channel. For Siebel CTI, Siebel Email Response, and other modules, you define agents within communications configurations. If you are using Siebel Universal Queuing, you specify employee skills and other settings to help determine how communications work items are routed.
• Determine data and application visibility issues for your users, because they relate to communications activities.
• Determine available resources in your communications systems. For Siebel CTI, determine the available telesets and extensions, hoteling workstations, ACD queues, and so on. For Siebel Email Response, determine the email accounts (mailboxes) that will be receiving inbound communications.
• Determine the work model for inbound or outbound communications in your call center or contact center: that is, the logic of each customer interaction.
• Determine your requirements for performance, scalability, and architecture, and determine your deployment plans.

  Determine the requirements in the preceding areas, because they relate to Siebel Communications Server, other Siebel modules or server components, and the Siebel client types you will use. Also consider architectural issues for external communications systems such as CTI middleware and email servers. Information you gather in this process will help determine how you perform later configuration steps.

  For more information about planning your system architecture, see Deployment Planning Guide and Performance Tuning Guide.

• Before you begin the process described in Defining Communications Server Configuration Data, review how communications configurations function, and assess your requirements in this area.