Siebel Universal Queuing Administration Guide > Installing and Running Siebel Universal Queuing > Configuring Siebel Universal Queuing >

Defining Channels

Channels are the forms of communication work items that can be routed by Siebel Universal Queuing. Examples of channel types include the following:

• Voice
• Email
• Service request
• Activity

Your implementation of Siebel Universal Queuing can include any communication type that can be handled by the underlying communications infrastructure that is passing the resulting work item to Siebel Universal Queuing. Siebel Universal Queuing can route any work item that contains a channel type and corresponding work item characteristics that can be matched to routing rules.

For each channel, you specify a service level. The service level is the desired percentage of work items to be routed in a specified period of time. The service level is not used in the routing process, but sets a basis for monitoring a route's performance. When the service level for a channel is exceeded, alarms are triggered and logged. This allows you to examine the work load for a particular channel in real time and make changes to your configurations as necessary.

You should have one channel defined for each channel type. Only one channel can be primary at any given time for each channel type. The primary channel is the currently active channel for that channel type.

When you find it necessary to change a channel definition, you should add a new channel for the channel type and make it primary rather than changing the existing channel definition. Historical statistics are gathered and logged based on the current channel definition. If you change the channel definition, the historical information for that channel type will no longer be valid.

CAUTION:  You should never delete a channel definition unless you understand the effect the deletion will have on the historical statistical data that has been logged.

For each channel, you create channel properties, which are used to define routing rules. These properties only need to be defined once. The properties you define here are those that appear in the drop-down list for the Property Name field in the Properties list, in the Routes view. You will use a subset of these properties to define the selection criteria when creating routing rules and a subset of these properties will be a part of each work item for this channel.

Channels and channel properties are defined using the Channels view in the UQ Administration screen.

To add a channel

1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > UQ Administration >Channels.

   The Channels view appears.

2. Choose the channel type from the Channel Type field.
3. Click the check box in the Primary column if this channel is the primary channel to be used for this channel type.
4. Type the amount of time (in minutes) in the Service Level (mins) field.

   This is the amount of time in which work items in this route are expected to be handled. You can use decimals for values less than a minute—for example, 1.5 minutes equals one minute and thirty seconds.

5. Type the service level percentage in the Service Level Percentage field.

   This is the percentage of work items that are expected to be handled within the Service Level time.

6. Step off the record to save the new channel.

Modifying Channels

You can change the service level and channel properties for a channel by adding a new channel and making the new channel primary.

CAUTION:  You should never change an existing channel definition because it will affect the validity of the historical data that has been saved based on the existing definition. You should never delete a channel unless you understand how the deletion will affect the historical data.