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Siebel eCollaboration Architecture Overview

The Siebel eCollaboration server is a software suite that supports real-time collaboration between agents and callers. It consists of the following components:

• Web Manager manages Follow-me browsing interaction between the agent's and the caller's cobrowsers.
• Chat Manager manages the chat interface and communication between the cobrowsers.
• Meeting Manager manages the server's database of virtual meeting attributes and routes connection requests from the PictureTalk Meeting application to the Communication Session Server that is hosting the meeting.
• Communication Session Server Manager manages the meetings that are active on a particular server.
• Communication Session Server, a program such as PTKD or PTKHTTPD, is launched when a meeting becomes active. It manages all communication, transcoding, and compression for a particular meeting.
• Moderator synchronizes and keeps track of all of the above components.
• The Web Collab Service business service creates activities, populates views, and allows communication among eCollaboration server components.

The Siebel eCollaboration server components work together as follows to create a Web collaboration session and to join the caller to the session:

• The caller, a Web site visitor, logs in to a Siebel customer application through a Web browser, and then clicks Contact Us, typically at the top of the Web page. On the resulting Contact Us page, the caller clicks the Contact a customer care representative link.
• The caller completes an online form, describing the reason for contacting a representative and specifying the preferred verbal mode.
• When the caller clicks Submit, the request is routed through the Siebel Web Engine to the Siebel Object Manager. The Siebel Object Manager invokes the Web Collab Service business service.
  • The business service creates an activity record for the call and a work item to be routed by a queuing engine.
  • The service builds an acknowledgement view that appears to the caller. This view contains a JavaScript that opens a new browser on the caller's machine and retrieves initialization JavaScripts from the Siebel database after first providing initialization variables for those scripts.
• An initialization script checks the type of collaboration requested: voice over IP with collaboration, chat, chat with collaboration, call-back, or call-back with collaboration. If the caller requests voice over IP, the script calls an HTML page that determines whether the caller's Web browser's plug-in registry includes the voice over IP client.
  • If the voice over IP client is not listed, the eCollaboration server checks the computer's operating system and downloads the appropriate voice over IP client.
  • If the download fails, an error page appears to the caller. The caller must install the client before any further steps can occur.
• The eCollaboration server sends an HTML page in a new browser window that contains a Java applet and a message asking the caller to not close the new browser window.
• The Java applet polls the Web Manager, waiting for an agent to enter the meeting. When the agent joins the meeting, the applet launches a cobrowser for the caller. The caller is joined to the meeting when the cobrowser is launched.

After the Web collaboration session is created and the caller has joined the session, the Siebel eCollaboration server components work together as follows to join an agent to the session:

• After the agent logs in to a Siebel application, the agent must log in to the Universal Queuing server by clicking on the login button on the communications toolbar.
• When a caller submits a request, the Web Collab Service business service creates a new activity record in the Siebel database and a work item. It sends the work item to Universal Queuing for routing.
• Universal Queuing determines the appropriate agent or agent group, determines whether an agent is available to take the Web call, and sends the request to an available agent.
• The accept work button, on the communications toolbar, notifies the agent that work item is waiting.
• When the agent clicks the accept work button, the Web Collab Service business service does the following:
  • It sends an HTTP request to the eCollaboration server to join the agent to the session.
  • It generates a new page to show the request details and appends a JavaScript on the page that in turn opens agent-side windows.

During a collaboration session, the Java applets on the caller's and agent's cobrowsers communicate through the Web Manager. Each page request is sent to the Web Manager, which distributes it to the cobrowsers.

The agent can invoke a presentation session at any time during the collaboration session.

• When the agent clicks the present button or attend button on the eCollaboration toolbar to start a presentation session, the following events result:
  • The Siebel eCollaboration Web Application passes meeting attributes to the Meeting Manager application to create a meeting for the presentation session.

    NOTE:  A meeting for a presentation session is the same as a meeting created for a voice over IP session. If the caller requests voice over IP, the meeting is created automatically at the beginning of the Web collaboration session, instead of being invoked by the agent.

  • The Meeting Manager application creates a temporary file to store the information passed from the Web application.
  • The CSS Manager creates the meeting with the meeting attributes stored in the temporary file by launching the Communication Session Server, and then reports back to the Meeting Manager.
  • The Meeting Manager returns a .pts file to both the caller's and the agent's Web browsers. This file launches the Siebel eCollaboration client for the presenter and an attending window for the attending participant.
  • The Communicator then connects to the CSS to log in to the meeting.
  • The CSS Manager monitors the Communication Session Server's activities. If no communication takes place in the meeting for a period specified in the CSS Manager's configuration file, the CSS Manager shuts down the meeting's Communication Session Server to preserve system resources.

The session ends when the agent clicks the end session button on the communications toolbar or either participant clicks End Session on the eCollaboration cobrowser toolbar.

• If the agent ends the session from the communications toolbar, the Web Collab Service business service releases the work item and notifies the eCollaboration server to end the session. The eCollaboration server sends the chat script to the Siebel Web Engine and logs out the Siebel session for the cobrowser. The eCollaboration server also closes caller-side windows and adjusts agent-side windows.
• If the session is ended from the eCollaboration cobrowser toolbar, the eCollaboration server sends the chat script to Siebel Web Engine, logs out the Siebel session for the cobrowser if applicable, and notifies the agent's Siebel application, such as Siebel Call Center, to release the work item. The eCollaboration server also closes caller-side windows and adjusts agent-side windows.