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Working with Dialing Filters

Dialing filters are used by the Siebel application to manipulate telephone numbers for voice calls made, transferred, or for conference calls made.

Dialing filters specify a set of phone-number translation rules that are invoked when the Lookup or PhoneTypeLookup keyword is specified in macro-expanded text in a communications command for the voice channel (using Siebel CTI). Dialing filters are defined as configuration parameters in the All Configurations view in the Administration - Communications screen.

In each of the examples in this topic, the first set of numbers is searched for. If there is a match, then the searched numbers are translated to the numbers after the -> symbols (hyphen and right angle bracket).

Filter rules are checked for matches in numerical sequence. The last rule in the sequence must always be defined to match any number.

The numeric elements in the names of the filter rule parameters are applied by string comparison, from small to large. For example, this means that a dialing filter named DialingFilter.Rule11 is applied before one named DialingFilter.Rule2. Consequently, use the same number of digits for each rule, according to your total anticipated number of rules. For example, the numeric elements in the filter rules might use a sequence starting with 000, followed by 001, and so on, up to 999.

NOTE:  How dialing filters actually function is subject to the command data definition for the command that is performing the make-call operation.

By default, the Lookup and PhoneTypeLookup keywords used in command data definitions do the following:

• Treat a phone number as domestic (that is, omit the country code) if the country code matches the current locale.
• Treat a phone number as international (that is, include the country code) if the country code does not match the current locale.

For Siebel CTI implementations supporting multiple call centers, consider the dialing filter requirements among the factors in deciding how to organize your agents in communications configurations. You might decide, for example, to ensure that all agents included in a single configuration are located within a single location for which the same set of dialing filters applies. For example, this grouping might be defined as a particular call center facility, or a particular locale corresponding to a country code.

For more information about configuration parameters, including DialingFilter.RuleN, see Specifying Parameters for a Communications Configuration.

For more information about the Lookup and PhoneTypeLookup keywords, keywords to represent parts of phone numbers, phone-number formatting, and the $DialingRuleMethod macro, see Using Macro Expansion for Character Fields.

For more information about international telephone numbers, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

Dialing Filter Examples

Table 26 provides examples of dialing filter rules.

For the examples in Table 26, note the following:

• If a telephone number matches 650506****, then Rule001 is applied.
• If the number does not match this pattern, but matches 650*******, then Rule002 is applied.
• If the number does not match this pattern, but matches a French number (when the current locale is not France), then Rule003 is applied.
• If the number does not match this pattern, but matches any international number (for which the country code does not match the current locale), then Rule004 is applied.
• If the number does not match any of these patterns, then Rule005 is applied. As noted, the last defined rule must match any number.

The following example is an alternative definition for DialingFilter.Rule002.

DialingFilter.Rule002 = "650->$DialingRuleMethod(service.method)"

This rule takes a ten-digit domestic phone number (for example) and translates it into a number that is determined by the specified business service method. You can use such a rule to invoke a method that provides a correct phone number to dial, where other filter rules might not be able to filter unambiguously. For example, if internal numbers use a prefix, such as 506, that is also used outside the company, then the business service invoked using this macro can determine the correct number to dial by identifying the specific number as internal or external.

The following example is an alternative definition for DialingFilter.Rule004.

DialingFilter.Rule004 = "+->$DialingRuleMethod(service.method)"

This rule takes an international phone number and translates it into a number that is determined by the specified business service method.