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Session Communications Performance Factors

Depending on your deployment, your agents might handle phone calls (Siebel CTI) or work items of other communications channels, or some combination of these. Use the following factors to analyze system performance:

• Inbound calls processed per hour. This is the number of inbound calls (or other types of work items) processed per hour (or some other time period) by your communications infrastructure.
• Outbound calls processed per hour. This is the number of outbound calls processed per hour (or some other time period) by your communications infrastructure. (For outbound predictive dialer calls, only the calls that are answered and processed by Communications Server are relevant here.)
• Number of user communications actions per minute (load). This is the average number of communications-related user actions per minute, and the average think time between such user actions. Communications-related actions typically refers to actions performed using the communications toolbar.

  Longer think times mean less load on the Siebel database and Siebel Server. Think time is an important factor in the overall system load. Approximate actual user usage in your estimations.

• Number of concurrent communications users (agents). This is the number of concurrent users of session communications features, typically, contact center agents. This figure is some percentage of the total number of concurrent users on the Application Object Manager.
• Number of work items. This represents the average number of inbound and outbound work items for each agent, and how these factors relate to your organization's service goals are also important factors influencing performance. Some agents receive a large number of work items from ACD queues, or initiate a large number of work items. Supervisors or other users might be defined as agents but might receive only escalated work items, for example.
• Volume of customer data. This is the total volume of customer data. Data volume affects how quickly data can be retrieved for various purposes, such as to perform lookups for pop-up windows, route work items, or populate the customer dashboard. In many cases, data volume directly affects agents' response times. Assume a realistic volume of data and tune the database to reflect real-world conditions.

Third-Party Product Considerations

Review information presented in applicable third-party documentation for any requirements that affect your deployment. For example:

• Some CTI middleware software might place limitations on the number of agents that can be served at a single contact center site.
• Integration with ACD queues, predictive dialers, or other modules might affect your configurations, affect network traffic, or have other impacts.
• The capacity of your telephony link (between the ACD switch and the CTI middleware) can affect performance.