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Determining Your Communications Deployment Needs

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. For more information about integrating with email, fax, and other outbound communications channels, see Siebel Email Administration Guide.

NOTE:  If you use an external communications system, such as a CTI middleware server or email server, that is not supported by an existing communications driver, then you might have to create your own driver. For more information, see Developing a Communications Driver.

This task is a step in Process of Configuring Siebel CTI.

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 to use in your implementation. Determine the communications channels and external communications systems to use with your Siebel applications. Channels might include voice, email, fax, and so on.

  Siebel applications or product modules might include Siebel Call Center, Siebel Service, Siebel Sales, Siebel CTI, Siebel Email Response, Siebel Chat, or other applications or products. (Not all modules are available for all applications or parent modules.)

• Determine which Siebel application features, technologies, or advanced configurations to implement, such as global or distributed deployments, application integration, work-item routing, hoteling, multitenancy, the customer dashboard, and so on.
• Determine whether the third-party communications products that you expect to use are supported by Oracle. For information about supported products, see the Certifications tab on My Oracle Support.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 that you use. Also consider architectural issues for external communications systems such as CTI middleware and email servers. Information that you gather in this process helps determine how you perform later configuration steps. For more information about planning your system architecture, see Siebel Deployment Planning Guide and Siebel Performance Tuning Guide. See also the Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using.

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