Understanding Unified Agent Desktop
The Unified Agent Desktop is a consolidated tool that provides agents easy access to tasks of different media (phone calls, email, chat, and generic tasks). These topics discusses:
Multichannel Toolbar.
Application dispatcher.
Channel-specific workspaces.
Task management.
Presence and status codes.
Multichannel Toolbar, the focal point of the UAD, is where agents receive and process incoming tasks. From the toolbar, agents receive notifications about inbound tasks from queues (both voice and multichannel) to which they are logged on. Agents can also perform relevant actions on those tasks. When agents log on to either the voice queue or the multichannel queue, the toolbar starts automatically. Multichannel Toolbar provides a task navigation window for agents to switch among tasks that they work on concurrently. Agents can perform activities such as these from the toolbar:
Receive inbound phone calls and perform CTI functions such as transfer, hold, conference call, release, and so on.
Place outbound calls.
Receive and process inbound email.
Receive and process inbound chat requests, both customer to agent and agent to agent.
Initiate outbound chat requests to other agents.
Receive and process generic tasks, such as working on a support case.
View statistics of queues that agents are currently logged on.
Important! UAD is certified with the PSSTYLEDEF_SWAN style sheet only.
Multichannel Toolbar Appearance
When agents log on to PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture, the toolbar appears as a pagelet on the top or bottom of the home page based on the pagelet content and layout setup. As they navigate to different components, the toolbar appears across the top of CRM component pages that use the DEFAULT_TEMPLATE portal template because Iscript makes use of this template to render the toolbar. Wherever an agent navigates, the application dispatcher passes the information about the toolbar state to make sure that the toolbar state remains consistent in different browser windows.
The pagelet for Multichannel Toolbar appears only after it is added to the Content link on the home page. If an agent adds the pagelet but is not yet configured as a voice or configured agent, a message shows in the toolbar notifying the agent and the toolbar will not start.
Agent Status Update
Agents can update their queue statuses on the Multichannel Toolbar using the two sets of status codes that are defined for the toolbar. From the status settings window, agents can perform these actions:
Log on or log off from the corresponding multichannel queue server or the CTI system.
Update the status for the corresponding queue, such as making themselves available for incoming tasks or unavailable with a reason.
Based on configuration, agents can be placed in certain statuses automatically. For example, their voice queue status changes to busy after they accept phone calls. They may also enter the wrap-up status after they finish or release calls.
Log on to another multichannel queue to which agents are assigned.
Resynchronize the voice queue.
Application dispatcher is a small browser window that launches when agents log on to PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture. It is responsible for processing all events requested and received from the CTI queue and multichannel queue systems for the Multichannel Toolbar. Application dispatcher provides the Multichannel Toolbar a set of encapsulated APIs for executing and interpreting corresponding JSMCAPI events and messages.
Application Dispatcher Behavior When Different Agents Log On to PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture
When a user logs on to PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture and the application dispatcher is about to launch, it first checks if an instance of application dispatcher already exists because this user is the last user who logged on to the machine. If so, it will not be started because only one instance is allowed for any given session. If the application dispatcher window remains open after the last user logged off, the system closes it automatically when a different user logs on to PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture from the same machine at a later time. A system message appears and the new user must log on to PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture again to access the Multichannel Toolbar. Application dispatcher determines the appropriate channel access for agents on the Multichannel Toolbar.
The window attributes of the application dispatcher are predefined and cannot be updated by agents.
Important! Do not close the application dispatcher window while in session. All the current UAD sessions will be terminated if the application dispatcher window is closed. Close the window after logging off from the system.
Tracer Window
In addition to the application dispatcher window, agents may notice the launch of a tracer window when they log on to queues. The tracer window appears if the administrator enables tracing in the agent's voice, multichannel, or both configurations for debugging purposes. If the levels of tracing set up for both configurations are different, the deeper level is used.
Session Management
Sometimes agents work on multiple tasks simultaneously, and each task has its own browser window with the Multichannel Toolbar. The system uses the application dispatcher to manage browser instances. To make sure that content appears consistently in all toolbar instances, each of them needs to be registered with the application dispatcher. Therefore, when a change occurs on one instance, the application dispatcher can pass on the corresponding event and invoke the session-specific function in each instance. When the function receives that event, it can render the changed content and updates it on the Multichannel Toolbar accordingly. When a browser window is closed, that instance is unregistered from the application dispatcher. All browser instances are disabled if the application dispatcher window is closed by accident. If the task browser window is closed, a new browser window will be relaunched.
To summarize, the application dispatcher maintains:
Content consistency in Multichannel Toolbar instances.
A task navigation list.
The application dispatcher ensures that the list is updated when the agent receives or finishes a task.
An internal chat list.
The application dispatcher is responsible for initiating agent-to-agent chat and ensures that the list is updated when the agent receives or finishes an agent-to-agent chat session.
The multichannel queue system processes external chat requests.
Agent states.
In each toolbar instance, the application dispatcher maintains the agent's state in the queues to which they log on. The Multichannel Toolbar leverages this information to correctly render user action buttons.
The 10 most recently dialed phone numbers in the phone directory for outbound calls.
This data is no longer available if the agent logs off from PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture and logs on again.
After agents accept tasks from the Multichannel Toolbar, the system launches a work page where agents begin their work based on the media type of the tasks.
Voice Tasks
Depending on the caller information that the CTI middleware provides, the system launches the proper CRM transaction page, which can be the 360-Degree View of the caller or the Case page that populates with the caller's case information.
When an incoming call arrives, it's routed to a voice agent based on availability and workload. If the agent cannot accept the call within the preset timeout value, the system routes the call to the next available agent.
Email Tasks
The system launches the email workspace when agents accept inbound email.
Chat Tasks
When agents accept chat requests, the chat workspace appears in a separate browser window. In addition to the chat window, agents can view a CRM page that is presented based on the self-service page that the chat request originated.
If the agent cannot accept a chat task from the toolbar within the preset timeout value, the system routes it to the next available agent (customer-to-agent chat tasks) or drops it (agent-to-agent chat tasks).
Generic Tasks
Generic tasks are specific to PeopleSoft PeopleTools. For testing purposes, if you want to see incoming generic tasks appear on the Multichannel Toolbar from another system, send the generic tasks from the other system through the PeopleTools sample pages.
Note: To accept sample generic tasks, use the delivered users SD_ADMIN or SD_SUPERVISOR to log on to the system on which you are testing the Multichannel Toolbar.
The the topics for the following product documentation for PeopleTools: PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework.
“Understanding PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework,” PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework
“Configuring MCF Queues and Tasks,” Configuring Tasks
“Using PeopleSoft MCF Broadcast and Working with Sample Pages,” Working with Sample Pages
When agents accept calls, email, or chat requests or open other work items, these items are organized under the task navigation list. To work on an item, agents click it from that list and the window of that item appears as either a new browser window or within the work area of the same window that is currently open on the desktop.
All open and accepted items remain in the task list until they are dequeued from the corresponding system. The queue server monitors items that have been accepted to maintain adherence to service levels that are defined for items posted to the agent.
Agent-to-agent chat tasks appear in a separate agent chat navigation list.
For each channel (voice and multichannel) that UAD supports, the system delivers a list of presence codes and status codes that are used for maintaining agent statuses on the Multichannel Toolbar.
Presence codes are a set of simple, predefined states that are used to represent agents' presence (for example, ready and not ready for the voice channel). Status codes provide a further refinement of presence codes. For example, an agent can be unavailable on the multichannel queue for a number of reasons (away from desk, meeting, lunch break, and so on). Therefore, the system provides a list of status codes that supplement their associated presence code, so that when agents update their status code on the Queue Status window, the code can reflect their status more accurately on the Multichannel Toolbar for other agents.
Presence and status codes work together. When an agent changes status on the Queue Status window, it triggers an event (specified for the status on the Status Codes page) that is responsible for updating the presence state for the agent in the system. The CRM system delivers presence codes and status codes, and they can be modified by administrators if necessary.
This table lists the delivered presence codes and associated status codes for the voice channel:
|
Presence State |
Applicable Status Code |
Applicable Reason Code |
Can State be modified by Administrator? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Not Ready |
|
|
Yes |
|
Ready |
Available |
N/A |
Yes |
|
Work Not Ready |
N/A |
N/A |
No (CTI switch dependent) |
|
Work Ready |
N/A |
N/A |
No (CTI switch dependent) |
This table lists the delivered presence codes and associated status codes for the multichannel channel:
|
Presence State |
Applicable Status Code |
Applicable Reason Code |
Can State be modified by Administrator? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Unavailable |
The In Wrap-Up mode does not apply. |
N/A |
Yes |
|
Available |
Available |
N/A |
Yes |
|
Assumed Unavailable |
N/A |
N/A |
No |