Abandoned Call: Also called a Lost Call.
The caller hangs up before reaching an agent.
Adherence To Schedule: A general term that refers to how
well agents adhere to their schedules.
After-Call Work: Also called Wrap-up and Post Call
Processing (PCP). Work that is necessitated by and immediately follows an
inbound transaction.
Agent: The person who handles incoming or outgoing calls.
Agent Group: Also called Split, Gate, Queue or Skills
Group. A collection of agents that share a common set of skills, such as
being able to handle customer complaints.
Agent Out Call: An outbound call placed by an agent.
Agent Status: The mode an agent is in (Talk Time,
After-Call Work, Unavailable, etc.).
All Trunks Busy: When all trunks are busy in a specified
trunk group.
Analog: Telephone transmission or switching that is not
digital.
Announcement: A recorded verbal message played to callers.
Answer Supervision: The signal sent by the ACD or other
device to the local or long distance carrier to accept a call.
Answered Call: When referring to an agent group, a call
counted as answered when it reaches an agent.
Application Based Routing and Reporting:. The ACD
capability to route and track transactions by type of call, or application
(e.g., sales, service, etc.), versus the traditional method of routing and
tracking by trunk group and agent group.
Architecture: The basic design of a system. Determines how
the components work together, system capacity, upgradeability, and the
ability to integrate with other systems.
Audiotex: A voice processing capability that enables
callers to automatically access pre-recorded announcements.
Auto Available: An ACD feature whereby the ACD is
programmed to automatically put agents into Available after they finish Talk
Time and disconnect calls.
Auto Greeting: Agent's pre-recorded greeting that plays
automatically when a call arrives.
Auto Wrap-up: An ACD feature whereby the ACD is programmed
to automatically put agents into After-Call Work after they finish Talk Time
and disconnect calls.
Automated Attendant: A voice processing capability that
automates the attendant function.
Automatic Call Distributor: The specialized telephone
system used in incoming call centres.
Automatic Call Sequencer: A simple system that is less
sophisticated than an ACD, but provides some ACD-like functionality.
Automatic Number Identification: A telephone network
feature that passes the number of the phone the caller is using to the call
centre, real-time.
Auxiliary Work State: An agent work state that is
typically not associated with handling telephone calls. When agents are in
an auxiliary mode, they will not receive inbound calls.
Available State: Agents who are signed on to the ACD and
waiting for calls to arrive.
Available Time: The total time that an agent or agent
group waited for calls to arrive, for a given time period.
Average Delay of Delayed Calls: It is the total Delay for
all calls divided by the number of calls that had to wait in queue.
Average Handle Time: The sum of Average Talk Time and
Average After-Call Work for a specified time period.
Average Holding Time on Trunks: The average time inbound
transactions occupy the trunks.
Average Number of Agents: The average number of agents
logged into a group for a specified time period.
Average Speed of Answer: The average delay of all calls.
Average Time to Abandonment: The average time that callers
wait in queue before abandoning.
Adherence: The term used to describe how well agents stick
to their planned work schedules. May also be referred to as compliance.
Advanced 800 Services: A set of toll-free services named
initially by AT&T that includes long-distance calls routing into an
organization based on time-of-day, point of origin, or percentage allocation
of call volume.
Area Code: A three-digit number identifying geographic
areas of the United States and Canada. It permits direct distance dialing on
the telephone system.
Average Manned Time: The average amounts of time per
reporting period agents were logged into the telephone system.
Base Staff: Also called Seated Agents. The minimum number
of agents required to achieve service level and response time objectives for
given period of time
Basic Rate Interface: One of two basic levels of ISDN
service. A BRI line provides two bearer channels for voice and data and one
channel for signaling
Beep Tone: An audible notification that a call has arrived
Benchmark: Historically, a term referred to as a
standardized task to test the capabilities of devices against each other.
Best in Class: A benchmarking term to identify
organizations that outperform all others in a specified category.
Blockage: Callers blocked from entering a queue.
Blocked Call: A call that cannot be connected immediately
because A) no circuit is available at the time the call arrives, or B) the
ACD is programmed to block calls from entering the queue when the queue
backs up beyond a defined threshold.
Busy Hour: A telephone traffic engineering term, referring
to the hour of time in which a trunk group carries the most traffic during
the day.
Business to business: Contact that is primarily to other
business. Also known as b2b
Call: Also called Transaction and Customer Contact. A term
referring to telephone calls, video calls, Web calls and other types of
contacts.
Call Blending: Combining traditionally separate inbound
and outbound agent groups into one group of agents responsible for handling
both inbound and outbound contacts.
Call By Call Routing: The process of routing each call to
the optimum destination according to real-time conditions.
Call centre: An umbrella term that generally refers to
reservations centres, help desks, information lines or customer service
centres, regardless of how they are organized or what types of transactions
they handle.
Callback Messaging: A feature in which callers on hold can
leave an oral message or their telephone numbers using the keys of a
touchtone telephone pad for later callback from an agent instead of
remaining on hold.
Call Control Variables: The set of criteria the ACD uses
to process calls.
Call Detail Recording: Data on each call, captured and
stored by the ACD.
Call Forcing: An ACD feature that automatically delivers
calls to agents who are available and ready to take calls.
Call Load: Also referred to as Work Load. Call Load is the
product of (Average Talk Time + Average After-Call Work) x call volume, for
a given period.
Caller-Entered Digits: Digits callers enter using their
telephone keypads.
Calls In Queue: A real-time report that refers to the
number of calls received by the ACD system but not yet connected to an
agent.
Carrier: A company that provides telecommunications
circuits. Carriers include both local telephone companies and long distance
providers.
Cause-and-Effect Diagram: A tool to assist in root cause
identification
CD-ROM: Compact Disc Read Only Memory. These discs hold as
much as 660 megabytes of memory.
Central Office: Can refer to either a telephone company
switching centre or the type of telephone switch used in a telephone company
switching centre.
Centum Call Seconds: 100 call seconds, a unit of telephone
traffic measurement. The first C is the Roman numeral for 100. 1 hour = 1
Erlang = 60 minutes = 36 CCS.
Chief Information Officer: A typical title for the highest
ranking executive responsible for an organization's information systems.
Circuit: A transmission path between two points in a
network.
Client/Server Architecture: A network of computers that
share capabilities and devices.
Collateral Duties: Non-phone tasks (e.g., data entry) that
are flexible, and can be scheduled for periods when call load is slow.
Common Causes: Causes of variation that are inherent to a
process over time. They cause the rhythmic, common variations in the system
of causes, and they affect every outcome of the process and everyone working
in the process.
Computer Simulation: A computer technique to predict the
outcome of various events in the future, given many variables.
Computer Telephony Integration: The software, hardware and
programming necessary to integrate computers and telephones so they can work
together seamlessly and intelligently.
Conditional Routing: The capability of the ACD to route
calls based on current conditions.
Continuous Improvement: The ongoing improvement of
processes.
Control Chart: A control chart sifts out (identifies) two
types of variation in a process, common causes and special causes.
Controlled Busies: The capability of the ACD to generate
busy signals when the queue backs up beyond a programmable threshold.
Cost Centre: An accounting term that refers to a
department or function in the organization that does not generate profit.
Cost of Delay: The money you pay to queue callers,
assuming you have toll-free service.
Cost Per Call: Total costs (fixed and variable) divided by
total calls for a given period of time.
Continuity program: A direct response offer involving
systematically- scheduled purchases over time of a set of products or of
product replenishments
Cross selling: Suggesting to a direct response customer
the purchase of an additional product or service that may not necessarily
relate to the original product purchased but which represents an attractive
and/or limited time value
Customer service representative: An agent who handles
customer calls and contacts including account inquiries, complaints, or
support calls
Caller ID: A telephone network feature of the local
telephone company by which the telephone number of the caller is passed to
the called party.
Contact Management: Software applications and systems that
keep track of all customer contacts for subsequent contacts and as an audit
trail.
CRM: Customer Relationship Management. The strategy of
identifying customer needs, improving customer interactions, and customizing
contacts, sales approaches, and automation to provide optimum service to
each type of customer to maximize the bottom line benefits to the
organization.
Conditional Routing: The capability of the ACD to route
calls or contacts on an "if…then" basis. Routing conditions
can include day of week, time of day, agent availability, type of call,
service needed, etc.
Carrier: A company that provides telecommunications
circuits. Carriers include both local telephone companies and long distance
providers.
Customer Service Representative: A teleservice
representative who handles customer calls and contacts including account
inquiries, complaints, or support calls.
Database Call Handling: A CTI application, whereby the ACD
works in sync with the database computer to process calls, based on
information in the database.
Day of Week Routing: A network service that routes calls
to alternate locations, based on the day of week. There are also options for
day of year and time of day routing.
Delay Announcements: Recorded announcements that encourage
callers to wait for an agent to become available, remind them to have their
account number ready, and provide information on access alternatives.
Delay: Also called Queue Time. The time a caller spends in
queue, waiting for an agent to become available.
Delayed Call: A call which cannot be answered immediately
and is placed in queue.
Dialed Number: The number that the caller dialed to
initiate the call.
Dialed Number Identification Service: A string of digits
that the telephone network passes to the ACD, VRU or other devise, to
indicate which number the caller dialed.
Digital: The use of a binary code Ü 1s and 0s Ü
to represent information.
Dual-Tone Multifrequency: A signaling system that sends
pairs of audio frequencies to represent digits on a telephone keypad. It is
often used interchangeably with the term Touchtone (an AT + T trademark).
Dynamic Answer: An ACD feature that automatically
reconfigures the number of rings before the system answers calls, based on
real-time queue information.
Database: Collection of data structured and organized in a
disciplined fashion for quick and easy access to information of interest.
Data Directed Call Routing: A capability whereby an ACD
can automatically process calls based on data provided by a database of
information resident in a separate data system.
Data Mart: A small, single subject warehouse used by
individual groups of users.
Data Mining: The automatic detection of trends and
associations contained in a set of customer data.
Data Warehouse: Collection of physical data stores
designed to present an historical perspective of events or transactions that
occur in an enterprise.
Desktop Application: Computer software programs used to
accomplish a variety of tasks.
Double Jack: The act of plugging two headsets into one
telephone set or workstation for the purpose of two persons listening to the
same contact.
Envelope Strategy: A strategy whereby enough agents are
scheduled for the day or week to handle both the inbound call load and other
types of work.
Erlang B: A formula developed by A.K. Erlang, widely used
to determine the number of trunks required to handle a known calling load
during a one hour period.
Erlang C: Calculates predicted waiting times (delay) based
on three things: the number of servers (reps); the number of people waiting
to be served (callers); and the average amount of time it takes to serve
each person.
Erlang, A.K.: A Danish engineer who worked for the
Copenhagen Telephone Company in the early 1900s and developed Erlang B,
Erlang C and other telephone traffic engineering formulas.
Erlang: One hour of telephone traffic in an hour of time.
For example, if circuits carry 120 minutes of traffic in an hour, that's two
Erlangs.
Error Rate: Either the number of defective transactions or
the number of defective steps in a transaction.
Escalation Plan: A plan that specifies actions to be taken
when the queue begins to build beyond acceptable levels.
Executive Summary: A brief summary of the key points of a
more detailed report or study.
Economies Of Scale: The principle of gaining better
efficiencies through larger group sizes. For example, twice as many calls
does not require twice as many staff or trunks to handle because of inherent
efficiencies of larger offered call loads and larger groups.
E-Mail (Electronic Mail): The transmission,
electronically, of letters, memos and messages from one computer to another.
Facsimile / FAX: Technology that scans a document, encodes
it, transmits it over a telecommunications circuit, and reproduces it in
original form at the receiving end.
Fast Clear Down: A caller who hangs up immediately when
they hear a delay announcement.
Fax on Demand: A system that enables callers to request
documents, using their telephone keypads.
Flowchart: A step by step diagram of a process.
Flushing Out the Queue: Changing system thresholds so that
calls waiting for an agent group are redirected to another group with a
shorter queue or available agents.
Full-Time Equivalent: A term used in scheduling and
budgeting, whereby the number of scheduled hours is divided by the hours in
a full work week.
Gateway: A server dedicated to providing access to a
network.
Grade of Service: The probability that a call will not be
connected to a system because all trunks are busy.
Gate: An ACD routing division that allows contacts
arriving on specific telephone trunks or certain transaction types to be
answered by specific groups of employees. Also referred to as split or
group.
Handled Calls: The number of calls received and handled by
agents or peripheral equipment. Handled calls does not include calls that
abandon or receive busy signals.
Handling Time: The time an agent spends in Talk Time and
After-Call Work, handling a transaction. Handling Time can also refer to the
time it takes for a machine to process a transaction.
Help Desk: A term that generally refers to a call centre
set up to handle queries about product installation, usage or problems.
Hit Rate: The number of connected contacts as a percentage
of the number of attempts.
Home Agent: An agent that works from home or someplace
else other than the actual contact center location.
Imaging: A process whereby documents are scanned into a
system and stored electronically.
Interflow: Calls that flow out of the ACD to another site,
a voice mail system, or telephone number that is not part of the ACD
environment.
Immutable Law: A law of nature that is fundamental, and
not changeable (e.g., the law of gravity). In an inbound call centre, the
fact that occupancy goes up when service level goes down, is an immutable
law.
Incoming Call centre Management: The art of having the
right number of skilled people and supporting resources in place at the
right times to handle an accurately forecasted workload, at service level
and with quality.
Incremental Revenue (Value) Analysis: A methodology that
estimates the value (cost and revenue) of adding or subtracting an agent.
Index Factor: In forecasting, a proportion used as a
multiplier to adjust another number.
Integrated Services Digital Network: A set of
international standards for telephone transmission. ISDN provides an
end-to-end digital network, out-of-band signaling, and greater bandwidth
than older telephone services.
Inter Exchange Carrier: A long-distance telephone company.
Internal Help Desk: A group that supports other internal
agent groups, e.g. for complex or escalated calls.
Internal Response Time: The time it takes an agent group
that supports other internal groups (e.g., for complex or escalated tasks)
to respond to transactions that do not have to be handled when they arrive
Internet "Call Me" Transaction: A transaction
that allows a user to request a callback from the call centre, while
exploring a Web page.
Internet "Call Through" Transaction: The ability
for callers to click a button on a Web site and be directly connected to an
agent while viewing the site
Internet Phone: Technology that enables users of the
InternetÍs World Wide Web to place voice telephone calls through the
Internet, thus by-passing the long distance network.
Intraflow: See overflow. Invisible Queue. When callers do
not know how long the queue is or how fast it is moving.
Judgmental Forecasting: Goes beyond purely statistical
techniques and encompasses what people believe is going to happen.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI): The most critical
measures of performance in any organization, typically productivity
measures.
Key Telephone System: An arrangement of key telephone sets
and associated circuitry located on a customer's premise that permits more
than one telephone line to be terminated on one telephone instrument
KSA. Knowledge, skills, and attributes: The overall
make-up of an employee from an educational/life experience background,
specific skills and capabilities, and personality traits and attributes that
may indicate potential success in a particular position or role.
Law of Diminishing Returns: The declining marginal
improvements in service level that can be attributed to each additional
agent, as successive agents are added.
Load Balancing: Balancing traffic between two or more
destinations.
Local Area Network: The connection of multiple computers
within a building, so that they can share information, applications and
peripherals. See Wide Area Network.
Local Exchange Carrier: Telephone companies responsible
for providing local connections and services.
Logged On: A state in which agents have signed on to a
system (made their presence known), but may or may not be ready to receive
calls.
Long Call: For staffing calculations and traffic
engineering purposes, calls that approach or exceed thirty minutes.
Longest Available Agent: A method of distributing calls to
the agent who has been sitting idle the longest. With a queue, Longest
Available Agent becomes ñNext Available Agent.î
Longest Delay (Oldest Call): The longest time a caller has
waited in queue, before abandoning or reaching an agent.
Look Ahead Queuing: The ability for a system or network to
examine a secondary queue and evaluate the conditions, before overflowing
calls from the primary queue.
Look Back Queuing: The ability for a system or network to
look back to the primary queue after the call has been overflowed to a
secondary queue, and evaluate the conditions.
Middleware: Software that mediates between different types
of hardware and software on a network, so that they can function together.
Modem:A contraction of the terms Modulator/Demodulator. A
Modem converts analog signals to digital and vice versa.
Monitoring: Also called Position Monitoring or Service
Observing. The process of listening to agents' telephone calls for the
purpose of maintaining quality.
Multilingual Agents: Agents that are fluent in more than
one language.
Multimedia: Combining multiple forms of media in the
communication of information. Murphy's Law. If anything can go wrong, it
will. Not a good perspective to live by, but worth considering when
designing agent groups, routing configurations and disaster recovery plans.
Make Busy: The process of setting a trunk or trunk grup to
return a busy tnoe to callers or make other communication paths or equipment
unavailable. This technique can be used to downsize the number of incoming
contacts to understaffed groups.
MBWA (Management By Walking Around): The common practice
in contact centers of supervisors/managers physically walking through the
center to observe contact handling and overall performance.
Network Control centre: Also called Traffic Control
centre. In a networked call centre environment, where people and equipment
monitor real-time conditions across sites, change routing thresholds as
necessary, and coordinate events that will impact base staffing levels.
Network Inter-flow: A technology used in multi-site call
centre environments to create a more efficient distribution of calls between
sites.
Next Available Agent: A call distribution method that
sends calls to the next agent who becomes available.
Noise Canceling Headset: Headsets equipped with technology
that reduces background noise.
Non ACD In Calls: Inbound calls which are directed to an
agent's extension, rather than to a general group. These may be personal
calls or calls from customers who dial the agents' extension numbers.
Nuisance Call: The situation that occurs when a live
contact is made with a potential customer, but no live agent is available to
match up with the call, resulting in dead air space to the customer.
Occupancy: Also referred to as agent utilization. The
percentage of time agents handle calls versus wait for calls to arrive.
Off The Shelf: Hardware or software programs that are
commercially available and ready for use "as is."
Offered Calls: All of the attempts callers make to reach
the call centre.
Off-Peak: Periods of time other than the call centre's
busiest periods. Also a term to describe periods of time when long distance
carriers provide lower rates.
Open Ticket: A customer contact (transaction) that has not
yet been completed or resolved (closed).
Outsourcing: Contracting some or all call centre services
to an outside company.
Overflow: Calls that flow from one group or site to
another. More specifically, Intraflow happens when calls flow between agent
groups and Interflow is when calls flow out of the ACD to another site.
Pareto Chart: A bar chart that arranges events in order of
frequency. Named after 19th century economist Vilfredo Pareto.
PBX/ACD: A PBX that is equipped with ACD functionality.
Peaked Call Arrival: A surge of traffic beyond random
variation. It is a spike within a short period of time.
Percent Allocation: A call routing strategy sometimes used
in multi-site call centre environments. Calls received in the network are
allocated across sites based on user-defined percentages.
Poisson: A formula sometimes used for calculating trunks.
Assumes that if callers get busy signals, they keep trying until they
successfully get through. Since some callers won't keep retrying, Poisson
can overestimate trunks required.
Pooling Principle: The Pooling Principle states: Any
movement in the direction of consolidation of resources will result in
improved traffic-carrying efficiency.
Predictive Dialing: A system that automatically places
outbound calls and delivers answered calls to agents. When the dialer
detects busy signals, answering machines or ring no answer, it puts the
number back in queue.
Primary Rate Interface: One of two levels of ISDN service.
Private Branch Exchange: A telephone system located at a
customer's site that handles incoming and outgoing calls.
Private Network: A network made up of circuits for the
exclusive use of an organization or group of affiliated organizations
Process: A system of causes.
Profit centre: An accounting term that refers to a
department or function in the organization that does not generate profit.
See Cost centre.
Public Switched Network: The public telephone network
which provides the capability of interconnecting any home or office with any
other.
Pacing Algorithm: A set of instructions used by an
automated outbound dialer to determine when to initiate a call attempt.
PBX. Private branch exchange: A private telephone exchange
located on the user's premises and connected to the public network via
trunks
Predictive Hang-Up: A call attempt initiated at a time
when no agent will be available if a call is connected. The call attempt is
aborted during the progress and before the customer answers.
Preview Dialer: A device that presents the account
information and phone number on the screen to allow the agent to "preview"
the information before instructing the dialer to dial (or not dial) the
call.
Progressive Dialer: A device that presents the account
information and phone number on the screen after the number is dialed.
PSN (Public Switched Network): The public telephone
network which provides the capability of connecting any two telephones.
Quantitative Forecasting: Using statistical techniques to
forecast future events. The major categories of quantitative forecasting
include Time Series and Explanatory approaches.
Queue: Holds callers until an agent becomes available.
Queue can also refer to a line or list of items in a system waiting to be
processed
Random Call Arrival: The normal, random variation in how
incoming calls arrive. See Peaked Call Arrival.
Readerboards: Also called displayboards or wall displays.
A visual display, usually mounted on the wall or ceiling, that provides
real-time and historical information on queue conditions, agent status and
call centre performance.
Real-Time Adherence Software: Software that tracks how
closely agents conform to their schedules. See Adherence to Schedule.
Real-Time Data: Information on current conditions. Some "real-time"
information is real-time in the strictest sense (e.g., calls in queue and
current longest wait).
Real-Time Management: Making adjustments to staffing and
thresholds in the systems and network, in response to current queue
conditions.
Received Calls: A call detected and seized by a trunk.
Received calls will either abandon or be answered by an agent.
Reengineering: A term popularized by management consultant
Michael Hammer, which refers to radically redesigning processes to improve
efficiency and service.
Response Time: The time it takes the call centre to
respond to transactions that do not have to be handled when they arrive
(e.g., correspondence or e-mail). See Service Level.
Retrial Tables: Sometimes used to calculate trunks and
other system resources required. Retrial. A caller who "retries"
when they get a busy signal.
Rostered Staff Factor: Alternatively called an Overlay,
Shrink Factor or Shrinkage. Round Robin Distribution. A method of
distributing calls to agents according to a predetermined list.
Remote Agent: An agent physically located outside the
contact center. These agents are usually connected to the center on an
as-needed or scheduled basis to supply additional answering capability.
Ring Delay (Delay Before Answer): A setting that can be
made on the ACD-PBX that adjusts the number of rings before the system
automatically answers the call.
Recorded Announcement: An announcement heard by callers
while waiting in queue.
Scatter Diagram: A chart that graphically depicts the
relationship between two variables.
Scheduling Exception: When an agent is involved in an
activity outside of the normal, planned schedule.
Script: The written words and logic to be followed in the
handling of a contact.
Screen Monitoring: A system capability that enables a
supervisor or manager to remotely monitor the activity on agents' computer
terminals.
Screen Pop: A CTI capability. Callers' records are
automatically retrieved (based on ANI or digits entered into the VRU) and
delivered to agents, along with the calls.
Screen Refresh: The rate at which real-time information is
updated on a display (e.g. every 5 to 15 seconds).
S
ervice Bureau: A company that handles inbound or
outbound calls for another organization.
Service Level Agreement: Performance objectives reached by
consensus between the user and the provider of a service, or between an
outsourcer and an organization.
Service Level: Also called Telephone Service Factor, or
TSF. The percentage of incoming calls that are answered within a specified
threshold: "X% of calls answered in Y seconds." See Response Time.
Skill-Based Routing: An ACD capability that matches a
caller's specific needs with an agent that has the skills to handle that
call, on a real-time basis.
Smooth Call Arrival: Calls that arrive evenly across a
period of time. Virtually non-existent in incoming environments.
Special Causes: Variation in a process caused by special
circumstances. See Common Causes.
Split: An ACD routing division that allows calls arriving
on specific trunks or calls of certain transaction types to be answered by
specific groups of employees
Speech Recognition: The capability of a voice processing
system to decipher spoken words and phrases.
Supervisor Monitor: Computer monitors that enable
supervisors to monitor the call handling statistics of their supervisory
groups or teams.
Silent Monitoring: A process that permits a supervisor to
listen to both sides of a conversation including an agent and a caller.
Supervisor: The person who has front-line responsibility
for a group of agents.
T1 Circuit: A high speed digital circuit used for voice,
data or video, with a bandwidth of 1.544 megabits per second. T1 circuits
offer the equivalent of twenty-four (24) analog voice trunks.
Talk Time: The time an agent spends with a caller during a
transaction. Includes everything from "hello" to "goodbye."
Telecommuting: Using telecommunications to work from home
or other locations instead of at the organization's premises.
Telephony Applications Programming Interface: CTI protocol
developed by Microsoft and Intel.
Telephony Services Application Programming Interface: CTI
protocol developed by Novell and AT + T.
Threshold: The point at which an action, change or process
takes place.
Tie line: A private circuit that connects two ACDs or PBXs
across a wide area.
Toll-Free Service: Enables callers to reach a call centre
out of the local calling area without incurring charges.
Touchtone: A trademark of AT + T. See Dual-Tone
Multifrequency.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol: The
protocols that govern the exchange of sequential data. TCP/IP was designed
by the U.S. Department of Defense to link dissimilar computers across many
kinds of networks.
True Calls Per Hour: Actual calls an individual or group
handled divided by occupancy for that period of time.
Trunk: Also called a Line, Exchange Line or Circuit. A
telephone circuit linking two switching systems.
Trunk Group: A collection of trunks associated with a
single peripheral and usually used for a common purpose.
Traffic Engineering: The art and science of designing
facilities and resources to meet user requirements
Traffic Study: A study to determine the levels of traffic
that a system is presently handling.
Trunk Load: The load that trunks carry. Includes both
Delay and Talk Time.
Trunks Idle: The number of trunks in a trunk group that
are non-busy.
Trunks in Service: The number of trunks in the trunk group
that are functional.
Unavailable Work State: An agent work state used to
identify a mode not associated with handling telephone calls.
Uniform Call Distributor: A simple system that distributes
calls to a group of agents and provides some reports.
Upselling: Suggesting to the purchaser of a direct
response product that he could add to his original purchase in some
value-enhancing way, such as with a useful accessory or a deluxe, more
fully-featured model
Universal Agent: Refers to either A) An agent who can
handle all types of incoming calls or B) An agent who can handle both
inbound and outbound calls.
Virtual Call centre: A distributed call centre that acts
as a single site for call handling and reporting purposes.
Visible Queue: When callers know how long the queue that
they just entered is, and how fast it is moving (e.g., they hear a system
announcement that relays the expected wait time). See Invisible Queue.
Voice Processing: A blanket term that refers to any
combination of voice processing technologies, including Voice Mail,
Automated Attendant, Audiotex, Voice Response Unit (VRU) and Faxback.
Voice Response Unit: Also called Interactive Voice
Response Unit (IVR) or Audio Response Unit (ARU). A VRU responds to caller
entered digits or speech recognition in much the same way that a
conventional computer responds to keystrokes or clicks of a mouse.
Wide Area Network: The connection of multiple computers
across a wide area, normally using digital data circuits.
Workforce Management Software: Software systems that,
depending on available modules, forecast call load, calculate staff
requirements, organize schedules and track real-time performance of
individuals and groups.
Workload: Often used interchangeably with Call Load. Work
load can also refer to non-call activities.
World Wide Web: The capability that enables users to
access information on the internet in a graphical environment.
Wrap-Up Codes: Codes agents enter into the ACD to identify
the types of calls they are handling. The ACD can then generate reports on
call types, by handling time, time of day, etc.
Zip Tone: A tone heard before a call arrives, also called
a zip tone. Beep tones are sometimes used to announce that a call is being
monitored.
Call Centre Acronyms
- ACD: Automatic Call Distributor
- ACS: Automatic Call Sequencer
- ACW: After Call Work
- AHT: Average Handling Time
- AHT: Average Holding Time on Trunks
- ANI: Automatic Number Identification
- ARU: Audio Response Unit
- ASA: Average Speed of Answer
- ATA: Average Time to Abandonment
- ATB: All Trunks Busy
- BRI: Basic Rate Interface
- CCR: Customer Controlled Routing
- CCS: Centum Call Seconds
- CD-ROM: Compact Disc - Read Only Memory
- CED: Caller Entered Digits
- CLI: Calling Line Identity
- CO: Central Office
- CPE: Customer Premises Equipment
- CSR: Customer Sales or Service Representative
- DN: Dialed Number
- DNIS: Dialed Number Identification Service
- DRTV: Direct Response Television
- FX: Foreign Exchange Line
- GOS: Grade of Service
- IS: Information Systems
- ISD: Integrated Services Digital Network
- IT: Information Technology
- IVR: Interactive Voice Response
- IXC: Inter Exchange Carrier
- LAN: Local Area Network
- LEC: Local Exchange Carrier
- LED: Light Emitting Diode
- MAC: Moves, Adds and Changes
- MAN: Metropolitan Area Network
- NCC: Network Control centre
- NPA: Numbering Plan Area
- OCR: Optical Character Recognition
- PABX: Private Automatic Branch Exchange
- PBX: Private Branch Exchange
- PRI: Primary Rate Interface
- PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network
- PUC: Public Utility Commission
- RAN: Recorded Announcement Route
- RFI: Request for Information
- RFP: Request for Proposal
- RSF: Rostered Staff Factor
- TAPI: Telephony Applications Programming Interface
- TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol
- TSAPI: Telephony Services Application Programming
Interface
- TSF: Telephone Service Factor
- TSR: Telephone Sales or Service Representative
- UCD: Uniform Call Distributor
- VRU: Voice Response Unit
- WAN: Wide Area Network
- WATS: Wide Area Telecommunications Service
- WWW: World Wide Web
