Reporting unavailable trunk-related resources for a predictive dialer using a dynamic pacing algorithm
View Patent ↗A predictive dialer in a call center may originate a number of outbound calls on behalf of agents for an outbound call campaign. Since many calls may fail to connect with the right party, the predictive dialer may originate several contemporaneous calls in order to provide a single call to an available agent. A pacing algorithm in the predictive dialer determines how many calls are to be made based on various factors, conditions, and rules. In some instances, the predictive dialer may attempt to originate more calls than there are available trunks. In such instances, the number of originated calls is limited by the number of available trunks causing a trunk-related deficiency condition, which can adversely impact the agents' performance. Various embodiments of the invention detect and provide notifications of such conditions to allow effective diagnosis of the cause of degradation of agent performance.
1. A method for identifying a trunk-related resource deficiency condition in a call center comprising:
providing a list of telephone numbers to a predictive dialer for a call campaign wherein outbound calls to the telephone numbers are to be originated by the predictive dialer for a group of agents in the call center;
providing a number of allocated outbound trunk-related resources for use in initiating the outbound calls from the call center by the predictive dialer;
determining by the predictive dialer during execution of the call campaign a number of available outbound trunk-related resources that is equal to or less than the number of allocated outbound trunk-related resources;
determining by the predictive dialer during execution of the call campaign that one or more agents is available;
determining by the predictive dialer during execution of the call campaign a number of outbound calls to be originated for the one or more agents;
identifying a trunk-related resource deficiency condition at a time during execution of the calling campaign in which the number of outbound calls to be originated for the one or more available agents requires a number of trunk-related resources exceeding the number of available outbound trunk-related resources;
recording during execution of the calling campaign trunk-related resource deficiency data in a memory by the predictive dialer indicating the time and a quantified value of the trunk-related resource deficiency condition based on the number of available outbound trunk-related resources at the time and the number of outbound calls to be originated, and
providing a trunk-related deficiency report comprising the time and the trunk-related resource deficiency condition along with at least one other time and respective other quantified trunk-related resource deficiency condition.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trunk-related deficiency report indicates the number of outbound calls to be originated and a number of available outbound trunks.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocated outbound trunk-related resources are trunks.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trunk-related deficiency report further indicates a number of agents logged in from a group comprising the one or more agents.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predictive dialer employs a pacing algorithm to determine the number of outbound calls to be originated, and wherein the number of outbound calls is determined based in part on a likelihood of an attempted outbound call achieving a right party connect.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein a number of outbound calls actually originated by the predictive dialer for the one or more agents is equal to the number of available outbound trunk-related resources.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in response to determining that the number of outbound calls to be originated exceeds the number of available outbound trunk-related resources, providing a resource deficiency notification for display to a call center administrator.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the resource deficiency notification provides a relative indication of the trunk-related deficiency condition comprising a number of unavailable trunk-related resources.
9. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor in a predictive dialer cause the processor to:
retrieve a list of telephone numbers for use with a call campaign wherein outbound calls are to be originated to the telephone numbers for a group of agents in a call center;
determine a number of available outbound trunk-related resources for use in conjunction with the call campaign in initiating outbound calls from the predictive dialer, wherein the number of available outbound trunk-related resources is equal to or less than a number of allocated outbound trunk-related resources;
determine that one or more agents are available for handling an outbound call;
determine a number of outbound calls to be originated by the predictive dialer for the one or more agents, wherein the one or more agents is available to handle calls to handle calls;
determine at a time that the number of outbound calls to be originated for the one or more agents exceeds the number of available outbound trunk-related resources; and
record trunk-related resource deficiency data in a memory by the processor, wherein the trunk-related resource deficiency data indicates the time and a quantified value of the trunk-related resource deficiency condition based on the number of available outbound trunk-related resources at the time and the number of outbound calls to be originated, and
provide a trunk-related resource deficiency report comprising the time and the trunk-related resource deficiency condition along with at least one other time and respective other quantified trunk-related resource deficiency condition.
10. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the trunk-related resource deficiency report comprises the number of outbound calls and a number of available outbound trunks.
11. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the allocated trunk-related resources are trunks.
12. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the trunk related resource deficiency report indicates a number of agents logged in from the group of agents.
13. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9 ,
wherein the instructions further cause the processor to execute a pacing algorithm to determine the number of outbound calls to be originated, and
wherein the number of outbound calls to be originated is determined based in part on a likelihood of an attempted outbound call achieving a right party connect.
14. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor, in response to determining that the number of outbound calls to be originated exceeds the number of available outbound trunk related resources, to transmit a resource deficiency notification for display to a call center administrator.
15. A contact center originating outbound calls comprising:
a memory storing
a number of trunk-related resources allocated to an outbound call campaign, wherein the outbound campaign is associated with a list of telephone numbers and a group of agents, and
a pacing program module comprising instructions for determining a number of outbound calls to originate in response to one or more agents from the group of agents available to handle an outbound call; and
a predictive dialer comprising a processor configured to execute instructions in the pacing program module, wherein the instructions cause the processor to
determine a first number of required trunk-related resources required to originate the number of outbound calls,
determine at a time a second number of trunk-related resources that are available to the predictive dialer for originating the number of outbound calls, wherein the first number of required trunk related resources is greater than the second number of trunk-related resources,
originate a third number of outbound calls wherein the third number is equal to the second number,
record the time and a quantified value of the trunk-resource deficiency condition based on the number of available outbound trunk-related resources at the time and the number of outbound calls to be originated and identification of the outbound call campaign, and
provide a trunk-related deficiency report comprising the time and a quantified value of the trunk-related resource deficiency condition along with one other time and respective other quantified trunk-related resource deficiency conditions.
16. The contact center of claim 15 , wherein a resource deficiency condition notification is provided for a call center administrator indicating a relative level of the trunk-resource deficiency condition.
17. The contact center of claim 15 , wherein the instructions in the pacing program module cause the processor to determine the number of outbound calls based in part on a likelihood of an attempted outbound call achieving a right party connect.