Attendant

Telephone directories

Rich Corporate Telephone directory composed from up to 30 sources. To be synchronized on a daily base (on configurable times) with all kind of sources (including database within communication-platform). Common interfaces are supported; LDAP, ODBC MS Exchange Soap.

Determining employee locations

The current location of logged-on employees (with Extension Mobility) is displayed on the operator station, based on the location of their phones.

Call handling

Easy call handling using keyboard or mouse
All telephony actions, such as: answering, placing on hold, putting through, breaking in and setting up conference calls can be easily done.

Messages to pager

Quick and easy sending of text or number messages to pagers (based on paging link). This requires the PeterConnects In-House Paging module to be operational.

Messages to IP telephone

Sending short text messages to employee IP phones
Sending short text messages to the IP phones of employees, even when the destination phone is busy.
It is also possible to insert a predefined text in the message for the IP phone (e.g. including the name and number of the caller currently connected with the Attendant).

Messages delivered with sound signal
Messages are delivered with a sound signal, and optionally with a confirmation request, for fast communication with the busy employee.

Caller recognition

Number recognition
Telephone numbers of external callers are recognized, and when a call comes in name and details are displayed on the operator station (as well as on the phones).
In combination with the Corporate Telephone directory, name and number recognition is also possible on the handset of the employee.

Forwarding numbers preselection
When a call comes in, frequently used forwarding numbers are preselected.

Priority for important callers
Based on number recognition, priority may be given to specific callers in the queue. This allows important callers to receive priority service.

Link to CRM application
Linking to a CRM application with web browser interface is also possible. This allows the operator station to immediately display the records of a calling client.

Adding/displaying information field

The operator station can be used to add information fields to employees, e.g. "on holiday" (with end date).

Attendant group chat

Attendants working in a group may converse quickly with each other without disturbing ongoing phone conversation through the Attendant group chat functionality.

Clip board notes

Take quick notes to self during a phone conversation or share them with other colleagues using the Attendant application. Handy to align current team lunch schedules or absence, write up information on a call or caller during a conversation for later use or any other important info to be shared with the group while on the phone.

Automated attendant

Automatic call answering and handling
The Automated Attendant consists of two mechanisms offering many deployment variations:

• Welcome message, selection menus (IVR; Interactive Voice Response) and queue announcement within opening hours.
• An extensive mechanism for handling calls outside opening hours.

Automated Attendant functions:

• Automatic call answering with recorded welcome message
• A selection menu allowing calls to be put through to the correct department
• A selection menu for foreign languages
• Variable, user-selectable queuing announcements, with position of the caller
• Plannable actions based on the elapsed waiting time
• Call handling outside openings hours, with "closed" announcement and routing to an alternative destination (such as voicemail)
• Creating a week profile, where exception days can be added (e.g. vacations, public holidays)
• Recording and using an additional announcement without affecting existing settings

Showing locations on floor plan

Showing employee locations on floor plan
The operator station can display the current employee locations, via mobile WiFi phones or devices provided with a tag. The current location is displayed in a separate column of the company phone directory and on a map of the floor where the selected employee is located.

Functions to determine current locations:

• Full-screen floor plan view.
• Color-marks for employees.
• Floor plan selection menu.

Floor plan with employee locations on operator station

Barrier operation

The Attendant user can use the Attendant program to operate the barrier that control
motor vehicle access to the company premises.

The driver presses a button on the intercom. The attendant is notified and can speak with the visitor and operate the barrier. When a camera is implemented, the Attendant can immediately see in the Attendant screen who is requesting access to the building.

Link with calendar

Displaying appointments from calendars
The employee calendars (Outlook and Lotus Notes) can be viewed in real time from the operator station. After selecting an employee in the company phone directory, the employee's calendar can be viewed using the Calendar button. The calendar-data is also being shown immediately next to the employees directory details.

Displaying appointments on operator station:

• Today's appointments have a white background, allowing them to be recognized at a glance.
• Appointments for the next day are displayed against a blue background.
• Later appointments are shown against a green background.
• When an employee has marked an appointment as Private, its subject and location are invisible to the Attendant user.

This Calendar option is available for both Microsoft Outlook (Exchange) and Lotus Notes.

Reachability calendar view on operator station

Visitor registration

Because the telephonist is often also the receptionist, part of their job will to be welcome and register visitors as they arrive. By using the Attendant-console it is possible to register the visitor and also to print out a visitor�s badge for them.

For the Attendant it is visible which staff member the visitor is seeing. A summary of all visitors on site can easily be displayed. At the end of the working day all visitors are automatically cleared from the system if this has not already been done when the visitor leaves. It is also possible to check the visitor history record.

Displaying Presence

The presence status of employees can be displayed on the operator station. Can be linked with:

• Skype for Business
• Lotus Sametime
• Cisco Unified Presence Server

Presence status on operator station

Texting (SMS)

Sending text messages (SMS)
Sending SMS text messages directly from the operator station to the employees' mobile phones (GSM).

Texting from telephone directory
When the telephone operator selects an employee in the telephone directory, the employee can be sent an SMS message by clicking on the SMS button or using the Ctrl+S hotkey combination.

This option requires a link with the GSM mobile network. PeterConnects supports several methods to achieve this.

Instant messaging

It is possible from the Attendant Console PeterConnects instant messages to send and receive at the Skype for Business clients employees. Particularly when employees are on the phone it is possible for the attendant to inform employees (eg on another important call with the operator).

Sending e-mail messages

Sending e-mail messages
E-mail messages can be sent from the operator station to employees selected from the telephone directory. Selecting an employee allows the user to simply send an e-mail to the employee in question (e.g. a call-back request).

With functions for:

• Predefined standard texts
• Automatic implementation of call data (name and number of the caller)
• Sending a copy of the e-mail for further handling

Window with predefined e-mail message

Presence registration

When using an access registration system it is possible to show on the Attendant-console which staff members are present/absent, by means of an icon.

When the employee is on site, the telephonist is able to see at what time the employee entered the building and by which entrance. When the employee is not on site it is possible to see what time they left the building and which exit was used. The access registration system is linked with the Attendant system via an XML connection.

Broadcasting messages

Broadcasting messages
Messages can be broadcast directly from the operator station. The selected employees will hear the message over the loudspeaker of their IP phones. Broadcasts can be targeted to a specific employee or to an entire group of employees.

Creating broadcast groups
Employee groups can be created based on data from the phone directory or based on locations (e.g. 2nd floor of building A). These groups can be compiled and stored as presets.

With functions for:

• Setting the sound volume
• Excluding busy handsets
• Sending a text message with sound signal

The network load for the message broadcast is relatively small since the multicast principle is used (a single audio stream passing through the network).

Security Listen-in function

The user of the Attendant program can call security with the 'Call Security' button.
This feature is only available in combination with call recording.

During a call security can listen in on the conversation and judge when and how to secure the attendants safety. Alarm calls will automatically be recorded and saved.

Alarm

Security can be called by pressing the alarm button.

Voicerecording

Recording all calls
Option for recording and storing all calls of the Attendants in their entirety. This applies to both incoming and outgoing calls.

Marking recorded calls for archiving
If the recording function has been activated for an IP telephone, all Attendant calls are recorded, but only marked calls will be retained a long time.

With functions to:

• Mark calls for recording / saving
• Set how long to retain marked and unmarked calls, respectively
• Retrieve recordings on the basis of date, time or caller/callee phone number

Easy analysis of sound files
Calls are recorded in stereo: the Attendant user on one channel, the other party on the other channel. This makes it possible, at playback, to clearly distinguish what each participant has said.

Easy playback of sound files
The recordings are stored as wave files in a directory specified by the administrator. The calls can be played back using any standard Media Player.

Supervisor Listening in

A Supervisor or another authorized person can listen in on calls being conducted by an Attendant user, at any time. This function is often used for training purposes or to coach staff on difficult conversations.

This feature is only available in combination with call recording.

Busy Light

The ‘busy light’ is used as a visual indicator showing that the Attendant operator is currently engaged in a phone conversation.

The LED light displays with various colours whether the operator is either busy, on hold or available. This way a colleague knows when he or she can approach his colleague without disturbing a phone conversation.
It alerts for incoming calls as well, which comes in handy when the operator is not sitting at his desk.

For various types of callers a different color alert along with a specific ringtone and ringtone volume can be configured. This way internal, external and alarm calls can easily be recognized.

Statistics

PeterConnects Attendant collects data on handled and missed calls. This data can be used to produce various reports regarding the performance and workload of the Attendant(s).

The following data is collected:

Only the columns whose value is known will be filled.

Data supplied as SQL database
The collected data can be supplied in an SQL database, or in text files that can be directly opened in a spreadsheet program (e.g. MS/Excel). The MS/Excel wizard can be used to easily produce a wide range of statistics.

Reports Portal

Reporting can also been made through a reports portal which is available in most recent PeterConnects-versions (>7.2). 16 reports are available through this reports portal. Based on the available data reports an be easily added:

Real-time reports

PeterConnects Attendant allows the real-time monitoring of an Attendant queue by several Attendants. The Queue Monitor program used for this runs as a client under Windows.

Displaying realtime statistics
An LCD screen or wall display in the Attendant room or on the PC of the person who is responsible for the operator can display the statistical information in real time.

This program can also be used to display information about the queues and agents of the PeterConnects ServiceDesk module.

The realtime monitor looks like this:

Contents of the screen areas
The upper half of the main window provides information about the queue. The lower half of the window gives information about the Attendants.