Asterisk ACD

Routes calls in a call center environment to appropriate agents, based on skill-sets, time available and priority level

To configure ACD we need to configure queues.conf, agents.conf, extensions.conf and sip/iax/zapata.conf

queues.conf

If an agent is busy placing a call in a queue, the queues are configured in the queue.conf file

Sections of a queue.conf file: The general section supports only persistent members. If set to yes and if a member is added to the system via the AddQueueMember() application, the application will be stored in AstDB and retained when restarting

PeriodicannouncePeriodicannounce and periodic-announce-frequency plays

messages such as “Thank you for holding ….” at regular intervals

WeightAssign a rank to the queue. If calls are waiting in multiple

queues, then the queue with the highest weight values will be presented to agents first.

LeavewhenemptyTo remove callers from a queue when no agent is present, set

this option to yesWrapuptimeAllow a few seconds’ break to an agent after completing a

callMemberdelayDelay between the time when a queue identifies a free agent

and when the call is connected to that agent

TimeoutrestartIf set to yes, then the timeout for an agent is reset if a BUSY or

CONGESTION is received

Strategy to distribute calls

ringall Ring all available channelsroundrobin Use the first available channel, then the second

and so on. Deprecated in 1.4; use rrmemory insteadleastrecent Ring the interface least recently called by this

queuefewestcalls Ring the interface handling the fewest calls

from this queuerandom Ring randomlyrrmemory Round robin with memory. Remember where

we left off the last ring pass

TimeoutTimeout in seconds when calling an agentAnnouncePlay a file to an agent before the caller is connected. Useful

for agents who are logged into more than one queuemember => member_nameMembers of queueFor examplemember => agent/@1 a groupmember => agent/501 single agent

Monitor-formatRecord all completed calls. Possible values are wav, gsm,

wav49Monitor-joinIf set to yes, it is an indication to merge the two files

Extensions.conf application

Queue()Format is Queue(queuename[|options[|URL][|announceoverride][|timeout]])queuename name of the context in queue.confOptions:t Allow the called user to transfer the callT Allow the calling user to transfer the callh Allow the called person to hangup by pressing *H Allow the calling person to hangup by pressing *n Forbid retries if there is a timeout. Exit and move to

next extensionr Ring instead of music-on-holdURL Send a URL to the called user if a channel supports this

facility

AnnounceoverrideSet a sound file to override the one set in queues.confTimeoutMaximum time to wait in queue. The next extension will be

executed after the timeout

agents.conf

Configures agents for the queues

The [general] section contains only one parameter, which is persistentagents. This option specifies whether the agent call-back logins have to be stored in an Asterisk database or not.

The following parameters define the agents:

autologoff How long the phone has to ring without answering before an agent is logged off

ackall If an agent is logging with agentcallbacklogin, then an acknowledgement is required by pressing the # sign if this option is yes

Wrapuptime Time after the conversation is over Musiconhold Define the music-on-hold classUpdatecdr Change the source channel in cdr to

agent/agent-id to determine which agent generated the call

Group Group agents for easy managementgroup=groupnumber examplegroup =1agent => 888,888,user1

Custom-beep Accepts the filename as an argument. Notifies an agent about an incoming call

Recordagentcalls Accept the argument yes or no. Specifies whether an agent’s calls should be

recorded or not

Recordformat Specifies the recording format (wav49, gsm or wav)

Savecallsin Specifies the path to store recordingsUrlprefixString appended to the start of the text to be added

to the recording’s name

Creation of agentFormat isAgent => agentnumber, agent_password, nameAgent_number is an agent’s numberAgent_password is an agent’s passwordName is an agent’s actual name

Extensions.conf application

AgentLogin()Logs an agent to receive calls. An agent can hang-up a call by

pressing the * keyFormat isAgentLogin([AgentNo][,options])The Option argument contains s, which causes the login to be

silentExampleExten => 123,1,AgentLogin(42,s)AgentCallbackLogin()Format isAgentCallbackLogin([AgentNo|][exten]@context) This application asks the agent to login to the system with call

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