Configuring advanced settings for a chat queue

Company administrators can configure several other parameters that determine how chat requests are queued.

Company administrators must have the Chat Configuration: Modify privilege to configure advanced queue parameters.

Configure advanced settings #

1. Click Chat > Chat Queues on the menu bar and a list of the chat queues that are currently defined is displayed
2. Select (or add) the appropriate chat queue
3. Click the Advanced tab
4. For Maximum Queue Length, specify the maximum number of chats permitted in the queue
5. To automatically apply a wrapup time to chats, tick the Enable Wrap-Up Time checkbox. If you do not want to apply a wrapup time, leave the checkbox unticked.
6. For Wrap-up Time, specify the maximum number of seconds that an agent has in which to classify the chat and complete the record of the chat in the Contact’s built-in or external CRM database. The default value is 60 seconds.
   • Note: Agents can either extend their chat wrap-up time by a fixed increment as defined by the administrator (Wrap-up Extension Time) or end the wrap-up phase early via their web interface.
7. For Wrap-up Extension Time, specify the (maximum) extra number of seconds that an agent has in which to wrap up a chat
   • The default value is 60 seconds.
8. For Wrap-up Extensions, specify the (maximum) number of times that an agent can extend their chat wrapup.
   • The default value is three times. If this limit is reached, the Extend button on the Agent Portal is disabled
9. To allow agents who serve this chat queue to view the status of the queue on their Agent Portal, tick the Allow agents to view queue status checkbox.
10. To continue to hold chat requests in a queue when no agents are available to handle chats for that queue and to allow chat requests to continue joining the queue, tick the Allow chats to wait in queue when no agents are handling it checkbox.
    • If the checkbox is not ticked, chat requests are prevented from waiting in that queue if no agents are available.
11. For Maximum Total Chats, specify the maximum number of simultaneous chats permitted in total (chats connected to agents + chats in the queue). The default value is 1.
12. For Maximum Number Of Chats Per Agent, specify the maximum number of chats that can be assigned to each agent simultaneously. The default value is 1.
13. For Maximum Wait Time, specify the maximum number of seconds that a chat request should be held in the queue.
14. For Busy Backoff Time, specify the number of seconds for which an agent will not receive any chat requests, because they are busy (for example, they are on a chat that is out of the control of the Contact).
15. For Chat Failed Backoff Time, specify the number of seconds for which the selected agent will not receive any chat requests, because the chat request to the agent failed for another reason, such as a network failure.
16. (Mandatory) For Importance Weighting, specify the priority of the webchat queue.
17. Click Add or Save Changes, as appropriate.

Definitions #

• Maximum Queue Length: The maximum number of chats permitted in the queue.
• Enable Wrap-up Time: Whether or not the specified Wrap-up Time is applied automatically.
• Wrap-up Time: The maximum period (in seconds) that an agent has in which to classify the chat and complete the record in the Contact’s built-in or external CRM database. Agents can extend their chat wrap-up time by a fixed increment defined by the administrator (Wrap-up Extension Time) or end the wrap-up phase early via their web interface.
• Wrap-up Extension Time: The (maximum) extra number of seconds that an agent has in which to wrap up a chat.
• Wrap-up Extensions: The (maximum) number of times that an agent can extend their chat wrapup. If this limit is reached, the Extend button on the Agent Portal is disabled.
• Allow agents to view queue status: Whether or not agents who serve this chat queue can view the status of the chat queue.
• Allow chats to wait in queue when no agents are handling it: Whether or not existing chat requests will continue to be held in a queue (or new chat requests will be allowed to join the queue) when no agents are available to handle chats for that queue. If the checkbox is not ticked, chat requests are prevented from waiting in that queue if no agents are available.
• Maximum Total Chats: The maximum number of simultaneous chats permitted in total (chats connected to agents + chats in the queue). The default value is 1.
• Maximum Number Of Chats Per Agent: The maximum number of chats that can be assigned to each agent simultaneously. The default value is 1.
• Maximum Wait Time: The maximum number of seconds that a chat request should be held in the queue.
• Busy Backoff Time: The number of seconds for which the selected agent will not receive any chat requests, because they are busy (for example, they are on a chat that is out of the control of the Contact). During this time period, the selected agent is taken out of the pool of available agents. When it elapses, the agent receives chat requests again.
• Chat Failed Backoff Time: The number of seconds for which the selected agent will not receive any chat requests, because the chat request to the agent failed for another reason, such as a network failure. During this time period, the selected agent is taken out of the pool of available agents. When it elapses, the agent receives chat requests again.
• Importance Weighting: The priority of the chat queue. The importance weighting assigned to a queue determines the queues that are served first when multi-skilled agents (those who belong to multiple agent groups and therefore may serve multiple queues) become available. Queues of equal importance have the same value.