Creating and adding a user group

Company administrators can define groups of users (such as employees or departments with particular skills) to handle the company’s calls, emails, etc.

You can only add a new user group if it is unique within your company.

Company administrators must have the Agent Groups: Modify privilege to create and add user groups.

Create and add a user group: #

Step 1:
Click Staff > Groups on the menu bar. A list of the user groups that are currently defined is displayed.

Step 2:
Click Add. The New Group page is displayed.

Step 3:
(Mandatory.) Enter the Name of the group (up to 100 characters). Any unicode characters are allowed, including whitespace and accented letters. The name must be unique within your company.

Step 4:
Enter a brief Description for the group (up to 250 characters), such as the department and the team within that department. Any unicode characters are allowed, including whitespace and accented letters.

Step 5:
To select the users that belong to this group and specify their skill levels:

• Click:

• Tick the checkbox for the relevant user.
• Set the user’s skill level within the group by clicking on the appropriate star.

Note: For each group, a user’s skill level within that group can be rated on a scale of 1 star (lowest) up to 5 stars (highest). When a call reaches the head of the queue, and agents are available, the call is routed to the available agent with the highest skill level. If no agents are available in the skill group, the call overflows to the next-highest priority group.

• Repeat the previous two steps for every user who belongs to this group.

Note: Each user can belong to one or multiple groups.

To deselect a user, untick the appropriate checkbox. Any skill level stars are also cleared for this user.

• Click OK.

Step 6:
Expand the External Destination List and specify the external destinations that the group can use for call routing by ticking the appropriate checkboxes. Each external destination may be assigned to more than one group.

Step 7:
To specify that users in this group are automatically available to handle calls after they have logged in, tick the Set agent to available automatically after login check box. It does not matter how the users are receiving calls (they do not need to be using WebRTC).

Note: If this check box is not ticked, each user in this group will be required to set their status to “Available” after they have logged in to their Agent Portal.

Note: This is a per-user global setting. That is, if a user belongs to several groups and the Set agent to available automatically after login parameter is set for just one of these groups, it applies to all of the user’s groups (the user will be available to receive calls immediately for all of the groups to which they belong).

Step 8:
To specify that users in this group are automatically active for all queues to which they are assigned after they have logged in, tick the Set agent active for all queues after login check box.

An agent can be unassigned from queues that are part of their group(s) in two places in the Contact web interface:

• In the Agent Portal – If the agent’s role has the Agent Queue Selection privilege enabled, the agent can deselect queues in their Incoming Calls Portal
• In the Supervisor Portal – Supervisors can deselect agents from queues in the Live Data view for each agent.

This feature is largely used to balance queue loads. However, as queue loads change hour by hour, supervisors often do not want these settings to be applied if an agent is logging in to start a shift. If this checkbox is ticked, any settings for queue availability that were made either by the agent or a supervisor are reset when the agent next logs in to the system and the agent is made available for all queues to which they are assigned.

To specify a minimum amount of time for which the agent must be logged out before their queue availability is reset, tick the Apply when logged out more than checkbox and select the number of minutes (between 0 and 120). This covers situations when an agent is logged off and on unintentionally, for example, due to a poor internet connection.

Note: This is a per-user global setting. That is, if a user belongs to several groups and the Set agent active for all queues after login parameter is set for just one of these groups, it applies to all of the user’s groups.

Step 9:
Click Add.

Note: When a new user group is created, the contact methods that agents in this group can use to receive inbound calls and/or place outbound calls are automatically defined as: via a browser softphone and via a fixed PSTN number.

Step 10:
To use an agent group, assign it to the appropriate call queue. An agent group must be associated with a call queue before agents in the group can handle calls in that queue.

Related tasks
Configuring agent outbound dialling
Managing external destinations
Assigning agent groups to a call queue

Definitions #

• Name: The name of the group of users.
• Description: A brief description of the group.
• User List: The users that belong to the group. The group might comprise, for example, people with a specific skill set, such as a particular department. A number next to each user denotes the skill level of the user within this group, in the range 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). Users may be assigned to more than one group.
• External Destination List: The external destinations that the group can use for call routing. The group might use external destinations such as AI-based virtual agents used to handle some of the simpler job responsibilities of live agents, such as answering customer questions on accounts, helping with a password, or providing information on a company’s products and services. Each external destination may be assigned to more than one group.
• Set agent to available automatically after login: Whether or not users in this group are automatically available to handle calls after they have logged in. It does not matter how the users are receiving calls (they do not need to be using WebRTC).
  • Note: If this check box is not ticked, each user in this group will be required to set their status to “Available” after they have logged in to their Agent Portal.
  • Note: This is a per-user global setting. That is, if a user belongs to several groups and the Set agent to available automatically after login parameter is set for just one of these groups, it applies to all of the user’s groups (the user will be available to receive calls immediately for all of the groups to which they belong).
• Set agent active for all queues after login: Whether or not users in this group are automatically active for all queues to which they are assigned after they have logged in.
  • An agent can be unassigned from queues that are part of their group(s) in two places in the Contact web interface:
    • In the Agent Portal – If the agent’s role has the Agent Queue Selection privilege enabled, the agent can deselect queues in their Incoming Calls Portal
    • In the Supervisor Portal – Supervisors can deselect agents from queues in the Live Data view for each agent.
  • This feature is largely used to balance queue loads. However, as queue loads change hour by hour, supervisors often do not want these settings to be applied if an agent is logging in to start a shift. If this checkbox is ticked, any settings for queue availability that were made either by the agent or a supervisor are reset when the agent next logs in to the system and the agent is made available for all queues to which they are assigned.
  • Note: This is a per-user global setting. That is, if a user belongs to several groups and the Set agent active for all queues after login parameter is set for just one of these groups, it applies to all of the user’s groups.
• Apply when logged out more than <number> minutes: The minimum amount of time for which the agent must be logged out before their queue availability is reset. This covers situations when an agent is logged off and on unintentionally, for example, due to a poor internet connection.