Teams Rules and Routing via the IVR or an ACD Group – how does it work?

In today's HowTo, we

will explain how Teams rules affect routing and delivery of calls to agents and PBX users. 

Status Aggregation

The jtel system is connected to the following systems to read and aggregate status:

• Teams - reading the status of all Teams users in the Microsoft 365 account
• PBX - read out all extensions of the PBX and read out the status of them 

Furthermore, the jtel system, for ACD agents, is party to the following additional information:

• Agent status (logged in, break, back office, post processing ...)
• ACD status (the agent gets a call or event delivered by the ACD).

The jtel system performs an aggregation of the status from each application to make a decision about the availability of the PBX users and ACD agents. This is shown in the following table:

* This state can exist, for example, when the agent receives a call on a cell phone. His cell phone is not monitored via the PBX or via teams.

Targeted addressing

It is also advantageous to be able to address the end device specifically - for example, to decide on the basis of the status whether a call is routed to the Teams client or the cell phone.

To ensure that the Teams client can be addressed individually, a routing prefix is often used in the session border controller. This is used to route calls that are to be routed specifically to Teams clients. The "normal" phone number can be used to address the phone in the PBX or the cell phone.

Now we should explain how the rules are created in teams.

Exposition:

How are the team integration rules created?

Background

Teams rules are designed to look at certain processes and states in an automated way.Teams Rules are designed to automate certain processes. 

• For example, if an agent is already in a

• Teams meeting, it is important that no further call deliveries are made to him.
• On the other hand, just because an appointment is in Outlook doesn't necessarily mean the agent is busy.
• The same can be true if the Teams client shows an "Away" status. This only means that the agent has not used the PC for a certain period of time. 

For this purpose, jtel  
For this purpose, jtel has developed a set of rules where certain states are linked to actions. 

Teams

rules at client level for PBX

PBX users are automatically created by the jtel system from the connectors used, including those from the PBX and also teams,
if the corresponding connector is in operation. The distribution in jtel can be made to these PBX users via the IVR,
with consideration of the status from both teams and, if the PBX is connected in parallel, the PBX. 

Note: 

In order to configure this set of rules, you should first select the tab "Master data client" in the main menu under user data. 

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users

To configure this set of rules, you should first select the "Client master data" tab in the main menu under User data.

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The set of rules, which can be configured at the client level, is used to aggregate the status of PBX users who do not work with the jtel ACD, but who make calls and work in Teams, with their status in the PBX.

These rule settings are used to assign statuses to PBX users, which enable or disable the transfer of calls. For this purpose, the teams statuses are parameterized in the two fields shown in the screenshot, thus creating a set of rules for how PBX users are taken into account call distribution.

The respective presence statuses for Teams can be seen in the table shown on the Microsoft website here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/presence-admins

These statuses are comma-separated and can be parameterized in these fields, and define the global settings for handling PBX users during call distribution via the IVR in connection with teams.

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Teams rules at ACD user level

To configure this set of rules, first select the "User master data" tab in the main menu under User data.

Here, the set of rules is configured in the "Teams" tab.

You have the option to combine the teams status with the jtel agent availability. 

This has the advantage that the Teams status is also taken into account when distributing calls. 

Another advantage is that depending on the availability and status, the personally favored device can be selected automatically.

Examples:

• If you have an external appointment and your status is set to "Away" or "Out of Office", you can have your incoming calls delivered to your mobile device.
• In contrast, if you were on a client call and presenting in teams, no calls would be transferred to you and the jtel ACD could respond automatically by referring the call to another agent or group.

The following screenshot shows the case that despite the "busy" status in teams, the phone call should be transferred to the agent. We recommend to use "Phone 6" for the phone number in Teams. For example, the status "InAMeeting" is set by Teams when you have an appointment in Outlook. Since many people do not really maintain their appointments in Outlook correctly (busy / free / out of office), this can be useful to increase the availability by phone.

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The following rule is useful when the agent is away from the PC ("Away"), or

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Teams rules at ACD user level 

Normal ACD users can also be provided with Teams rules.
To configure this set of rules, you should first select the tab "User master data" in the main menu under User data. 

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After selecting this, you can configure the set of rules in the "Teams" tab. 
Here you have the option to combine the teams status with the jtel agent availability. 
This has the great advantage that the teams status is also taken into account when distributing calls. 

Another advantage is that the personally favoured phone can be selected depending on availability and status. 
An example would be if you have an external appointment and your status is "Away" or "Out of Office",
you could take your incoming call on your mobile device.
Conversely, if you were in a customer meeting and you were presenting your screen in Teams,
no calls would be transferred to them, and the jtel ACD would be able to respond efficiently. 
The following screenshots will serve to illustrate this. 

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Here the case is shown that despite a "busy" status, the telephone call should be put through to the agent. 

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This view describes the case where the agent has an external appointment and wants to take his calls by via a mobile phone . 

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for example:

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This rule covers the condition when an The example describes when the agent is in a Teams teams meeting or presenting, and cannot should not be reached contacted by phone. :

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This is what a final configured set of rules in the jtel ACD for the use of with Teams rules might ultimately look like:

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Influence of

teams rules

The influence of the Teams Team status and rules becomes visible when looking you look at the graph screenshot below.  
Here you can see that if you select a status in which you are not available in Teamsteams, this has an effect on the telephone availability.  
In this case , the first user is set to "Do Not Disturbnot disturb" and is set to marked in the jtel with availability "Busy" in the telephone system. You can find further Teams statuses in the Presence Status List 
From Microsoft. Depending on whether a setting is made for the PBX user or the ACD user, an aggregation of the telephone status in the jtel ACD is made with the Teams statuses.
These settings can be used very efficiently to make call distribution automated and effective. 

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Activated Teams Rule:

In order to be able to control the Teams rules as an agent, it is possible to activate and deactivate the rules via the blue "T" next to the Teams Availability. 

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This in turn affects the call distribution and the telephone status. In the example shown below, an activated Teams set of rules can be seen.
and thus the telephone availability is displayed with busy if the user in Teams has a status that triggers this unavailability. 

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Deactivated Teams Rule:

To show what this case looks like when the Teams ruleset is deactivated (i.e. the T is greyed out), you can see in the example below that the Teams status has no influence on the telephone availability
and the user is green in the telephone availability and thus available for call distribution despite the Teams status "Do Not Disturb".

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 Depending on the configured status and availability, this is also displayed in the front end of the agent. 

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. 

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Activated teams rules

Agents can activate and deactivate their teams rules using the blue "T" next to the teams availability. This in turn affects the call distribution and the phone status.

In the example below you can see an activated Teams ruleset - so the availability is shown with busy when the user in Teams has a status that triggers this unavailability via the ruleset.

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Disabled teams rules

If the Teams rules are deactivated, you can see in the example below that the Teams status has no influence on the availability in jtel and the user is green in the phone availability despite Teams status "Do not disturb" and thus available for call distribution.

In this case the Teams rules do not take effect, the routing of the calls is done to his "active" phone.

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How status in teams is influenced by third-party systems

like Outlook

Third-party systems such as Outlook can have an influence on the status in Teams and thus also on the desired call distribution. 

By scheduling an appointment in Outlook , it is possible to influence the Teams status.
Should If you have set up a Teams session with other colleagues or customers, you would be displayed in this case be displayed as "unavailable" in the Teams availability.
Depending , depending on the rules, you would be displayed as "not available" and no calls would be delivered.

In addition, the selection in the Outlook calendar,
i.e. which type you choose for an appointment, has an influence on the status in Teams.:Image Removed

At the same time, a distinction is still made between user

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User-configured and system-based status changes

This is best illustrated by the overview provided by Microsoft,
which status a user can choose independently and which status is assigned automatically by the system. 

See: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/presence-admins Image Removed

Special

notes

When using Using actions in the Teams Client, such as VoiceMailvoicemail, it can lead to cause routing decisions being overridden. to be overridden by voicemail answering calls.

This could result in scenarios that were originally planned exit scenarios no longer being accessed routed to, and the call flow no longer not going through as it was originally planneddesigned. 

There Under the settings in the Teams Client, there are a large number of parameters that adversely affect settings in Teams that have a detrimental effect on the configured routing scenario in the jtel ACD and have a negative impact on the automatism.

Here are a few examples:

Examples

Call delegation:

• • If delegation of calls is configured

The deputy rule:

 If a substitute is configured here
• • , the agent
is
• • will not
treated
• • be seen as
absent, but the substitute always receives the call. 

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• • not present, instead calls will always be forwarded to the delegated used.

Answering machine rules, when unanswered etcThe answering machine rules:

• If calls are routed through Teamsforwarded to the answering machine in teams, the distribution mechanism in the ACD is overridden.  By the way, this also applies to all other PBXs.

Also callring:

• If this feature were is configured, a kind of collective connection hunt group would be calledcreated.
  As a result, the jtel ACD would can no longer perceive the call as busy and could can no longer distribute the call to other agents as intended.
  In addition, this would result in multiple administration and maintenance efforts. 

If unanswered:

• If an answering machine were configured here, the call would be counted as answered in the ACD.
  The eventual distribution to other agents would no longer take place and the exit scenario in the
  the ACD would never be used. This would also mean that the distribution of the media event voicemail would no longer be guaranteed by the ACD.
  If this agent were on holiday, these voicemails would remain in his mailbox or Team Client until his return.

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Teams Client and Routing Decision in the IVR: 

A great advantage of using routing applications or IVR in the jtel software is that many automatisms can be mapped in it.
It is possible to check identifications and qualifications of telephone numbers against third-party systems such as CRM, ERP or database systems and to configure routing decisions from this.
If, as a result of such a routing decision, one wanted to route the call to a Teams user,
this would be realised with a connector to a PBX user.  
The caller would be treated as if they were on hold and could be efficiently routed to a free agent accordingly. 

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Routing decisions in the IVR

A big advantage of using routing applications or IVR in the jtel software is that you can create many automatic routing scenarios. It is possible to check callers against third party systems like CRM, ERP or database systems and to base routing decisions on processes retrieved from them.

If you want to route a call to a teams PBX user with such a routing decision, you can create an application with the IVR object Connect PBX Users.

The caller is treated as if he were in a simple queue and can be efficiently routed to a free user.

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Routing decisions in the ACD

Routing decisions in the ACD are made with the users' team rules. This provides maximum flexibility and allows, for example, mobile users (sales, technicians, etc.) to be included in the distribution in the best possible way, without the user having to constantly configure or log on and off. For example, by defining time windows, the ACD determines when calls are put through. The teams rules determine, by consideration of the status "Away" or "OutOfOffice", which device should be used. For example, mobile employees are automatically called on their cell phones as soon as they leave the workplace or close their laptops

Write back to Teams?

Microsoft is constantly introducing new APIs - and one of them is the ability to write statuses back to Teams. 

The Teams presence connector can now write the status of other PBX connectors to teams. Currently supported are:

• Innovaphone Presence Connector

• NFON Presence Connector

The synchronisation with teams is done depending on the telephone number in active directory. For this reason, it is best if the PBX connector reports fully qualified E.164 numbers. However, this is not always possible, and setting the monitoring prefix may be necessary in the PBX connector.

Once matched, state changes reported by the PBX presence connector will be written to Microsoft Teams.

Please note that:

• The status will be persisted for 1 hour (maximum) or until the next status change

• Status set in Teams by a user manually always take precedence over the status reported by any other application. Therefore if a user sets himself to available (even if actually busy) then they will be shown as free.

Conclusion

Teams is a really good collaboration and telephony client.

However, routing phone calls through Teams leaves a lot to be desired, and while Microsoft will continue to work on it, there will always be routing scenarios and business processes where you need to find other ways.

The jtel ACD offers a practical way to effectively manage routing and process integration scenarios together with the Teams integration.