Teams rules and routing through the IVR or an ACD group - and how does it affect that?

In today's HowTo, we want to explain how Teams rules affect routing and delivery to agents. 

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:

Teams Rules are designed to automate certain processes. 
For example, if an agent is already in a team meeting, it is important that no call deliveries are made to him. 
For this purpose, jtel has developed a set of rules where certain states are linked to actions. 

Teams Rules at client level for PBX-users 

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 for a PBX connector to work in parallel with the Teams connector, a numbering plan is necessary in which the numbers in the PBX and Teams are the same.
  If this is not the case, you will receive double entries for the PBX users. 
  
  

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

The set of rules, which can be configured at the client level, is used to assign the PBX users who are not working with the jtel ACD,
but are telephoning and working in teams or the PBX, with the status in the ACD.
These rule settings are used to assign statuses to the PBX user which enable or disable the transfer of calls. 
To do this, the teams statuses are parameterised in the two fields shown in the graphic, thus creating a set of rules for how PBX users are taken into account in call distribution.
The respective presence statuses for teams are shown in the Microsoft table below. These statuses can be parameterised in these fields in a comma-separated manner and 
form the global setting for handling PBX users during distribution in the jtel ACD in connection with Teams. 

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. 

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. 

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

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

The example describes when the agent is in a Teams meeting and cannot be reached by phone. 

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

Influence of Teams Rules: 

The influence of the Teams status becomes visible when looking at the graph below. 
Here you can see that if you select a status in which you are not available in Teams, this has an effect on the telephone availability. 
In this case, the user is set to "Do Not Disturb" and is set to "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. 

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. 

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. 

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".

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

Next, we explain how the status in Teams is influenced by third-party systems such as Outlook. 

Third-party systems such as Outlook can influence the status in Teams and thus also the desired call distribution. 
By scheduling in Outlook, it is possible to influence the Teams status.
Should you have set up a Teams session with other colleagues or customers, you would in this case be displayed as "unavailable" in the Teams availability.
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,
which type you choose has an influence on the status in Teams.

At the same time, a distinction is still made between 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. 
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/presence-admins 

Special note:

When using actions in the Teams Client, such as VoiceMail, it can lead to routing decisions being overridden. 
This could result in originally planned exit scenarios no longer being accessed and the call flow no longer going through as originally planned. 

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

Here are a few examples:

• The deputy rule:

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

The answering machine rules:

• If calls are routed through Teams, the distribution mechanism in the ACD is overridden. 

Also call:

• If this feature were configured, a kind of collective connection would be called.
  As a result, the jtel ACD would no longer perceive the call as busy and could 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.

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.