Please click on the links below for elaborations of each of the features:
Configuration flexibility:
·
Capacity for multiple
logons
Interactive interface:
·
Work either prebuilt campaigns
or WIPs
·
TCS / CT Center real-time
communication
Queries and audit tools:
General features:
·
Also interfaces with
CT Impact
·
Integrated with Columbia
Ultimate’s “The Collector System”
Campaigns are pre-built lists of accounts to be dialed. Definition of each campaign is specified by the dialer administrator who has lots of flexibility to work with, in the following areas.
- Single Recall statement: Using the Recall query language, a single SELECT statement may be used to select the accounts to be added to the campaign
- Stacked Recall statement: Two recall statements can be used with the output list from the first one becoming the input list for the second one.
- Multiple ticklers: A single recall statement can be automatically applied to multiple TCS tickler files for specified desks to produce a single list.
- Combined WIPs: A single campaign can be built for a combination of the current WIPs for specified desks.
- Use Cubs campaign: For those agencies which have used the TCS dialer front-end and would like to continue doing that, we can turn the Cubs campaign into an IAT campaign.
- Interactive: The campaign is written to an internal data file in order to interact real-time with the CT Center software.
- Batch: The campaign is written to a sequential file to be transferred to the CT Center host for batch processing.
- CT Impact: The campaign is written to a sequential file to be transferred across the Internet to IAT’s CT Impact hosted dialer service.
In defining a campaign, the following options are available to specify for which next-work-days each campaign will be automatically built by dayend processing.
- Specified days of the week
- A range of days
- All days
- No automatic building of the campaign
Each dialer result code from CT Center has a corresponding result code action definition on the TCS side. When new result codes are added on CT Center, they should also be added on the TCS side. The dialer administrator is responsible for keeping the result code sets in synch and in specifying which actions to take when a result code is encountered.
- Next work days: The number of days to set the tickler ahead for a result code.
- Priority: The new priority to set for the tickler.
- Disable phone: Either disable the phone number by putting an exclamation mark (!) before it in the database, or remove the phone number from the database entirely.
- New desk: Move the account to the desk specified.
- New status: Change the account status to the status code specified.
- Failure or Success: Specify whether each result code was or wasn’t a failed attempt to call.
- Memo: Specify the note text to appear in the MEMO file for each result code. If this specification is left empty, no note text will appear.
- Update CF-Activity: Specify whether this result code should update the CF-Activity report database for the agent who worked the call.
If any of the result code definitions specify that the CF-Activity report database should be updated, we need a mapping between the CTCenter agent id and the TCS user initials. The agent definition screen is used to maintain that mapping.
The dialer administrator has a lot of flexibility in specifying profiles for accounts which should not be dialed. Here are the parameters which can be used for this purpose:
- Status codes: A list of excluded status codes
- Desks: A list of excluded desks
- Clients: A list of excluded client codes
- Do not call FISCAL field: If the agency uses a “do not call” FISCAL field to specify individual accounts which can’t be called, they will be excluded from dialing.
- Don’t exclude timed WIPs for current activity? (yes or no): By default, if there is current activity on an account, we don’t dial it. Here, the dialer administrator has the ability to OK dialing for timed WIPs on the assumption that today’s activity was in the realm of “Please call back at X o’clock”.
- Exclude accounts with future next work dates? (yes or no): In our experience, some agencies want to call accounts with future next work dates, and some definitely don’t want to call them.
The following phone number fields are sent to the dialer for all accounts/packets which have them:
- Residence phone
- Work phone 1
- Work phone 2
- Alternate payer phone
Some agencies have set up other FISCAL fields to contain other types of phone numbers. Our interface has the ability to use as many phone numbers as desired by the agency.
By default, the following data fields are sent to the dialer:
- Account ID (Dnum)
- Last name
- First name
- Client code
- Client name
- Logon
- Desk
- Campaign name
- Total balance (for the packet if there is one)
Our interface has the ability to add more data fields as is necessary for dialer operations.
The TCS / CT Center interface has the capability of handling dialer operations for multiple logons.
In interactive operations, an agent can sign onto and work either a pre-built campaign list or a specific TCS WIP.
To support interactive operations, each logon requires the use of a port to handle real-time communications with CT Center. That port runs a program called the Interactive I/O Module. If that port is run as a phantom, it doesn’t use a TCS license.
During interactive operations, there is a robust set of messages which pass back and forth between TCS and the CT Center dialer. Here is a list of message types:
From CT Center to TCS:
- Request account to dial, by list. The list could be either a pre-built campaign or a WIP.
- Request account by phone number. Used to identify and route incoming calls.
- Request account by debtor number. Used to identify and route incoming calls.
- Qualify an account to re-dial. Previous efforts to dial were unsuccessful. Is it still OK to dial this account?
- Update account with dialer results.
- Request list count, by list.
From TCS to CT Center:
- Submit account data in response to a “request account” message.
- Notify of end-of-list in response “request account by list” message.
- Accept or reject an account, in response to a “qualify an account message.
- Send list count, notifying dialer how many accounts are left to dial in a list.
Display the most recent history for all pre-built campaigns, including:
- Campaign name
- Type
- Build strategy
- Date and time of last build
- Number of included accounts
- Number of excluded accounts, including break-outs for various exclusion reasons:
1. Status code
2. Desk
3. Client
4. Flagged as “don’t call”
5. No valid phone number
6. Future next work date
- For interactive campaigns, the number of accounts left to send to the dialer
A flexible tool reporting number of both call attempts and successful calls. A front-end screen allows the user to specify both data selection parameters and subtotal columns from the following list:
- Date range
- Hour range
- Result code(s)
- Campaign name(s)
- Client code(s)
- Agent(s)
Outputs are displayed on the screen but can additionally be printed, or exported to a tab-delimited file for import into a spreadsheet program.
Enter a TCS account number (DNUM) to see that account’s entire dialer history, both in summary and in detail.
The I/O log query is a troubleshooting tool to view the audit trail of all recent interactive messages between TCS and CT Center.
CT Impact is a hosted system, with the server located in IAT’s offices, which handles dialing of batch campaigns.
The CT Center dialer interface was designed to be run with Columbia Ultimate’s (CU) “The Collector System” (TCS). Anyone familiar with CU’s user interface conventions will be able to use the CT Center interface screens with no problem.
The screens of the CT Center interface programs were designed using the same user input conventions of the TCS system. Anyone familiar with how to use TCS screens will be able to easily use the CT Center interface.
The CT Center interface is currently supported on the following server platforms:
Copyright 2012, Cubs Consulting, Inc.