Working with Multichannel Applications

This chapter provides an overview of multichannel applications and universal queuing, and discusses how to:

Set up the universal queuing infrastructure.
Use the MultiChannel Console.

Understanding Multichannel Applications and Universal Queuing

This section discusses:

Multichannel applications.
Universal queuing and the MultiChannel Console.

Multichannel Applications

PeopleSoft multichannel applications facilitate interaction between you and your customers over multiple communication channels. Channels are specific communication technologies such as telephone, email, and web collaboration (chat).

The PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework (PeopleSoft MCF) provides the architecture that enables the PeopleSoft Customer Relationship Management (PeopleSoft CRM) multichannel applications. The framework provides an HTML agent console, universal queuing, customer to agent and agent to agent chat, and centralized event logging. The framework also manages the third-party integrations that support voice and email communications.

PeopleSoft CRM offers two applications to support multichannel communications:

PeopleSoft CTI Integration.

This PeopleSoft CRM application extends the computer telephony integration (CTI) feature of the framework by enabling you to map data that is provided by the interactive voice response (IVR) system to PeopleSoft CRM pages and key fields. The system uses this mapping to automatically display the appropriate page and data to the agent who accepts the incoming call.
PeopleSoft MultiChannel Communications.

This PeopleSoft CRM application includes two modules: chat and the email response management system (ERMS).
- The chat module integrates the chat functionality of the PeopleSoft MCF into the PeopleSoft CRM system and provides additional options for defining pages that can be sent to the customer using the URL (uniform resource locator) wizard.
- The email module provides a full-featured email response management system, using the PeopleSoft MCF to manage the integration with external mail servers and mailboxes.

Universal Queuing and the MultiChannel Console

Universal queuing helps to make a customer's interaction experience efficient, consistent, and satisfactory, regardless of the communication channel. PeopleSoft MCF manages a universal queue that accepts, evaluates, and distributes incoming task requests from multiple communication channels. The tasks are delivered to agents through the MultiChannel Console, an integrated interface for managing voice, email, and chat communications.

The universal queue distributes work based on the priority of the task and the availability of agents possessing the required skill level. Availability is based on agent presence and the cost of the new task against the current workload of each agent. If an item that has been pushed to an agent is not accepted by the agent within the specified time, the queuing engine transfers the item to another agent in that queue.

Voice contacts (CTI) are not queued or routed by the universal queue. They take precedence over all other contacts. However, the queue server does add their cost to the agent workload calculations it uses to queue and assign other incoming tasks.

The MultiChannel Console is the exclusive interface for CTI and chat communications. Email communications, however, can be managed through PeopleSoft CRM group worklists either instead of or in addition to the MultiChannel Console. When using group worklists, agents are presented with a list of potential work items. They choose which emails to accept; the system does not control which emails an agent accepts or the order in which the agent works on the emails. When using the MultiChannel Console, agents can work on only those emails that the system routes to them; the queuing engine controls the agent's work assignments.

Note. Only email that is sent to ERMS mailboxes can be queued and accessed through the MultiChannel Console.

Although queues and agents are part of PeopleSoft MCF, the PeopleSoft CRM system can automatically create these objects for you. The PeopleSoft CRM group worklist definition acts as a front end for queue and agent creation: the worklist becomes a queue, and the worklist members become agents.

Setting Up the Universal Queuing Infrastructure

This section lists prerequisites and discusses how to:

Define queue defaults.
Use PeopleSoft CRM group worklists to create queues and agents.

Prerequisites

Before setting up queues and agents, you must define these PeopleSoft MCF objects:

Universal queue server.

This accepts, evaluates, and distributes incoming task requests from multiple communication channels, including telephone (CTI), email, and chat.
Realtime event notification (REN) server.

This pushes event notifications to the agent consoles, manages chat sessions, and notifies the queue server of newly enqueued contacts.
MCF log server.

This subscribes to all REN server events, logging chat conversations, agent presence changes, contact transfers and closures, and so on, based on configurable logging parameters.
Queue clusters.

These are groups of redundant servers that provide failover protection in the event of a hardware failure.

See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework

Pages Used to Set Up the Universal Queuing Infrastructure

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
System Installations	RB_ERMS_SYSDEFN	Set Up CRM, Product Related, Multichannel Definitions, Email, System Installation, System Installations	Define default values for queues that are created through PeopleSoft CRM group worklists.
Group Worklist	RB_WF_WL_GRP	Set Up CRM, Common Definitions, Workflow, Groups, Group Worklist	Define a group worklist and its members so that the system will create corresponding queue and agent definitions.

Defining Queue Defaults

Access the System Installations page.

REN Server Cluster ID

Select a default queue cluster to associate with queues that the system creates when you set up queues and agents using PeopleSoft CRM group worklists.

Maximum Workload and Skill level

Enter default values to associate with agent definitions that the system creates when you set up queues and agents using PeopleSoft CRM group worklists. The values in these fields determine an agent's capacity to accept additional work and thus determine the agent to whom a new email is routed.

Note. You don't use the other page elements on the System Installations page when defining queues and agents. Refer to the documentation for setting up ERMS and running ERMS processes for more information about these other page elements.

Using PeopleSoft CRM Group Worklists to Create Queues and Agents

Access the Group Worklist page.

Group Worklist is ERMS Queue

Select to make the system create both queue and agent definitions when the group worklist definition is saved. The default REN server for all queues created from the Group Worklist page is established on the System Installations page. The queue can be used by either the ERMS or chat features of PeopleSoft MultiChannel Communications.

If worklist entries for other types of transactions (which are not supported in queues) are sent to this worklist, the system treats the worklist as a true worklist. In particular, ERMS alert notifications that are sent to this worklist are delivered though the Worklist page rather than the MultiChannel Console.

Queue Name

Enter the name that is used for the PeopleSoft MCF queue that the system creates when you save the group worklist. The system populates this field with the group worklist name when you select the Group Worklist is ERMS Queue check box.

User ID

Enter user IDs of members who belong to this group worklist. When you save the worklist, the system creates PeopleSoft MCF agent definitions for each user. The agents are automatically made members of the newly created queue. The agents' default maximum workload and skill level come from the default values that you enter on the System Installations page.

Subsequent saves create agents and remove agents from the queue as necessary to keep the queue definition synchronized with the worklist definition.

Queue Setup and Agent Setup

Click to access PeopleSoft MCF pages where you can further define the queues and agents that are associated with the group worklist. When you create queue and agent definitions using PeopleSoft CRM group worklists, the system enters only basic required information in those definitions.

For example, go to the PeopleSoft MCF Agents component to override the default maximum worklist and skill level for newly created agents and to set up personalizations such as a standard greeting for chat sessions.

Note. This section discusses only those page elements that are used to create PeopleSoft MCF queues and agents. Refer to the PeopleSoft CRM worklists documentation for a complete description of this page. Refer to your PeopleTools PeopleBooks for detailed documentation on setting up queues, agents, and agent personalizations.

Using the MultiChannel Console

This section discusses how to:

Access the MultiChannel Console.
Use the MultiChannel Console.

Accessing the MultiChannel Console

To access the MultiChannel Console, click the MultiChannel Console link that appears above all PeopleSoft CRM pages.

Using the MultiChannel Console

Access the MultiChannel Console.

Use the MultiChannel Console to:

Log on to a queue.
Indicate whether you are accepting work requests.
Accept work requests.
Initiate chats with agents in your buddy list.

The MultiChannel Console is common to all PeopleTools multichannel implementations. More detailed information about the console is in the Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: PeopleSoft MultiChannel Framework.

REN Server Cluster ID	Select a default queue cluster to associate with queues that the system creates when you set up queues and agents using PeopleSoft CRM group worklists.
Maximum Workload and Skill level	Enter default values to associate with agent definitions that the system creates when you set up queues and agents using PeopleSoft CRM group worklists. The values in these fields determine an agent's capacity to accept additional work and thus determine the agent to whom a new email is routed.

Group Worklist is ERMS Queue	Select to make the system create both queue and agent definitions when the group worklist definition is saved. The default REN server for all queues created from the Group Worklist page is established on the System Installations page. The queue can be used by either the ERMS or chat features of PeopleSoft MultiChannel Communications. If worklist entries for other types of transactions (which are not supported in queues) are sent to this worklist, the system treats the worklist as a true worklist. In particular, ERMS alert notifications that are sent to this worklist are delivered though the Worklist page rather than the MultiChannel Console.
Queue Name	Enter the name that is used for the PeopleSoft MCF queue that the system creates when you save the group worklist. The system populates this field with the group worklist name when you select the Group Worklist is ERMS Queue check box.
User ID	Enter user IDs of members who belong to this group worklist. When you save the worklist, the system creates PeopleSoft MCF agent definitions for each user. The agents are automatically made members of the newly created queue. The agents' default maximum workload and skill level come from the default values that you enter on the System Installations page. Subsequent saves create agents and remove agents from the queue as necessary to keep the queue definition synchronized with the worklist definition.
Queue Setup and Agent Setup	Click to access PeopleSoft MCF pages where you can further define the queues and agents that are associated with the group worklist. When you create queue and agent definitions using PeopleSoft CRM group worklists, the system enters only basic required information in those definitions. For example, go to the PeopleSoft MCF Agents component to override the default maximum worklist and skill level for newly created agents and to set up personalizations such as a standard greeting for chat sessions.