[Asterisk-Users] app_queue, fewestcalls and leastrecent logic

[Adam Goryachev]

> First of all I would like to thank Mark for getting roundrobin to go
> roundrobin.  Good job.

Exactly, the whole queue system seems significantly better than it was not
so long ago. Thank very much!

> Now we have some options here for leastrecent and fewestcalls strategy. It
> needs some work on the logic and Mark recommend that I ask the list and
> get some input before he makes any changes to it.

IMHO, leastrecent and fewestcalls should order the 'queue' based on those
parameters. The members of the queue should be called in that order. (Of
course, the priority parameter should be respected first though).

Now, roundrobin should work by always ordering the members in the same
order, but the next interface it tries is always one after the previous one
it tried.

We should also have a type of 'ordered' or similar, which is like roundrobin
but always starts from the same spot. (eg, always call the receptionist
first, then overflow to the accounts person, and then the marketing person
etc...

> Now some of you might recommend autologoff options.  But that also might
> need some work.  I don't want to log off an agent for not answering the
> phone only once.  So here is how I would like to see autologoff work.
>
> Example:
> queue timeout = 20
> agent autologoff = 60
>
> The agent would have to not answer their phone 3 times in a row to get
> logged off.  As it stands now they did not answer just once and get logged
> off.  Thus allow for an employee to use the excuse for not working when
> they should be logged in and taking calls.
>
> Unless i'm wrong here.

This sounds very nice, but perhaps there should also be some sort of
indicator to the user that they have been logged off. If you forget to
logoff before you go to the toilet, you come back, and start doing 'stuff'
while you wait for some calls to arrive and don't realise you have been
logged off.

Some options:

a) Send them an email when they are auto-logged off (a lot of 'agents' may
not have an email account)
b) Send them a voicemail when they are auto-logged off (might have MWI which
provides a visual indicator that you have been logged off)
c) Don't actually log them off, just ignore their extension for a
configurable amount of time. This might even re-act similar to qmail's
logarithmic back-off retry times. ie, suspend for 10 minutes, then retry,
suspend for 30 minutes, retry, suspend for 1 hour, etc... (need a way to log
back on tho)
d) Should also log to cdr when someone is auto-logged off, this way
reporting will show that agent 232 is lazy and never answers the phone,
resulting in always being logged off ....

Other people with more experience in a call centre might have other ideas on
notification methods...

Regards,
Adam