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Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2 Solution Reference Network Design (SRND)
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Preface
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Architecture Overview
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Deployment Models
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Design Considerations for High Availability
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Unified Contact Center Enterprise Desktop
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Cisco Unified Outbound Dialer
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Cisco Unified Mobile Agent
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Cisco Unified Expert Advisor Option
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Securing Unified CCE
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Sizing Call Center Resources
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Sizing Unified CCE Components and Servers
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Sizing Cisco Unified Communications Manager Servers
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Bandwidth Provisioning and QoS Considerations
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Glossary
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Index
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Table Of Contents
Unified Contact Center Enterprise Desktop
Cisco Agent Desktop Browser Edition
Cisco Desktop Monitoring Console
CTI Toolkit Software Development Kits and User Applications
CTI Driver for Siebel Solution
Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services (MTS)
Cisco Remote Silent Monitoring
Support for Mobile Agent, IP Communicator, and Other Endpoints
Cisco Agent Desktop Presence Integration
Co-Residency of CTI OS and CAD Services on the PG
Support for Mix of CAD and CTI OS Agents on the Same PG
Support for IP Phones and IP Communicator
Miscellaneous Deployment Considerations
High Availability and Failover Recovery
Bandwidth and Quality of Service
References to Additional Desktop Information
Unified Contact Center Enterprise Desktop
Last revised on: October 29, 2008
The Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (CCE) solution delivers a comprehensive set of desktop applications and services. This chapter covers the following major topics related to those desktop applications and services:
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References to Additional Desktop Information
What's New in This Chapter
Table 4-1 lists the topics that are new in this chapter or that have changed significantly from previous releases of this document.
Table 4-1 New or Changed Information Since the Previous Release of This Document
Remote Silent Monitoring (RSM)
Desktop Components
The desktop applications themselves typically run on Agent, Supervisor, or Admin workstations. Services supporting the desktop applications typically run on the CCE Peripheral Gateway (PG) server. Within the CCE deployment, there may be one or more PG systems, and for each PG there is one set of active desktop services, which includes the CTI Object Server (CTI OS) and the Cisco Agent Desktop Base Services (for Cisco Agent Desktop deployments). Figure 4-1 depicts the components within a CCE deployment that support the various desktop applications.
Figure 4-1 Generic Unified CCE Desktop Components
In the Unified CCE solution, the Peripheral Gateway may be deployed in either a simplex or duplex configuration. Duplex configurations provide redundant desktop services for failover recovery support. These systems are typically identified as the primary, or A-side, and the backup, or B-side. For production deployments, a duplex configuration is required.
CTI Object Server
The CTI Object Server (CTI OS) is a high-performance, scalable, fault-tolerant, server-based solution for deploying CTI applications. CTI OS is a required component for CTI Toolkit desktop and Cisco Agent Desktop (CAD) solutions and is Cisco's latest version of the CTI implementation.
Communications from the desktop applications, such as agent state change requests and call control, are passed to the CTI OS server running on the Cisco Unified Peripheral Gateway. CTI OS serves as a single point of integration for CAD desktops, CTI Toolkit desktops, and third-party applications such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, data mining, and workflow solutions.
The CTI Object Server connects to CTI Server via TCP/IP and forwards call control and agent requests to CTI Server, which in turn forwards to the Open Peripheral Controller (OPC). From there, depending on the type of request, OPC will forward to either the CCM Peripheral Interface Manager (PIM) or to the CCE Central Controller.
Requests initiated from the desktop application that affect the agent state are sent to the CCE Central Controller, while requests initiated from the desktop application that affect call control are sent to the CCM PIM. The Unified CCE Central Controller monitors the agent state so that it knows when it can and cannot route calls to that agent and can report on that agent's activities.
Call control flows from the agent desktop application to Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM). Unified CM then performs the requested call or device control. The desktop services located on the PG keep the agent desktop application synchronized with the agent's IP phone state.
CTI Toolkit desktop configuration and behavior information is also managed at the CTI OS server, simplifying customization, updates, and maintenance, and supporting remote management.
CTI Object Server Services
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The CTI Object Server is typically installed in duplex mode, with two CTI OS servers running in parallel for redundancy, one on PG side-A and one on PG side-B. The CTI Toolkit Desktop applications randomly connect to either server and automatically fail-over to the alternate server if the connection to the original CTI OS server fails. CTI OS can also run in simplex mode with all clients connecting to a single server, but Cisco does not recommend this configuration.
Agent capacity sizing for the PG is covered in the chapter on Sizing Unified CCE Components and Servers, page 10-1.
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CAD Base Services
Cisco Agent Desktop (CAD) is a software suite that provides a feature-rich packaged solution. CAD consists of user applications and the CAD Base Services, which can run co-resident on the Peripheral Gateway within a Unified CCE deployment and are required for CAD deployments only. The CAD Base Services provide redundancy and warm standby capabilities.
CAD Base Services
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For more information on CAD, refer to the product documentation available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps427/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (CCE) supports a variety of desktop application choices for agents and supervisors, as described in the following sections.
Agent Desktops
An agent desktop application is a required component of a Unified CCE deployment. The contact center agent uses this application to perform agent state control (login, logout, ready, not ready, and wrap-up) and call control (answer, release, hold, retrieve, make call, transfer, and conference). In addition to these required features, the application can provide enhanced features that are useful in a contact center environment.
There are seven primary types of Unified CCE agent desktop applications available, as listed below.
Agent Desktop Applications Offered by Cisco
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Agent Desktop Applications Offered Through Cisco Partners
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Agent Mobility
Within the Unified CCE deployment, the agent desktop application is not statically associated with any specific agent or IP phone extension. Agents and phone extensions (device targets) are configured within the Unified CCE configuration and associated with a specific Unified CM cluster.
When logging in from an agent desktop application, the agent is presented with a dialog box that prompts for agent ID or login name, password, and the phone extension to be used for this session. At this time the agent ID, phone extension, and agent desktop IP address are dynamically associated. The association is released when the agent logs out.
This mechanism enables an agent to work (or hot-desk) at any workstation. It also enables agents to take their laptops to any Cisco Unified IP Phone and log in from that device (assuming the phone has been configured in the Unified ICM and in Unified CM to be used in the Unified CCE deployment). Agents can also log in to other phones using the Cisco Extension Mobility feature. For more information on Extension Mobility, refer to the Extension Mobility section of the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Features and Services Guide, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/prod_maintenance_guides_list.html
Supervisor Desktops
In addition to the agent desktop application, a supervisor desktop application is also available. The contact center supervisor uses this application to monitor agent state for members within their team. The supervisor desktop also enables Silent Monitoring of agents during active calls.
The available types of Unified CCE supervisor desktop applications are listed below.
Supervisor Desktop Applications Offered by Cisco
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Supervisor Desktop Applications Offered Through Cisco Partners
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Desktop Solutions
Depending on the requirements of the contact center, a particular type of desktop might be better suited to the solution. Table 4-2 contains an abbreviated list of the functionality available in the various desktop applications. It is intended to provide a starting point to determine the desktop that best meets specific solution requirements. Further information is available for each of the Cisco desktops in the sections below and in their respective product specifications at http://www.cisco.com.
Cisco Agent Desktop Solution
The Cisco Agent Desktop (CAD) solution is a suite of packaged desktop applications and services. The CAD solution offers a rich set of features for the contact center environment, including:
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Cisco Agent Desktop Browser Edition (CAD-BE) is a java-based agent application that runs in a browser window on the agent's desktop. It offers a similar look-and-feel as the Cisco Agent Desktop application, with many of the same features. CAD-BE can run in any supported browser on any supported operating system.
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The workflow automation feature allows an administrator to customize the agent environment and how the user applications interact with that environment. Workflow automation enables data processing actions to be scheduled based on telephony events (for example, popping data into a third-party application on the answer event and sending email on the dropped event). Workflow automation interfaces with applications written for Microsoft Windows browsers and terminal emulators. Some customizations can be as simple as using keystroke macros for screen pops.
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The supervisor (and, if enabled, the agent) can record a customer phone call for later review by a supervisor.
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With this service, agents using Cisco Unified IP Phones with XML services can log in and use their phone to perform most of the agent functions found in an agent desktop application.
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A supervisor can text-chat directly with agents or agent teams. Agents can text-chat with supervisors or other team members (if enabled). The supervisor can push web pages to agents and send team messages to agent desktops. Interactive collaboration enables the contact center to communicate better, increase productivity, improve customer responsiveness, and coach or train agents.
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Routine agent tasks, such as email, conference to knowledge workers, launching other applications, high-priority chat, and so forth, can be configured as task buttons on the agent's toolbar to reduce call duration and improve customer responsiveness.
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Supervisors can initiate a silent monitor session with an agent within their team.
CAD User Applications
The CAD user applications include the following applications for call center agents, supervisors, and administrators. There are three types of agent applications included in the CAD suite. (See Figure 4-2.)
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Figure 4-2 Cisco Agent Desktop System Configuration and Components
CAD Application Features
Table 4-3 compares some of the more important features in CAD that can be used to help select the agent application that would work best for a particular deployment.
Table 4-3 Features Supported by CAD User Applications
Call Control
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VPN/Remote Agent Support
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Support for Cisco IP Communicator
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Yes
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Mobile agent support
Yes
Yes
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Outbound Option
Yes
No
N/A
Integrated browser
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Yes
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Call Event Workflow automation
Yes
Yes
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Citrix/Terminal Services support
Yes
N/A
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Agent state workflow automation
Yes
N/A
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Desktop monitoring
Yes
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1 Call control actions are performed by using the IP phone's call control softkeys.
For more information on CAD agent applications, refer to the appropriate user guide, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps427/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Agent Desktop
Cisco Agent Desktop is a Microsoft Windows application that runs on an agent's PC and works with either a hardware IP phone or the Cisco IP Communicator software phone. Cisco Agent Desktop interfaces with the CTI OS service for call control and agent state change events. For all other features, it communicates directly with the CAD services. Cisco Agent Desktop includes support for desktop monitoring, which captures the voice stream on the agent's IP phone to support the silent monitoring and call recording features. Figure 4-3 shows the types of supported CAD agents.
Figure 4-3 CAD Agents and Components
Agent A in Figure 4-3 shows a CAD agent that uses a hardware IP phone. The IP phone is shown directly connected to the agent's PC via a network cable, which is the configuration required for desktop monitoring. The VPN label designates that CAD supports a VPN connection between the agent's PC and the call center network.
Agent B shows a CAD agent that uses the Cisco IP Communicator softphone. This configuration also supports a VPN connection to the call center network. It is the most common configuration for remote agents.
Agent C shows CAD being used with the new Mobile Agent feature. Mobile agents are agents whose phones are not directly controlled by Unified CM. The agent may use their home phone or cell phone as their agent device. In this case, the agent provides a CTI port to associate with their remote phone when they log in. ACD calls for the logged-in agent are sent to the CTI port, which causes the call to appear at the mobile agent's device. There is a logical relationship (shown as a dashed line) between the CAD agent and the mobile phone. The VPN label indicates that CAD will support a VPN connection to the call center network. CAD mobile agents cannot be silently monitored or recorded.
For more information on Cisco Agent Desktop, refer to the Cisco Agent Desktop User Guide, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps427/products_user_guide_list.html
Cisco Agent Desktop Browser Edition
Cisco Agent Desktop Browser Edition (CAD-BE) is a java applet that runs in Microsoft Internet Explorer on the Agent's PC. CAD-BE is related to the IP Phone Agent in that it interfaces to the IP Phone Agent Service for all of it's agent state and call control. However, whereas the IPPA service is limited in features due to the size and graphical features of the IP phone's display, CAD-BE can use the abilities and features of any java applet. This allows CAD-BE to have a small footprint on the agent's desktop and yet offer may features that are also found in the CAD agent Windows application.
CAD-BE Limitations and Features
CAD-BE does not support all the features of CAD. Some of its limitations are related to the limitations of the IPPA application. Some of the main features include:
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Some of the limitations include:
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Cisco Unified IP Phone Agent
Cisco Unified IP Phone Agent (IPPA) runs as an IP phone XML service and does not require the agent to have a PC. The IPPA application allows all the basic features required by a call center agent, as well as some advanced features such as reason codes and call recording.
The IPPA application is a CAD-based agent interface and does not communicate with the CTI OS service. Therefore, IP Phone Agent cannot be used as a backup agent interface for CTI OS-based agents. With IP Phone Agent, agent state control (login, logout, ready, not ready) is done through the IP Phone Agent XML application executing on the Cisco IP Phone. IP Phone Agent call control is done using the normal call control functions on the IP Phone.
A VoIP Monitor service must be used to silently monitor or record calls for IPPA agents.
Figure 4-4 illustrates the components used by IP Phone agents.
Figure 4-4 Cisco IP Phone Agent Components
For more information on IP Phone Agent, refer to the Cisco IP Phone Agent User Guide, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps427/products_user_guide_list.html
Cisco Supervisor Desktop
Cisco Supervisor Desktop provides a graphical view of the agent team being managed by the supervisor. An expandable navigation tree control, similar to Windows Explorer, is used to navigate to and manage the team's resources.
Supervisors are able to view real-time information about the agents in a team as well as interact with these agents. A supervisor can select an agent to change the agent's state, view information specific to that agent, silently monitor or record the agent's calls, barge in or intercept an agent's call, chat with the agent, or push a web page to the agent's desktop.
When Cisco Supervisor Desktop is installed, an instance of Cisco Agent Desktop is installed as well. Cisco Agent Desktop is needed to enable a supervisor to take calls and barge in, intercept, and retrieve skill group statistics.
The Supervisor Work Flow module within Cisco Supervisor Desktop enables configurable actions to be triggered when specific events occur in the contact center. For example, a supervisor work flow can be set up so that, whenever more than 10 calls are in queue for a specific skill group, an audible alert sounds and the skill group name is highlighted in red on the supervisor's desktop. This module enables contact centers to tailor the CAD installation to meet their specific needs.
This version of CAD has added the email alert action to supervisor work flows. This action can be triggered by skill group events (number of calls in queue or longest call in queue) and will send an email to one or more configured email addresses. The email contains information related to the condition that caused the event as well as custom text.
Cisco Supervisor Desktop now contains an integrated web browser that gives supervisors the ability to push web pages to particular agents in their team.
For more information on Cisco Supervisor Desktop, refer to the Cisco Supervisor Desktop User Guide, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps427/products_user_guide_list.html
Cisco Desktop Administrator
Cisco Desktop Administrator enables an administrator to configure the CAD services, Cisco Supervisor Desktop, and CAD agent applications. Individual workflow groups containing agents and supervisors can be configured separately to provide specific functionality to particular groups of agents.
Using Cisco Desktop Administrator, an administrator can configure the following items:
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For more information on Cisco Desktop Administrator, refer to the Cisco Desktop Administrator User Guide, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps427/products_user_guide_list.html
Cisco Desktop Monitoring Console
The Cisco Desktop Monitoring Console is a Java application that monitors the status of the CAD services. It provides a convenient interface for an administrator to use to get real-time information about the CAD system.
CTI Desktop Toolkit Solution
The CTI Desktop Toolkit provides a Software Development Kit (SDK) for custom development of desktop applications. The CTI Desktop Toolkit supports C++, Java, and .NET development Client Interface Libraries (CILs) and provides sample applications for customization.
Additionally, the CTI Desktop Toolkit ships complete with pre-built, ready-to-run agent desktop, supervisor desktop, and call center monitoring applications. These applications can be used as-is or can be customized further to meet the particular needs of a call center.
The CTI Desktop Toolkit also offers advanced tools for integrating desktop applications with a database, Customer Relation Management (CRM) applications, or other contact center applications.
The CTI Toolkit Desktop solution offers a rich set of features for the contact center environment, including:
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CTI Toolkit Software Development Kits and User Applications
The CTI Desktop Toolkit provides the following user tools and applications:
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Figure 4-5 illustrates the architecture of the CTI Desktop Toolkit. For more information regarding the CTI Desktop Toolkit, refer to the CTI OS Developer's Guide for Cisco ICM/IPCC Enterprise and Hosted Editions, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps14/products_programming_reference_guides_list.html
Figure 4-5 CTI Desktop Toolkit Architecture
C++ CIL API
The CTI Desktop Toolkit C++ CIL provides a set of header files and static libraries for building C++ CTI applications using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. The C++ CIL also supports a secure desktop connection between the agent PC and the CTI Object Server on the PG.
Java CIL API
The CTI Desktop Toolkit Java CIL provides a powerful cross-platform library for developing Java CTI applications.
.NET CIL API
The CTI Desktop Toolkit .NET CIL provides native .NET class libraries for developing native .NET Framework applications. The .NET Combo Desktop is provided as a sample application built using the .NET CIL.
COM CIL API
The CTI Desktop Toolkit COM CIL provides a set of COM Dynamic Link Libraries for building Visual Basic 6.0 CTI applications. The CTI Toolkit Agent and Supervisor Desktops are provided as sample applications built with Visual Basic 6.0 and using the COM CIL.
ActiveX Controls
The CTI Toolkit includes a set of ActiveX controls to enable rapid application development. The ActiveX controls are UI components that enable easy drag-and-drop creation of custom CTI applications in a variety of container applications. Container applications include Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Visual C++ 7.0, Borland Delphi, Sybase Powerbuilder, and other applications supporting the OC96 ActiveX standard.
The ActiveX Controls include:
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CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop
The CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop is a Microsoft Windows application that runs on an agent's desktop PC and works with either a hardware IP phone or the Cisco IP Communicator software phone. The CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop interfaces with the CTI OS server for call control and agent state change events.
The CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop includes support for desktop monitoring, which captures the voice stream on the agent's IP phone to support the silent monitoring and call recording features.
CTI Toolkit Supervisor Desktop
The CTI Toolkit Supervisor Desktop is a Microsoft Windows application that runs on a supervisor's desktop PC. The CTI Toolkit Supervisor Desktop interfaces with the CTI OS server for agent state change events and real-time statistics updates. The CTI Toolkit Supervisor Desktop provides the contact center supervisor with the ability to manage a team of agents. Supervisors are able to view real-time information about the agents in a team as well as interact with these agents. A supervisor can select an agent to change the agent's state, view information specific to that agent, silently monitor the agent's call, barge in or intercept the agent's call, or chat with the agent.
A supervisor may also receive emergency assistance requests from agents on their team through the supervisor desktop.
In the Unified CCE, supervisors may also be configured to act as agents. When this is done, the standard set of agent phone controls are available on the Supervisor Desktop.
CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop
The CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop is a Microsoft Windows application that runs on an agent's desktop PC and works with either a hardware IP phone or the Cisco IP Communicator software phone. The CTI Toolkit Outbound Desktop interfaces with the CTI OS server for call control and agent state change events. In addition to the standard set of agent controls present in the CTI Toolkit Agent Desktop, the Outbound Desktop provides a set of controls for managing outbound call campaigns. Outbound calls are automatically managed by the Unified CCE, and the agent utilizes the additional controls to accept the next outbound call.
CTI Toolkit Combo Desktop
The CTI Toolkit Combo Desktop is a Microsoft Windows .NET application that runs on an agent's desktop PC and works with either a hardware IP phone or the Cisco IP Communicator software phone. The CTI Toolkit Combo Desktop interfaces with the CTI OS server for call control and agent state change events.
The Combo Desktop integrates the functionality of the Toolkit Agent, Supervisor, and Outbound desktops into a single .NET application. The Combo Desktop source code is also provided as a starting point for custom desktop development using the Microsoft .NET Framework.
CTI Toolkit All-Agents Monitor
The CTI Desktop Toolkit ships complete with a ready-to-run All-Agents Monitor application. This application provides a call center administrator with the ability to monitor agent login and state activity within the call center.
CTI Toolkit All-Calls Monitor
The CTI Desktop Toolkit ships complete with a ready-to-run All-Calls Monitor application. This application provides a call center administrator with the ability to monitor call activity within the call center.
CTI Driver for Siebel Solution
The Cisco CTI Driver for Siebel is an installable component developed by Cisco that enables integration of the Cisco Unified CCE with the Siebel CRM Environment. In this solution, the Siebel Agent Desktop provides the agent state and call control interface. The Siebel Desktop utilizes the Cisco CTI Driver for Siebel, which is built on top of the CTI Desktop Toolkit C++ CIL to communicate with the CTI Object Server.
For more information on the capability of the Siebel eBusiness solution, refer to the Siebel website at
http://www.siebel.com/index.shtm
Deployment Considerations
This section covers the following deployment considerations:
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Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services (MTS)
This section discusses deploying Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Toolkit Desktop in a Citrix or Microsoft Terminal Services (MTS) environment.
Cisco Agent Desktop
Cisco Unified CCE supports running Cisco Agent Desktop within a Citrix terminal services environment. When planning to use Citrix terminal services for CAD, take the following considerations into account:
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For implementation details, refer to Integrating CAD into a Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server or Microsoft Terminal Services Environment, available at
Cisco Toolkit Desktop
Cisco Unified CCE supports running CTI Toolkit Desktop within the Citrix and Microsoft Terminal (MTS) Services environments. When planning to use Citrix terminal services with the CTI Toolkit Desktop, take into account the following considerations:
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For implementation details, refer to Integrating CAD into a Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server or Microsoft Terminal Services Environment, available at
Silent Monitoring
Silent monitoring enables supervisors to monitor the conversations of agents within their team. Supervisors are not able to participate actively in the conversation, and the agent(s) and caller(s) are unaware they are being monitored. Both the Cisco Agent Desktop and the CTI Desktop Toolkit provide solutions support for silent monitoring. CAD Server-based monitoring supports Agent Desktops, IP Phone Agents, and Mobile Agents. Desktop monitoring supports only desktop agents. CTI OS releases 7.2 and later support two types of silent monitors: CTI OS silent monitor and Unified CM silent monitor.
CTI OS silent monitoring is accomplished via one or more VoIP monitoring services located either on the agent's desktop (desktop monitoring) or on a separate VoIP monitor server (server-based monitoring). CTI OS uses server-based silent monitoring to support mobile agents and desktop-based silent monitoring to support traditional (non-mobile) Unified CCE agents.
Unified CM accomplishes silent monitoring with a call between the supervisor's (monitoring) device and agent's (monitored) device. The agent's phone mixes and sends the agent's conversation to the supervisor's phone, where it is played out to the supervisor. Unified CM silent monitoring can be initiated by any of the CTI OS supervisor desktops (out-of-the-box, Java, or .NET). Any Unified CCE agent desktop, including Siebel, can be silently monitored using Unified CM silent monitoring, provided the following requirements are met:
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Unified CM silent monitoring does not support mobile agents.
Supervisors can use any Cisco IP Phone, including Cisco IP Communicator, to silently monitor.
CTI Toolkit Silent Monitor
A given CTI OS Server can be configured to use either CTI OS silent monitor or Unified CM silent monitor, or to disable silent monitoring. When supervisor desktops connect to the CTI OS Server, this configuration is downloaded. The supervisor desktop uses this information to invoke the configured type of silent monitor when the Start Silent Monitor button is pressed. The initial message from the supervisor desktop is used by the CTI OS Server to drive either the CTI OS or Unified CM silent monitor.
For details regarding the configuration of silent monitoring, system administrators can refer to the CTI OS System Manager's Guide for Cisco ICM/IPCC Enterprise & Hosted Editions, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps14/prod_installation_guides_list.html
Developers implementing either the CTI OS or Unified CM silent monitor should refer to the CTI OS Developer's Guide for Cisco ICM/IPCC Enterprise & Hosted Editions, available at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps14/products_programming_reference_guides_list.html
Unified CM Silent Monitor
This section describes how CTI OS accomplishes silent monitoring when the CTI OS Server is configured to use the Unified CM silent monitor.
Unified CCE 7.2(1) adds support for the silent monitoring functionality available in Unified CM 6.x. Figure 4-6 illustrates the following message flow, which occurs when the Unified CM silent monitor is initiated by the supervisor desktop:
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Figure 4-6 Unified CM Silent Monitoring for Unified CCE
Unified CM silent monitoring works the same as other call control functionality provided by Unified CM (such as conference, transfer, and so forth). When Unified CM is used for silent monitoring, a message is sent from the desktop, through Unified CCE, through Unified CM, and out to the phones where silent monitoring is executed.
The messaging through Unified CCE and Unified CM impacts Unified CCE performance. For further details regarding the impact of Unified CM silent monitoring on Unified CCE sizing, see the chapter on Sizing Unified CCE Components and Servers, page 10-1.
Unified CM silent monitoring is supported only for agents who are connected to Unified CCE on the LAN; it does not support mobile agents and remote agents (agents connected to Unified CCE across a WAN).
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CTI OS Silent Monitor
This section describes how CTI OS accomplishes silent monitoring when the CTI OS Server is configured to use the CTI OS silent monitor.
The silent monitoring solution provided by CTI Toolkit in Release 7.0 and earlier was integrated in the CIL. The CIL had components to capture and forward voice packets as well as components to play back a stream of forwarded voice packets to the supervisor's sound card. This feature limited silent monitoring support to IPCC agent desktops deployed behind a Cisco IP Phone and IPCC supervisor desktops deployed on the supervisor's desktop.
In Release 7.1 of CTI OS, two new deployment types were introduced: Citrix and Mobile Agent. In these two deployments, the CIL is not deployed where it has access to the voice stream. In Citrix, the CIL is located on the Citrix Server. Agents and supervisors use a Citrix client to run the desktop. When this is done, the desktop runs on the Citrix server. The Citrix client merely displays the UI of the desktop. Because it is the agent's Citrix client that is deployed behind the IP phone, the CIL no longer has access to the voice path. Similarly, it is the supervisor's Citrix client that has the sound card. In this case, the CIL is running on the Citrix server and does not have access to the sound card.
In Mobile Agent deployments, the CIL is deployed on an agent's remote PC. When the agent uses an analog phone, the CIL does not have access to the voice stream.
To support these two deployment models, it was necessary to break the silent monitor components out of the CIL and put them on a separate service. This allows the service to be deployed where it has access to the agent's voice stream or the supervisor's sound card.
The following figures show where the silent monitoring service should be deployed for each deployment model. The red line in each diagram illustrates the path of the monitored voice stream.
Figure 4-7 and Figure 4-8 illustrate deployments where the agent uses an IP phone. In these deployments, silent monitoring is configured the same way regardless of whether the agent is mobile or not.
Figure 4-7 Silent Monitoring for Cisco Unified CCE When a Mobile or Local Agent Uses an IP Phone
The deployment in Figure 4-7 is very similar to CTI OS Release 7.0 and earlier deployments. The only difference is that the silent monitoring service is running alongside the CIL to provide silent monitoring functionality.
Figure 4-8 Silent Monitoring for Cisco Unified CCE with Citrix When a Mobile or Local Agent Uses an IP Phone
In the deployment model in Figure 4-8, the silent monitoring service is deployed on Citrix clients, where it has access to the agent's voice stream and the supervisor's sound card. The CIL makes a connection to the silent monitoring service and sends it instructions over a TCP connection in order to start and stop silent monitoring sessions.
Figure 4-9 Silent Monitoring for a Mobile Agent Using a PSTN Phone
In the deployment model in Figure 4-9, one silent monitoring service is deployed on a switch's SPAN port in order to gain access to voice traffic passing through the agent gateway. This silent monitoring service is used by agents to forward their voice streams to supervisor silent monitoring services.
Supervisors running locally are deployed the same as IPCC supervisors. Supervisors running remotely are also deployed the same as IPCC supervisors, but a Cisco 800 Series Router with hardware-based VPN is required in order for the supervisor to receive agent voice streams.
Figure 4-10 Silent Monitoring for a Mobile Agent Using a PSTN Phone with Citrix or Microsoft Terminal Services
In the deployment model in Figure 4-10, one silent monitoring service is deployed on a switch's SPAN port in order to gain access to voice traffic passing through the agent gateway. This silent monitoring service is used by agents to forward their voice streams to supervisor silent monitoring services. Mobile agents need to run only their Citrix clients. Agent desktops running on the Citrix server will connect to the silent monitoring server.
Supervisors running locally are deployed the same as Citrix IPCC supervisors. Supervisors running remotely are also deployed the same as Citrix IPCC supervisors, but a Cisco 800 Series Router with hardware-based VPN is required in order for the supervisor to receive agent voice streams.
In the two mobile agent deployments above (Figure 4-9 and Figure 4-10), calls whose voice traffic does not leave the agent gateway cannot be silently monitored. This includes agent-to-agent calls as well as agent consultations with other agents. The only calls that can be reliably monitored in this case are calls between agents and customers. This is because the mobile agent solution requires separate gateways for callers and agents to ensure that voice traffic is put on the network.
Clusters
If a mobile agent's login can be handled by one of two gateways, it is possible to cluster two silent monitoring servers together to provide silent monitoring functionality regardless of the gateway that handles the call. When a request to silent-monitor the agent is received, the silent monitoring server that receives the request from the agent desktop will forward the request to its peer, and then both silent monitoring servers will attempt to detect the stream. Once the agent's voice stream is detected, it is forwarded to the supervisor's silent monitoring service by the silent monitoring server that detected the stream.
For more information regarding deployment and configuration of the silent monitoring service, refer to the CTI OS System Manager's Guide for Release 7.1, available on http://www.cisco.com.
Message Flow
Figure 4-11 illustrates the messaging that occurs between the desktops, CIT OS Server, and silent monitoring services when a silent monitor session is initiated. Note that messaging between the desktops and the CTI OS Server has not changed from CTI OS Release 7.0.
Figure 4-11 Message Flow Between Desktops, CTI OS Server, and Silent Monitoring Service
Connection Profiles
In mobile agent deployments, agent desktops learn where and how to connect to their silent monitoring server using a CTI OS connection profile. When an agent logs in, the agent desktop uses the following algorithm to determine where the silent monitoring service is located:
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Supervisor desktops use the following algorithm to find their silent monitoring service:
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If the IPCCSilentMonitorEnabled key is set to 0 in the connection profile, no attempt is made to connect to a silent monitoring service.
Cisco Remote Silent Monitoring
This section covers Cisco Remote Silent Monitoring. Remote Silent Monitoring (RSM) is a new feature available for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Release 7.2 and later that allows for the real-time monitoring of agents as a dial-in service.
The RSM solution consists of three components:
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For a further description of these components, refer to the Cisco Remote Silent Monitoring Installation and Administration Guide, available at http://www.cisco.com.
Hardware Considerations
The RSM solution is highly integrated part of a Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise environment. Because of this, the functioning of RSM requires resources from various other components of the platform as a whole. To properly integrate RSM, then, requires an understanding of its interactions with the rest of the environment so that capacity can be properly planned, provisioned, and managed.
Platform Considerations
In particular, RSM interacts mainly with the following components in the environment:
Unified CM Cluster
The RSM server has two tie-ins with each Unified CM cluster in the environment that it is configured to use:
Simulated Phones: RSM's PhoneSim component requires that a Cisco Unified IP Phone 7941 device entry be created on the Unified CM cluster for each of the simulated phones (or "simphones") it is configured to manage. For instance, a RSM system that is configured to handle up to 100 dialed-in supervisors monitoring agents on a particular Unified CM cluster will need to have at least of these 100 simphones. To the Unified CM cluster itself, these simphones appear as normal Cisco Unified IP Phone 7941 SIP phones; however, in reality they are homed to and controlled by PhoneSim instead of being an actual physical phone device.
When compared with the usage profile of a normal phone, the simphone usually puts a lighter load on the Unified CM cluster. This is because it exhibits only a small set of behaviors, consisting of:
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JTAPI: When RSM is integrated into the environment, a JTAPI user is created and associated with each agent phone device that can be monitored, as well as with each simphone device that was created on the cluster.
When an agent is to be monitored, a JTAPI monitor request call is made from the RSM server to the Unified CM cluster that manages that agent's phone. Also, while RSM is in use, a JTAPI CallObserver is kept attached to each simphone device. It is also attached to an agent phone device, but only while the JTAPI monitor request is being issued to that device.
JTAPI connections may optionally be encrypted. However, this will induce a slight performance penalty on the server itself when higher agent loads are utilized. For more information on enabling JTAPI connection security, refer to the Cisco Remote Silent Monitoring Installation and Administration Guide, available at http://www.cisco.com.
AXL: AXL usage is relatively light; it is used by RSM only to resolve an agent DN to an associated device name whenever a caller requests to monitor to an agent. All AXL communications are encrypted (via being run over HTTPS).
CTI OS Server
RSM makes a persistent "monitor-mode" connection to each CTI OS server it is configured to use. Through this connection certain platform events such as call start, call end, agent on hold, and so forth, are streamed in real-time.
Besides this, RSM will make an additional, short-lived "agent-mode" connection to possibly each CTI OS server when a supervisor dials in and authenticates. The purpose of this connection is to validate the supervisor's entered credentials by performing a corresponding login into CTI OS. Note that, if the built-in authentication mechanisms of the RSM callflow (for example, the checkCredentials API call) are not used, this connection is not made. If the login is successful, that supervisor's team membership is requested by the RSM server. Once returned, a logout is called and the connection is terminated.
Note that the total supervisor count in Unified CCE must be spread across CTI OS desktop users and RSM. For example, in a 2000 agent configuration, up to 200 agents can be supervisors. This means that the total supervisor count between CTI OS and RSM must not exceed 200.
CTI OS connections may be optionally encrypted (via use of IP Sec configurations). However, this will induce a significant performance penalty on the server itself when higher agent loads are utilized. For more information on enabling CTI OS connection security, refer to the Cisco Remote Silent Monitoring Installation and Administration Guide, available at http://www.cisco.com.
VRU
The RSM platform does not directly media-terminate inbound calls. Instead, supervisors dial into a Unified CVP or IP IVR-based VRU system, which runs call flow script logic that interacts with services hosted on the RSM server via HTTP. Thus, if a given RSM installation is to support up to 40 dialed-in supervisors, there must be a VRU present (as well as the necessary PRI/network resources) that can offer this same level of support.
Furthermore, a caller accessing RSM will often place a higher load on the VRU's processor(s) and memory than a caller accessing some more traditional IVR-type callflow. This is because, in a more traditional IVR callflow, shorter, oftentimes cached or non-streamed prompts are played, separated by periods of caller input gathering and silence. With RSM, however, the predominant caller activity is monitoring an agent's call, and to the VRU this looks like the playback of a long streaming audio prompt, which is an activity that requires a relatively high level of VRU processor involvement.
With Unified CVP deployments, supported VXML gateway models are listed in the Hardware and System Software Specification for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (Unified CVP), otherwise known as Unified CVP Bill of Materials (BOM), available at http://www.cisco.com.
When provisioning a VRU for use by RSM, a good rule of thumb is to count each RSM call as 1.3 non-RSM calls on a processor/memory-usage basis. So for a VRU that can normally handle 40 concurrent calls, plan for it to be able to handle only 30 RSM calls. ((40 * 1.3) = 30)
Also note that RSM makes extensive use of VXML Voice Browser functionality under both Unified CVP and IP IVR.
Agent Phones
Use of RSM to monitor an agent requires that that agent's phone be a third generation of newer Cisco Unified IP Phone 79x1, 79x2, 79x5, 7970 or newer. This is because these phones include extra DSP resources in the form of a Built-in-Bridge (BiB). The BiB allows the phone to fork off a copy of the current conversation stream to the RSM server.
Cisco Unified Contact Manager provides for a maximum of one active monitoring session per agent because the agent's phone can handle only one active monitoring session and one active recording session at any given time.
So, if a third-party recorder is recording the agent's conversations, the agent can still be monitored by a supervisor using supervisor desktop or RSM. However, if both a RSM-based supervisor and a supervisor-desktop-based supervisor both tried to monitor the agent during the same time period, the request would fail with the last one to try because it would exceed the above-mentioned monitoring limit.
Note that RSM will set up only one monitoring session through Unified CM for a single monitored agent, even if two or more RSM users are requesting to monitor the agent's call at the same time. In this case, RSM forks the stream to cover all RSM users. This allows more than two RSM-based supervisors to monitor the same agent, for instance. However, if there are multiple RSM servers in the environment that monitor the same agent, they will each make a separate monitoring call to that agent.
If the monitoring call limit has been reached for a specific agent and a dialed-in supervisor then attempts to monitor this same agent, the supervisor's request will be denied via an audio prompt feedback from the system stating that the agent cannot be monitored.
RSM Hardware Considerations
RSM is supported in installations where the number of agents in the enterprise is less than 8,000 and the number of maximum concurrent number supervisors using the system is less than 80. In all supported RSM configurations, the VLEngine and PhoneSim components are installed on the same physical server.
For more information, ref
