Introduction (Release 4.6.2)

Table Of Contents

Introduction

ICM Operating Environment

Central Controller

Network Interface Controller

Peripheral Gateways

Admin Workstations

Network Protocols

Customers and Components

Two-Tier ICM Architecture

Administration Overview

Introduction

Intelligent Contact Management (ICM) software is an application that routes incoming calls across several geographically distributed call centers. Many fault tolerant features are built into the ICM system to ensure that it continually routes calls—even in the event of a computer failure.

The fault tolerant nature of ICM software makes it largely a self-diagnosing and self-maintaining system that requires little on-going administration. Although ICM software employs an open database architecture, most database administration is performed automatically by the system itself or remotely by customer support.

This chapter provides an overview of the ICM system operating environment, components, and network protocols. It also summarizes what's involved in administering an ICM system.

ICM Operating Environment

ICM software consists of several interconnected PCs spread across a wide area network. Figure 1-1 shows a simple ICM configuration.

Figure 1-1 The ICM Environment

In order to provide skills-based call routing at the network level, ICM software receives information from the public telephone network about each incoming call. At the same time, it reads current status information from each call center in the enterprise. Using information from both sources, ICM software determines the best destination for each call. It then directs the public telephone network, or interexchange carrier, on where to route the call.

ICM software uses customer-defined call routing scripts to determine the destination for a call. Routing scripts determine which call center—or even which individual agent—is currently best able to handle a call.

Each call center contains one or more peripherals that handle incoming calls. A peripheral might be an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), Private Branch Exchange (PBX), or Voice Response Unit (VRU). Each peripheral is associated with a Peripheral Gateway (PG) which continuously gathers data on current skill group and agent status from the peripheral and forwards the data to the ICM Central Controller. The call routing scripts use the call center status data to make accurate and informed routing decisions.

ICM software bases its call routing decisions on factors such as the type of service a caller requires, current service levels and agent availability at each call center, and whether a particular call center has agents with the skills needed to handle a specific type of call.

From an Admin Workstation (AW), the system manager can monitor how the system is routing calls and then make any required changes to the call routing scripts. Agent supervisors can use the ICM reporting tools to monitor the performance of agent groups, particular call centers, or a particular service.

The major components of the ICM system include:

•Network Interface Controller (NIC). The NIC is the interface between the public telephone network and ICM software. It receives information about a call from the telephone network and passes the information to the Central Controller for processing. The NIC then receives call routing instructions back from the Central Controller and passes those instructions to the telephone network.

•Central Controller. The Central Controller is a set of processes that resides on one or more computers. The major processes include the CallRouter, Logger, and Database Manager. The Central Controller receives and processes call information from the NIC, reads and collects information from PGs at call centers, and communicates with Admin Workstations. In addition, the Central Controller has a database for persistent storage of data on call center activity, system configuration, and call routing.

•Peripheral Gateways. The Peripheral Gateway (PG) is the interface between call center equipment (ACDs, PBXs, or VRUs) and ICM software. Typically, each call center has a PG that reads status information from call center equipment and sends the information back to the Central Controller.

•Admin Workstations. The Admin Workstation (AW) is the human interface to ICM software. Admin Workstations let you monitor call center performance and make changes to the configuration and routing scripts as necessary.

The entire ICM system runs under the Windows NT operating system (except some NICs, which may run under MS-DOS). The Central Controller and some Admin Workstations have a Microsoft SQL Server database.

Refer to your Microsoft documentation for specific information about Windows NT, MS-DOS, and SQL Server.

The Central Controller, NICs, and PGs can be duplexed for fault tolerance. The term duplexed refers to an arrangement in which two duplicate physical devices act as a single logical device. This concept is described in more detail in Chapter 2, "Fault Tolerance."

Central Controller

The Central Controller is the heart of the ICM system. It consists of several processes, as shown in Figure 1-2.

Figure 1-2 The Central Controller

The components of the Central Controller are as follows:

•Database Manager. The Database Manager (SQL Server) provides persistent storage for information about the system. This includes configuration information about routing clients and call centers, historical data about call center performance, and details about each call routed.

•Logger. The Logger is the interface between the CallRouter and the Database Manager. As the CallRouter receives information from the PGs and Admin Workstations, it passes that information along to the Logger so it can be stored in the database. The CallRouter also passes information to the Logger about the incoming calls it routes.

•CallRouter. The CallRouter receives information about an incoming call from the NIC and determines the best destination for the call. The CallRouter makes its routing decisions based on call routing scripts, which are set up through an Admin Workstation, and real-time call center status information that it receives from Peripheral Gateways.

•Synchronizer. The Synchronizer handles all messages destined for the CallRouter and the Logger. It ensures that the same messages are delivered to both sides of the Central Controller in the same order. The role of the synchronizer is described in more detail in

•Agent. The agent process manages communication between the Central Controller and external devices, such as NICs, Peripheral Gateways, and Admin Workstations.

Network Interface Controller

The Network Interface Controller (NIC) connects directly to the public telephone network. Specifically, the NIC communicates over special data circuits with the telephone signaling network of an interexchange carrier (IXC) or network service provider.

The signaling network acts as a routing client to ICM software. A routing client is any entity that passes information about an incoming call to ICM software and expects to receive routing instructions in return. Using the ICM's routing instructions, the IXC network can deliver the call to the appropriate agent resource (that is service, skill group, trunk group, or route).

The NIC may run on a separate MS-DOS PC that connects to the CallRouter, or it may run as a software process on the CallRouter machine.

Peripheral Gateways

Peripheral Gateways read information from one or more peripherals at a call center and send status information back to the Central Controller. A peripheral might be an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), a Voice Response Unit (VRU), or another device that distributes calls within the call center.

Admin Workstations

The Admin Workstation (AW) allows a supervisor to monitor the real-time activity of ICM software, a specific call center, or a group of agents. It also allows a system manager to make changes to scripts or configuration information and generate historical reports. Several AWs can be connected to an ICM system simultaneously. You can locate AWs with the Central Controller or at remote locations in the network.

One Admin Workstation at each site maintains a connection directly with the CallRouter. This connection is referred to as the real-time feed. The real-time feed is used to send real-time monitoring data to a Distributor AW. The Distributor Admin Workstation receives the real-time data and acts as a data distributor to all other AWs at the site. Admin Workstations that do not serve as distributors are called Client Admin Workstations.

For more information on the real-time feed, see Chapter 2, "Fault Tolerance."

A Distributor AW may optionally serve as an Historical Data Server (HDS). In an HDS configuration, the Logger automatically forwards historical data to the Distributor AW where it is stored in a special HDS database. Other AWs at the site can read historical data from the Distributor AW HDS database rather than from the central database.

For more information on the Historical Data Server option, see Chapter 3, "The ICM Databases.".

Network Protocols

Most communication between ICM software nodes uses TCP/IP. However, the following connections require the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) along with TCP/IP because errors on these paths must be detected very quickly:

•Synchronizer to synchronizer

•NIC to Central Controller agent

•Peripheral Gateway to Central Controller (if private network routing (Post-Routing) is used).

All other connections use TCP/IP.

For more information on the ICM's network requirements, see the Cisco ICM Software Installation Guide.

Customers and Components

Each ICM component is a associated with a customer. Each customer has a name of up to five characters and an associated integer identifier. For a standard ICM installation, all components are associated with a single customer.

For a network service provider (NSP) installation, a single machine might contain separate instances of a component for each customer. For example, each customer has its own Logger component, but all the Loggers for all customers might be on a single computer. Similarly, you might install multiple CallRouters on a single machine.

Typically, each customer has its own PGs and AWs which run on separate computers at the customer premises.

Two-Tier ICM Architecture

In network service provider environments, you can set up a two-tiered architecture in which one ICM passes route requests to a second ICM. The first ICM, called the Network Applications Manager or NAM, typically receives route requests from a carrier network. The NAM may perform simple routing for certain dialed numbers, but for other calls it passes a route request to a second ICM, called the Customer ICM or CICM. Each CICM typically processes all calls for one or more specific customers.

Typically a single NAM can pass route requests to any of several CICMs, as shown in Figure 1-3. Based on the information it has for the call (dialed number, caller-entered digits, and calling line ID), the NAM can choose which CICM should service the route request.

Figure 1-3 Two-Tier ICM Model

The NAM uses the ICR Protocol (ICRP) to pass a route request to a CICM. The CICM must have an ICRP NIC configured. The CICM receives the request, runs a routing script to determine the destination for the call, and returns a routing label to the NAM. The NAM then returns the label to the carrier network.

Peripheral Gateways are associated with a CICM rather than the NAM. The NAM therefore needs only a limited configuration (dialed numbers, labels, basic routing scripts, etc.) while the customer-specific scripts, configuration, real-time, and historical data are stored on the CICM.

The two-tiered Network Applications Manager architecture allows a service provider to perform simple routing (within the NAM) for some customers while providing full ICM functionality (in a CICM) for other customers.

The Cisco ICM Software Network Applications Manager (NAM) Product Description and the Cisco ICM Software Network Applications Manager (NAM) Setup and Configuration provide more information on network service provider ICM environments.

Administration Overview

Because of its fault tolerant design, ICM software requires little ongoing administration. However, there are some aspects of the ICM system that you should understand:

•Fault Tolerant Architecture. The fault tolerant architecture of the ICM system ensures continuous operation in the event of hardware or software failures. Certain system administration tasks may not be necessary depending on the level of fault tolerance present in your ICM system. You should review the ICM's fault tolerant features in order to gain a better understanding of overall system administration.

•ICM Databases. The central database resides on the Central Controller and is used for persistent storage of data. In addition, each Distributor Admin Workstation has its own local database. The local database is used for real-time reporting and storing configuration data and scripts. You should understand how these databases are used in the system. You should also become familiar with the tools used to manage the data in these databases.

•Database Storage. The ICM databases are sized and set up at installation to suit your particular call center enterprise requirements. However, you may want to become familiar with the aspects of system usage that affect database storage capacity. You might also want to review the criteria for sizing the ICM central database.

•General Administration. Although most administration is taken care of automatically by the system, there are several optional administration features you should be aware of (especially if your configuration uses a simplexed Central Controller). These include backing up the central database, performing manual integrity checks on the Distributor AW local database, and examining the Logger's event log files.

•Job Scheduling. The ICM system runs several jobs related to system administration on a regular basis. You can examine these jobs through the Job Scheduler. Although you typically do not have to modify these jobs, the Job Scheduler also allows you to schedule real-time and historical reports to run and print automatically.

•Event Management. You may want to become familiar with the ICM's event management system. ICM software provides several tools for reviewing event data in the system. Event data can aid you in identifying potential system performance problems.

•Support Facilities. ICM software includes several customer support and remote maintenance facilities. You might want to know more about the Distributed Diagnostic and Services Network (DDSN), which is a facility that allows Cisco or NSP support engineers to remotely diagnose and fix problems in an ICM system. You might also be interested in the DDSN's optional serial alarm and SNMP feeds.

The following chapters describe these topics in more detail.

For information on registering users and setting up security for the ICM system, see the Cisco ICM Software Installation Guide. The installation guide also contains information on networking requirements and configuration options for the ICM system components.