Asterisk ACD Routes calls in a call center environment to appropriate agents, based on skill-sets, time available and priority level To configure ACD we need to configure queues.conf, agents.conf, extensions.conf and sip/iax/zapata.conf

queues.conf If an agent is busy placing a call in a queue, the queues are configured in the queue.conf file Sections of a queue.conf file: The general section supports only persistent members. If set to yes and if a member is added to the system via the AddQueueMember() application, the application will be stored in AstDB and retained when restarting Periodicannounce Periodicannounce and periodic-announce-frequency plays messages such as “Thank you for holding ….” at regular intervals

Weight Assign a rank to the queue. If calls are waiting in multiple queues, then the queue with the highest weight values will be presented to agents first. Leavewhenempty To remove callers from a queue when no agent is present, set this option to yes Wrapuptime Allow a few seconds’ break to an agent after completing a call Memberdelay Delay between the time when a queue identifies a free agent and when the call is connected to that agent

Timeoutrestart If set to yes, then the timeout for an agent is reset if a BUSY or CONGESTION is received Strategy to distribute calls ringallRing all available channels roundrobinUse the first available channel, then the second and so on. Deprecated in 1.4; use rrmemory instead leastrecentRing the interface least recently called by this queue fewestcallsRing the interface handling the fewest calls from this queue randomRing randomly rrmemoryRound robin with memory. Remember where we left off the last ring pass

Timeout Timeout in seconds when calling an agent Announce Play a file to an agent before the caller is connected. Useful for agents who are logged into more than one queue member => member_name Members of queue For example member => group member => agent/501single agent

Monitor-format Record all completed calls. Possible values are wav, gsm, wav49 Monitor-join If set to yes, it is an indication to merge the two files

Extensions.conf application Queue() Format is Queue(queuename[|options[|URL][|announceoverride][|timeout]]) queuenamename of the context in queue.conf Options: tAllow the called user to transfer the call TAllow the calling user to transfer the call hAllow the called person to hangup by pressing * HAllow the calling person to hangup by pressing * nForbid retries if there is a timeout. Exit and move to next extension rRing instead of music-on-hold URLSend a URL to the called user if a channel supports this facility

Announceoverride Set a sound file to override the one set in queues.conf Timeout Maximum time to wait in queue. The next extension will be executed after the timeout

agents.conf Configures agents for the queues The [general] section contains only one parameter, which is persistentagents. This option specifies whether the agent call-back logins have to be stored in an Asterisk database or not. The following parameters define the agents: autologoffHow long the phone has to ring without answering before an agent is logged off ackallIf an agent is logging with agentcallbacklogin, then an acknowledgement is required by pressing the # sign if this option is yes

WrapuptimeTime after the conversation is over MusiconholdDefine the music-on-hold class UpdatecdrChange the source channel in cdr to agent/agent-id to determine which agent generated the call GroupGroup agents for easy management group=groupnumber example group =1 agent => 888,888,user1 Custom-beepAccepts the filename as an argument. Notifies an agent about an incoming call RecordagentcallsAccept the argument yes or no. Specifies whether an agent’s calls should be recorded or not

RecordformatSpecifies the recording format (wav49, gsm or wav) SavecallsinSpecifies the path to store recordings UrlprefixString appended to the start of the text to be added to the recording’s name Creation of agent Format is Agent => agentnumber, agent_password, name Agent_number is an agent’s number Agent_password is an agent’s password Name is an agent’s actual name

Extensions.conf application AgentLogin() Logs an agent to receive calls. An agent can hang-up a call by pressing the * key Format is AgentLogin([AgentNo][,options]) The Option argument contains s, which causes the login to be silent Example Exten => 123,1,AgentLogin(42,s) AgentCallbackLogin() Format is This application asks the agent to login to the system with call back