UCCX: Introduction to Unified Contact Center Express

0:10I'm super excited for you to join me

0:12as we go over UCCX or Unified Contact Center Express.

0:15And this is Cisco's solution to-- or one

0:18of the Cisco solutions-- to set up call centers

0:21within your environment.

0:22We're talking about a caller or a customer

0:24callling into your environment.

0:26They hear prompts.

0:27Maybe they're waiting in queue.

0:28You're configuring agents to answer those phone calls.

0:30And what's neat about Contact Center Express

0:32is there are so many options.

0:33There are so many knobs that you can

0:35turn depending on wherever need that your call center may have.

0:38So my goal here is not only to discuss Contact Center Express

0:41and also install it and configure it,

0:42but also to go over the different terminology that you

0:45may hear-- like resources, contact service queue skills--

0:48but also go over the scripting portion.

0:50And I find, on many teams, there's

0:52either one or two individuals that really

0:54deal with the administration from Contact Center Express

0:56because the other folks don't want to touch it

0:58because it's too complex.

0:59I don't understand it.

1:00I don't know how to script.

1:02And the reality is that Contact Center Express

1:04is a really cool technology when it comes to setting up

1:07your call centers.

1:07And the scripting portion--

1:09once you see it and once you practice it on your own

1:12and you create a couple of scripts--

1:13it's not really that difficult.

1:15So throughout this course, we'll go

1:16through several different scripts

1:18that you'll see me create from scratch that you can also

1:20use in your environment.

1:21But I hope to inspire you to create your own scripts that

1:24would be perfect or suitable for your call center.

1:27So, at the end of the day, everybody's scripts

1:29are a little bit differently.

1:30I've had colleagues that will have

1:32one way of doing it compared to someone else that

1:34has a totally different way of writing that same script

1:37but accomplishing the same angle.

1:39We'll also go over the Cisco Finesse desktop, the reporting

1:42aspect of Contact Center Express,

1:44and the overall administration of the UCCX server.

1:47So, as I stated, I'm really pumped

1:48about recording this content.

1:49And I thank you for taking the journey with me.

1:51And I'll see you in the next video.

0:00[MUSIC PLAYING]

0:10So in this Nugget, we will start the discussion of UCCX

0:13by talking what is exactly Contact Center Express.

0:16You may also hear UCCE or PCCE, that's the Contact Center

0:19Enterprise Solution, and we'll briefly talk about that.

0:22And finally, we'll go over the several different versions

0:25of CCX.

0:26When it comes to UCCX or Unified Contact Center Express,

0:30this is a Contact Center In A Box solution.

0:35So now when it comes to call centers,

0:36we actually use it every single day.

0:38For example, one hour ago, my internet went down in my home

0:42and I had to call my provider.

0:44So once I called in, I reached an IVR--

0:47which stands for Interactive Voice Response--

0:49then I choose an option, which I believe was one, for support.

0:52I listened to some music on hold, so I knew I was in queue.

0:55And eventually, I was routed to an agent where we then

0:59started to troubleshoot and discuss

1:00why my internet was down.

1:02So in essence, I head down to a call center

1:05where I was able to find--

1:07or the system that they manage was

1:09able to find an agent that was available to take my call.

1:12And when it comes to a call center,

1:14UCCX allows us to handle those customer contacts,

1:17either if they come by phone, maybe they come via chat,

1:20or maybe they come via email.

1:23So when it comes to UCCX, which you would often hear me

1:27or many others refer to as CCX, Contact Center Express,

1:31or if you read all your documentation,

1:33you'll see IPCC, which stands for IP-based Contact Center.

1:39But the UCCX application gives us

1:41features that are made available for us to build

1:45this call center environment.

1:46We have the option for ACD, and this is how we route

1:50calls to our agents.

1:52And this is done a couple of different ways, which we'll see

1:54when we start configuring CCX.

1:57But we can assign skills, for example.

1:59So maybe if I hit option one for Spanish,

2:01I want to route that call to agents who only speak Spanish.

2:05Or maybe option two for sale, so I

2:07want to write that call to only agents that are in that sales

2:10department or have the tools to answer those sales

2:13questions from our customers.

2:15So when it comes to ACD, think, this

2:17is how we distribute our calls in our environment.

2:20We also have IVR, so Interactive Voice Response,

2:24and this is where we can provide voice menus.

2:28So we can provide option one for sales, option 2 for support.

2:32This is done by either DTMF--

2:36and that's that Dual-tone Multi-frequency,

2:38or we could provide the caller the ability to say,

2:41"One", or "Support".

2:43And then that call will be routed based

2:45on whatever the caller spoke.

2:47We also have Computer Telephony Integration.

2:50And if we look at the definition of CTI,

2:52it allows us to leverage computer processing functions.

2:58Well, our agents either receive or make phone calls,

3:01but what are some example of these computer processing

3:03functions?

3:05For example, this agent here may want

3:07to control her physical phone from her PC via the Finesse

3:12Agent Desktop, maybe to make a call or terminate the call.

3:15That's done by using CTI.

3:17Or maybe when a customer calls in,

3:19before the call is presented to the agent within their screen,

3:23they're populated with the customer name, the account

3:25number, and other information pertaining to that caller.

3:29And that's done by doing a database dip

3:31or referencing 4 database.

3:34When that information is presented to the agent,

3:36they have all the information they need in order

3:38to better serve their customer.

3:41That's also perform via CTI.

3:44So when we say Contact Center In A Box solution,

3:47we are referencing that ACD, IVR, and that CTI integration

3:52to allow us to handle our calls in our environment in the most

3:55optimal way possible we can serve our customers.

3:58So throughout this course, we'll focus

4:00on CCX, all the different pieces that we can

4:03configure via the application.

4:05We'll also look at scripting, that

4:07gives us total power on what the caller experiences when they

4:11call in to our call center, the prompts

4:13that they hear, if they hear a menu,

4:15how they're routed to an agent, for example.

4:17And this part seems to scare a lot of people off,

4:19and I'm far from a programmer, so I would never

4:23consider myself being a programmer,

4:24but we'll go through several different scripts,

4:27and we'll build them from scratch,

4:28so you can see how they're created.

4:30But once you get the hang of it, then at that point,

4:32the possibilities are endless into how

4:35you want your call center to behave when a caller calls in.

4:39But this is where I think this is

4:40cool is because you can truly customize your call

4:44center to give the customer the best experience possible.

4:47So when it comes to CCX, you might

4:49have heard Packaged Contact Center Enterprise or PCCE,

4:53or maybe Unified Contact Center Enterprise or UCCE.

4:58So with UCCX, this is made for up to 400 agents.

5:03So in the documentation, you will

5:05see this referred to as small or medium business.

5:08And definitely, don't let these small or medium-sized business

5:12scare you off, I've had the application deployed

5:14in every environment that I have worked at.

5:17And when we say 400 agents, that is concurrent.

5:20So 400 agents logged in at the same time

5:23with a match of 2000 configured agents.

5:26Now, there's a scenario where we needed

5:28to get past this 400 number, that's

5:30when you would look at these other solutions,

5:33or you can set up a second UCCX cluster.

5:36So you easily could have your CUCM environment,

5:39and have cluster one of CCX integrated with CUCM,

5:45but you could also have a second cluster integrated

5:48to that same CUCM cluster.

5:51So I've seen this when you want to get past this 400 number.

5:54I've also seen this where this cluster has a very

5:57high profile call center.

5:59So this is what makes the company money,

6:01so we want to give them a dedicated cluster

6:03while every other IVR or every other team

6:06is on this second cluster here.

6:08Because if this one goes down, it's

6:10not as impactful to the bottom line

6:13as if this call center went down there.

6:16So once you start getting into a larger enterprise, that's when

6:19you will look at PCCE or UCCE.

6:23So in Packaged Contact Center Enterprise,

6:25we have the ability to have up to 12,000 agents

6:28take phone calls at the same time.

6:29With Unified Contact Center Enterprise,

6:31that number jumps to 24,000, that's a lot of agents.

6:35Now when it comes to architecture,

6:39CCX is very different from Contact Center Enterprise.

6:43With CCX, you have one or two servers,

6:47if you have high availability, performing

6:50all of the functions for a call center.

6:52With Contact Center Enterprise, you

6:53have many components involved.

6:56And those components all are responsible

6:59for different features within the call center,

7:01so it's definitely a different beast.

7:02When it comes to scripting, the scripting

7:05is different in both solutions.

7:07So just because you have a script that you've created

7:10within CCX, you cannot port that over to CCE because it's just

7:15a different scripting altogether.

7:18So in the event that you're looking at way more than 400

7:21agents, then you will have to contact a Cisco

7:24partner to start having those conversations to deploy

7:26the enterprise solution in your environment.

7:29And then if you want a cloud solution,

7:31we have our Webex Contact Center.

7:33So again, this is a different animal,

7:35but the scripting here is also different.

7:38It's all cloud based, so you don't

7:39have any on-prem equipment.

7:40The agent desktops are also different.

7:44So what the agents use to handle their phone

7:46calls, and chats, and emails.

7:48And then your environment, especially your CUBE,

7:51may need some additional configuration, and also

7:54the proper licensing, so you can have

7:56call flows from your environment over to the hosted cloud Webex

8:01Contact Center.

8:02So in this course, we're focused on CCX,

8:04but we want to make you aware that there are other solutions

8:07depending on the number of agents that you need,

8:10or if you want to stick strictly to on-prem--

8:13or I'm sorry, hosting and not have anything on-prem.

8:17So here we have additional features

8:18of the Contact Center Express also provides

8:21[INAUDIBLE] the inbound voice.

8:22That's when someone calls into your IVR--

8:25and somehow his neck doesn't look right to me.

8:28There you go.

8:28So someone comes in and they hear a menu with prompts,

8:31and they're routed to an agent if you choose to do so.

8:35Maybe you're collecting digits.

8:37Have you stated your router to an agent?

8:40Maybe you want to advertise your position in queue

8:43or maybe wait times.

8:45But orders can be provided when someone

8:47calls into your call center.

8:49We also have outbound campaigns.

8:50So instead of having customers call all this inbound,

8:53we are calling them outbound.

8:55To better understand this, let's discuss a couple of scenarios.

8:58So I used to work for a furniture company

9:00that when you bought furniture, they would call you

9:03days before to tell you that your furniture will

9:05be delivered.

9:06So therefore they want to confirm the appointment.

9:08That was a outbound call made from our environment

9:11to the person there based on the phone number

9:13that they provided.

9:14So that was used to confirm their delivery.

9:17Maybe a doctor's office is calling

9:19you to confirm your appointment for next Monday,

9:22maybe someone is calling you for a customer survey.

9:25For example, we know it's you calling into our call center.

9:27How did we do today?

9:29We also have the option to do agent email.

9:31So we can route these emails to agents

9:33just like you would a phone call,

9:35and those agents can handle those emails.

9:38Currently at the time of recording,

9:40agent email is only available through exchange,

9:43or supported through a change, or through Office 365

9:48along with Gmail.

9:50It also requires you to have Cisco social minor

9:53which is another application.

9:55And social minor handles the chat and email channels.

10:00So it handles that chat or email flow

10:02to the client who either launched that chat maybe

10:05from a website or probably from a website,

10:08or an email that was received on the agent desktop.

10:10You also have the option to connect

10:12to an agent via a webchat.

10:13So this is nice when someone can browse to a website,

10:17then they can have a pop up there

10:18and you can be routed to an agent directly.

10:20You can chat with an agent instead

10:22of being there on the phone.

10:23So I could be working at the same time

10:25while I have an agent conversation popped up

10:28in a different window.

10:29We also have historical and real time

10:31reporting that provides us reports about our call center

10:35environment.

10:35Maybe how many abandoned calls we have,

10:40or maybe we want reports about our agents

10:42logging in and logging out, or maybe we

10:46want reports of our agents in regards to the state

10:50that they're in.

10:50So when we talk about agent state,

10:52and agent can take a call by being ready

10:55or there won't be offered the calls if they go, not ready.

10:58But there are different states that we can have,

11:00and therefore you can run a report

11:02to see Bob, for example, how long he

11:06was in one of these states.

11:08Bob will over reports later, but you

11:10have so many different reports that someone, a supervisor,

11:13or a customer manager can run against their environment.

11:16And then we have our fiscal finance desktop.

11:18So in previous versions of UCCX, I think 10

11:22and before, we had the CAD client.

11:25And that was Cisco agent desktops.

11:27There was a piece of software that you

11:28would have to install on a client PC

11:31so they can have that software to help answer calls

11:35or handle those calls.

11:36As of version 11, this has gone away

11:39and now we only have the web based Cisco Finesse.

11:45So Cisco Finesse is the web interface

11:47for agents and supervisors to log in, change your states,

11:50and also receive those phone calls.

11:52And what's nice is that there is no software to install.

11:54And there was a little bit of a pain

11:56because if you upgraded UCCX or applied an update,

11:59you also had to update the software

12:01that these clients were using.

12:03And if you have 300 agents out there for example,

12:06not only do you have to be concerned about upgrading UCCX

12:09property, but we also have to be concerned

12:12with updating this client software for all those agents

12:15so they can take phone calls.

12:16But now with the web based Cisco finance,

12:19we don't have to worry about that.

12:21And then finally, there are different versions of UCCX

12:23that's that you can run.

12:24And you can run a unified IP IVR.

12:27So with this IVR, you can play prompts.

12:29And when I say prompts, it's a wavefile.

12:31So that's the sound that you hear, thank you

12:33for calling the company ABC.

12:35Press one for that or press two for this.

12:38But with this IVR only solution, we

12:40don't have that ACD functionality.

12:43So we could not route calls to agents in our environment.

12:46So this was usually used to connect a system

12:49or provide IVR functionality to UCCE or Contact Center

12:55Enterprise.

12:55But it can also be used to build IVR only solutions.

12:59So maybe you have an IVR that just provides information,

13:03but there's no need to actually route to an agent.

13:06We also have enhanced and premium.

13:08So if you're looking for that inbound voice

13:10and I'll use abbreviated here, enhanced and premium

13:13would definitely give you that.

13:14If you want HA, High Availability, enhance

13:17and premium will also give you that.

13:19What if you want to have an outbound IVR?

13:22As a case, you have to go a premium because that's not

13:25an option for enhanced.

13:26What if you wanted to do agent email or agent chat?

13:30That's also an option for premium and not enhanced.

13:33What if you wanted to do some integration with databases?

13:37Again, that's an option in premium

13:39now available in enhanced.

13:40So choosing what version that you need in your environment

13:43really depends just on that.

13:45What are the requirements for your environment?

13:48And now as a version 12, UCCX is now part of that Flex licensing

13:53that is a subscription model that its goal is

13:57to simplify licensing.

13:59So we definitely won't get into licensing here,

14:02but wanted to make you aware of the different UCCX

14:04versions that are out there.

14:06So in this Nugget, we went over and start our discussion

14:09on what exactly is Contact Center Express.

14:11And pretty much, it's just a call center in a box.

14:14So it allows you to set up a call center environment that

14:17is highly flexible and customizable so you

14:19can serve your customers.

14:21We also went over some of the features of UCCX

14:24and also we talked briefly talked about Contact Center

14:27Enterprise and how that solution is meant for larger deployments

14:30if you need to go beyond that 400 agent number or limitation

14:35of UCCX.

14:36And we also went over different versions of UCCX

14:39when it came to licensing the IVR solution, enhanced,

14:43and premium.

14:43And then that's not it, but we're

14:44going to go with different terminology

14:46that you may hear when we're talking about UCCX, otherwise

14:49skills, and resourcing, CSQs.

14:51So we'll discuss what those are.

14:52I hope this has been informative for you.

14:54I do thank you for viewing.

0:00[MUSIC PLAYING]

0:10So in this Nugget, we'll discuss some terminology

0:12when it comes to UCCX.

0:14Sometimes you'll read documentation or have

0:16conversations with other folks.

0:18And they'll use these terms.

0:19And if you're not familiar with them, you might get lost.

0:21So in this Nugget, we'll review those terms

0:23and see what they mean.

0:25First, we'll start with CTI--

0:26and we already briefly spoke about this--

0:28Computer Telephony Integration.

0:30This allows our computer systems,

0:32our different applications, to interact with telephony.

0:36So maybe we are trying to interact with email or text

0:40messaging or maybe live chat.

0:43So when it comes to CUCM and Contact Center Express,

0:48we use CTI here by creating, quote,

0:51"fake phones" on the CUCM side.

0:54They're really CTI ports.

0:55And that's how we are able to send phone calls from CUCM

0:59over to CCX by using these CTI ports, which, at that point,

1:04UCCX will have an application-- which we'll get into later.

1:08But then we'll execute a script, so it can handle that call.

1:11So first, we have CTI route points.

1:13Now I've included screenshots here

1:14because I believe a picture is worth a thousand words.

1:17And if we just talk about this, you may get it.

1:19You may not.

1:20But if I show you pictures, then we

1:22may have a better understanding of what the CTI route

1:25point actually is.

1:26So a CTI route point is just a number.

1:29It's actually an extension.

1:31But it's a number that we can dial

1:33to reach certain CTI-based applications, like CCX.

1:37Here we have a screenshot within CUCM.

1:39Anytime the CTI route point is dialed,

1:42CUCM then knows where this call should be routed to.

1:45Now, in CUCM, they're called CTI route points.

1:48In Contact Center Express, they're called triggers.

1:52And, again, we'll see this when we configure this.

1:54But we can see the extension associated with this CTI route

1:57point is 7778.

1:58And the trigger associated with this application is also 7778.

2:03So a CTI route point does not terminate the media.

2:06They just use it at the first point

2:08as far as call routing to Contact Center Express.

2:10Now, when CCX receives a call from CUCM,

2:13it attempts to find a see CTI port.

2:15And this is what I referred to as a fake phone,

2:18as a virtual phone, on CUCM.

2:19It allows us to take calls or make calls

2:22and is also responsible for playing those prompts

2:25that you may hear on an IVR.

2:27It's also responsible to collect data.

2:30The CTI port is what actually terminates

2:32the media on the UCCX server.

2:34So, again, CTI ports are just virtual ports

2:37that allow the call to be established

2:40and is used to route the media for that call.

2:45And we see later, when we'll install and configure CCX,

2:48the CTI ports are seen on CUCM just like ordinary phones.

2:52And in fact in registration, you'll see the IP address.

2:55An IP address that is being used is the IP address

2:58of that UCCX server.

3:00Next, we have call control group.

3:03And a call control group is a group of CTI ports.

3:07Now, we can have multiple call control

3:08groups in our environment.

3:10And we create these groups to control the CTI ports

3:13or this group of CTI ports.

3:14And you may ask, well, why would you

3:16want to create separate groups?

3:18And we'll see later, not shown here,

3:20but we have options such as partitions

3:23and also calling search spaces or maybe

3:26the music on hold setting.

3:28But there's additional settings that we can apply on a per call

3:32control basis that we might need to do so

3:35based on whatever application is using this call control group.

3:37And, again, we'll see this when we go through the install.

3:40But the screenshot here, here we have a single call control

3:44group.

3:44We have a number of ports, being 10,

3:47and starting with the directory number of 7,000.

3:50If I go to the previous screen, here's

3:53where we see those 10 ports starting from 7,000 all

3:57the way to 7,009.

3:59So this is our CTI ports.

4:00And they're created once we configure our call control

4:04group.

4:04And, again, just for now, we're focusing on the terminology.

4:07And, later, when we go through the install,

4:09we'll put all these pieces together.

4:11Next we have a CSQ, or a Contract Service Queue.

4:15A CSQ defines on how we route calls to an agent.

4:19So, for example, you may have Bob here,

4:22who is part of the sales CSQ.

4:25Then you might have Sarah here, who is part of the support CSQ.

4:30So when someone calls an IVR, a script is run.

4:34And within a script, I say, find an agent

4:36who's part of the sales CSQ.

4:39So at that point, that call will be routed to Bob because he

4:42is part of the sales CSQ.

4:45Whereas Sarah, who's part of the support contact service queue,

4:48would not get routed that call unless the option for support

4:52was chosen on the IVR.

4:54Next, we have a JTAPI application,

4:57standing for Java Telephony API.

5:03And this user is used to control the CTI route point and the CTI

5:09ports on CUCM.

5:11In fact, we'll see later, when we create these CTI ports

5:15and applications, this user, or whatever user we name this,

5:19will be associated with those ports automatically.

5:22And a JTAPI user is how UCCX knows

5:25that it has a call coming in that it must handle

5:28because, as we stated, these calls are coming in via the CTI

5:32route points, going through those CTI ports that

5:35are defined.

5:36In fact, here's a screenshot of my lab environment here.

5:39But these CTI ports and these applications

5:43were automatically associated with this end user

5:46without me having to do it manually.

5:48Next, we have the RMCM application user--

5:51RM being Resource Manager, CM being Contact Manager.

5:59So the RMCM application user is responsible for monitoring

6:02the states of our agents in our environment

6:04and also selecting those agents based on the agent skills.

6:08The Resource Manager controls the agent states

6:11and also monitors the agent's phones.

6:16The contact manager queues the call

6:19and also offers that call to the available agent as requested

6:24by this resource manager.

6:25Next, we have a resource.

6:27And a resource is just another name

6:28for the agents in your environment.

6:30Here's a screenshot within CUCM.

6:32We have agents 1, 2, and 3 and also supervisor.

6:35Within CCX under Resources, we have those same folks--

6:39supervisor and agent 1, 2, and 3.

6:41And then we have resource groups.

6:43When we create our CSQ, our contact service queues,

6:46we can configure them to use resource groups, which

6:50is a collection of agents that can handle the call.

6:55The drawback here is that one agent can only be associated

6:58with one resource group.

7:00Now, this is different than skill-based

7:02routing because one agent may be part of the sales CSQ, support

7:07CSQ, and maybe accounting CSQ.

7:11So this agent here would have the ability

7:13to answer any phone call from any of those three CSQs.

7:17So, because of this, you'll see a lot

7:19of skill-based routing configured for a CSQ opposed

7:22to user and resource groups.

7:25So, as we just talked about, with skills,

7:27these skills can be associated with multiple CSQs, which

7:31is not the case with resource groups.

7:33Each agent could have multiple skills.

7:36So this allows you to be very flexible and granular

7:39because you can have several agents in your environment

7:41that have already assigned more than one skill.

7:45So it's very common for folks to be assigned more than one skill

7:48because they have the ability to answer calls

7:50from different queues in your environment.

7:53Then, finally, we have Teams.

7:55Teams-- along with a bunch of other stuff--

7:57threw me off when I first got into voice because I thought

8:00it affected call routing.

8:01And the reality is that it does not.

8:03This is a grouping of agents that can

8:06be monitored by the supervisor.

8:08So it does not affect call routing whatsoever.

8:11So then you may ask, well, what is it used for?

8:13The supervisor can look at the status of all of its agents

8:17to see if they're logged in, not logged in,

8:19if they're, ready not ready, how many calls have they taken.

8:23So it's really a way for a supervisor

8:25to manage his or her team.

8:26So, as I stated, these are some of the terms

8:28that you'll see in documentation or you may

8:30hear folks use in conversation.

8:32So as we go through the install and configuration of CCX,

8:36we'll see these terms pop up over and over again.

8:38I just wanted to give you a quick review of what

8:41these terms meant to give you a good foundation for when

8:44we go over the installation and configuration of CCX.

8:47I hope this has been informative for you.

8:49I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00[MUSIC PLAYING]

0:09So in this Nugget, I want to take the time

0:11to go over the call flow for Contact Center Express.

0:14So what happens when a call comes in from the PSTN

0:16or maybe ITSP, goes through our voice gateways,

0:19goes over to CUCM, and eventually

0:21goes to Contact Center Express?

0:22How is that call routed?

0:23So in this Nugget, we'll do just that, go over that call flow.

0:26So here we have a scenario where the customer

0:28calls an 800 phone number.

0:30Now, it doesn't have to be 800 phone number.

0:33Many corporations have a toll-free number

0:36that could be advertised on their website

0:38or maybe on business cards or maybe ad on TV.

0:41But a customer calls in via the PSTN or ITSP

0:45into our environment.

0:47So in our environment, the call goes into our CUBE

0:50or comes through our CUBE.

0:51And this could be voice gateway with PRIs

0:53or maybe a voice gateway with FXO ports.

0:56But that call comes with information about that call.

0:59And their information being the DNIS, or the Dialed Number

1:02Identification Service, which is the called number.

1:07So let's say the called number was 1-813-555-4000.

1:12So CUBE then sends that DNIS information--

1:14that 813-555-4000--

1:17and CUCM then asks, how do I route this call?

1:20CUCM has a CTI route point associated

1:25with that call number.

1:26So let's say, for example, that 1-813-555-4000,

1:30there's some transformation of the number,

1:32either at CUBE or at CUCM.

1:35But at the end of the day, that number is 4000.

1:38And that 4000 is associated with a CTI route point on CUCM.

1:45So therefore, CUCM has a route point with the extension 4000.

1:49And CCX has a trigger also assigned 4,000.

1:54So if you remember that JTAPI user,

1:57CUCM now has a CTI route point 4000

2:00that's associated with this CCX JTAPI user.

2:04So, next, Contact Center Express looks at a application

2:08that it has configured on the server.

2:10And that application has that trigger associated of 4000

2:14in our example.

2:15And it then looks for a call control

2:18group that's associated with that application.

2:21And, remember, that call control group

2:23contains a list of CTI ports.

2:25So then CCX finds an available CTI port,

2:29then replies to CUCM with the directory number of this CTI

2:34port.

2:34And, at this point, CUCM can begin

2:37to set up this call between itself and Contact Center

2:40Express.

2:41So, as we stated, CUCM now knows the extension

2:44of where it should send the call to-- it being the CTI port.

2:47So now the application starts to execute

2:50that script that's associated with that application.

2:54And then here is where the magic happens.

2:56Does it play a menu?

2:56Does it route a caller to an agent?

2:59Does it need to collect digits so it

3:02can perform a database lookup?

3:03And this is what we'll spend the majority of our time

3:06is writing these scripts for different scenarios

3:09to do different things.

3:10So in the event that this script is attempting

3:13to find an agent, once he sees an available agent

3:16as in the current ready their status,

3:18that call is routed to an agent.

3:21And then, at that point, the customer and the agent

3:24are now talking to each other.

3:26And this call then continues until either the agent

3:29or the caller ends that call or terminates that call.

3:32So I wanted to back up here and just further explain

3:35when this call comes into our environment through CUBE,

3:39the RTP stream is initially between CUBE

3:42and CCX via that CTI port that was initially chosen.

3:47And the CTI port is what plays the prompts, the menus.

3:51And that, of course, is played to this call

3:52right here that calls in.

3:53Once that call is routed it to an agent, then, at that point,

3:56the RTP stream is not between the voice gateway

4:00or CUBE to CCX but, rather, from that

4:03CUBE directly to the agent who answered that call.

4:06So all this to say that the media does not

4:08pass through CUCM.

4:10It's being passed initially from the gateway CUBE over to CCX.

4:15And once it finds an agent, then that stream therefore

4:19is sent directly to the agent from that CUBE or voice

4:22gateway.

4:23So in this Nugget, we went over a call flow,

4:24what occurs when a customer calls into our environment

4:27through our call center.

4:28And now we know why we spoke about the different terms

4:31or terminology when it came to Connect Center Express

4:34as we used some of those terms in this call flow example here.

4:38I hope this has been informative for you.

4:40I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:01[MUSIC PLAYING]

0:10So in this Nugget, we'll go over some

0:11of the new features in UCCX12.

0:14In our demo throughout this course, I'll be using UCCX12.5,

0:18but I just wanting to go over some of the new features

0:20in the event you're on an earlier release.

0:22So I wanted to take a second, in the event you are not on 12

0:25some of the features that you would look forward

0:27to when you eventually upgrade.

0:30Now, my career, I've been fortunate enough

0:31to work on UCCX version 8.x.

0:34And in fact, this is the first version

0:36where Cisco switched from running from a Windows server.

0:39So that was version 7 and previous versions.

0:43And now, it runs on a Linux operating system.

0:47So in fact, this is the norm, especially when

0:49it comes to their other platforms

0:51like CUCM and Unity Connection and Cisco Emergency Responder.

0:55So at the time of this recording, version 10.x,

0:58I think the last day of support is January 2022.

1:03And there are many folks still running version 11

1:05in their environment.

1:06And there is no end of support so far.

1:10And then you have version 12.

1:13So I want to take this opportunity just

1:14to go over a few features that you would expect to see--

1:18or would see on version 12.

1:19One big change is the Finesse Agent Desktop.

1:22And we'll see that when we go through the installation

1:24and eventually set up our call center.

1:26But the Agent Desktop got a refresh from version 11 to 12.

1:31So it's a lot more streamlined and optimized

1:33for the agent and supervisors.

1:35In fact, if I do a quick search for it,

1:38Cisco Finesse Desktop, and then let's go to images.

1:42So here's the look and feel of the Finesse Desktop versions

1:46previous to 12.

1:47And then if I do a search for 12, what we see here--

1:50and if I can eventually find a picture of 12--

1:56here we can see how they redesigned the Finesse Agent

1:59Desktop with the new look and feel.

2:01We also have calendar management for your supervisors

2:05or your managers inside your call center.

2:06Previous to this, if we wanted to modify the holidays or maybe

2:11the business hours, what would need to happen

2:14is someone from the UCCX team would

2:16have to modify this for the call center.

2:19And when this was modified, this was

2:21done within the script itself so someone

2:24knew how to manipulate the script to modify the holidays

2:27and business hours.

2:28But now, administrators or call center managers

2:31or whomever you give right to, have the ability

2:34to modify this within the UCCX admin web page,

2:39so giving the supervisor flexibility

2:41or the administrator to make those changes.

2:43Now, later in the course, we'll see this in action.

2:46But I'll also go through the manual way

2:49of modifying the holidays and business hours via script

2:53in the event that you're not on version 12 already.

2:55We also have team messaging.

2:57So a supervisor here can message their team.

3:00And then they'll get it on each desktop immediately.

3:04They can also control the amount of time

3:06the message appears on your screen,

3:08again giving the supervisor another way

3:11to communicate with your team.

3:12Now, of course, this is optional, right?

3:14Because if you already have maybe

3:16slack in your environment, or maybe you

3:17have teams or whatever method you use to instance message,

3:21you may use that platform instead.

3:23But it's built in within Contact Center Express version 12.

3:26It's also easier for our supervisors to Queue Management

3:29so they can manage resources--

3:32and remember, resources are agents--

3:34within their CX queues or their contact service queue.

3:38They can remove and add agents.

3:40So if the supervisor sees that maybe one queue is busy--

3:44so let's say these two deal with sales.

3:47And these two deal with maybe support.

3:50So if the sales queue had maybe 20 callers in queue,

3:53and these two individuals here were skilled enough

3:56to take calls from the sales queue,

3:58he can change them to be part of the sales queue temporarily

4:02to help bring this number down.

4:04Because that queue has a lot of callers waiting.

4:07And we also have application management

4:09where the same supervisor you are

4:11giving him or her the control to manage or change the IVR

4:15prompts

4:17Then we have Outbound Campaign Management.

4:19So again, we're giving our supervisors

4:20the power to manage these outbound campaigns.

4:24So they can schedule Outbound Campaigns.

4:26They can enable them, also disable them.

4:29And they can also import contacts

4:32that should be contacted via the Outbound campaign.

4:36Also, believe in 12.5, an agent can take the desktop

4:39and move the widgets around to whatever they deem appropriate

4:45for them.

4:45And a supervisor can do the same thing.

4:47Before this, if you wanted to change the layout,

4:49again, someone will have to get involved from the CCX team

4:52or voice team and make that change to that agent desktop,

4:56and then deploy it to that team or those agents on that team.

5:01So when it comes to version control,

5:02we're really giving the supervisor the flexibility

5:05to do more, to manage the calendar and the business

5:08hours, to manage their team, to manage their queue,

5:11to deal with IVR prompts.

5:12So this helps alleviate the voice admin

5:16from having to do all this and getting

5:18a page on a Friday at 4:00 PM because a call center needs

5:22a change to be done.

5:24So we're giving that flexibility to the supervisor or manager

5:27here to do that themselves.

5:29OK, in this Nugget, I simply wanted

5:30to go over some of the new features in Version 12.

5:33And we definitely will demo and configure

5:36many of these features that you see here.

5:38I hope this has been informative for you.

5:40I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:10So in this Nugget we'll discuss HA, or high availability,

0:13when it comes to Contact Center Express.

0:15As with anything, you never want to have a single point

0:17of failure because, at that point,

0:19you could go down at any moment in time.

0:21Having redundancy helps to keep the services

0:24that you offer to your customers up and running.

0:26So when it comes to Contact Center Express

0:27and high availability, we're talking

0:29about having a cluster of two servers.

0:32You have one server being a primary.

0:35Then you have a second server being a secondary.

0:38And then when we look at Contact Center Express later,

0:41the primary is called the master node,

0:43and then the secondary is called the slave node.

0:46So when it comes to this cluster,

0:48this is not an active-active relationship.

0:50One is active, and then the other server is standby.

0:55So when we have a cluster of two nodes,

0:57only one server can be the active server.

1:00So all of your clients will always

1:02be connected to the active node within your cluster.

1:06And in the event something occurs with the active node,

1:09then at that point they will fail over

1:11to that secondary node within your cluster.

1:14This allows us to have redundancy when

1:17it comes to our environment.

1:19And it becomes very important because you

1:21may have a scenario where your WAN link goes down,

1:24or maybe you have a hardware failure.

1:26Maybe the UCS server that is home to this CCX server it's

1:31hard drives to go bad.

1:32Or maybe you have a service within CCX that fails.

1:35We all have encountered that.

1:37I know I have.

1:37I have one scenario where I had a bug where there

1:40was a service on the active node that will bounce

1:43every 10 minutes, therefore failing over the call

1:46center to the standby node.

1:48So what happens during a failover?

1:50And I'm talking in regards to if there are calls in queue

1:54or if an agent is talking to someone already on the phone.

1:58So I said, we have our two agents here,

2:00and they're currently talking to a customer.

2:02And then there is maybe, let's say,

2:04five calls that are in queue.

2:06So in the event we experience a failover

2:08from the active node to the standby node,

2:11all those calling queues are lost.

2:13But these agents who are currently

2:15on an active call, those calls were not dropped

2:17and should remain active.

2:20And in this Nugget, we're just talking

2:22about high availability, but I hope

2:23to show you the failover process later in this course.

2:27So when it comes to CCX, we can either

2:29have a LAN deployment or a WAN deployment.

2:32Now when it comes to LAN, both of their servers

2:34are located on the same side or same campus.

2:37When it comes to a WAN deployment,

2:39each CCX server is located at a different site.

2:42So because of this, failover occurs at two different times

2:46if you're doing either WAN or LAN.

2:49So this is the active node, and this is the standby node.

2:52A heartbeat is sent every one second.

2:55So a heartbeat is simply checking, hey, are you there?

2:58I sure am.

2:59And this occurs every second.

3:01In the event that three heartbeats are missed,

3:03the standby node goes, ope, the active must be down.

3:06I will become the active CCX, and starts the failover

3:11process.

3:12Now over WAN deployment, the same thing occurs--

3:14so a heartbeat is sent every one second--

3:16but the failover occurs if 10 heartbeats are missed.

3:20So with a LAN deployment, this failover

3:22is happening a lot sooner because this is local

3:25or the two sites are both--

3:27or the two servers are located within the same site.

3:30But a WAN deployment we have 10 heartbeats because of the fact

3:32that these two servers are not located within that same site.

3:36And you can't configure this, and this is pretty much written

3:39in stone in the configuration.

3:40And you can definitely see this happen,

3:42especially if you have any delay in your network links,

3:45or something occurs where just for a moment

3:48you lose network connectivity, you

3:50will see that your Contact Center Express will

3:53failover to s standby node.

3:55Then you come into work, and say, well,

3:57why is my Chicago node that should be standby now active?

4:00And come to find out, at 2:00 o'clock in the morning there

4:03was a hiccup in the network that caused that failure to occur.

4:06So when it comes to high availability,

4:08there's an expectation of the maximum roundtrip between two

4:12Contact Center Express servers.

4:14So between Contact Center Express servers,

4:17we're talking 80 milliseconds.

4:19The maximum roundtrip between a CCX server and a CUCM server

4:23should be 60 milliseconds.

4:24So if you go to the web and do a search for solution design

4:28guide for Contact Center Express released 12.5(1),

4:32and I go to page 81 here.

4:34Here we're talking about the network requirements,

4:37and that's where you see where it's

4:3980 milliseconds between Contact Center Express servers

4:42and 60 seconds between Contact Center Express and CUCM.

4:46We have a note here.

4:47It says do not use the ping utility on the Contact Express

4:50server because it will not provide an accurate result.

4:53Why?

4:53Because the ping is sent as best effort.

4:56Therefore, we have to verify by using the closest network

4:59device, probably your switch, and the Cisco switches

5:02are available to do this extended ping, allows us

5:05to specify the type of service.

5:07And type of service of three is used for call signaling.

5:12So for example, if I jump on my CUCM servers

5:15because we haven't built our Contact Center Express

5:17environment yet, I can do a utils network ping.

5:21I'm on the publisher currently, and I can ping the subscriber.

5:25Then I get a response time here.

5:27The documentation is saying don't use this measurement

5:30because it's only best effort.

5:31So instead, I can go to my switch that's

5:34local to the Contact Center Express, or CUCM server

5:37in this case, and do ping.

5:39Now I have additional options that I can do.

5:41So I do IP, the target address.

5:44That saves my publisher node.

5:47I'll keep the default for most of this,

5:49but I'm waiting for the extended command

5:51I want to hit yes there.

5:52Because if not, this ping will also be sent best effort.

5:55So here I can specify a source address or source

5:58interface, which I definitely would in a production

6:00environment.

6:01I probably would have many there.

6:02But for now, I'll hit enter.

6:04The type of service, 0 is a default, which is best effort.

6:06I'll choose 3, which is used for call signaling.

6:10Then the rest I'll just keep the defaults there, and hit Enter,

6:13and then eventually I get this value here.

6:16So this number here is my round trip travel time.

6:22And that does not look like it says trip

6:24so I'll fix that real quick.

6:26Then we have three different values here.

6:28The 1 is the minimum travel time.

6:32The 2 is the average travel time.

6:36And then the 8 there is the maximum roundtrip travel time

6:40that we experience.

6:41So now if my subscriber know we're at a different site,

6:44then I could do that same command.

6:46We'll do IP, our target address would be my subscriber nodes

6:50with .2.

6:51That's fine.

6:51We'll get back to the option.

6:53Do you want to run the commands?

6:54Absolutely.

6:55And then we'll do type of service of 3.

6:58And the rest, I'll keep the defaults.

6:59And then here is our values for reaching my subscriber node.

7:03Let me suggest if you want to dig deeper within quality

7:06of service, Jeff Kish helped me create CLCOR,

7:09and he went in great detail about quality of service,

7:11and did an outstanding job.

7:13So I definitely recommend that you

7:15check out CLCOR, and watch Jeff Kish go over

7:17quality of service.

7:19So I wanted to focus a minute on this WAN deployment here.

7:22So this is where you have two servers.

7:24Maybe the active node is in Tampa

7:26and the standby node is in Chicago.

7:29So here we are providing site redundancy.

7:33Now each site should have a CUCM server

7:36that is running the CTI manager that UCCX

7:40uses to communicate to.

7:42And this is what you see here in this bottom screenshot here.

7:45CUCM has this Cisco CTI manager service running.

7:49But that should be local to each node,

7:51or that's the recommendation.

7:53If you're using automatic speech recognition

7:55or text-to-speech servers, they also

7:58should be local to each site.

8:00The primary and secondary CUCM servers that CCX is using

8:04should also be local.

8:05This is important when we're talking about the AXL user.

8:09So this is how Contact Center Express retrieves, modifies,

8:12removes any data or adds to the CUCM configuration

8:16database, especially when we're creating CTI reports,

8:19for example, or triggers.

8:21We also have our JTAPI.

8:23And as we discussed it before, and this

8:25is how CCX takes control of those CTI route points and CTI

8:29ports.

8:30That's how it places a call, or maybe answers

8:33a call to one of those ports.

8:34And then we have RMCM, and that's

8:37responsible for monitoring the states of our agents

8:40in our environment, and also selecting the appropriate agent

8:43to answer a call from queue.

8:45Now if these three are not local to the Contact Center Express

8:49server, and in the event of a failover,

8:51it has to go over a WAN, you may experience long delays

8:56for your agents to fail over to that secondary node.

8:59That is why they recommended that these all

9:01should be local to wherever the Contact Center Express

9:04server resides.

9:07And then we should have different CTI ports specified

9:10for the active node, and also a different set specified

9:13for a standby node.

9:14And these can be in different device pools, or regions,

9:16or locations.

9:18So one of the most important services

9:20when it comes to Contact Center Express is this CCX engine.

9:24This is one of the services that communicates with CUCM, which

9:27is responsible for processing and accepting

9:30all the calls that comes into CCX, for example,

9:33it executes the scripts, your system management

9:35and administration, that's how it monitors the agents.

9:38Pretty much it's one of the core services that runs on CCX.

9:42And this is the service that will restart in order

9:45to fail over to the other node.

9:47So as we talked about, in the event

9:49you have agents currently helping customers.

9:52So they're talking to customers.

9:54And then you have those callers--

9:56that's one tall guy.

9:57But then you have caller in queue.

9:59Let's say you've got 10 calls in queue.

10:02During failover, you lose all your calls in queues.

10:05So they all drop.

10:06So these agents talking to customers,

10:07they will remain active during this failover process

10:11until they are re-logged in to Finesse.

10:13So let's say we have a scenario where

10:14Tampa is the primary node, and then Chicago

10:17is the secondary node.

10:19And something happens at 9:00 AM in the morning,

10:21and your call centers fail over to your secondary node

10:25in Chicago.

10:26So something occur with the server here.

10:28You restore services, and you bring your server back up.

10:31Once this server is back up, currently when

10:34Chicago is active and Tampa is now standby,

10:38will this failover automatically happen back to Tampa?

10:41And the answer is no because you wouldn't

10:43want this to happen again at 2:00 o'clock

10:45in the afternoon to fail over back to Tampa

10:47and have all your calls drop in your queue.

10:50So all this to say that we have to manually fail over back

10:55to Tampa.

10:55This is done typically after hours.

10:58Then after hours, we can restart the secondary node

11:01or restart the service here, and then

11:03call failover to happen once again where now we fail back

11:08to our Tampa node, and then this becomes standby again,

11:11and then this becomes active.

11:13So just because the Tampa server's back up and running,

11:16the failover back to Tampa has to be a manual process.

11:19Now if something were to happen here, but this node goes down,

11:23then the failover would initiate once again back to Tampa

11:25automatically.

11:27So also keep that in mind when you have servers, maybe

11:30you have a wallboard server, a server

11:33that displays stats on a screen of how many calls

11:35are in queue, or how many agents are logged in.

11:37Maybe you have a third party server

11:39that performs a certain function to your call center that

11:42ties into your Contact Center Express.

11:45So what occurs if you only have these third party servers only

11:50associated or configured to talk to your primary node,

11:54and then you have an issue where your primary node goes down?

11:57So your call center will fail over to your secondary node,

12:01but then all these services that your agents in your call center

12:03are accustomed to would no longer be available.

12:06Again, this only occurs if however you

12:08configure these third party servers

12:11if you don't configure them to work when the primary node is

12:15active and also if the secondary node is active.

12:18So keep that in mind when you're deploying these third party

12:21or additional solutions in your Contact Center Express

12:23environment.

12:24And you can have many different solutions

12:26tie into your Contact Center.

12:27I just spoke about wallboard and third party.

12:30But, for example, the ASR, the servers, automatic speech

12:34recognition servers, your text-to-speech,

12:36that's something just to think about

12:38because I've been in environments where

12:40the third party servers were only configured to talk to one

12:43node, and then when we failed over

12:45because we had an outage of some sort,

12:47there was a rush to fail back.

12:49Even in the middle of the day, the business

12:51would happily induce another outage

12:53because they needed to restore services to those third party

12:56servers.

12:57So again, I'm barely touching the surface

12:59here when it comes to the design and high availability.

13:02I just wanted to give you something

13:03to think about when you deploy this solution

13:05in your environment.

13:07I definitely recommend going over

13:08the guide here and the several guides

13:11you'll find on Cisco's site.

13:12And many times, you'll be dealing with a certified Cisco

13:15partner that helps you deploy the solution,

13:17and they'll be on top of this already

13:19because they've deployed this many, many times.

13:22So in this Nugget, we went over high availability.

13:24We discussed a cluster having two nodes, one being active

13:27and one being standby.

13:30And we also went over some of the network requirements

13:32when it came to design.

13:34And I didn't talk about bandwidth

13:36here because in a later Nugget, I'll

13:38go over a calculator here that helps you calculate

13:41the amount of bandwidth that you need in your environment

13:44to support Contact Center Express.

13:46I hope it's been informative for you,

13:47and I'd like to thank you for viewing.