How to Interpret Your Current State

The agent state is the indication of your current availability to handle service calls. This information is used by the system to decide whether a new service call can be delivered to you. The information about the time you spend in each state also appears in reports about your performance.

The Agent Desktop application uses icons to represent agent states. Your current state is shown in the upper left-hand corner of Agent Desktop. These icons, the states they represent, and descriptions of those states are described as follows.

Note: Information in the main text of this section is valid if your system is configured to let you handle one customer interaction at a time. This configuration is most typical when you handle calls only. If you process interactions of other types (e.g., chats or emails), then, depending on your contact center practices, you may be expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously. The differences in interpretation of your states in this case are briefly explained in the notes following a state description. For a more detailed explanation, see sections Handling Multiple Chat Sessions and General Information About Handling Email.

Agent States

Ready

You are available to take a service call. In most cases, you make yourself Ready manually. See How to Make Yourself Ready for more information.

Depending on your contact center practices, the Ready state may also be applied automatically under some of the following conditions:

• Upon login
• As soon as you finish a previous service call
• When the time allocated for after-call work associated with the previous call expires
• When the rest time associated with the previous call expires

You may also be forced into the Ready state by your supervisor.

Note: If you are expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously, the Ready state will only be applied when you do not have any active interactions on your desktop. However, in this case you may receive new interactions in states other than Ready.

Ringing

You are unavailable to take service calls because one service call is already being delivered to you. The ringing icon is briefly displayed while your phone is ringing.

Busy

You are unavailable to take new service calls because you are already handling a service call. This state is displayed from the moment the call is connected and until it is released. For outbound calls, it also includes the call dialing phase. When your service call is released, depending on your contact center practices and the services that you provide, you will be switched automatically to either the After Call Work state, the Not Ready state, or the Ready state.

Note: Even if you are expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously, your state will be displayed as Busy as long as you have at least one active interaction of any media type. However, your actual availability will depend on the number of interactions you are currently handling versus the maximum number of interactions you are expected to be able to handle simultaneously. Therefore, you may receive new interactions when you are in the Busy state.

After Call Work

You are unavailable to take new service calls because you are processing information related to the call that you previously handled. This state may or may not be used depending on your contact center practices and the services that you provide. If it is used, you will be switched to this state automatically as soon as the call is released by either the customer or yourself. You will remain in this state until you manually make yourself Ready or Not Ready to take another call. Note that your After Call Work state may also end automatically if the time allocated for the after-call work exceeds the limit set by your administrator.

Note: If you are expected to handle multiple interactions simultaneously, you may receive new interactions when you are in the After Call Work state. You will be switched to this state only when the last live interaction on your desktop is finished. (Otherwise, you will continue to be in the Busy state.)

Not Ready

You are unavailable to take service calls because you are temporarily away from your desktop or busy doing some work that is not directly related to handling of service calls. Under normal circumstances, you make yourself Not Ready manually. See How to Make Yourself Not Ready for more information. Your system may be configured to let you select a reason for being Not Ready; these reasons are specific to your contact center. You will receive detailed instructions about the meaning and usage of such reasons from your administrator.

Depending on your contact center practices, the Not Ready state may also be applied automatically under some of the following conditions:

• Upon login
• As a short rest time after finishing processing of a service call
• Upon rejection of a service call
• If you do not answer a ringing service call within a reasonable time
• When your Agent Desktop loses connection to the system

You may also be forced into the Not Ready state by your supervisor.

Note: You will not receive any interactions while you are in this state regardless of how many interactions you are expected to handle simultaneously.

How to Make Yourself Ready

You manually make yourself Ready to indicate your readiness to handle interactions. You can make yourself Ready if your current state is either After Call Work or Not Ready.

To make yourself Ready:

1. Click the User Status Indicator/Selector.
2. Select Ready from the drop-down menu or press F9.

Your state changes to Ready. You may now receive an interaction matching your qualifications at any time.

How to Make Yourself Not Ready

During your working session, you may need to make yourself temporarily unavailable to handle interactions (e.g., to take a scheduled break, to have a meal, or to attend a meeting). You may be required to indicate a specific reason for becoming unavailable every time you make yourself Not Ready. You can make yourself Not Ready if your current state is either Ready or After Call Work. You can also change reasons for being Not Ready.

First, specify why you are Not Ready.

• Click User Status Indicator/Selector.

• From the drop-down menu, select Not Ready or any specific reason for becoming not ready, such as Break or Lunch. The exact set of reasons is specific to your contact center.

• You can also press F8, select the desired Not Ready state with the cursor keys, and press Enter.

Your state changes to Not Ready. You will not receive any service calls while you are in this state. You will have to make yourself Ready manually when you are ready to take service calls again. See How to Make Yourself Ready for more information.

Note that you can request Not Ready to be your next state while you are in the Busy state (i.e., while actively handling an interaction). Your current state will not change, but the system will note your desired next state and will switch you to this state after you finish processing the current interaction. The requested Not Ready state will be displayed as Next under the current state display.

Note: If you have two or more active interactions on your desktop, you will only be switched to the requested Not Ready state after you finish processing all those interactions. However, you will stop receiving new interactions as soon as you request Not Ready.