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Call Analysis

Call analysis is an option for almost all remote calls made from CIC clients and handlers. Call analysis determines how Telephony Services (TS) monitors outgoing calls. When call analysis is activated, TS monitors the outgoing call to see if it connected to a person or answering machine. TS will also try to diagnose why a call did not connect and display the reason in the CIC client (e.g., remote busy, no answer, etc.). If call analysis is turned off, TS doesn't monitor the call, so those calls are displayed as "Connected" or "Disconnected" in the CIC client.

Read further for more information on call analysis and when you should use it.

Where is call analysis turned on and off?

Call analysis can be turned on or off in the following locations:

  • Configuration Page in Interaction Desktop
    Set the Analyze outgoing external calls option on the Calls tab on the Configuration page. This option determines if the outgoing call should use call analysis. If you include an extension in your dialstring, call analysis is used automatically, even if you have explicitly turned call analysis off. Extension dialing for remote calls consists of a primary telephone number followed by a "/" character followed by an extension. For example, 872-3000/114 will dial extension 114 after 872-3000 connects.

  • Interaction Connect
    Your CIC administrator uses Interaction Administrator to configure the Analyze outgoing external calls option.

  • Extended Place Call tool in a handler
    This tool places outgoing calls from handlers, and is used in the default CIC handlers and the Interaction Dialer handlers. You can select or clear the Call Analysis option on the Inputs page for this tool. You can also select or clear Answering Machine Detection, an extended form of call analysis.

What does call analysis actually do?

When call analysis is turned on, TS monitors the outgoing call to see how it is proceeding through the network. This occurs on all types of lines, both analog and digital. For this process analysis, TS uses a voice resource.

TS can determine if a call has been answered, or why it wasn't answered. For calls made from a CIC client, the CIC client displays the call's status. For example, if call analysis is on and you place a call to a busy number, you will see Disconnected [Busy]. If an Extended Place Call tool makes the call to a busy number, it will take the Busy exit path. In both cases TS can determine the state of the call.

Here are some other status messages you might see with call analysis turned on:

  • For busy signal, it displays "Disconnected[Remote busy]".

  • For unanswered calls, it displays "Disconnected[No answer]". (You can configure how long TS waits before displaying this status in the Calls configuration page.)

  • For SIT tones, it displays "Connected" and allows you to hear the SIT tone and message.

    (SIT means Special Information Tone. For example, when a number has been disconnected, you hear the SIT tone, and then "The number you have dialed, 123-4567, has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please check the number and try your call again.")

  • For answered calls, it displays "Connected".

Another feature of call analysis is voice detection. TS monitors the line for a voice at the other end of a connected call to determine if a party answered. If TS does not detect a voice, it disconnects the call. That's why calls to some automated services, such as paging services that play only a tone, can cause an analyzed call to disconnect.

What is answering machine detection?

The Extended Place Call tool allows you to extend call analysis with answering machine detection. TS continues to listen over the allocated voice resource for a short or long greeting. Short greetings like "Hello" are presumed to be human. Longer greetings like "Hi, this is the Jones Residence. We can't take you call right now..." are presumed to be answering machines. Keep in mind that answering machine detection takes longer, so the outbound calls from Extended Place Call will take longer to evaluate before taking an exit path.

Answering machine detection is also available for outbound calls that include an extension (a "/" character followed by digits). TS looks at the value of the Extension Dialing Analysis Type server parameter. The value of this server parameter can be either "Answering Machine" or "Voice".

With Extension Dialing Analysis Type set to "Voice", CIC waits for the dialed number to be answered by either a person or machine and then automatically sends the DTMF tones for the extension. This has the advantage that you can always be certain that the DTMF will be sent. The disadvantage is that when a human answers the call, the DTMF will play in that person's ear. Interaction Dialer has additional features for this analysis type. In that application, agent extensions are dialed even if an answering machine is detected.

With Extension Dialing Analysis Type set to "Answering Machine", CIC attempts to recognize an IVR or automated voice before sending the DTMF tones. If it does not detect an automated voice, it assumes a human voice answered and does not send the DTMF extension digits. This kind of detection is less reliable than voice detection.

Is call analysis different on digital lines?

Yes, but only slightly. For digital lines, information about the call is sometimes returned in a D-channel message for ISDN and in signaling bits for T1 and E1. These messages might be that the call is connected or that the line is busy. If TS receives information that the call is connected and voice call analysis is used, then the voice resource is no longer needed to determine if the call connected. That's why you may never hear a busy signal on a call placed over an ISDN line. You will only see "Disconnected [Busy].

If answering machine call analysis is used, then the voice resource is still needed to evaluate the answer even though a digital indication was received that the remote party answered the phone.

What happens if I turn Call Analysis Off?

If you turn call analysis off, TS will not analyze outgoing call or monitor the line for a voice. In a CIC client, all outgoing calls are immediately displayed as "Connected", even if the remote party is busy. Sometimes this is desirable, such as when you call a paging service that plays only a tone.

If you turn off call analysis in the Extended Place Call tool, the tool may only use the Success and Failure exit paths. (In some cases, if the tool is placing calls over a digital line, the D-Channel message may be enough to take one of the other exit paths.) See the Extended Place Call tool for more information.

Note: Again, there is an exception with ISDN lines. On ISDN lines, the call will disconnect if the ISDN Network sends TS a busy indication.