Glossary of Telecommunications Terms - A

Telecommunication Glossary - A

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• Abandoned Calls (CDNs): The number of calls accepted into the CDN, but abandoned before being answered through the controlled operation or routed according to the CDN's script.
• Abandoned Calls (Queues): An incoming ACD call is counted as abandoned when the caller hangs up before the call is answered by an agent or before the call is routed off-site. The sum includes calls that abandon while waiting for an agent to answer the call at their telephone. Calls that abandon while in the Timed Overflow (TOF) queue are counted against the ACD queue that initiated the overflow.
• Abandoned Trunk Calls Before Threshold: A peg count of Calls Abandoned that shows how many calls were abandoned before the threshold time is reached. The threshold time is set in the telephone system for the ACD queue where a trunk route terminates. Do not try to relate these numbers to the numbers of Calls Abandoned in the Queue reports. The number of Call Abandoned in the Queue reports can include Abandoned Calls other than the Abandoned Trunk Calls (such as Overflowed Abandoned, etc.).
• Abandoned Trunk Calls After Threshold: A peg count of Calls Abandoned that shows how many calls were abandoned after the threshold time is reached. The threshold time is set in the telephone system for the ACD queue where a trunk route terminates. Do not try to relate these numbers to the numbers of Calls Abandoned in the Queue reports. The number of Call Abandoned in the Queue reports can include Abandoned Calls other than the Abandoned Trunk Calls (such as Overflowed Abandoned, etc.).
• ABD Call Volume: Average Business Day Call Volume – The average number of calls handled during business days.
• Accepted Calls (CDNs): The number of calls that entered the CDN and were routed by the telephone system according to the Enhanced ACD Routing script. The number of Accepted Calls for the CDN is equal to the number of Calls Answered plus the number Abandoned plus the number Routed to the CDN plus the number Disconnected plus the number Busy plus the number Defaulted to this CDN.
• Accepted Calls (Queues): The number of calls placed in this ACD queue, including any Overflow by Number calls from another ACD queue. Timed Overflow calls from another ACD queue are not included.
• ACD: See Automatic Call Distribution
• ACD Report Buffer: A component of ACD Performance Reporting that transfers your call center data from the Call Accounting Buffer to the ACD Parser program for processing into your historical database. The ACD Report Buffer is a software application that runs on a computer connected to the Call Accounting Buffer.
• ACD state: When an agent is engaged on an ACD call, they are considered to be in the ACD state. Also see Agent states.
• ACD time (Talk time, DCP time, ACD time, Customer talk time): The duration of an ACD call (including ACD hold time), or the length of a customer's call. Basically, from the time the agent answers the ACD call to the time when either the customer or the agent disconnects the call. ACD time is also called Direct Call Processing time, Customer time, ACD Talk time, Call Processing time, or Talk time.
• Actual Agents (ACT) – The average number of agent positions plugged in over a measured period of time.
• Active: In the Northern telephone system, 'active' is defined as having the ability to receive ACD calls. Agents become active when they log into the telephone system.
• Agent: A general term for someone who handles telephone calls in a call center. Other common names for the same job include operator, Telephone Service Representative (TSR), attendant, and representative.
• Agent states: The type of telephone activity an agent either performed or is engaged in performing. The time an agent spends in each state is tracked and is included in the information sent by the Northern telephone system.
• All Trunks Busy (ATB): The situation that occurs when a call is received by a trunk group and, because of the level of telephone traffic, the trunk group cannot route the call. If a trunk busy condition exists beyond a single reporting period (for example, it begins during period 1 and is still busy during period 2), that condition may be pegged for both periods.
• All Trunks Busy Calls: A peg count of the number of times a call received by a trunk group could not be routed by that trunk group, due to the level of telephone traffic.
• All Trunks Busy Time: The total amounts of time calls that were received by a trunk group could not be routed by that trunk group, due to the level of telephone traffic.
• All Trunks Busy Longest: The longest amount of time a call was received by a trunk group and could not be routed by that trunk group, due to the level of telephone traffic.
• Allocations: The assigning of tours in a system schedule to the individual Business Offices; usually performed by a computer program and adjusted manually by Force Managers. (Specific tours are then assigned to individual agents within each Business Office.
• Answered Call (CDNs): This is the number of calls that entered the CDN and were answered with the controlled operation or according to the scripting of the CDN's routing.
• Answer Bands: A system of measures used to summarize the consistency of force levels achieving target goals; usually based on evaluation of Average Speed of Answer (ASA).
• Answered Call (Queues): A call that was routed to an ACD queue, and was then answered by an agent in that ACD queue.
• Answer Conversion Table: A table which indicates the percentage of calls answered within the specific time intervals for different Average Answer values; used to evaluate service level against Utility Commission and internal targets.
• Answer Plans: Methods established by Utility Commissions to evaluate telephone company performance.
• Answered Trunk Calls Before Threshold: A peg count of Calls Answered that shows how many calls were answered before the threshold time is reached. The threshold time is set in the telephone system for the ACD queue where a trunk route terminates. Do not try to relate these numbers to the numbers of Calls Answered in the Queue reports. The number of Call Answered in the Queue reports can include Answered Calls other than the Answered Trunk Calls (such as Overflowed Answered, etc.).
• Answered Trunk Calls After Threshold: A peg count of Calls Answered that shows how many calls were answered before the threshold time is reached. The threshold time is set in the telephone system for the ACD queue where a trunk route terminates. Do not try to relate these numbers to the numbers of Calls Answered in the Queue reports. The number of Call Answered in the Queue reports can include Answered Calls other than the Answered Trunk Calls (such as Overflowed Answered, etc.).
• ASA: See Average Speed of Answer
• ATB: See All Trunks Busy
• Automated Greeting: Where calls are answered by a personalized greeting or message customized for your company and then the call is routed to the most available operator for prompt service.
• Automatic Call Distribution (ACD): A software feature of the Northern telephone system that routes a call to groups of agents (also called a 'queue') based on first-in, first-answered criteria. The guiding principle is that the caller who has been waiting the longest will be first the caller routed to the next available agent. The agent that receives the call will be either the first available agent or the agent that has been available for the longest period of time.
• Automatic Call Distributor (ACD): The is a specialized telephone system used in incoming call centers. It is a device that can be programmed to; automatically answers calls, queue calls, distribute calls to agents/operators, plays delay announcements to callers and provides historical reports on these activities.
• Automatic Number Identification (ANI): A call center uses ANI to track the phone numbers of persons calling the call center. Useful for reporting crank or threatening callers to the appropriate authorities. Caller ID is the public telephone network version of ANI.
• Available state: An agent's telephone is considered in the Available state when the telephone is able to receive ACD calls. A logged on agent enters the Available mode when they log into the telephone system and then exit the Not Ready state. Some telephone systems automatically place agents into the Available state at log in. A line that is available to receive ACD calls is also available to receive Non-ACD incoming calls (internal or external).
• Available time: The amounts of time that an agent in the ACD queue spends in the Available state. The Available telephone state is one where an agent is available to take an incoming ACD call.
• Average Business Day: See ABD Call Volume.
• Average Speed of Answer (ASA) –The average time that elapses between the time the call reaches the ACD and the time it is connected to an agent.
• Average Busy Time: This is the sum of all Position Manned times, minus the sum of all waiting times, divided by the number of positions that had any Position Manned time accumulated against them.
• Average Delay of Calls (ADC): This is when a customer calls in and reaches an automated message thanking them for their call and asking them to wait for the next available operator. The average delay is figured by dividing total waiting time of all calls by the total number of calls. If this Average Delay is too long, the amount of “Abandoned Calls” increases.
• Average Direct Call-Processing (DCP) Time: The average amounts of time per Answered ACD call that an agent (or agents) was engaged with an ACD call. This is the total time (in seconds) that each agent spent handling ACD calls divided by the total number of calls answered (by either the agent or the ACD queue). Handling time is the time from initial answer of the call to final release of the call. When the telephone system data includes Hold time, the average Direct Call Processing time does not include the Hold time. In this situation, the Average DCP time is the time that the agents are active on the call, excluding holding time of ACD calls.
• Average Hold Time (HDCP time): The average amounts of time per Answered ACD call that an agent (or agents) placed an ACD call on hold. Handling time is measured from the time the agent puts the ACD call on Hold to the time the agent becomes active on the call again or the caller abandons the call. The average Hold time is the sum of all ACD call hold times divided by the number of ACD calls answered by the agent or ACD queue. When the telephone system data includes Hold time, the average Direct Call Processing time does not include the Hold time. In this situation, the Average DCP time is the time that the agents are active on the call, excluding holding time of ACD calls.
• Average Incoming Call Time: The average amounts of time per Non-ACD call that an agent (or agents) was engaged in a call on their Non-ACD extensions. This is the total duration (in seconds) of all incoming calls on the agent’s Non-ACD key(s) during the report period, timed from call answer to final call release, divided by the total number of Non-ACD calls received during that time period.
• Average Incoming Call Time (Trunks): The average amount of incoming trunk traffic time per Trunk call. This is the total incoming trunk traffic for the trunk route (in CCS) between seizure and disconnect (including non-ACD calls, if any) divided by the total number of calls that came in on this trunk route (including non-ACD calls) during the report period. The total number of calls per ACD queue equals the total number of Incoming Calls for all trunk routes terminating on the ACD queue.
• Average Manned Time: The average amounts of time per reporting period agents were logged into the telephone system. This is the sum of all Position Manned times divided by the number of agent positions that had any manned time accumulated. An agent position is considered Manned when an agent logs into the telephone system, and the agent will continue to accumulate Manned time until the agent engages the Make Set Busy key (which logs them out of the telephone system.
• Average Non-ACD In Time: The average amounts of time an agent spends engaged on incoming Non-ACD calls. The Average Non-ACD Incoming time is the sum of all times from the initial selection of the individual extension key, including transfer and conference keys, to the final release of the call, divided by the number of incoming calls. The telephone system only accumulates call time for one Non-ACD call per agent position at a time. It is not possible to add multiple simultaneous events (engaging on several Non-ACD calls at once, using the Hold feature) as the total Non-ACD time would exceed real clock time. This means that if an agent position has more than one DN (or extension) key and the agent uses both at once, the reported Non-ACD call time will not be accurate. Agent positions should be configured with only one extension key unless you are willing to forego the accuracy of Non-ACD call statistics.
• Average Non-ACD Out Time: The average amounts of time an agent spends engaged on outgoing Non-ACD calls. The Average Non-ACD Outgoing time is the sum of all times from the initial selection of the individual extension key, including transfer and conference keys, to the final release of the call, divided by the number of outgoing calls. The system only accumulates call time for one Non-ACD call per agent position at a time. It is not possible to add multiple simultaneous events (engaging on several Non-ACD calls at once, using the Hold feature) as the total Non-ACD time would exceed real clock time. This means that if an agent position has more than one DN (or extension) key and the agent uses both at once, the reported Non-ACD call time will not be accurate. Agent positions should be configured with only one extension key unless the customer is willing to forego the accuracy of Non-ACD call statistics. If an agent is involved in a conference call or an outgoing Non-ACD call, or is transferring a call when the telephone data is generated, the Non-ACD Outgoing time includes the call start time minus the current time. The Non-ACD Out and Transferred IDN amounts are not incremented until the call is released, and they are reflected in the next reporting period.
• Average PCP Time (Not Ready): The average amount of time per ACD call that an agent (or agents) was in the Post Call Processing (or Not Ready) state. The Average PCP time is measured from the time the agent goes into Not Ready (the NRD key activated) until the occurrence of any event that removes the agent from the Not Ready state. The average PCP time is the total time accumulated against all Not Ready states divided by the total number of ACD calls answered by an agent or ACD queue.
• Average Speed of Answer (ASA): The Average Speed of Answer for calls received by an ACD queue. The timing for answering the call begins when the call is queued for the ACD queue and ends when an agent (either in the primary or overflow ACD queue) answers the call. If an agent in an overflow group answers the call, Average Speed of Answer is counted in the overflow group. This is the sum includes Enhanced Overflow Calls from other queues, but not including Timed Overflow In Calls from another queue nor Network ACD calls that are answered by a remote target agent.
• Average Wait Time before Abandon: The average amounts of time per Abandoned call the customer waited to be answered before abandoning the call. This is the total of all waiting times for Abandoned calls divided by the number of calls abandoned in the ACD queue this reporting period.
• Average Waiting Time: This is the average amount of time that an agent was available to receive an ACD call. It is the total amount of waiting time divided by the number of incoming ACD calls answered.
• Average Work Time (AWT)– Average amount of time (measured in seconds) required to handle calls during a specific period of time.