Release notes v. 2.0

1 Introduction

This document describes new features, improved features/changes, and bug fixes included as part of the Novus 2.0 roadmap release.

The release is deployed week 08/2022 & 09/2022.

There is a new UI design on parts of the configuration manager, that is not updated in the screenshots for this document. The UI improvement is mainly on the colour scheme and updated to certain graphical elements.

2 New features

2.1 Agent-groups

Agent groups will make bulk administration easier, both in regards to staffing queues and in terms of device configuration. Agent groups are a way to create a template for agents based on tags. If a user has a tag that matches the tag of the agent group, the user will automatically become an agent with the same configuration as the agent group.

The agent can easily be changed to another group, and, by doing so, get another agent configuration by changing the tags of the user to match another group.

2.1.1 Configure Agent-groups

To configure Agent groups go to “Configuration manager” -> “Contact center and PBX configuration” -> “Agent groups”.

Three options are available and be further described in the following sections:

• Create new

•  Edit

• Delete

2.1.1.1 Create new

To create a new Agent group, click the button “Create new” and fill in the information:

• Group name – this is the name of the agent group configuration

• Tag – Create a tag for this group. Click on the magnifying glass to see which users will be affected by this tag.

• Agent timer –select a scheme in the dropdown or create new

• Client configurations – configuration parameters for web agent, mobile agent and simple agent. For all the clients, the following parameters can be configured:

  • Device: select the device for call handling (softphone, mobile, office phone, office phone short, Microsoft teams)

  • Work mode: select the default log on state for agents (active, inactive, standby)

Distribution mode: select default state for call offering (manual, offer, auto accept)

The agent configuration will override the agent group device configuration if there is a conflict, e.g. the agent only has a mobile phone then the agent use its mobile phone, despite the user group configuration stating another device.

For simple agent, it is also possible to configure “always on”

• Caller ID – This is the number shown when agents of this group dial out. If the field is left empty, the caller ID will be anonymous

• Queues – Select the queues that this agent group should cover. A list of queues is available when pressing “+”

 2.1.1.2 Edit

It is possible to edit the Agent group at any time to change the configuration. The changes will

immediately take effect after pressing “save”.

2.1.1.3 Delete

It is possible to delete an agent group at any point. The changes will immediately take effect. A dialogue box will pop up, where you will have to confirm the deletion. It is important to notice, that there is not “undo” possibility after delete confirmation.

2.1.2 Adding users to Agent group

Once the agent group is created, it is possible to use the same tag on the users, in order to automatically turn them into agents with the same configuration as specified in the agent groups. When synchronizing with the company Azure AD, those tags can be used to assign agent groups. This will for most customers be the preferred way to configure agents, because changes in the AD (e.g. new employees) will automatically cause agents to be created.

2.1.2.1 Configuration for adding users to agent groups To manually configure the users into agents:

• Go to “Configuration manager” -> “Users and contacts” -> “users and contacts”

• Find the user and select “edit” in the right drop down menu

• Go to the section “tags” (bottom of the page) and press the “+”

• Write the tag and save

  

An agent can only be part of one agent group. If an agent has been assigned multiple tags that has also been used to define multiple agent groups, then the agent will use the first matched agent group in alphabetical order, and a warning will be shown in configuration manager to indicate this. If the agent is assigned a group, and then gets assigned another tag, then the agent will not change group. It will give an error in the configuration manager, and after restart, the agent will be assigned to the first match in alphabetical order. . Any agent having multiple tags matching an agent group will cause a warning in the agent list.

Warnings will be issued if:

• An agent is part of a configuration that the agent does not have devices for

• An agent is part of two or more agent groups due to tags on the agent

• Two or more agent groups have the same tag due to wrong configuration
  This does not affect the ability to make fully manual configured agents. It is an addition for agent

  configurations. A manual configuration will be prioritized over any group agent configuration.

Important NOTE: If agents have defined an agent device endpoint, that is not found as an endpoint on the specific user, then the agent configuration will be broken and not work after upgrading to this version of Novus. In this case, agent configurations system notifications will be sent and the configuration pages for the individual agents will show warning triangles.

2.1.3 Configuration of agents

The configuration of agents is aligned with the introduction of agent group. This means that from now,

agents will be configured the same way as the agent groups, with exception of assigning tags.

Any configuration on the agent page will overrule agent group configurations that would otherwise affect the agent in question. It is possible to see from the agent overview which agent group (if any) the agent is part of, and whether or not there are made custom changes.

2.2 Queue membership

Queue memberships are not a change of actual functionality but a change in perspective. Instead of the agents subscribing to queues and the agents themselves keeping track of which queues they are subscribed to, the queues now have a membership the agent can be part of.
This change of perspective makes it possible for the system to display a list of queues and the agents that is part of them. This change does not affect the agents. The queue is aware of which agents is part of it and their default state. This view can be viewed in the configuration manager.

2.3 Simple Agent always-on

“Simple agent always on” is a new feature that can be turned on for any agent. The feature will tell the system that the agent should be logged on as a Simple agent if the agent is not logged on as either mobile or web agent. This can also be configured at agent group configuration level.

If an agent defined with “Always on” logs on with either web or mobile agent, the agent session will automatically change to the client instead. When the agent logs out of the client, the agent will return to being a Simple agent.

If the agent does not have a supported device for the Simple Agent client configuration, then the Simple Agent always on will not work either, e.g. office number or short number. A warning will be issued when the configuration is made.

2.3.1 How to configure Simple agent always on

• Go to “configuration manager” -> “Contact center & PBX configuration” -> “Agents”

• Search for the agent and select “edit” in the right drop down menu

• Check the check box in the new agent configuration and save

3 Improved features

3.1 Improved user search performance

Backend performance improvements when searching for users have been implemented.
When the search field is cleared, there is now a blank page, meaning that a list of all users/contacts is no longer displayed. This improves performance because unnecessary search is avoided when the agent clears the search field to start a new search. If the agent wishes to see all users, click anywhere in the blank search result view.

3.1.1 Using AND & wildcard search

If the agent wants to make a limited search, the agent should start the search with ! and then followed by the two search words separated by AND (full caps). So if e.g. “ !Dev AND m” is typed, only users who fulfill both requirements will be shown.

For wildcard search, the agent should start with ! and then the known part of the word, with the unknown part replaced by a ? (for exact number of characters) or * (for unlimited number of characters). So if “ !Mar?in ” is typed, the search result would show Martin and Marvin, but if “ !Mar*in ” is typed, the search result would be Martin, Marvin and Marculin. For further tips regarding search, look at our help page documentation of the advanced search options. Remember all search types start with !.

3.2 Import all users from Broadworks

When importing users from Broadworks directories the default is to only import users/contacts that have a valid email address. It is now possible to import all users – also those without a valid email address. Those without a valid email address will be assigned the user’s SIP ID as email.

This setting is useful when doing initial imports from Broadworks and Broadworks presence enabling is needed, even though the Broadworks directory doesn’t contain anything but phone numbers (endpoints).

3.3 Calendar privacy

The previous calendar integration showed meeting information for all meetings unless explicitly marked as private. Administrators can now configure the privacy settings with these options:

 

• Free/Busy only: all calendar events as will be shown as private

• Standard: only events marked as private will be shown as private

• Exclude Private: private events will not be shown at all, showing the calendar as empty for that timeslot.

Subject matter for private meetings will never be shown, regardless of setting.

3.4 Remove parts of URL placeholder values

When configuring a URL lookup it is now possible to remove unwanted data from the placeholder values:

'

This can be used to e.g. remove “+45” from $a-number$. This is an easy way to make sure the URL will work as intended.

4 Bug fixes:

4.1 Buttons on calling card disabled

Several customers have reported that buttons on the calling card from time to time are disabled and thus preventing the agent to efficiently handle calls. Pressing F5 has typically resolved the issues. Development has never been able to reproduce the problem in our testing environments, but several changes have been implemented that we expect will resolve the issue, or if not log information needed to detect the root cause of the problem.

4.2 Incorrect calendar status

Calendar presence shows incorrect status 'Offline' for users not having calendar data.

4.3 Incorrect queue calendars visualization

Calendar visualization did not handle end of interval dates correctly.

4.4 Tags from syncs not listed on “Users and contacts” page

All tags from both syncs and manual user editing are now listed.

4.5 Import user photos on first run, if never imported before

When configuring user import from AD for the first time, then user images are immediately imported. Otherwise, it only happens once a month.

4.6 Not Possible to send * or # as DTMF from web agent

Problem has been resolved.