Using Voiceguide To Test The Answer Time Of Other Services.

[SupportTeam]

Bill wrote:

 

I had used your software at a previous company to create a quick IVR application. I have a different need now, and wondered if you think the software can handle the application. We outsource some of our numbers to a vendor that provides an IVR and call center solution. I would like to create an application that can track their IVR’s speed to answer. All it would need to do is outdial a test number every 10 minutes and track how long it took for the IVR prompts to start playing. That data would then be appended to a simple text file. Do you think your software can accomplish this?

[SupportTeam]

Yes it is possible to create this with VoiceGuide v7.

 

You will need to use a Dialogic card, and system will give extremely accurate (sub second) timing is ISDN lines are used, but Analog lines would be sufficient for this purpose as well.

 

To implement this you would have the system just hangup when either the Human answer or Machine answer is detected and the length of each call made is stored in the CDR records created by VoiceGuide (in the 'duration' field). For details on CDR records please see: http://www.voiceguide.com/vghelp/source/html/log_cdrs.htm

 

For Human Answer option you would select a script which just consists of a Hangup module and then use an "After Hangup" script to load a new call to be made in 10 minutes time. You would need to use the XML OutDial file approach - you can just copy over a prepared outdial XML file to a location that will be read in by VoiceGuide. Specify "Now+10" in the CallTime field to schedule the call to be made in 10 minutes, and specify a large number for the CallRetries field.

 

For the Machine answer option a setting of RETRY would be specified which would result in call being made again after the retry delay expires.

 

The loaded call would just be set to have a very large number of retries, and when call is answered by live human a new call would be loaded (as described above), again with a large number of retries.

 

Please let us know if you have any further questions or need more information.

[bdemaria]

Is this possible with v6? I have a new card in the box, but it is a D/4pciu.

 

Also, is there any sample scripts that would get me started on such a application?

[SupportTeam]

You need to use VoiceGuide v7.

 

Have you tried using the the SR6.0 drivers with your current card? It should work.

 

The scripts themselves would be just one module scripts - one script with just a hangup module and one script (the After Hangup script) with just a Run Program module that copies the file.

 

Actually as the copying takes negligible time the Human script can be just Run Program (to do the copy). VoiceGuide will hangup immediately after running the command as there is no next module.

 

We can remotely login and setup the entire system for you - creating the appropriate OutDial XML file and maybe writing a some sort of a batch file that processes the daily CDR logs and gives you some sort of report. Please contact sales@voiceguide.com with our specific requirements if you'd like this done.

[bdemaria]

v7 works fine, and I have all of the features working, including the ability to send an alert email when a time threshold is exceeded. I only have one problem, when a call is made the Outbound Dialer is waiting for the answering machine message to finish before extending to the script that I have specified in the "script to run when answer machine is detected". When I run the dialer and monitor the status in the Line Status utility, the status indicator says "Machine Ans Wait for end of welcome message". This means I am not getting an accurate read on how long it took for the machine to answer. Any thoughts?

[SupportTeam]

There is a Result Variable which indicated how long the answering machine message was:

 

from: http://www.voiceguide.com/vghelp/source/ht...ltvariables.htm

$RV[AmWelcMsg]

 

Length of Answering Machine message. in 100ms units. eg: a value of 40 would indicate answering machine message was 4 seconds long.

 

You can use the value in that RV to calculate the actual answer time.

 

[bdemaria]

I got it to work, but the variable in the last post did not work. It simply passed a blank into the script. In looking into the log file I found that the correct variable to pass to the script was $RV[AmWelcMsg_RecLen100ms]. Once I changed to this the script processed fine. Thanks.

 

I really would like to find a trigger that would execute the script without having to wait for the answering machine message to complete. This will add cost to the test calls, and added overhead to the IVR. There must be a way to bypass this step -- perhaps I can set a limit to the length of the answering machine message timer?

[SupportTeam]

I found that the correct variable to pass to the script was $RV[AmWelcMsg_RecLen100ms].

Looks like the Help file was not updated with new name. Thanks for letting us know.

 

I really would like to find a trigger that would execute the script without having to wait for the answering machine message to complete.

You can also specify :

 

ignore

 

in the Answering Machine script field. Then the Human Answer script will be started immediately.

The $RV[OutDial_Result] will still store whether the call was actully answered by live person or machine.

[bdemaria]

Ignore worked great. I am able to start a real test of the system now to try and justify its use.

 

One thing is a bit nagging, I monitored the calls with a telephone buttset, and I found while the far end answers in less than 2 seconds every time, the call length is always reported as 8 seconds. I am incorporating this 6 seconds of lag to hangup the call in the comparison for sending out an alert, but I wish I could get the real time to answer reported in the CDR log. I have plowed through the logs to try and find a variable that is better than RV$_CALLLENGTH but can find none that really represents the real time from the time dialing stops to the time the answering machine is detected. This is not a show stopper, but will be a nuisance if I need to use the data to prove an service level lapse with my vendor.

[bdemaria]

Now that it is working I found one big limitation: I want to redial the same number over and over every 15 minutes. Since I get an answer and pipe off to a script, it is never re-dialing that same number again. Do I need to out something into the script to re-submit the Outdial job?

[SupportTeam]

Do I need to out something into the script to re-submit the Outdial job?

Use an "After Hangup" script to load a new call to be made in 10 minutes time. You would need to use the XML OutDial file approach - you can just copy over a prepared outdial XML file to a location that will be read in by VoiceGuide. Specify "Now+10" in the CallTime field to schedule the call to be made in 10 minutes, and specify a large number for the CallRetries field.

 

I found while the far end answers in less than 2 seconds every time, the call length is always reported as 8 seconds.

On analog lines the time of call is taken from the time the handset is picked up and the destination telephone number dialing is started.

 

If you can .ZIP up and post the vgEngine trace (in VG's \log\ subdirectory) we can then better commend on what happened on the call and why the call lasted 8 seconds overall.

 

On ISDN lines you would receive precise indication on when the destination number started ringing, and when the destination handset was actually picked up, so for your purposes you really should be using ISDN.