INBOUND/CLOSER process flow					  2007-05-02

** THIS FULLY REDONE INBOUND-CLOSER PROSESS IS PLANNED FOR THE 2.0.4 RELEASE **

This will outline the process I have thought through in my head for rewriting the inbound and closer call queueing and handling processes within VICIDIAL. The objective is to add the following features to make VICIDIAL a more well-rounded product:
- consolidate the 13 VDAD inbound and closer scripts into one script with CLI options
- custom hold music per in-group
- put call_times into effect for in-groups allowing calls coming in after hours to be directed to another extension or voicemail box
- allow any campaign to take inbound calls, removing the restriction on campaign_id name for that purpose







***** Here are some planned features that will have to wait for the next release:
- add concurrent-transfers options to inbound groups
- announce estimated time on hold
- announce place in line
- option for customer to leave the queue and leave a message while still keeping their place in line
- allow agent to search for customer lead in system after they have been connected
- for closer transfers, allow fronter to send calls to any in-group by a pull-down list



The Agent Side:
The vicidial.php script will need to be modified to allow for a record to load and show that a customer has called and possibly display their callerID and play a message that they may have left. The agent would then have the option to place a manual dial call to reach the customer.

Another important change that needs to be made to the vicidial.php agent interface is to allow searching for a customer's record and changing the lead_id that is associated with the call while the call is going on. This could prove problematic, but will end up being a much better solution than locking the agent into a record when the call comes in. This may also result in records having to be associated with other records, which might mean either another table or possibly adding another field to the vicidial_list table.

For the changes in the Fronter/Closer transfers, new User Group permissions will need to be added to be able to restrict the in-groups that agents are allowed to transfer calls to. When Closer transfers are enabled in a campaign the agent interface will select these in-groups and can transfer calls to any of those groups. Also, a complete reworking of how the Transfer Conference box is laid out will be done.



The Admin Side:
More settings will be needed for the In-Groups section to be able to accomodate these changes:
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD moh_extension VARCHAR(20);
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD prompt_interval SMALLINT(5) UNSIGNED default '60';
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD announce_place_in_line ENUM('Y','N') default 'N';
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD announce_estimate_hold_time ENUM('Y','N') default 'N';
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD allow_leave_queue_place ENUM('Y','N') default 'N';
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD allow_leave_queue_message ENUM('Y','N') default 'N';
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD callback_number_validation ENUM('6','7','8','9','10','11','12','13','14','NORTH_AMERICA','UK');
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD call_time VARCHAR(20);
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD after_hours ENUM('HANGUP','VOICEMAIL','EXTENSION') default 'EXTENSION';
ALTER TABLE vicidial_inbound_groups ADD after_hours_exten VARCHAR(20);

In the servers table a field will also be added:
ALTER TABLE servers ADD hold_queue_prompt_exten VARCHAR(20) default '8359';

In the vicidial_auto_calls table a field will also be added:
ALTER TABLE vicidial_auto_calls ADD last_prompt_time DATETIME;
ALTER TABLE vicidial_auto_calls ADD random_id INT(9) UNSIGNED;
ALTER TABLE vicidial_auto_calls ADD recording_id INT(10) UNSIGNED;

For the fronter/closer transfers some fields will need to be added to the vicidial_user groups table:
ALTER TABLE vicidial_user_groups ADD allowable_xfer_inbound_groups TEXT
ALTER TABLE vicidial_user_groups ADD default_xfer_inbound_group VARCHAR(20)



The Server Side:
For inbound and closer transfers, the agi_VDAD... scripts will still run as they normally do now, but after 5 seconds, without a transfer to an agent, the customer will be put into the new call-queue manager which will consist of a constantly running perl script(we will call it "AST_VD_hold_queue.pl") that will keep track of the call while it is still active and before it gets sent to an agent, and an AGI script(we will call this one agi-VD_queue_prompts.agi) that will perform the dynamic functions of speaking the customer's place in line, estimated hold time and offer the option to press a DTMF digit and either leave a message for the agent to take the call or leave a callback number to be called back when their turn arrives. This script will also have to somehow keep the vicidial_auto_calls records active even after a customer has hung up in order to preserve place-in-line and allow for playing of a customer message or callback to a customer.

*** This section to be removed due to change in architecture it was not implemented ***

Here is a process flow explanation of how a call would move through the hold queue:
- Call comes in to the agi_VDADcloser... script and cannot find an agent to send the call to within 5 seconds
- the agi_VDADcloser script changes the status of the call in vicidial_auto_calls to HOLDP and sends the call to the extension that the agi-VD_queue_prompts.agi script is on(defined in the servers table, default will be 8359)
- the agi-VD_queue_prompts.agi script will query the database for the vicidial_inbound_group settings to see what options it should offer the customer and then that script plays the desired prompts(if selected, leave number and/or leave voice message), then it will wait 15 seconds for a digit press and if there is no valid digit press then it will continue on(steps for if there is a digit press are at the end of this process flow)
- Then the agi script checks for a "conferences" table entry that matches that moh_extension(for a moh_extension of 1234 this would be reserved under HOLDQ1234 in the conferences table)
- If the conference is reserved then the customer call is immediately transferred there, if it does not exist, the agi script will reserve a new conferences record and post an Originate record to the vicidial_manager table so that the hold music/message will start playing in that meetme conference
- The vicidial_auto_calls record is changed to HOLDQ and the customer call is then sent to that meetme room in listen-only mode so that multiple customers can be sent to the same meetme room.(This adds the extra option of allowing a manager to dial into that conference and speak a message to all of the people waiting in the queue)
- The AST_VD_hold_queue.pl script then checks to see if there are any available agents as well as updates the time on the vicidial_auto_calls record every second to keep it alive, as well as checking to see whether the call is due to be sent back to the prompt agi by how old the call's last_prompt_time field is set to(even if a call is in HOLDP and is in the prompt agi process, it will still keep it's place in line and it will immediately be transferred if an agent becomes available)
- If the last_prompt_time is older than prompt_interval seconds, then the vicidial_auto_calls status is set back to HOLDP and the call is sent back to the agi-VD_queue_prompts.agi script for another loop
- If there is an available agent, then the vicidial_live_agents record is updated and the call is immediately sent to the agent's meetme room
- If the customer is in the agi-prompt script and they choose to leave a message and/or leave a callback phone number, the script will add the callback number to the alt_phone field(if it does not match callerIDnumber that the call came in under), and the voice message will be logged in the recording_log table along with the server_ip that it was recorded on. The filename for the recording will be something like this "70503124128_CUSTSERV_7275551212-all.wav" which is the datetimecode_inboundgroup_customerphone
- If customer enters in a callback number and vicidial_inbound_groups callback_number_validation field is set to 6-14, NORTH_AMERICA or UK then the number of digits and pattern are validated or cleaned to make sure it is a valid number. The agi prompt script will also read back the phone number they entered to verify it again with the customer and ask for a confirmation of that number with press of a 1 or 2.
- After the customer has left a callback phone number and left a message, their vicidial_auto_calls status is changed to PLACE and their call is hung-up
- When a PLACE call that a customer had left a message on is sent to an agent, the agent will see the customer record appear and the audio recording will be automatically played in their session with a button to allow them to play it again. Then the agent screen will go into manual-dial-alt-dial mode allowing the agent to place a call back to the customer.



This functionality will require three new statuses in the vicidial_auto_calls table: 
HOLDQ - this status will be for the LIVE-status calls that were not sent to an agent in the first five seconds on the system, so they will be handed over to be taken care of by the AST_VD_queue_hold.pl perl script.
HOLDP - this status will be for the HOLDQ calls that are currently in the agi-VD_queue_prompts.agi script.
PLACE - this status is a placeholder for the customer after they choose the option to hang-up and either leave a message or leave their contact number for a callback. They are no longer on an active channel, but their place in line as a customer should be preserved so that the agent that receives their record can proceed with a call to follow-up with the customer.


MORE TO COME...



- optionally make native audio files for Music On Hold:

cd /var/lib/asterisk/mohmp3/
mpg123 -s --rate 44100 --mono /var/lib/asterisk/mohmp3/fpm-sunshine.mp3 > /var/lib/asterisk/mohmp3/fpm-sunshine.raw
sox -r 44100 -w -s -c 1 fpm-sunshine.raw -r 8000 -c 1 fpm-sunshine.wav
sox fpm-sunshine.wav -t gsm -r 8000 -b -c 1 fpm-sunshine.gsm
sox fpm-sunshine.wav -t ul -r 8000 -b -c 1 fpm-sunshine.pcm
mpg123 -s --rate 44100 --mono /var/lib/asterisk/mohmp3/fpm-calm-river.mp3 > /var/lib/asterisk/mohmp3/fpm-calm-river.raw
sox -r 44100 -w -s -c 1 fpm-calm-river.raw -r 8000 -c 1 fpm-calm-river.wav
sox fpm-calm-river.wav -t gsm -r 8000 -b -c 1 fpm-calm-river.gsm
sox fpm-calm-river.wav -t ul -r 8000 -b -c 1 fpm-calm-river.pcm
mpg123 -s --rate 44100 --mono /var/lib/asterisk/mohmp3/fpm-world-mix.mp3 > /var/lib/asterisk/mohmp3/fpm-world-mix.raw
sox -r 44100 -w -s -c 1 fpm-world-mix.raw -r 8000 -c 1 fpm-world-mix.wav
sox fpm-world-mix.wav -t gsm -r 8000 -b -c 1 fpm-world-mix.gsm
sox fpm-world-mix.wav -t ul -r 8000 -b -c 1 fpm-world-mix.pcm
rm -f *.raw
mkdir ../orig-mp3
mv -f *.mp3 ../orig-mp3/