Question and answer

A Question and Answer template is used in conjunction with a QA mailbox (no other mailbox type can use them).  It defines the script that will be followed when a call is forwarded to the mailbox.  This script replaces the usual process of applying the call routing plan, playing the greeting, and applying the SDA.  None of those things applies to a QA mailbox; it always follows the assigned script.  In fact, QA mailboxes do not even have normal mailbox greetings, nor do they allow call routing templates or SDA templates to be assigned to them.

QA scripts may be either local (custom) or global.  A global script can be used by any QA mailbox; a custom script can only be used by the mailbox in which it is created.  Global scripts are created from the Template Manager (accessed by selecting Templates | Question and Answer from the main menu); custom scripts are created from the QA Script property page of the mailbox.

Creating a QA script is a two-step process:

It is necessary to record the prompts first so that you can then use them in designing the script.

Record the QA Prompts

To record the prompts for a custom QA script, follow these steps:

Alternatively, to record the prompts for a global QA script, follow these steps:

One thing to consider when recording QA prompts is that you do not have to get a response from the caller after every prompt (whether recording a verbal response or getting a DTMF response).  You can, for example, record an introductory prompt that will play before the first question and a concluding prompt to play after the response to the last question.

Once you have recorded all of your prompts, you are ready to edit the script.

Edit the QA Script

After you have recorded the prompts, you are ready to edit the script.  Although the editing process is essentially the same for both custom and global scripts, there are some slight differences, so we'll look at each in turn.

Edit Custom Script

To edit a custom script:

The figure below shows a custom QA script being edited:

To save your changes, click OK or Apply.  To discard them, click Cancel.

Edit Global Script

To edit a global script, follow these steps:

The figure below shows a global script (with an ID of 301) being edited:

To save any changes, click Save.  To discard them, click Cancel.

Options

An Options button appears on both dialogs.  For the mailbox QA Script property page, the Options button is in the upper left corner.  For the global QA script editor, the Options button is in the lower left corner.  In either case, the Options dialog that is opened when you click the button is the same, as shown below.

The settings displayed in this dialog are used to determine how to proceed after the caller has completed the QA script.

Script Editing Commands

There are six command buttons you can use to edit the script, five for adding a script command and one to remove the last script command entered.  These options are summarized in the table below and then described in detail in the following sections:

Note: Commands are always added to the end of the script and each click of the Remove command will delete the last command entered.

Play

Click Play to add a play command as the next line of the script.  This will open the Prompt Selection dialog, shown below, from which you can select the prompt file you want to be played at the given point in the script.

All valid existing prompts are listed in the table.  In the example above, there is only existing prompt, 1.wav.  For each prompt, the table displays the filename, the date and time it was recorded, and the full path to where the actual file resides.

The dialog provides the following options:

To add the play command, select the file to play and click OK to add the command as the next line of the script.

Record

Click Record to add a RECORD command to end of the script.

A record command causes the system to record a response from the caller.  There is no additional prompting; the system merely plays a beep and starts recording.  The caller can press either # or * to halt the recording.  Each subsequent response is appended to the end of the recording.  At the end of the script, the recording, which comprises all responses from the caller, is deposited in the mailbox as a new message.

Edit

Click Edit to add an EDIT command to the end of the script. This command should only be used once and only at the end of the script, after all question-response pairs have been entered.  It will play back all of the caller's responses to the caller and allow him or her to accept it, append to it, or discard it and start over.

Choice

This option is only available if the Survey IVR feature has been licensed for your system.

Use this command to get a single-digit DTMF response from the caller.  When you select this option, the Set Valid Survey Options dialog is displayed, as shown below.

Click the buttons under Enabled options to indicate which DTMF keys are valid responses to the question posed by the previous play command (a choice command should always be preceded by a play command).

For any key you select under Enabled options, you can also select it under Flag these options.  What this means is that if the caller responds to the question by pressing one of the flagged DTMF digits, then at the end of the call the flagged action will be taken instead of the default action (see the Options section, above).  One possible use of this feature:  while taking a customer satisfaction survey, you may want to have any caller who responds to a question with a choice indicating 'poor' or 'dissatisfied' to be transferred to a live person so that their dissatisfaction can be addressed promptly, while for any generally satisfied callers you just want to disconnect at the end.

After configuring both sections as desired, click OK.  The system will append a line to the end of the script consisting of the CHOICE keyword, a space, a string of digits and, optionally, another space followed by another string of digits.  The first set of digits are the ones you only selected for Enabled options.  The second set are those you also selected for Flag these options.  For example, if you enable keys 1 through 4 and then select keys 3 and 4 under Flag these options, the line added to the script would read: CHOICE 12 34.

When the system processes a choice command, it will wait for a single DTMF digit from the caller.  If an invalid response is made, it will state that the response was not valid, repeat the previous play command, and then re-execute the choice command.  When a valid response is entered, the key pressed is added to the data record for the call and the system will proceed to the next command in the script.  If the response was a flagged key, the system will note that a flagged response has been made by the caller and it will take appropriate action at the end of the script.

Note: It is not necessary to include an option for repeating the question; the caller can always press # to repeat the prompt.

Get DTMF

Use the Get DTMF command to get a multiple-digit response from the caller, such as an ID number.  When you select this option, the Set Number of Digits to Get dialog is displayed, as shown below.

Enter the minimum and maximum number of digits the caller can enter.   The maximum value cannot be less than the minimum value.  If the number entered by the caller must be of an exact length, set both values to the same number (as seen in the figure above).

When processing a get DTMF command, if the caller does not enter at least the minimum number of digits, the system will repeat what was entered and state that it is not valid.  It will then repeat the previous play command and re-execute the Get DTMF command.  Once a valid response is received, it will add the digits entered to the data record and proceed to the next command in the script.

How It Works

When a call is directed into a QA mailbox (whether on ring no answer or busy, or because call blocking is enabled), it will immediately execute the QA script rather than perform the normal call processing (i.e., playing a greeting, employing an SDA menu, etc.).  The QA script is processed line by line from the top down until it reaches the end of the script.  At that point, it will save the recorded message (or the data record, if it is a survey-style QA) and then either disconnect, return to the auto attendant, transfer to an extension, or go to another mailbox; the actual action taken depends on the configuration of the Options settings.

There are two styles of QA that you can employ: interview and survey. There is no guarantee of proper functioning if the two types are mixed together in a single script.

Interview

The interview style of QA will typically alternate between playing a recorded question and then recording a response.  At the end, all responses are concatenated together and saved as a single message in the mailbox.  This style only uses the PLAY, RECORD and EDIT keywords, where the EDIT keyword would be used once, at the end, to allow callers to review their responses and either append a further statement or even start all over before the message is sent.

Survey

The survey style of QA uses the PLAY, CHOICE, and GET DTMF commands.  A typical script will alternate between playing a greeting that contains a statement, question or instruction and then employing either the GET DTMF keyword (to get a multi-digit response) or the CHOICE keyword (to get a single-digit response).  At the end, all the responses are concatenated together, separated by commas, along with a few other pieces of information such as the date and time, the mailbox number, the caller ID and the voice port number.  This string is then added to a comma-separated value (CSV) data file.

In addition to determining where to route the call after the script has completed, the Options settings also determine whether partial survey data is saved (i.e., if the caller hangs up before finishing the survey).

Note: The interview style of QA is available on all systems by default, but the survey style must be licensed.  If it is not, then the survey-specific keywords (CHOICE and GET DTMF) will not be available to you.  You can review your license settings by clicking Help | Installed Features from the main menu.

Why Use It

A QA mailbox is useless without a QA script for it to follow.  QA mailboxes can be used for a number of purposes.  For example, the interview style of QA can be used as a preliminary job interview to get basic information from a potential new hire.  Or it can be used to prompt someone calling for technical support to leave their name, phone number, license or trouble-ticket number, and a basic description of the problem.  The survey style can be used to collect customer satisfaction data by asking a series of questions to which the caller is instructed to respond by pressing a digit from 1 to 5 (where, for example, 1 means strongly agree or very satisfied and 5 means strongly disagree or very dissatisfied).

With the ability to take different actions at the conclusion of the QA script, there are undoubtedly many other applications to which a QA mailbox can be put.