Automatic Route Selection

If you decide to use the Automatic Route Selection (ARS) feature, you must configure your system as Pooled with Dial Access to the pools. However, because you are using ARS, the dialing of codes to access pools is eliminated when placing calls. When placing a call, the user has to touch a Pool Access button, lift the handset, and then dial the outside telephone number.

Your ARS routing patterns are determined by your system administrator. It is the system administrator’s responsibility to decide which lines provide the lowest cost and most efficient way to place calls for your business.

THE CALL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS)

The Call Management System (CMS) for the MERLIN communications system is an automatic call distributor that answers calls and connects them to available agents. Agents, of course, are your employees who answer incoming calls. In addition to distributing calls, CMS provides current and historical data to a business in the form of reports relative to call handling, line usage, and agent productivity. Using such information, a business can make management decisions concerning how many agents and lines it needs to support a specific function such as inside sales or customer services, inquiries, or complaints. In addition, CMS offers a business a great amount of flexibility to change the number of agents or line configurations to handIe the needs of callers in the best way possible. If your business has CMS for the MERLIN communications system, you need to administer your system to be com- patible with this automatic call distributor.