Key Concepts
To administer and use CMS, you should be familiar with the following terms, which are briefly defined:
Automatic call distributor (ACD)
Line groups
Agents
Agent splits
Shift configurations
Main and secondary splits
Intraflow
Intraflow threshold
Logged out state
Available state
Automatic
Supervisory Login/Logout
Call management
Answer delay
Force delay
Priority lines
CMS is the automatic call distributor (ACD) for the MERLIN II system. As an automated attendant, CMS distributes calls that come in on the MERLIN II system telephone lines assigned to CMS.
The MERLIN II system telephone lines assigned to CMS are organized into line groups. Usually the incoming calls for a line group are of the same type. For instance, the lines for incoming sales calls are in one line group and the lines for service calls in another. Up to 28 lines may be assigned to up to four line groups.
Incoming calls are answered by agents who are divided into agent splits, A split is a team of agents who handle the same type of incoming calls. Each split is assigned to answer calls for one or more line groups. You can have up to six splits, with a maximum of 28 agents in a split. However, no more than 28 agents can be active in CMS at any one time.
A shift configuration is an arrangement of line groups and agent splits for managing calls. You can create up to six different configurations to handle different calling patterns in your business. However, only one shift configuration can be active at a time, and no more than 28 agents can be in that configuration.
In a configuration, some splits are main splits and others are secondary splits. A main split has primary responsibility for answering calls for a line group. A secondary split answers calls for a line group only if the main split for that group is overloaded. Sending calls to agents in a secondary split is called intraflow. The number of seconds that the call waits in the main split before it is sent to the secondary split is called the intraflow threshold. Intraflow can be turned on and off.
