Understanding Routing Methods in Agent Groups

The routing methods are a key part of defining how agents take calls. These options are separated here for some additional clarity on behavior:

• Longest Idle—The call is routed to the agent who has had a presence status of Available the longest without taking a call. For example, if three agents are part of the agent group and one agent is Busy while two are Available, the call is routed to the user who has had the Available presence the longest.

• Parallel—This rings all agents at the same time. The agent who accepts the call first is placed in a conversation with the caller.

• Round Robin—Call requests are evenly sent to agents. Assuming that three agents exist, the first call goes to Agent A, the second to Agent B, and the third to Agent C. The fourth call rings Agent A again.

• Serial—Calls are sent to agents in the order defined in the agent list. Assuming that three agents exist, the first call goes to Agent A. The next call again attempts to ring Agent A, and if Agent A is unavailable, the call then goes to Agent B. The difference from round robin distribution is that the next call follows the same order, starting with Agent A again.

• Attendant—Calls are routed to all agents just as in parallel fashion, but this option includes agents who are busy or currently in a call. Calls are not routed to agents with a status of Do Not Disturb.