Contact Center¶
QVOICE Platform Contact Center: CX Queues¶
What is a Contact Center CX Queue?¶
A CX queue holds inbound callers in line until an agent is available. While waiting, callers hear greeting or hold audio and may use in-queue actions (position announcements, callback, and more). When an agent answers, the queue connects the call and applies wrap-up, disposition, CSAT, CRM, and post-call rules you configure in the Portal.
Queues can prioritize emergency extensions, route by skills or sticky-agent history, hand off to AI personas, and run next actions when a caller times out or abandons.
Agents handle queue calls in UCP (Web or Desktop App). For answering, transferring, and placing calls, see the User Guide.
Create a queue¶
Navigate to the QVOICE Platform Portal:
- Open Call Center on the top bar.
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Missing Call Center menu?
If you do not see Call Center, ask your administrator to enable the feature for your account.
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- Open Queues and click + Add.
- Work through each section of the queue form (Configuration, Agents, Extensions, DIDs, In Queue Actions, and so on).
Configuration reference¶
Options below match the Portal queue editor (Call Center → Queues → Edit). They are stored on the queue's Kazoo callflows in the QVOICE Platform queue configuration and applied at runtime by the QVOICE Platform queues service.
Core settings¶
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Unique queue identifier. Use lowercase letters, digits, hyphens, and underscores (for example sales_q). Cannot be changed after creation. |
| Max time in queue | Maximum time a caller may wait before the queue runs Next actions (timeout). |
| Max time unit | Minutes or seconds. Pair with max time in queue. |
| Wrap Up Time (s) | After-call work period in seconds before the agent becomes available for the next queue call. |
| SLA % | Target percentage of inbound calls answered within the SLA seconds threshold. Used by supervisor dashboards and queue activity reports (for example 80%). Does not change routing. |
| SLA Seconds | Ring or queue-wait threshold in seconds. Calls answered before this count as within SLA in reporting. Does not change routing. |
| Strategy | How waiting callers are matched to agents. See Strategy guide below. |
| Greeting | Audio played when the customer enters the queue. Best practice: use a clip longer than 60 seconds if it loops during long waits. |
| Hold Music | Audio during agent hold. Falls back to Greeting if not set. |
| Transfer Music | Audio during transfer. Falls back to default if not set. |
Agent and routing toggles¶
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Send calls to agents only if registered | When on, the queue dials only SIP-registered agents. When off, the queue may dial agents who are not registered (MVNO-style installs using phone numbers without registration). |
| Skills Routing | Route calls to agents based on per-agent skills. Supports Individual Skills Routing (Agent_Skill_* from SmartPBX) and Skills Group Routing (Agent_Skill_Group_* — exhaust Group 1 agents before Group 2). See Skills Routing. |
| Preferred (Sticky) Agent Routing | Return callers to the agent who last handled them. See Sticky agent routing. |
| AI persona (optional) | Route queued callers via a persona extension. Members are users linked to that persona. Disables manual agent pick, skills routing, and sticky routing. See AI persona queues. |
| Outbound Calls | Enable outbound campaign / queue dialing for this queue. |
| Auto answer | Auto-answer queue calls on supported agent endpoints. |
MVNO / unregistered agents
Turning off Send calls to agents only if registered allows the queue to ring agents who are not SIP-registered. Use only when your deployment relies on phone-number routing without registration.
Recording and assist¶
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Disable Call Rating | Suppress call-rating prompts for this queue. |
| Call Screen Recording | Desktop app records the agent screen during the call. |
| Record on Agent Connect | Start call recording when an agent answers (not while the caller is waiting). Honors per-user inbound recording settings and requires account call recording to be enabled. |
| AI Assist | Real-time audio transcription on the call (when the account feature is enabled). |
Dispositions¶
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Disable Disposition | Agents are not prompted for a disposition after queue calls. Post-call API rows with Send on Hangup are forced on when disposition is disabled. |
| Disposition Mandatory | Agent must set a disposition before returning to Available. |
| Disposition Blocking | Locks the agent UI after the call until the disposition form is completed (only when Disposition Mandatory is on). |
| Restrict Options | Limit which disposition codes agents may select for this queue. |
Agents, extensions, and DIDs¶
Agents¶
Add queue members under Agents. For each agent you can set:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Delay | Seconds to wait before dialing this agent for a waiting caller. |
| Timeout | Seconds to ring this agent before trying the next agent (strategy-dependent). |
| Skills | Skill tags used when Skills Routing is enabled. See Skills Routing for the full setup flow. |
When an AI persona is selected, the manual agent list is hidden. Queue members are all users linked to that persona (user profile Actions → add user for persona); they are added automatically on save.
Extensions and DIDs¶
Bind extensions and/or DIDs so users and callflows can reach the queue directly.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Extension / DID | Number routed into the queue. |
| Prepend | Prefix added to caller ID presented to agents (for example sales- turns 14163334444 into sales-14163334444). |
| Emergency mode | When this extension or DID is dialed, the caller is placed at the front of the queue. |
In Queue Actions (pre-connect)¶
Configure under In Queue Actions in the Portal. These run while the caller is still waiting.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| At | Play a media file once after a configured number of seconds in queue. |
| Every | Repeat a media file every N seconds while waiting. |
| On Position Change | Announce queue position when the caller moves in line. |
| Estimated Wait Time | Announce estimated wait (Kazoo TTS or WAV prompts). |
| On Digit | Run an action when the caller dials a feature code (*0–*9). Actions: Callback, Callflow, Campaign, Mark as Voicemail. Optional Play instructions for callback flows. |
Queue callback¶
Callback is configured as an On Digit pre-connect action (commonly *1).
Customer initiates callback
- While in queue, the customer dials the configured digit (for example
*1) instead of holding on the line.
Callback confirmation
- The system confirms the callback number and asks the customer to accept (again often
*1).
Scheduled callback
- After scheduling, the call ends and the customer keeps their queue position.
Agent callback
- When the customer reaches the front of the queue, an available agent is connected outbound to the customer.
Benefits: better experience on long waits, more predictable agent utilization, and maintained queue fairness.
Screenshot gallery: Click any thumbnail to zoom. Use arrow keys in the lightbox to walk through the callback flow in order.
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After timeout and abandon¶
Next actions (max time in queue)¶
When max time in queue is reached, the queue runs Next actions in order:
| Action type | Description |
|---|---|
| Queue | Transfer to another queue. |
| Callflow | Run a callflow module. |
| Voicemail | Send to voicemail. |
| Missed Call Notification | Email configured users about the missed call. |
| Call Forward | Forward to a device. |
Abandon actions¶
When a caller hangs up before being answered, optional Abandon actions run:
| Action type | Description |
|---|---|
| Campaign | Push the caller as a lead into a campaign (send_abandoned_to_campaign). |
| Alert | Send an abandoned-call alert (send_abandoned_call_alert). |
Sticky agent routing¶
Under Preferred (Sticky) Agent Routing:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Route returning callers to the agent who last handled them. |
| Sticky scope | This queue only or Any queue on account (last agent from any queue, if they are a member of this queue). |
| Sticky timeout (s) | How long the sticky preference remains valid (default 120 s). |
| Lookback (days) | How far back to search for the last agent (default 30 days). |
| Require registered | Only use sticky routing when the preferred agent is SIP-registered. |
Sticky routing is disabled when an AI persona is configured for the queue.
AI persona queues¶
When AI persona (optional) is set:
- Queued callers route via the persona's extension.
- Queue members are users linked to that persona.
- Manual agent selection, skills routing, and sticky agent routing are not used.
See AI Agents for persona setup.
Post-call¶
CSAT¶
Configure a post-call survey callflow and direction (Customer or Agent). Optional note field for internal documentation.
CRM screen-pop¶
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Inbound CRM URL opens in UCP for queue calls. Use placeholders such as {CALL_ID}, {CALLER_ID_NUMBER}, {QUEUE_ID}, {ACCESS_TOKEN}, {AGENT_ID}. |
| Outbound CRM | Open CRM after outbound calls connect (external dials). |
| Open in new tab | Open CRM in a new browser tab or Desktop Connector window. When on, CRM opens after answer. |
| Open CRM on answer | Off (default): open on ring (SIP invite). On: open only after the agent answers. |
| Hide close option | Hide the CRM close control in UCP. |
Post Call API Request¶
Add one or more HTTP rows (GET, POST, or PUT) fired after each call. Use Add Vars to insert placeholders into the URL (also sent as form-data body fields on POST/PUT).
Common variables: {CALL_ID}, {CALLER_ID_NUMBER}, {QUEUE_NAME}, {DISPOSITION_ID}, {AGENT_ID}.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Send on Hangup | Fire when the call ends, before disposition. Subdisposition variables are not available. |
| Send on Hangup off | Fire after disposition; subdisposition variables {SUBDISPOSITION_1}, {SUBDISPOSITION_2}, {SUBDISPOSITION_2_KEY}, {SUBDISPOSITION_2_VALUE}, and deeper levels are available. |
Strategy guide¶
| Strategy | Behavior | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Single | Dial agents one by one in configured order until answered. With multiple waiting callers and idle agents, the queue dials in parallel (one agent per caller). | Queues with many agents (greater than ~10). |
| Simultaneous | Dial multiple agents at once (up to platform limit); first to answer wins. | Small teams (fewer than ~10 agents). |
| Weighted Random | Dial agents one by one in random order; parallel dial when multiple callers wait. | Even distribution across a large agent pool. |
| Most Idle | Prefer the agent who has been idle longest. | Balance workload by availability time. |
| Talk Time | Prefer the agent with the least cumulative talk time. | Balance workload by handle time. |
Parallel dial
All strategies except Simultaneous can place parallel outbound dials when multiple customers are waiting and multiple agents are idle. For that reason Single is often more efficient than Simultaneous on large queues.
Pair Send calls to agents only if registered with Single or Weighted Random when you need to skip offline agents quickly. Use Skills Routing to bias selection within any strategy. Tune SLA Seconds, SLA %, and Max time in queue together—they drive abandon vs timeout metrics in Reports → Queues Activity.
Step-by-step configuration (screenshots)¶
The following screenshots walk through the inbound queue configuration wizard in order. Click any image to zoom; use arrow keys in the lightbox to move through steps.
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