Introduction to Ivanti Voice

Ivanti Voice is a robust telephony system with a software-based switching platform for bridging existing telephony networks with Ivanti's tools such as ISM. The system offers numerous features, including unified messaging (UM) for end users, advanced networking options, automated voice applications, etc. Integrate Ivanti Voice with business applications from both ISM and third-parties such as Microsoft, and link Ivanti Voice with VoIP service providers.

Ivanti Voice operates from a central server that integrates with your existing telephony network and various data sources, such as ISM, Foundation (ITSM, CSM, and GMEE), and GoldMine applications. Client interfaces can operate locally on the central Ivanti Voice server, and remotely from workstations that have continuous access to the central Ivanti Voice server.

The solution includes multiple applications and interfaces for the following different types of users:

•System administrators - Technical experts who install, configure, and administer Ivanti Voice, and manage Ivanti Voice users.

•Application developers - Developers who create voice applications for Ivanti Voice.

•Contact center supervisors - Contact center managers who monitor contact center activity.

•Contact center agents - Contact center employees who handle calls.

•Business users - Users who are not agents or supervisors, but still use a softphone or desktop SIP phone to access Ivanti Voice telephony functionality, and can have a unified messaging (UM) account, address book, and dial plan configuration.

Ivanti Voice maximizes the potential of contact centers in a variety of ways, including:

•Callers using a public telephone network interact with automated call processing applications, and have real-time conversations with contact center agents who use phones connected to a LAN.

•Various automated call processing applications retrieve data from customers, access databases, authenticate callers, and route calls to the most suitable agent.

•Contact center agents perform basic call tasks (such as answering and transferring calls) from their computers and/or integrated desktop phones.

•Contact center supervisors monitor statistical data about contact center activity, and listen to conversations between agents and callers.

•System administrators monitor server and application activity locally and remotely.

Ivanti Voice can be configured to work with ISM, Foundation (ITSM, CSM, and GMEE), and GoldMine Corporate Edition (CE) and Premium Edition (PE) applications. For more information, refer to the following topics in the online help: "Ivanti Voice/ISM Configuration," "Ivanti Voice/Foundation Configuration," and "Ivanti Voice/GoldMine Configuration."

Ivanti Voice Terminology

Ivanti Voice call processing uses the following terminology:

•Agent - An Ivanti Voice user who handles calls, and possesses a set of skills relevant to your contact center that you define in Ivanti Voice. Utilizing Contact Center functionality, system administrators designate which Ivanti Voice users are agents, and define the skills each agent possesses. Ivanti Voice determines automatically which calls the agent is qualified to handle based on the skills the system administrator defines, and routes calls to the user accordingly. Ivanti Voice also tracks the agent’s activity for monitoring and reporting purposes.

•Call - An open communication line (such as a phone call or chat session) between a caller and a server, or a caller and an agent. There are two types of calls:

•Inbound - A call coming into the contact center.

•Outbound - A call originating from within the contact center.

•Interaction - A caller’s attempt to communicate with an agent. Each interaction can involve only one call and one agent, or one call and zero agents if the caller disconnects before Ivanti Voice connects the caller to an agent. An interaction begins when Ivanti Voice accepts a call, or when an agent transfers the call to another agent. The interaction ends only when the caller disconnects before reaching an agent, or when the agent involved with the interaction completes the after-call work following a conversation with the caller.

Ivanti Voice Architecture

The following diagram illustrates the basic Ivanti Voice architecture.

This simplified deployment involves the following:

•A single Server installation on a central server (the Ivanti Voice host computer)

•A single Client installation on a client computer

•A single database connection (stores interaction data and log data).

•Deployments in real production environments are more complex, involving numerous agent workstations, remote installations of Ivanti Voice management tools accessing multiple servers, a third-party reporting interface (such as Crystal Reports) connected to the Ivanti Voice database, and additional databases, such as customer information databases, possibly residing on separate computers.

Component	Description
SIP Soft Switch	•Provides telephone number-to-IP address mapping for all SIP-enabled extensions, including the voice server and agent phones. •Provides conditional call forwarding, ensuring fault tolerance and reliability by spanning call volumes on multiple gateways. •Acts as a SIP registrar, allowing SIP extensions to register IP addresses and use dynamic IP addresses. •Provides security for extensions that have user names and passwords set up in the Dial Plan, as the extension must provide valid credentials for registering with the SIP server. Extensions specified with a trusted IP address cannot register (i.e., they cannot change their IP addresses). •Connects with a telephony gateway through which Ivanti Voice accesses a public phone network such as the United States Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
Media Server	Handles actual voice data transported using RTP (Real Time Protocol) protocol.
Voice Server	A SIP extension that provides telephony and voice functionality to Ivanti Voice applications, such as playing voice files, recording voice files, playing common data like numbers, currency amounts, etc. (CDS).
License Server	Verifies the license file; keeps track of licensed features and use.
Conference Server	Manages agent conferencing functionality.
Contact Center Server	Provides Contact Center functionality, including user management, call routing, interaction management, agent management, etc.
Statistics and Metrics Engine	A component of the server that tracks the activities of agents, interactions, and calls to provide real-time statistics and historical reporting. The Statistics and Metrics Engine stores statistical data in the Ivanti Voice database.
Message Server	Manages communication from the Ivanti Voice Integrated Voice Toolbar, used in applications such as ITSM 7.0 to communicate with the Ivanti Voice server. Also provides integrated security to support single sign-on.
Management Console	A client application that lets system administrators start and stop servers and services, reset telephony server channels, and monitor information about current server activity.
Management Portal	A browser-based interface that lets system administrators control Ivanti Voice configurations and management tasks. Includes: •System Configuration - Enables configuration of servers, dial plan, users, etc. •Application Builder - Development tool used to create multiple voice applications for an Ivanti Voice deployment. •Log Viewer - Displays data pertaining to server events; useful for troubleshooting. •Reporting - Enables the running of statistical reports.
Ivanti Voice Communicator	A softphone client application that ships with Ivanti Voice - lets end users perform basic telephony tasks such as making phone calls, initiating conference calls, placing calls on hold, transferring calls, etc.
Ivanti Voice Client	A client application (either the Ivanti Voice Agent Dashboard or the Ivanti Voice Integrated Toolbar) running on the computer of each agent and supervisor in the contact center. The Ivanti Voice Integrated Toolbar provides basic call control functionality, such as answering, transferring, and dialing calls using a softphone or IP Desk phone, and also notifying the server of the agent’s availability to receive calls. The Agent Dashboard provides additional functionality for agents: •Instant Messaging among agents •View the properties of calls in the queue. and supervisors: •View the states of all agents and monitor calls. •View the properties of calls in the queue; assign calls to an agent.

Client Applications and Web Interfaces

Ivanti Voice includes various interfaces and client applications for different types of users. The Ivanti Voice installation wizard installs shortcuts to many of these client applications and interfaces in the Start menu (Start>Programs > Ivanti, Inc. > IP Communications Management). Other options are accessible within the Ivanti Voice Management Portal (Start > Programs > Ivanti, Inc. > IP Communications Management > Management Portal).

Some Ivanti Voice client applications and interfaces are password-protected. Use the default user name admin with the default password for initial access.