Queueing Calls
Click the yellow “Queue Calls” button to queue outbound calls for your deployment. This opens the queue calls dialog window.
Basic Options
Users who need to queue a single, immediate outbound call attempt and provide a properly formatted CSV file of contact data can safely ignore the optional fields.
Once users complete the desired fields to meet their needs, clicking the yellow “Submit” button schedules the calls to be queued. To dismiss the call queue window, click the 'x' in the upper right hand corner of the window or the grey “Close” button.
Queue Calls CSV Format
When queuing outbound calls from CSV file data, whether through the survey API or the outbound queue interface, users need to format the CSV list of phone contacts properly so that Insight will be able to read them.
The first cell of the first line of the CSV must be “destination”. A valid first line of the CSV simply reads:
“destination”
Another option when queuing from CSV is to supply metadata values to associate with an outbound call. To do this, include the column headers of the metadatabase that you wanted to include in the header of your CSV file. For example, the first line of the CSV when including metadata values may be:
“destination”,"userID","FirstName","LastName"
The next lines of the CSV file should only contain the contact info of the callers receiving the outbound calls. For example, a CSV file that queues three (3) outbound calls without using any metadata would look like this:
The destination phone number can be formatted as any valid phone number. Phone numbers may also include the optional “tel:” prefix and/or the optional “ani” and “postd” attributes, which are added to the end of the phone number.
The “ani” attribute sets the source number that callers see when receiving an outbound call. For example, if the number associated with the call queue differs from a company's main number, it may be preferable to set the ANI to the main switchboard number to make it more recognizable.
Setting the “postd” attribute dials the specified DTMF tones once the call connects.
Valid destination examples include:
6175551234tel:+16175551234tel:16175551234;ani=2125551234(Note: In this case the ANI determines the number the caller sees)tel:16175551234;ani=2125551234;postd=2(Note: In this case, the ANI determines the number the caller sees, and enters the DTMF tone “2” after the call connects)
As of 2019, ANI should be set on all outbound phone calls as federal regulation requirements means that most inbound carriers will block outbound calls that do not originate somewhere. ANI should be a number that you own.
For more information about this, please see the file below.
An example of a CSV file containing metadata values would look like:
Queuing calls with a metadata not only schedules the outbound calls to be queued, but before any calls are made Insight also creates an entry in the metadatabase that is associated with that particular survey, which, in turn, is associated with that specific outbound call.
Advanced Options
Users have the following options in the queue calls dialog window:
Upload CSV: Click the “Select Files” button to open a window that lets users choose and upload a CSV that contains a list of phone numbers. In order for Insight to accept the data from a CSV file it must be properly formatted. See the Queue Calls CSV Format guidelines for more information on proper formatting for this type of file.
Number of Attempts: Set the number of times to attempt the outbound call. The default setting is 1 attempt.
Between Attempts Wait: Set the amount of time Insight will wait after a failed queue attempt to retry the outbound call. If the set number of attempts is set to one this feature is not needed. If the number of attempts is greater than one this field is optional. The default value is 5 minutes.
Calling Window: This option lets users set a date/time range for when outbound calls will occur. Users can set a start and end time and date for when outbound call attempts will begin and end. This field is left empty by default. That means Insight begins making calls immediately and the attempt window will not expire until all attempts have been made or until all calls are completed.
Result URL: This is the callback URL to your REST service that processes the call status results when a call is completed, canceled, or all attempts have been exhausted. The POST body will match the format of the 'call_details' attribute from the outbound call status API response.
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