Agent Login and State Update on SIP Phones

This feature enables an agent to perform agent-related operations from the phone and then synchronize the phone and agent's desktop. A typical scenario involves an agent using the phone exclusively to log in/log out and set the Ready/Not Ready status without using the agent desktop application. Or, if an agent prefers using the agent desktop, then with this feature, the agent login and state will be automatically updated on the phone display. SIP Server fully synchronizes agent actions that are done using the phone or the desktop.

This functionality is implemented using two subscription packages described in the SIP Access Side Extensions Interface document by BroadSoft:

• Application Server Feature Event Package
• Hoteling Event Package

SIP phones that support these subscriptions enable agents to perform the following operations without using the desktop:

• Log in and log out
• Change the state to Ready, Not Ready, or AfterCallWork
• Set/synchronize the Reason code for the Not Ready state

SIP Server distinguishes subscription requests by DN (the From field) and subscription type (the Event field).

Agent Login and Authentication

There is a difference between agent desktop and phone authentication. If an agent logs in to the phone first and enters the password, the agent still must enter the password on the desktop. If an agent logs in to the desktop first and enters the password, the agent gets logged in to the phone automatically. The agent does not re-enter the password to change the agent state or to log out.

High Availability and Business Continuity Deployments

SIP Server synchronizes the agent state if a switchover occurs after the agent logs in from the phone or desktop. If the UDP transport is used, SIP Server continues sending agent state notifications to the phone through the existing subscription. If SIP is sent over TCP, it is expected that the phone should re-establish the TCP connection to SIP Server and use this connection to re-subscribe for agent state notifications from SIP Server. If the phone re-establishes the connection but does not re-subscribe, notifications are not sent. See feature limitations.

In Business Continuity deployments, phones must be configured with a single registration using the FQDN resolved in two IP addresses that correspond to SIP Server peer 1 and SIP Server peer 2. See Business Continuity deployments for details.

The Business Continuity recovery steps, if an agent uses both the desktop and phone, are as follows:

• The desktop remains in the logout state until it receives the registration request from a phone.
• The phone registers and subscribes.
• The desktop logs in automatically.

The Business Continuity recovery steps, if an agent uses only a phone, are as follows:

• The phone registers and re-subscribes.
• SIP Server sends a notification about the missing the agent-DN link and logout state.
• The phone can indicate this logout state or automatically re-log in.

Feature Configuration

• Enable the “ACD agent Availability” and “Hoteling Enhancement” features on the phone.

• If the ACD login operation on the phone requires agent authentication, provide the agent password in the Agent Login configuration object. Note that for agent authentication on the agent desktop, the desktop reads agent information from the Person configuration object.

Feature Limitations

• There is no synchronization of subscriptions between primary and backup SIP Servers. The phone must re-subscribe after the switchover.

• When an agent uses both the phone and desktop, the phone will not receive notifications after the switchover until the next SUBSCRIBE request.

• If you use phone-based agent operations, the agent-emu-login-on-call option must be set to true or not used at all.