Using PBXact as an IVR with dBase interaction

[wentrowmedia (Wentrow)]

I hope someone can help? I have tried to get advise from SANGOMA direct and they told me that I needed to post my questions to the forum!!!

I am looking at the PBXact system to replace a Toshiba CIX system which is currently linked to a CISCO IPCC via QSIG. At the moment, the Toshiba is used for our ACD environment whilst the CISCO is used for our SELF-SERVICE IVR solutions.

Whilst I am sure the ACD features of the Toshiba will be matched or exceeded by PBXact, my queries relate more so to the abilities of creating self-service modules.

So, for example, we have a service which when dialled answers the call and checks a SQL dBase to look at the CallerID. If the CallerID is present, the user is simply asked to enter their account number. If no CLI is presented or found in the dBase, the user is asked for their account number and password. This is then checked against a SQL dbase, and then the user is allowed to proceed to a menu.

The account status is also queried based upon a SQL query, and the customer is alerted if their account is overdue or if they owe money, and if they are their call is pushed out to an ACD queue for them to rectify the situation with a live ACD agent.

Assuming their account is in order, the caller is asked what they want to list to. They are presented with a list of options and depending on the option they choose will depend on the message they hear. This is a message which is generated on the fly by retrieving a string of text from a dBase and converting using TTS.

Alternatively, they may pick an option to register for a ticket for an event. In such cases they are asked to enter the ‘event code’ which is ‘verified’ through the SQL dBase and using stored proceedures and SQL queries, they are asked a series of questions and then placed into a ballott.

I would be interested to know if anyone has any experience coding to this level and how this is achieved. Is their a GUI interface for building this type of script, or a scripting interface? Can pre-recorded audio prompts be used?

Grateful for any advise - particularly if I’m asking too much of PBXact and should be looking at a more specialist solution.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Paul

[lgaetz (Lorne Gaetz)]

There is no GUI framework for these type of caller/database interactions due to the fact that no two are in any way alike. It is probably mostly going to be custom coding with AGI files and/or custom dialplan. There is a third party module called Dynamic Routes which can branch calls based on the result of database queries, but will still require a significant amount of effort from you to put all the pieces together.

So in short, PBXact can probably do everything you’re asking for, but not out of the box. This is the type of thing we often work on in Sangoma Support if you have a budget. There are also many cases of people setting up similar systems on their own by asking questions here when they get stuck.