Cisco Unified Contact Center Express

New Features

  • Context Service Integration for Chat, Email, and Voice

  • Single Sign-On

  • Two New Email Live Data Reports

  • Five New Historical Reports

  • Chrome Support

  • SHA-256 Support

  • ESXi 6.0 Support

  • Office 365 Support

  • Microsoft Exchange 2016 Support

  • Toaster Notification for Voice, Chat and Email

  • IVR Outbound support for Phone 2 and Phone 3.

  • Cisco Unified CCX Editor is supported on Windows 8 and Windows 10.

Context Service Integration for Chat, Email, and Voice

This release integrates the Context Service with chat, email, and voice to store Cisco Contact Center customer data with rich contextual information about interactions, thus resulting in a seamless omni channel experience.


Note

Unified Contact Center Express supports connectivity to Context Service using HTTP proxy.


The below table lists the compatibility information of few of the Context Service gadgets with the web browsers.

Gadget

Browser

Context Service Agent Gadget

Internet Explorer 11, Firefox 45 and higher and Chrome 48 and higher ESRs

Context Service Registration User Interface in the Cisco Finesse Administration Web Interface

Firefox 45 and higher ESRs

Single Sign-On

Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication process that allows users to sign in to one application and then securely access other authorized applications without a prompt to resupply user credentials. SSO permits Cisco supervisors or agents to sign on only once with a username and password to gain access to all of their Cisco browser-based applications and services within a single browser instance. By using SSO, Cisco administrators can manage all users from a common user directory and enforce password policies for all users consistently.


Note

SSO is an optional feature. The implementation requires you to use only HTTPS protocol to access all the web applications. The HTTP access to web applications is not supported when the SSO is enabled.


Authentication Modes in Unified CCX

You can choose from two different authentication modes when deciding about implementing SSO:
  • SSO - Enable all agents, supervisors, and administrators (administrators of the Cisco Unified CCX Administration or Cisco Unified CCX Serviceability application) in the deployment for SSO.

  • Non-SSO - Use existing Unified CM-based or local authentication.

Applications in SSO Mode

  • Cisco Unified Intelligence Center (CUIC)

  • Cisco Finesse

  • Cisco Finesse-hosted gadgets

  • Cisco Unified CCX Administration

  • Cisco Unified CCX Serviceability.


Note

The Cisco Finesse IP Phone Agent is not supported in SSO enabled mode.


Applications not SSO Enabled

The following applications are not Single Sign-On enabled:
  • Cisco Finesse Administration

  • Cisco Identity Service Administration

  • Disaster Recovery System

  • Cisco Unified OS Administration

  • Cisco Unified Serviceability

  • Standalone Cisco Unified Intelligence Center

  • Cisco Unified CCX Editor

  • Real Time Monitoring Tool

  • Cisco SocialMiner

  • Cisco Media Sense

  • Cisco Workforce Optimization

  • Any Third Party Application.

Administrator Privileges for the Unified CCX Administrator in Cisco Unified Intelligence Center

In Single Sign-On (SSO) mode the Application User created during installation will not be able to access the Cisco Unified Intelligence Center application with administrator privileges. To enable the Cisco Unified CCX Administrator to have administrator privileges in Cisco Unified Intelligence Center as well, follow the steps below:
  1. Assign the reporting capability to the user.

  2. Execute the CLI command, utils cuic user make-admin.

  3. Restart the Cisco Unified Intelligence Center Reporting Service for the changes to reflect.

Single Sign-On Configuration in Cisco Unified CCX Administration

Cisco Unified CCX Administration provides an option to configure Single Sign-On (SSO) from the System menu.

Use this to perform the following SSO configuration tasks:

  1. Register the SSO-compatible components with the Cisco Identity Service. These components include the Finesse, and Unified Intelligence Center machines.


    Note

    As a prerequisite, you need to configure the metadata exchange between Cisco Identity Service (IdS) and the Identity Provider (IdP).


  2. Test SSO Setup

  3. Enable or Disable SSO

When SSO is enabled and if the enterprise user is unable to log in to Cisco Unified CCX Administration and Cisco Unified CCX Serviceability, the recovery URLs can be used to log in. For troubleshooting purpose the enterprise user or system user chosen during the installation can login to Cisco Unified CCX Administration and Cisco Unified CCX Serviceability through the following recovery URL.
  • URL for Cisco Unified CCX Administration: https://<ipaddress/fqdn>/appadmin/recovery_login.htm

  • URL for Cisco Unified CCX Serviceability: https://<ipaddress/fqdn>/uccxservice/recovery_login.htm

For more information about the Single Sign-On configuration, see the Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Administration Guide available at, http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-express/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.

New Reports

Email Live Data Reports

There are two new email live data reports that have been added in this release. The new reports are:
  • Email Agent Statistics Report

  • Email CSQ Summary Report

Historical Reports

There are five new historical reports that have been added in this release. The new reports are:
  • Agent All Fields Report

  • Contact Service Queue Activity by Window Duration

  • CSQ All Fields Report

  • Reason Code Report by Agent Grouping

  • Reason Code Report by Reason Code Grouping

SHA-256 Support

Unified Contact Center Express now supports SSL certificates signed with SHA-256.

ESXi 6.0 Support

Unified CCX Release 11.5(1) supports ESXi 6.0 Update 2. For more information, see the Compatibility Matrix for Cisco Unified CCX Compatibility Matrix for Cisco Unified CCX doc wiki at http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Compatibility_Matrix_for_Unified_CCX.

Note


Office 365 Support

Unified CCX with SocialMiner now provides email integration with Office 365 in addition to Microsoft Exchange with the support of an optional proxy setting to achieve this.

Toaster Notification for Voice, Chat, and Email

The following toaster notifications have been added in this release. These notifications are pop-up notifications that appear when the Cisco Finesse web interface is not active or is in a minimized state:
  • Agent receives a desktop call notification on an incoming call.

  • Agent receives a notification when a new email is received.

  • Agent receives a notification when a new chat is received.


Note

  • Toaster notifications are supported only on Firefox and Chrome.

  • Toaster notification on Internet Explorer 11 is not supported.

  • Toaster notifications for Chat and Email in Chrome when clicked will not restore the Finesse desktop.


Updated Features

ASCII Characters Support in Finesse Agent Usernames

Finesse agent usernames are restricted to 7-bit printable ASCII characters (any of the 94 characters with the numeric values from 33 to 126). They do not support double quotes (" "), forward slash (/), backward slash (\), square brackets ([ ]), colon (:), semicolon (;), pipe (|), equal to (=), comma (,), add (+), star (*), question mark (?), angle brackets (< >), hash (#), percent (%), SPACE and the characters restricted by Unified Communications Manager and Unified CCX.

Important Notes

  • Real-Time Reporting for Unified CCX is not supported with Chrome. Use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox for accessing the RTR page.

  • RTMT is not supported on Windows 2012 server. The supported operating systems are listed below:
    • Windows XP

    • Windows Vista

    • Windows 7

    • Windows 8

    • Linux with KDE or GNOME client

  • Ensure that the latest version of RTMT installer modules are loaded in the .jrtmt folder when you install multiple RTMT applications in a system.

  • For all the Unified Intelligence Center Reports that are failing with a database exception error, install the following COP file, ciscouccx.ReportFix.10.cop.sgn from the location, Download Cisco UCCX Report Fix to fix the encountered issue.

  • The multi-server certificates are not supported in Cisco Unified Contact Center Express.

Deprecated Features

In Unauthenticated Dashboard permalinks, adding authenticated report permalinks as URL widgets is not supported.

SHA-1 Support

Beginning with Release 11.5(1), support for automatically generated self-signed certificates using SHA-1 encryption is deprecated.

Removed and Unsupported Features

Unsupported Languages for Chat Transcript Download

The default language of the chat transcript PDF is English for customers whose languages (locales) are not supported by SocialMiner. The chat transcript PDF supports all languages that SocialMiner supports except for the following:

  • Chinese Simplified (zh_CN)

  • Chinese Traditional (zh_TW)

  • Japanese (ja_JP)

  • Korean (ko_KR)

If you type in any of the unsupported languages, the PDF will have a blank line in place of the line that is in the unsupported language.

Unsupported Options on Finesse for Direct Preview Outbound

Finesse does not support Skip, Skip-Next, Skip-Close, Reject, Cancel Reservation, and Do Not Call for direct preview outbound calls.

Unsupported and Supported Features and Configurations for Progressive and Predictive Agent Outbound

Unsupported Features and Configurations for Progressive and Predictive Agent Outbound

  • The "Get Reporting Statistic" step is not supported for progressive and predictive agent-based outbound campaigns.

  • Unified CCX does not support the translation or modification of the phone number that it uses to dial outbound calls. If any "voice translation rules" that are configured in the gateway modify the phone number, those rules are not supported.


    Note

    You can use either of the following two supported methods to modify a dialed number in the gateway:


    • To remove the initial digits of the phone number, use forward-digits or digit-strip in the dial-peer configuration.

    • To add a prefix to the phone number, use prefix in the dial-peer configuration.

  • For Outbound campaigns outside North America, additional configuration is required to add the area-code-to-time-zone mapping. For more information, see the Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Administration Guide, located at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1846/products_installation_and_configuration_guides_list.html.

  • For multi-country Outbound campaigns, the area code must also include the country code.

  • Unified CCX dialer will dial outbound contacts only if the publisher database is in the IN SERVICE state.

  • Finesse does not support the Do Not Call option.

  • Outbound license usage is not captured in the License Utilization Cisco Unified Intelligence Center report.

  • You must enable Agent AutoAnswer manually for agent-based progressive and predictive calls when you upgrade from an older Unified CCX release.

Supported Features and Configurations for Progressive and Predictive Agent Outbound

Unsupported Configuration for IPv6

Unsupported Configurations and Scenarios for Unified CCX

Unified CCX does not support the following configurations:

  • CTI route points with directory numbers (DNs) that are members of line groups and, by extension, that are members of hunt lists of Unified CM.

  • Shared lines for CTI ports and CTI route points.

  • Shared non-IPCC extensions with any other Directory Number, irrespective of the configured partition.

  • The directory number configured for the ICD line of the agent device, cannot be shared with any other devices irrespective of the configured partition.

  • Expansion servers, except for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text-To-Speech (TTS), SocialMiner, and MediaSense, which must be separate, dedicated servers.

  • ICD call answer or ICD call transfer using any third-party attendant console desk software.

  • Within the same script, using the "Place Call" step to generate a call and then placing the call in a queue.

  • SIP REFER between a switchboard and Unified CCX if the transfer is completed after the call is answered on the Unified CCX CTI port because of media reestablishment issues.

  • During TTS prompt playback, if the call is put on hold and then retrieved, the prompt does not continue from the position at which it was left.

  • Use of "Consult Transfer" or "Redirect" step from scripts to a translation pattern that maps back to a route point.

  • Use of "Consult Transfer", "Redirect", and "Place Call" steps to invoke or dial into "MeetMe" conferences.

  • The following scenarios have issues:

    • External -> Redirect to Unmonitored device -> Call Forward No Answer (CFNA) to UCCX RP

      Use of Redirect Step to an unmonitored device which then uses CFNA to a UCCX route point.

    • External -> Consult Transfer to RP ->Consult Transfer to RP -> Redirect to Unmonitored device

    • External -> Redirect to RP -> Consult Transfer to RP -> Redirect to Unmonitored device

    • External -> Consult Transfer to RP -> Redirect to RP -> Redirect to Unmonitored device

    • External -> Consult Transfer to RP -> Redirect to Unmonitored device

      Thus, use the Call Redirect Step in the script instead of Call Consult Transfer.

  • Unified CCX doesn't completely support E.164 numbering plan for route point directory numbers (DN).

    This limitation is because of the Unified CM limit on device name length set as 15 characters. We add "_" between the device name prefix and the DN. So we support a maximum of 13 characters in the DN as device name prefix is mandatory and hence at least one character is needed there. For example, (Device name prefix) + '_' + (length of DN) = 15 ==> [(1 + '_' + 13) = 15].

  • Cisco Unified CCX system does not support modification, addition or deletion of the CTI ports and the CTI Route Points from the Cisco Unified Communication Manager. Performing the same can lead to issues with non-contiguous DN range for which Cisco Tomcat on Unified CCX Server needs to be restarted.

  • A discrepancy in reports is observed when a call is transferred using Cisco Jabber by multiple agents in the same call flow. Use the Cisco Finesse desktop to transfer calls.

  • SIP URI dialing for CTI route points, CTI ports, and agent extensions.

  • Mid Call Caller ID updates when call is routed to Unified CM via MGCP gateway.


    Note

    When incoming calls are routed to Unified CM via MGCP gateway, any mid call caller ID updates are reflected only after the call is connected.


Unsupported Actions for Unified CCX Agents

Use of the following softkeys on a Cisco Unified IP Phone is not supported:

  • Barge

  • cBarge

  • DND

  • GPickup

  • iDivert

  • MeetMe

  • Park

  • Pickup

Unsupported and Supported Configurations for Agent Phones

Unsupported Configurations for Agent Phones

The following configurations are not supported for agent phones:

  • Two lines on an agent phone that have the same extension but exist in different partitions.

  • Unified CCX extension that is assigned to multiple devices.

  • Configuring the same Unified CCX extension in more than one device profile, or configuring the same Unified CCX extension in any combination of device profiles and devices. (Configuring a Unified CCX extension in a single device profile is supported.)

  • In the Unified Communications Manager Administration Directory Number Configuration web page for each Unified CCX line, setting Maximum Number of Calls to a value other than 2.

  • In the Unified Communications Manager Administration Directory Number Configuration web page for each Unified CCX line, setting Busy Trigger to a value other than 1.

  • No Cisco Unified Communications Manager device can be forwarded to the Unified CCX extension of an agent.

  • The Unified CCX extension of an agent cannot be configured to forward to a Cisco Unified CCX Trigger or CTI route point.


    Note

    This is applicable to all types of forward such as, Forward All, Forward No Answer External, Forward on CTI Failure, and so on.


  • Configuring the Unified Communications Manager Intercom feature.

  • Configuring the Hold Reversion feature.

  • Agent extensions cannot be added to hunt lists or hunt groups. If an agent has only one line, then the agent phone cannot be part of a hunt list or hunt group. In the case of multiple lines, none of the lines on the first four buttons on the phone must be part of the hunt group. For more details on multiple lines support and number of monitored lines, see the Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Design Guide, located at http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-express/products-implementation-design-guides-list.html.

  • Call Forward All to extensions which Unified CCX does not have control over. For example, if an agent extension has Call Forward All to a PSTN extension or Directory Number on another cluster which Unified CCX is unaware of.

  • All the Cisco IP Phones for Cisco Finesse IP Phone Agent currently do not support the Simplified New Call UI.

Supported Configurations for Agent Phones

To determine the phone devices that are supported by Cisco Finesse and for use by Cisco Finesse IP Phone agents, see the Compatibility Matrix for Unified CCX, located at: http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Compatibility_Matrix_for_Unified_CCX

The following configurations are supported on agent phones:

  • A Unified CCX extension that is configured on a single device (but not on multiple devices).

  • A Unified CCX extension that is configured in a single device profile (but not in multiple device profiles).

  • Multiple agents sharing the same Unified CCX extension, which you can set up as follows:

    • Configure the Unified CCX extension to a single phone (not in a device profile).

    • Associate the phone with all the agents who will use this extension.

    • Select the appropriate directory number (DN) as the Unified CCX extension for each agent.

      In this configuration, only one agent at a time can be logged in.


      Note

      All agents who currently have the Unified CCX extension to be shared must log out before you configure additional agents to share that extension.


  • Video is now supported if you are using Cisco Jabber for Windows as agent phone. The agent desktop where Jabber is used for Video should comply to the Cisco Jabber hardware requirements listed in the Cisco Jabber for Windows 11.0.x and 11.1.x Release Notes , located at:

    http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/jabber/Windows/11_0/RN/JABW_BK_C5E7828C_00_cisco-jabber-windows-11-release-notes.html.

Unsupported and Supported Configurations for Remote Agents

Unified CCX supports Cisco Expressway 8.7.1 from the release 11.5(1) onward. The current version of Cisco Expressway does not support BiB and thus the contact center cannot achieve silent monitoring and recording functionalities.

Unsupported Features in Unified Communications Manager and Cisco Business Edition 6000

The following Unified Communications Manager features are not supported by Unified CCX. These features are disabled by default and you should not enable them for Unified CCX. For more information about these features, see Unified Communications Manager documentation, located at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/tsd_products_support_series_home.html.

  • Block External to External Transfer.

  • DSCP IP CTIManager to Application service parameter.

    You can enable this service parameter for Unified Communications Manager, but doing so does not affect Unified CCX.

  • Advanced Ad Hoc Conference Enabled service parameter.

  • Drop ad hoc conference when the creator leaves the conference.

  • Signaling (QSIG) Path Replacement (PR).

    This feature must be disabled when Unified CCX is deployed. To disable this feature, set the Unified Communications Manager service parameters Path Replacement Enabled and Path Replacement on Tromboned Calls to False.

  • Forced Authorization Code and Client Matter Code.

    Because these features can be enabled per route pattern, you should turn them off for all route patterns in the Unified Communications Manager cluster that Unified CCX might use. Enabling these features for route patterns that Unified CCX does not use does not affect Unified CCX.

  • Multilevel precedence and preemption (MLPP).

    You can enable this feature for devices in the cluster that do not interact with Unified CCX.

  • Do not use Unified Communications Manager Administration to add or change CTI ports or route points that are used by Unified CCX or application users that are created by Unified CCX.

Unsupported Features in Custom Reports

The Do Not Call field is no longer available in Unified CCX 11.0(1) release onward. While upgrading to Unified CCX 11.5(1), report will not be generated if the Do Not Call column is present in the custom report. You can generate the report by removing the Do Not Call column from the custom reports in Unified CCX 11.5(1).