Skill Groups

Enterprise Skill Groups

An Enterprise skill group is a configured entity that serves to group a collection of skill groups on different peripherals.

For example, you may have a skill group called Boston_Sales on one peripheral and a skill group called NewYork_Sales on another peripheral. You could create an Enterprise skill group called Enterprise_Sales.

In a Unified CCE environment, configuring Enterprise Skill Groups allows you to report on skill groups across all ACDs, thus providing an enterprise view.

If you are using a Cisco Contact Center Gateway deployment, in which Unified CCE acts as an IP ACD to a parent Unified CCE system, decide which skill groups on the Unified CCE system are to be grouped into Enterprise skill groups at the parent level.


Note
If you group skill groups from the same peripheral into an Enterprise skill group, you will see double counting of some metrics in your reports.

Base Skill Groups and Sub-skill Groups

For Unified CCE deployments, you can configure only one type of skill group: base skill groups.

For Unified CCE, existing sub-skill configurations that are in place for Unified CCE. Unified CCE and time-division multiplex(TDM) based ACDs are supported to enable you to phase them out gracefully.

Refer to the Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise for instructions on manually removing sub-skill groups.

Default Skill Group

The default skill group acts as a bucket to capture information about voice calls and non-voice tasks.

You can configure the default skill group per agent. If a default skill group is not set, the system automatically creates one. The default skill group has a peripheral number of 0.

Role of Default Skill Group in Reporting

The default skill group captures information in these situations:

  • For calls that are not routed by a Unified CCE Packaged CCE routing script

  • If a skill group is not specified in a routing script

  • If the Agent to Agent node is used in a routing script for agent-to-agent dialing

  • When the Queue to Agent node queues a task to an agent and the agent is not logged into the skill group specified in the Queue to Agent node

Using a default skill group helps to:

  • Ensure the agent/skill group reports balance with the service and call type reports, since service and call type reports include only Unified CCE Packaged CCE-routed calls, and

  • Isolate/identify non-Unified CCE Packaged CCE-routed calls within the agent and skill group report.

Statistics for the default skill group are affected by different types of calls, including new calls, agent-to-agent-dialing, and transferred and conferenced calls.

If you deploy Multichannel options in a Unified CCE Packaged CCE system, default skill groups are created for each Media Routing Domain that is configured.

How New Calls Increment Default Skill Group Statistics

Call statistics for all new outbound and incoming direct calls are incremented for the default skill group as follows:

  • AgentOutCalls for external outbound calls


    Note
    When an agent makes an outbound call as part of a consultative call, the call is not attributed to the default skill group. It is attributed to the skill group for the consulting agent on the original call.

  • InternalCalls for the internal outbound calls

  • InternalCallRcvd for the direct incoming calls


Note
CallsHandled is not incremented for the default skill group, since the default skill group can not be referenced in any script.

How Agent-to-Agent Dialing Increments Default Skill Group Statistics

Agent-to-agent dialing using the agent to agent node in the script also affects the default skill group. OutgoingExternal or OutgoingInternal are incremented for the default skill group of the agent initiating the agent to agent call. The default skill group InternalCallsReceived is incremented for the default skill group of the agent receiving the agent to agent call.

How Transferred and Conferenced Calls Increment Default Skill Group Statistics

The default skill group is also affected by transferred and conferenced calls. If agent A transfers or conferences a Unified CCE Packaged CCE-routed call to another agent directly without using a script, OutgoingExternal or OutgoingInternal for agent A are incremented against the skill group of the Unified CCE Packaged CCE-routed call. However, IncomingDirect calls for agent B are incremented against the default skill group.

However, if the agent (agent A) transfers or conferences a Unified CCE Packaged CCE–routed call to a dialed number that accesses a transfer or conference script that has an agent to agent node, OutgoingExternal or OutgoingInternal for the agent A is incremented for the skill group of the Unified CCE Packaged CCE routed call. IncomingDirect calls for agent B are incremented for the default skill group.

Reports on Skill Group Operations

Use the skill group templates to gain insight into operations, to see how one skill group is performing compared to other skill groups, and to track whether calls are being distributed evenly by your routing scripts and configuration.

  • In a Unified ICM environment, you can select and report on data for base skill groups only, when sub-skill group are configured.


    Note

    If you have configured sub-skill groups, data from sub-skill groups automatically rolls up into base skill groups.

  • You can report on skill groups associated with a specific single peripheral in Unified CCE.

  • You can report on call statistics by agent skill group assignments.

  • You can report on enterprise skill groups. An enterprise skill group is a collection of skill groups, mapped across multiple peripherals.

    If you group skill groups from the same peripheral into an enterprise skill group, you might see double-counting of some metrics in your reports.


Note
For agents in more than one skill group, you can also use the agent by skill group templates as a tool for monitoring agent performance.

Calls Offered Calculation for Skill Group

The completed state for RouterCallsOffered at the skill group is calculated using these fields from the Skill_Group_Interval table:

  • RouterCallsAbandToAgent

  • CallsHandled

  • RouterCallsDequeued

  • RedirectNoAnsCalls

  • RouterError

  • ReserveCalls

  • RouterCallsAbandQ

  • RouterCallsAbandDequeued

Reports That Show Skill Group Operations

These are some of the reports that contain operational information on skill groups:

  • Unified IC Enterprise Skill Group Historical All Fields

  • Unified IC Enterprise Skill Group Real Time All Fields

  • Unified IC Peripheral Skill Group Historical All Fields

  • Unified IC Peripheral Skill Group Real Time All Fields

Reports on Agent Activity in Skill Groups

A skill group is a collection of agents at a single contact center who share a common set of competencies that equip them to handle the same types of requests. Some examples of skill groups are a collection of agents who speak a specific language or who can assist callers with billing questions.

An agent can be a member of zero, one, or more skill groups (depending on the peripheral) up to a maximum specified in the Solution Design Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise.

You can generate reports for skill groups that show agent activity (for example, the number of agents talking, available, or in wrap-up for a particular skill group).

In addition to generating Agent Skill Group reports, you can also use Skill Group reports to monitor operational performance. For example, you might want to see how a skill group is performing compared to other skill groups or to see if calls are being distributed evenly by your routing scripts and configuration.

Reports That Show Agent Skill Group Activity

These are some reports that show information on Agents by Skill Group:

  • Agent Skill Group Real Time All Fields

  • Agent Skill Group Historical All Fields

  • agtskg21: Agent Skill Group Summary Half Hour

  • agtskg03: Agent Skill Group Media Status Logout Report

Skill Group Reporting for Outbound Option Campaigns

For skill group reporting per campaign, Outbound Option provides report templates that accurately represent the skill group activity for a contact center.

Skill group reports provide information on agent activity for outbound and inbound agents.

If the same skill group is used for both inbound and outbound, then the campaign consolidated reports will provide a consolidated overview of business activity for both inbound and outbound calls.

Reports That Show Skill Group Activity on Outbound Option Campaigns

These are some of the reports that show skill group activity per campaign:

  • Perskg11: Outbound Option (Blended Agent) Statistics By Skill Group Report

  • Perskg12: Outbound Option (Blended Agent) Task Detail Performance In Skill Groups Half Hour Report