Configure an Idle Timer in ContactNow

What is an Idle Timer?

The Idle Timer is a feature of inbound call queues that allows administrators to automatically place agents back into Available status within a specified time, after they perform a call disposition.

Configuring an Idle Timer

This feature is enabled on a per-queue basis. To configure it:

1. From the Configuration menu, navigate to the Agent, Teams and Queues and select the Queues tab.
2. Click the Gear icon to the right of the inbound queue you wish to set an Idle Timer for, and select Edit from the drop-down menu.
3. Click on the queue Settings tab, and scroll down to Idle Timer.

4. Select On to enable the feature, then enter countdown period between 0 and 86,400 seconds.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Update to save your changes.

For the changes to take effect, any agents who were logged in to ContactNow before the change must log out of both the ContactNow phone and the ContactNow web interface, and then log back in.

How It Works

For the Idle Timer to work consistently, an agent receiving calls from their assigned inbound call queue must always have the Available after call option enabled (green) in the ContactNow phone before they disposition a call.

Note: If the Available after call option is not enabled, the agent will be set to Idle status after they disposition a call, and no Idle Timer countdown will occur.

Then when the agent selects a call disposition, they will be placed into Idle status, which appears as Idle - Countdown at the bottom of the ContactNow phone.

The countdown displays a red line running right to left as the clock counts down the specified period. At end of the countdown, the agent will be placed into Available status.

While the Idle – Countdown is still in progress, the agent can click on the phone status bar and select other options:

• Available: The countdown will stop immediately and the agent will be placed into Available status.
• Disconnect: This will end the agent's phone connection to ContactNow.
• Extended Idle: These options appear with an orange dot, indicating that the agent will be placed into Extended Idle status. Extended Idle options must be made available to the agent by the service administrator. To receive new calls, the agent must manually select Available.

Note that for for reporting purposes, time spent in Idle – Countdown is included in Analytics > Agents reporting as time spent in Idle Status.