IVR Quick Start Guide. Getting off the ground with IVR

Transcription

1 IVR Quick Start Guide Getting off the ground with IVR

2 Copyright and Trademarks Copyright OpenMarket. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, electronically stored, or translated into any language, in any form by any means, without the prior written permission of OpenMarket. OpenMarket and the OpenMarket logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of OpenMarket in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. OpenMarket. 15 th Floor, 389 Chiswick High Road Chiswick, London W4 4AL, UK Go to Terms of Use This document contains unpublished, confidential, and proprietary information of OpenMarket and/or its affiliates that is protected by copyright, trade secret, and/or other intellectual property laws. OpenMarket software and its attendant documentation are subject to and made available only pursuant to the terms of a License Agreement with OpenMarket and may be used, reproduced, or distributed only in accordance with the terms of that License Agreement. ANY USE, REPRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, ALTERATION, TRANSMISSION, OR TRANSLATION OF THESE MATERIALS, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF OPENMARKET. IF THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED WITH SOFTWARE LICENSED BY OPENMARKET, THE INFORMATION HEREIN IS PROVIDED SUBJECT TO THE TERMS OF THE WARRANTY PROVIDED WITH THE PRODUCT LICENSE. IF THIS MATERIAL IS NOT PROVIDED WITH LICENSED SOFTWARE, THE INFORMATION HEREIN IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IN EITHER CASE, THERE ARE NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINFRINGEMENT, TITLE OR QUALITY. IN NO EVENT SHALL OPENMARKET OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE MATERIALS AND/OR INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN OR THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT SERVICES, EVEN IF OPENMARKET HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN ANY CASE, OPENMARKET S ENTIRE LIABILITY UNDER THIS PROVISION SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT ACTUALLY PAID BY YOU FOR THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT. OpenMarket takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the data and other information produced by OpenMarket that is made available herein. However, these materials may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors, and are not guaranteed to be error-free. Information may be changed or updated without notice. OpenMarket has no obligation to update the information in this material based on changes to its products or services or those of third parties. OpenMarket may also make improvements or changes to the products or services described in this information at any time without notice. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 2

3 Contents Introduction... 4 Key concepts... 4 Plug-in... 4 Service... 4 Number... 5 Configuring a simple service... 5 Logging in... 5 Uploading media... 5 Creating a service... 6 Assigning your service to a number... 9 Other features Call logs Statistics Promoters Video streaming SMS billing Integration with client systems or applications Support Appendix Supported audio upload formats Supported video upload formats IVR Quick Start Guide Page 3

4 Introduction The OpenMarket IVR Platform allows businesses to offer audio and video services to the consumer and business markets. Both inbound and outbound calling on voice and video platforms are fully supported. Premium Rate Numbers and Non-Geographic Numbers, as well as Voice and Video Short Codes, can all be routed to the IVR Platform, and the web-based MenuBuilder allows complex services to be set up easily and quickly. This guide explains how to configure your IVR account online in order to provide your voice or video service over the phone. You will need to have your username and password to hand, and, if you are using inbound calling, some phone numbers allocated to your account. The information in the IVR Quick Start Guide is only intended to be enough to get you up and running with the OpenMarket IVR Platform. For a more detailed explanation of the advanced features and possibilities, please contact your Technical Account Manager. Key concepts Before using the OpenMarket IVR Platform there are a few key concepts you will need to understand. These are Plug-ins, Services, and Numbers. Plug-in A plug-in is a call flow pattern supported by the IVR Platform, and describes what happens on a call. This can be as simple as playing a single prompt, or as complex as a menu system with recording, playback and call forwarding options. Integration with client systems is also possible; examples include plug-ins that record a voice or video clip and then it to a specified address, or that can stream live video to a mobile phone from a customer s endpoint. Most IVR plug-ins work for both outbound and inbound calls, and for voice or video. We can develop custom plug-ins for clients who need bespoke functionality, so if you cannot find a plug-in that does what you want, please contact your Technical Account Manager. Service A service is a configured instance of a plug-in, so it includes all the settings necessary to run the plug-in. You can configure as many services as you like on your IVR account. A service could be called Play Registration Message, for example. It would use the Play Media plug-in to play back a voice message thanking the caller for registering, and then end the call. Another service might be called the Play Good Morning Message, which also used the Play Media plug-in but this time played back a voice message with a morning greeting looped until the user hangs up. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 4

5 Number A number is a phone number allocated for use by your IVR account. Numbers can be provisioned for voice or video, and can be configured either to forward the call to another number or endpoint outside of the OpenMarket IVR Platform, or to provide an interactive service. Configuring a simple service To configure your first IVR service: Upload media for your prompts Create a service by configuring a plug-in with media you ve uploaded Assign the service to a number This section describes each of these steps in more detail. Logging in The OpenMarket IVR Platform website can be found at You will need your username and password to log in. If you only want to forward calls to another number or VOIP endpoint, skip to section 0. Uploading media Before configuring a service, you need to upload the media that your service requires to play on a call. To do this, click the Media link on the homepage. Next choose the Upload tab (Figure 1), and press Browse to choose the clip you want to upload. We support all major audio and video formats; for the full list, please see the Appendix. Unless you want to add extra details, you can leave all the other options blank and just press Upload when you are ready. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 5

6 Figure 1. Creating a service Now you can create a service to play out your media. Click the IVR Services link, then go to the Create tab. Here you will see the available plug-ins that your service can use. Alternatively, we can build custom plug-ins according to your specification. Contact your Technical Account Manager if you would like to discuss this further. Commonly used plug-ins include: Play Media Plays a single voice or video clip. MenuBuilder Allows you to build up a call-flow tree that can include playback, recording, live streaming and call forwarding. If you only want to play a clip, then the Play Media plug-in is ideal. Simply enter a name for your service and press Next, choose the file you uploaded earlier, and enter the number of times you want it to be played before pressing Create (Figure 2). For services requiring user input, playing back multiple files, or recording while on a call, you should use the MenuBuilder (Figure 3). If you need help with configuration, please contact your Technical Account Manager. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 6

7 Figure 2. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 7

8 Figure 3. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 8

9 Assigning your service to a number For your service to be played out over the phone, you will need to route a phone number to the service you have just created. Clicking the Numbers link will show any phone numbers assigned to your account. The blue Edit link on the far right column of the numbers table allows you to change what happens when the number is called. Click this link, and then select the Service you created earlier from the drop down list. You can leave the other options blank and press Save to finish (Figure 4). If you want to route your number to another number outside of the IVR Platform instead, type it in the Destination box and press Save. You must use the international format without the + here, so the UK number would appear You can also enter a SIP URL here to forward calls over VoIP. This completes the configuration. Calling the number will result in your service or call forward being run. Figure 4. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 9

10 Other features Call logs To see detailed information on calls that have come through your IVR account, click the Calls link (Figure 5). Choose the time period over which you wish to view the data and then press View Log. You can choose to limit logs to certain numbers or services, as well as whether the call was inbound or outbound, and voice or video. When viewing the call list, inbound calls will be highlighted in blue and outbound in grey. You will be able to see which of your numbers was called, by whom, at what time, and what service was used, or whether the call was forwarded to another number. If call archiving is enabled on any of your numbers, you will be able to download a recording of a call by clicking the floppy disk icon on the corresponding row. Figure 5. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 10

11 Statistics The OpenMarket IVR Platform provides an advanced interface for viewing and downloading call statistics, which can be accessed by clicking on the Statistics link (Figure 6). The statistics wizard can also be used to generate more complex reports based on the time of call, number dialled, plug-in used. For help using the Statistics section, contact your Technical Account Manager. Figure 6. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 11

12 Promoters Promoters are separate logins that you can create and then assign to a variety of your numbers. When logged in to the IVR Platform website as a promoter, you can view Call Logs and Statistics for all the numbers assigned to that promoter, and no others. As an example, suppose the numbers , and were used for advertising a product or service in The Guardian newspaper while the numbers , and were used in The Independent newspaper. You could create a Guardian promoter and assign to it the numbers advertised in The Guardian, and an Independent promoter and assign to it the numbers advertised in The Independent. A Statistics query could then be run for each promoter, showing the call volume generated by each advert. Video streaming Content providers can stream live video using SIP, RTSP or H.323 to the IVR Platform, which can be connected through the MenuBuilder to a Video Short Code or other number. One-to-one streaming allows the provider to interface two-way live content via the Internet using the OpenMarket Video Gateway. Each end user receives a separate video stream, and the end user's video is streamed back to the provider. Also supported is one-to-many broadcasting, where each call is connected to the same video stream, so all end users view the same content, such as a TV channel. SMS billing Instead of charging for a call via a premium rate number, the end user can be billed by sending a reverse billed SMS message to their handset. This can be in the form of a one-off drop charge made at the start of a call, or a per-minute tariff applicable throughout the length of the call. This can offer more flexibility than premium rate tariffs, allowing the addition of a free period or one-off extra charge at the start of the call. SMS billing can also be integrated with IVR services so that, for example, billing does not begin until the customer presses a key. Integration with client systems or applications The OpenMarket IVR Platform allows for close integration with your application through a number of HTTP APIs. The most popular of these are listed in this section, but for full details, contact your Technical Account Manager. Outbound call pushes The IVR Platform can be told to make an outbound call by hitting the Voice or Video Push URL and providing the following: IVR Platform login details The unique ID of the service to be invoked for this call The phone number to be called, which should be in MSISDN format. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 12

13 A variety of optional parameters can also be used to allow for greater control over the call, such as the caller ID that the call appears to originate from as well as maximum and minimum ringing durations. Customer logging When a call terminates, the IVR Platform can send HTTP logging messages based on events that occurred during the call, to the URL of your choice. Possible events to log include: Button Push event. This is triggered when the caller presses a DTMF key on their phone. The digit they pressed is sent in the HTTP message. Media Playback event. This is triggered when an audio or video clip is played to the caller. The name of the clip played is sent in the HTTP message. Recording Made event. This is triggered when a video recording made by the caller is saved. The name of the recording is sent in the HTTP message. Call Complete event. This is triggered when a call to the IVR Platform finishes. Call start and end dates, the caller's number, the number they dialled and other useful information is sent in the HTTP message. Media download Media clips that have been recorded by an end user, or uploaded in the past to the IVR Platform, can be downloaded through our Media Download API. This functionality can be used in conjunction with the Customer Logging API to automatically download content that a user records during a call. Support Information on the OpenMarket IVR Platform website is available under the Help tab on the IVR Services, Numbers, and Media sections. For further information on IVR features or how to achieve a service, contact your Technical Account Manager. If you have not yet been allocated a Technical Account Manager, ask your Account Manager for details. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 13

14 Appendix Supported audio upload formats The IVR Platform accepts a variety of formats for audio upload including MP3, AAC and WAV files. Once uploaded, the files will be converted into the format used by the telephone networks. This is 8kHz, 8 bit A-law compressed mono audio. For the best sound quality you should record natively at this resolution, since you will avoid the downsampling and re-encoding stage. You will also immediately be able to listen to your clip as it will sound when played out on a phone call. Supported video upload formats The recommended format is MPEG-4 encoded video with MP3 or AAC audio, packaged in an.avi or.mpg file. The aspect ratio for a 3G handset is 1.22:1, with square pixels. Ideally, the resolution should lie between 352x288 and 720x576, and the most efficient results will be achieved with a framerate of 10fps. The video should be progressive (not interlaced). Other supported formats include: Windows Media (ASF, WMV) RealMedia QuickTime (MOV, 3GP) JPEG and PNG images, which are converted into static videos. IVR Quick Start Guide Page 14