Terms/Acronyms 

A-Z

A

ACD: Automated Call Distributor

ACE: Access Control Entry

ACL: Access Control List

ANI: Automatic Number Identification, Not to be confused with CLID.  ANI is the ULTIMATE determination of the origination of the call (most telephone switches on PSTN will pass original ANI along.  However if a MIM switch is taking the call, and initiating a new call the ANI can be manipulated). 

ANI2 - Automatic Number Identification : Pieces of extra information that can be garnered regarding the origination of the call.  Commonly used to determine if the caller is calling from a Mobile Device.

API - Application Programming Interface : A way for two different systems to communicate information from one to another (Commonly used are REST / SOAP / Socket and other communications types)

AOV - Average Order Value

ASA - Average Speed of Answer

B

Blocked: agent setting that prevents them from using the system when they are not scheduled

BRI - Basic Rate Interface : A type of DSL (See ISDN) line (2 B Channel, 1 D-Channel)

C

Campaign Transfer: [option located on the Transfers tab] For the quiet/regular handoff of calls between agents on the SingleComm platform. These can be from Agent1 to Agent2 within the same or different campaign(s).

Cold Transfer: Call handoff in which Agent1 hits the transfer button and hangs-up immediately, leaving the caller to wait for Agent2 to pickup the call (frequently a transfer to a queue).

CDR: Call Detail Record

CIC - Carrier Identification Code : Referring to RespOrg of a number, one can schedule a 'CIC' (pronounced Kick) at a specific time so that the number hits a specifically desired platform or route at a specific date / time.

CLEC - Competitive Local Exchange Carrier : Referring to a "carrier" (i.e. Bandwidth / Blitz / Intelepeer / NexVortex)

CLID - Calling Line Identification Display : Caller ID (caller identification, CID), also called calling number delivery (CND), calling number identification (CNID) or calling line identification presentation (CLIP).  This CAN be manipulated by equipment to display alternative Ids.

CSV - Comma Seperated Values : commonly referred to as comma delimited text files.  Data format for passing information to another entity.

D

Destination Transfer: [option located on the Transfers tab] For the handoff of calls from agents on the SingleComm platform to a third party.
*Script data transfer is not supported in this transfer type.

Dial Back: the act of calling back an inbound call

DID: Direct Inward Dialing- provides service for multiple telephone numbers over one or more analog or digital physical circuits to a PBX extension that is directly accessible for an outside caller.

Disposition: outcome of a call

DNC: Do Not Call, Referring to the Do Not Call Scrub (DNCScrub.com) where we remove numbers from lead lists due to the person's number being on the National Do Not Call List.

DNIS: Dialed Number Identification Service- identifies which telephone number was dialed by the caller, Referring to pulling the number that the client dialed to determine what application / campaign to run when it hits a TRUNK GROUP.

E

EBR - Existing Business Relationship : Relating to DNC meaning an existing relationship exists between the client and the lead meaning DNC rules do not apply.  (Someone has essentially subscribed to the clients business and it is safe to call them).

F

FLAT File - much like CSV (one record per line), but there is no delimiter.  Usually each field is a specific length of characters.  Parsing is not as simple as CSV

G

H

HUP: Hangup

I

IB: Inbound

IVR: Interactive Voice Response- allows callers to interact with phone system via keypad or speech recognition

IVR Transfer: [option located on the Transfers tab] For the cold transfer of calls from an agent straight to a queue.

ISDN - Integrated Services for Digital Network (Digital Subscriber Line) : usually used for data / telecommunications to deliver voice / data over B-Channel (Bearer), and D-Channel (Data)

J

JSON - JavaScript Object Notation : A structured format of data much like XML but with lower overhead.  Commonly used in APIs.

K

L

LOA - also called CFA-LOA Letter Of Authority and Customer Facility Assignment : What is required to initiate a RespOrg adjustment, or change in ownership of a number (moving a number from one carrier to another).

M

MoH: Music on Hold

MIM - Man in the Middle : A method of relaying information from one point to another potentially without either end knowing of the transaction.

MRCP - Media Resource Control Protocol : Protocol used to stream recorded information from source to destination (usually a speech engine) to translate the spoken word into text.

N

NPS: Net Promoter Score- measures an agent's level of provided service based on customer feedback after a call

NANP - North American Numbering Plan (NPA - NXX - XXXX (Extension) : i.e. 587-585-1106)

NPA - identifies the 3-digit Numbering Plan Area (Area Code)

NXX - identifies the Central Office (aka. Exchange) within the NPA

O

OB: Outbound

Override: Shift status that occurs when a supervisor manually unblocks an agent

P

PBX: Private Branch Exchange- type of phone switching system

PCI: Payment Card Industry- sets the standard for collecting and storing credit card information

PII: Personally Identifiable Information- any type of data that can be tied to a specific individual

PANS - Pretty Amazing New Stuff : Deprecated ISDN PRI / T1 interface to communicate through PSTN (Use of ANI / DNIS through a trunk group requires sophisticated switching equipment).

PBX - Private Branch Exchange : Commonly referred to a private switch (such as asterisk or freeswitch) that allows intelligent routing of calls to different endpoints.

POTS - Plain Old Telephone System : Single Line communications device where one number rings to one phone.

PRI - Primary Rate Interface (ISDN) : Commonly in North America 23 B-Channel, 1 D-Channel

PSTN - Public Switched Telephone Network : Standard wire communications signaling commonly used by telephone operators / carriers.

Q

Quiet Transfer: Call handoff type in which the consumer cannot hear Agent2's phone ringing or answering. Caller is not able to listen in on the interaction between Agent1 and Agent2.

R

RBR: Rank Based Routing

Regular Transfer: Call handoff type in which the consumer hears Agent2's phone ringing and then answering. Caller can listen in on the interaction between Agent1 and Agent2.

Redial: the act of calling back an outbound call

RespOrg - Responsible Organization : The company responsible for the TN / TFN and the termination point of said Number.

RESTful - Representational State Transfer : Commonly used verbs (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.) used in conjunction with HTTP requests to URIs for communication between locations (See API)

Real-Time - Current time, or right away

S

SBR: Skills Based Routing

SE: Scripting Engine, legacy term for the CX Create platform

SLA: Service Level Agreement 

Script - This is what an agent sees on the screen with form fields.

SIP - Session Initiated Protocol : Referring to a method in which calls can be delivered to a platform outside of the PSTN

SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol : API in which communication is passed back and forth using XML language.  Heavier than JSON, but simpler to implement structured documented services.  Heavily used in .NET architecture.

Soft Phone - Piece of Computer software that allows VoIP calling from a computer to either the PSTN, or another VoIP device.

T

TFN: Toll Free Number 

TRUNK - A Group of phone lines that terminate on specific equipment.

TN - Telephone Number (Same as DID)

TTS - Text To Speech : Computer aided creation of voice files using computer simulated voice from typed text.

U

Unblocked: Shift status for agents' currently in a shift

V

VoIP - Voice over IP : Commonly used when referring to SIP communications between two identities.  Other protocols can be used (Voice over Internet Protocol)

VR - Voice Recognition : trapping / recording utterances through a computer to determine what was spoken and converting it to readable text.

W

Warm Transfer: Call handoff in which Agent1 stays on the line and introduces Consumer to Agent2 before dropping (and they sometimes even all talk together for a while to make sure Agent2 can help).

X

XML - eXtensible Markup Language : Human readable documents that store data in a structured format. Commonly used in APIs and a requirement for SOAP

Y

Z