In this article
A system administrator may enable the Call transfer functionality. This requires two separate functions to be enabled: Internal and External call transfer. Internal call transfer allows the interviewer to transfer a call to another interviewer working in the same company. External transfer allows a call to be transferred to any telephone number that is specified in the CATI Supervisor External Transfer list by a supervisor.
An Internal call transfer can be enabled separately, or together with the External Call Transfer. In the first case, only the Internal Call Transfer button becomes available in the Interviewer Console toolbar; when both Internal and External call transfer are enabled the External Call Transfer button also becomes available.
A call transfer can be either Blind or Warm.
A "Blind" call transfer supposes no interaction of the initial interviewer with the target transferee. The initial interviewer is disconnected from the call as soon as they click the Transfer button, and the system takes over the transferred call and handles it. The initial interviewer is then free to resume interviewing with new records. Note that once a call transfer is initiated in blind mode it cannot be canceled.
A "Warm" call transfer means the initial interviewer contacts the target interviewer prior to transferring the call. The CATI system provides the initial interviewer with the options of establishing independent contact with a respondent, contacting the target interviewer, or holding a three-way conversation with both of them.
The type of call transfer which is initiated by default when a Call Transfer button is clicked depends on the option specified for the survey (go to Viewing and Modifying General Properties for more information). For Internal call transfers this can be Warm, Blind or Off. If Off is selected, the Internal Call Transfer button is grayed out and is unavailable. For the External call transfer the options are Warm or Blind with the default being Warm.
Interviews (calls) can only be transferred to another person once the interview has started.
Internal Call Transfer
When an interviewer wishes to transfer a call to another agent working in the same company, they click the Internal Call Transfer button while informing the respondent that the line will be switched. The type of call transfer which is initiated when this button is clicked depends on the corresponding option specified for the survey (go to Viewing and Modifying General Properties for more information).
Note that an internal call transfer may not be possible. There are two reasons for this:
The current company has no interviewer group with the appropriate "Allow call transfers" option enabled (go to Adding and Deleting an Interviewer Group for more information).
There are no groups or interviewers in the current company assigned to this survey.
In this case a message is displayed explaining the reason for this. Click OK to close the message and return to the last interview question.
Figure 1 - The message overlay
If the transfer is possible, the Internal Call Transfer window is displayed. The transfer type is indicated by the dialog name displayed in the title bar.
Figure 2 - Example of the internal call transfer window
The Internal Call Transfer window contains a list of interviewer groups that belong to the same company as the current interviewer's group and are therefore considered "internal". An internal transfer can only be placed to a group, it is not possible to transfer to one specific individual. This list provides the following information:
- The name of the group.
- An optional description of the group.
- The number of interviewers in the "Waiting" or "Selecting" state shows how many interviewers are free or are potentially available to accept the transferred interview at the particular moment.
- The number of working interviewers in the group - shows how many interviewers belonging to the group are currently logged into the interviewer console.
The interviewer numbers will be constantly changing, but the icon in the left column indicates whether a group has interviewers who can potentially accept a transferred call (who are currently in the Waiting or Selecting state). When the icon is red the group currently has no free interviewers and so it is less likely the transfer can be picked up quickly. When the icon is yellow the interviewer may consider this group if there are no better candidates, an interviewer may be free soon. A green icon means interviewers are currently free and an interview can be transferred to this group immediately.
To start the Call transfer operation the interviewer clicks the Transfer button in the lower-right corner of the Internal Call Transfer window. The Internal Call Transfer window then closes. Depending on which call transfer mode has been assigned to the interviewer the rest of the call transfer procedure will be as follows.
Internal Blind Call Transfer Mode
The interviewer will receive no further notice regarding the transferred interview. If this interviewer has more calls assigned then another interview will be started for them .
Internal Warm Call Transfer Mode
The Internal Warm Transfer dialog opens.
Figure 3 - The Internal Warm Transfer dialog
The system first attempts to connect the initial interviewer to the target interviewer. While the system tries to establish a connection the respondent is automatically put on hold. In the dialog the "Waiting" sign is displayed on the target interviewer side while the system attempts to connect the initial and target interviewers. No other call options are available until the connection is either established or refused - all buttons in the dialog are unavailable.
The image above illustrates the situation when the initial interviewer is waiting for the connection to be established with the target agent.
Note that the receiving interviewer cannot cancel the call transfer. They see the following notification displayed on the Interviewer Console main screen when a transferred call is delivered.
Figure 4 - Notification displayed in the Interviewer Console to inform the target agent of the incoming call transfer
Once the connection is established they can talk to the initial interviewer and the "Private Call" button on the side of the respondent becomes active alongside the "Merge" button.
Figure 5 - Connection with the target interviewer is established
The initial interviewer can click the Private Call button to talk to the respondent in private if there is a need. Another option is to click the Merge button - this creates a three-way conversation where both agents and the respondent can talk and hear each other.
When the initial interviewer clicks Private Call and connects to the respondent, they are automatically disconnected from the target interviewer. The Private Call button on the side of the target interviewer then becomes active while the Merge button stays active - see below.
Figure 6 - The interviewer is talking with the respondent
When the Merge button is clicked, a three-way conversation is initiated where all parties can hear each other - see below.
Figure 7 - The initial interviewer clicks Merge - all parties can communicate with each other
When Merge is clicked the system makes available the Private Call buttons on both the respondent and target interviewer sides. The initial interviewer can switch to a private conversation with either party.
Tooltips appear when the mouse pointer is hovered over the dialog buttons to explain the button's actions.
The final action for the initial interviewer is either to switch the interview to the target interviewer by clicking Complete, or cancel the call transfer procedure by clicking Cancel.
When Complete is clicked the initial interviewer is disconnected from both the respondent and the target interviewer. The interview is considered finished for him/her and they become free for the next interview.
Note that once Complete is clicked the call is completely transferred. This action cannot be undone and the initial interviewer loses control over the procedure by passing it over to the target interviewer.
External Call Transfer
When an interviewer needs to transfer a call to a third party agent, they inform the respondent that the line will be switched and then click the External Call Transfer button . The External Call Transfer window is then displayed.
Figure 8 - The External call transfer is made to a telephone number which is assigned to this (current) survey on the Resources/External Transfer tab in the supervisor UI.
The External Call Transfer window contains a list of telephone numbers which belong to third-party companies and are considered "external". The list provides the following information:
- Telephone number - the external telephone number assigned to the current survey;
- Description - an optional description of the telephone number.
The interviewer chooses a telephone number from the list and clicks Transfer in the lower-right corner of the window. For a blind transfer the External Call Transfer window will then close and, if there are more calls assigned to this interviewer, another interview will be started for them. The interviewer will receive no further notice regarding the transferred interview.
For a warm transfer the warm transfer dialog opens. This looks and functions like the dialog described for the Internal Warm Call Transfer scenario.