This manual is out of date and not matching current layout and many functions

of the latest version. This website has been replaced with osdial.com.

OSDial Basic Operations Manual

The Open Source Dialer
Copyright 2009 Call Center Service Group, LC.
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document,
but changing it is not allowed.

If you are running the LiveCD's, you will need to boot the server CD first.
When prompted, enter your company name. If you don't enter it, it will automatically go to the default.
If you have a promotional VoIP login, you can enter that at this screen. This will give you a temporary VoIP

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account for testing. Otherwise, you will need to provide your own VoIP account.
When it is finished booting, you will see this screen telling you the IP address of the server and the various
login information that you will need to log in, (agent and administrator).

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With the server up, boot the agent CD. As you can see above, it will default to User 1000 and Extension
1000. If you are running more than one Agent CD, then you will have to press the Enter key when prompted
at this screen:

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and type in the next sequential Agent and Phone Extension numbers on this screen:

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Please note that the LiveCD's are not capable of handling more than a few agents.
To log in as an administrator, you point your browser which should be Firefox to the web server. If you
are using a single-server dialer, it will be the IP of that machine. If you are using between two and seven
servers, it will be the IP address of your SQL/web server. Otherwise, it will be the dedicated web server.
At the welcome screen , select Control Login. Enter the login
and you will be at the administrator screen.

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If this is the first time, you may need to set up the agents and the phones. We will start with the agents.
Click on Agents on the top row. It will give you a list of available agent accounts.

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If you got the free download CD, then you will find ten agents and one admin already configured. (Access
Levels 1 through 7 are for agents, while 8 and 9 are for administrators.)
Click on Setup, also on the top row, and you will see a list of phones.

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If you have the free CD's, the connection to the VoIP carrier will be using IAX. (IAX was developed by the
Asterisk developers and has certain advantages over SIP. SIP, on the other hand, is the industry standard,
and is commonly recognized by various programs.) We use IAX because it makes the connection to the
temporary VoIP account work without any additional changes. (If you are configuring it yourself, you will
have the choice of SIP, IAX, or a traditional PRI.)
Having established that we now have agents and phones configured, next we click on Lists.

Some leads are needed to make test calls to. When picking a test number, it is advisable to use your own
phone numbers, such as cell phones or office numbers.
There are two options of how to enter in these numbers. The shorter route will be to use the upcoming
feature of OSDial to generate test numbers.
The other route is to generate a .csv file and import it.
Before we can import the leads, we need a List to import it to. Under Lists, select Add A New List. Enter
a new List ID and Name and Description. For Campaign, you specify which campaign will be using the list.
Don't forget to set the list as Active.
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If you are importing real leads: If you know how to create a .csv file, choose Load New Leads, point the
file selector to your file, and enter the List ID of your list. If the file layout is correct then it will go straight
in. Otherwise, select Custom Layout. Choose Check For Duplicates By Phone In Entire System if there is

any chance that the new leads can contain duplicate numbers. Set Lead Time Zone Check to Country
Code and Area Code Only.
If on the other hand you are only creating test leads using one number then we should not check for
duplicates.
Click on Submit, and the Custom File Selector brings up a new screen. Here we assign each field in the file
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to a list field. Obviously we must have a 1 for phone code (country code) and a phone number. Postal Code
is also a good idea whenever possible. These are the minimum fields you need to have:

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If you choose a plain text file to import from it MUST end with .txt. A csv file MUST end with .csv, while an
Excel spreadsheet file MUST end with .xls.
Once you have dialed all the numbers in a list, you need to reset it before going through it again. This is
done by selecting the list from the main Lists page and clicking Modify. Once inside the list, make sure it
is set to Active, then set Reset Lead-Called-Status to Y, and press submit. As seen here:

Remember, almost all calculations are done at each full minute, so your changes will not take effect until the
next minute. It is also normal to take a few seconds after the full minute before your changes show up.
Once you have some leads to dial with, you can move on to configuring Campaigns.
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A test campaign has already been created for you. If you click on the Modify link next to it, choose Detail.
Notice there is a question mark on the end of each field, which will give you help regarding what goes in
each field.

The key points to look for are the following:

Locate line six, Active, and make sure it is set to Y.
Line twelve, Dial Status, tells you which filters are used to select leads. By default it is set to New.
As you dial the numbers, there are going to be different result from each call. Some will be busy, no answer,
answering machine, etc. These are set automatically by the dialer, or by each agent as they terminate each
call.
If you want to call all of the numbers that did not answer on the previous time through the list, then you
would add the Dial Statuses N for No answer and NA for No Answer Auto Dial. The latter means the
dialer did not pass the call to an agent.
Line thirteen tells you the sequence that the dialer will work its way through the list.
The List Mix option is a future feature and cannot be enabled at this point.
The Hopper is analogous with the rotating cage at a bingo game, from which each number is pulled. During
the selection process each number is checked against the internal Do Not Call List and verified to be within
the allowed time limits as specified by each state's legislature.
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Once every minute, the Hopper checks to see if it is low on leads meaning, below the currently set
Hopper Level. If so, it repopulates itself with the number of leads the Hopper Level is set to.
The correct Hopper Level is approximately the number of leads that you use in a couple of minutes. Setting
it too high will result in callbacks not being made on time, perhaps not even on the correct day. The rate by
which you go through leads can be observed from the Real Time Detail Screen.
If you set the Hopper Level too high, you can correct it by setting Force Reset of Hopper to Y and
clicking Submit. (Every change will require either pressing Enter inside a field or clicking on Submit.)
There are nine fields that have a light green background. These fields are what you would use on a daily
basis to tune the dialer as you go.
There are three dial methods:

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The first one is Manual Dial, which means that the dialer will only dial a number when the agent tells it to.
This is useful when you need to spend time reviewing each lead before dialing it, such as insurance sales to
existing clients, where the information for each client can be substantial and be too much to read while
talking with the client.
The next dial method is Ratio. In this, you set the ratio of calls being made per available agent. The Dial
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Level is fine-tunable from 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, etc, up to 4.0. Dial Ratio is primarily used when you have
approximately less than seven available agents. Ratio requires constant monitoring and adjusting for
optimum dialing.
Finally, we have Adaptive Dial. Here, the dialer automatically computes how many calls it needs to make in
order to keep the available agents active all the time. This is of course not entirely attainable.
If the wait time for each agent is too low, some calls will not be answered as every agent will already be in
a call. This is referred to as having dropped calls. (There are laws concerning how many dropped calls you
can have in thirty days.)
On the other hand, if you slow down the dialer too much, the agents will be waiting for a long time and not
be effectively utilized.
Ideally, the dialer is running at the dial level where you have minimum wait time and and no dropped calls.
The Adaptive Dial mode does this for you by continuously monitoring and adjusting the dial level.
The Auto Dial Level field is only applicable to Ratio mode. If you want to force the dialer to a certain dial
level, you can check the Adapt Override box, although this is not advised. (Generally speaking, you don't
want to change anything until you are clear with what it does. Most settings are set for the best
performance.)
Available Only Tally is used to tell the dialer to only factor in available agents when computing the number
of calls to make. This excludes agents that are paused or in a call. This is useful when your agents spend
long times on each call and including them in the computation would upset the dial logic and make it not run
effectively.
Drop Percent Limit is by default set at three percent, which is the maximum legal drop percent in thirty
days. (Check with your attorney but, as laymen, we don't see which 30 days the law specifies. Could be the
last 30, or any 30. Or maybe it means a calendar month.)
Maximum Adapt Dial Level is used to set the maximum number of phone lines (trunks) in use by the dialer.
You get the number by taking the total number of lines you have, and dividing it by the number of agents on
the dialer.
Latest Server Time is an override which will stop the dialer from making new calls at that time.
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The Adapt Intensity Modifier allows you to fine-tune how aggressively the machine is dialing. Being
aggressive means that it will add more calls than the dialer would have made otherwise. This is usually never
used.
Dial Level Difference Target allows you to set a number of agents to always be excluded from the formula
when computing the number for calls that need to be made. This is handy for avoiding dropped calls you
can assign a number of agents that will always be waiting for any sudden increase in answers. Likewise, you
can set how many calls will be waiting for agents, though this is normally not what you want.
Finally, we have Concurrent Transfers. This sets how many calls are transfered to agents at the same
time. It is best to leave this at Auto.
Next Agent Call controls how the dialer assigns the calls to agents. Oldest Call Finish gives the next call
to the agent who has waited the longest, and is usually the best option:

Campaign Caller ID should be set to the number you want people to call you back on, as this is the number
they will see on their Caller ID. If you are using PRI or VoIP, you can set this per campaign. Otherwise, your
phone carrier will ignore what you set here and enter the number they have on file for you.
The fifth field from the bottom, Allow No-Hopper-Leads Logins, effectually allows agents to log in even if
the campaign is not ready to dial. Usually they are kept out of the inactive campaign. If you are running in
Adaptive mode and only a few agents go active at the same time when you start a campaign, you are more
likely to start with a high drop percent. Any dropped call can easily result in a 100% drop rate. By having all
agents start at the same time you lower the chance of this occurring.
Currently available lists (for this campaign) can be seen at the bottom of the page.
Looking back up to the menu, we will see on the the option Real Time far right on the fourth row. Click on
it.

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A list with real-time campaign details indicating the current status for each campaign is displayed. The
screen will update every four seconds.
The Summary link will show summaries of all campaigns.
Click on Campaigns and then Additional Fields on the second row.

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This screen gives you the ability to create an unlimited amount of additional information forms for use by the
agents.
To recap, you make sure you have agents and phones configured, an active list with leads, and a campaign
to use them in. And then you are ready to go.
To logout, you click on logout at the top-left of the screen and press escape when it asks for your login
information. This will bring you back to the welcome screen.

Before you can dial, you need an agent to log in from the welcome screen. If you are running the LiveCD's,
your phone login is 1000, password 1000, and agent login is 1000 with a password 1000.
If you entered valid login information, you will be presented with a choice of selecting an active campaign,
which will be called Test. Select that and click submit.
If you have an active phone, it will now ring. You will be told that you are the only one in the conference.
Each agent will sit in his/hers conference room until done for the day. When a call comes in it will be passed
into one of the rooms. Also, there should be a Mute button between the Hot Keys and Volume buttons on
the bottom right of your Agent screen. If this button does not show up but your phone does ring, you need
to contact your administrator.
Go ahead and click on mute. Muted! will start flashing at the bottom of the screen. To unmute, you can
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either click on the button again or on the word Muted.

If you are dialing manually on the LiveCD's, and don't have any leads entered, you can click on the link
Manual Dial and enter a phone number. Click on Dial Now when you are ready, and it will switch back to
the normal screen.
If you have Lead Preview turned on, which it is by default, there will be a yellow line flashing at the top of
the screen telling you to dial the lead. This will give you time to review the information before dialing.
Otherwise, you will not see this line.
To dial, click on Dial Now.
If a script has been assigned to the campaign, the Script window will automatically be selected. You can
switch back and forth between the data entry form and the script by clicking on the tabs at the top of the
screen.
The program displays the duration of your call, as well as the customer's local time, just above the script
window. The call duration will be visible even when you switch to the data entry screen, and after the call is
terminated, and stay there until the next call is started.
At the far right, there is a tab on the side labeled Forms. If you click on it, it will show you a selection list
for choosing which form you want to have loaded. This is set in each campaign. You may, for example, want
to have a credit card form for all campaigns and some specific forms only for selected campaigns. All
information entered on these additional information forms can be used in scripts.
Start Recording is self-explanatory, and can be overwritten by the manager in the administration screen,
under the Agents menu.
Web Form 1 and 2 are optional links that can each load a separate web page configurable campaign by
campaign.
D1 and D2, on the bottom right, can be configured to dial, f. ex, a verification number and or an extension.
If you hover the mouse over the Hot Keys button, the Hot Keys disposition menu will come up, allowing you
to set the disposition for the call with a single key press.
When the call is terminated, the disposition screen will automatically come up, where you will need to select
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a disposition. You can also set the disposition here by clicking twice on the one that applies.
If, during your call, you are presented with a phone menu by the called party, and you need to make a menu
selection on their phone system, you can do this through Send DTMF. Simply click in the field next to the
button, enter the number and click Send DTMF.
Each agent is working in a session. And each session has a unique id. To keep clutter down and avoid
confusing the agent with unnecessary information, the session id is hidden. To see it, you click and hold the
mouse button starting to the right of the date and time, at the top of the screen, and drag the mouse
toward the logout link. This Session ID number is used during troubleshooting to identify which session the
agent is in.

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