Processing E-Mail Interactions

 Step 1 E-mail interactions arrive in one of two ways: a. If the customer sends ordinary e-mail, the interaction arrives via the enterprise mail server. b. If the customer sends e-mail from a web site (by filling out a web form), the interaction arrives via the Web API Server. 

Step 2 E-mail Server Java stores the body of the interaction in the Universal Contact Server database, and then sends operational data on the interaction to Interaction Server. 

Step 3 Interaction Server parks the interaction’s operational data in its cache and starts processing the data according to an interaction workflow. 

Step 4 What happens next depends on the interaction workflow and the routing strategies that it contains. The system may:

• Apply a screening rule.
• Assign the interaction to one or more categories (if Content Analyzer is present).
• Generate an automatic response.
• Route the interaction to an agent’s desktop, possibly also sending an automatic acknowledgment to the customer.

A supervisor may intervene at various points using Ad Hoc Management for as long as the interaction’s operational data remains in the Interaction Server’s cache and the interaction is not being actively worked on by the Routing components. 

Step 5 The agent receives the interaction. 

Step 6 The agent may then:

• Simply reply to the interaction.
• Reply making use of a standard response. With the Content Analyzer option, the interaction may have arrived already equipped with a category assignment and associated suggested response. Otherwise, the agent may search manually for a category with suggested response.
• Transfer the interaction to another agent.
• Produce a collaborative response by consulting with other agents.
• Return the interaction to the system for further processing.

 Step 7 When the agent or agents finally release the reply (typically to an outbound queue in the Interaction Server cache), the interaction workflow may route it to a senior agent or supervisor for QA review. The reviewer decides whether to let the reply continue through the outbound part of the interaction workflow, return it to the agent for revision, or take other action.