Usage
The Active Calls Switchboard is a tool for viewing and managing all phone calls on the system (call center administrators who need to focus on call queues and incoming calls can use the ACD Dashboard instead.)
It allows an administrator to route calls to users and departments, participate in calls, and track calls' progress in the system.
Access the ACD Dashboard from Admin Center Menu>Live Dashboards>Active Calls Switchboard.
Departments
The Departments column shows all the call queues and hunt groups on the phone system with the number of holding and live calls in each (you can read about the difference between queues and hunt groups here.)
Make sure to name your queues and hunt groups in such a way that you can differentiate between them – like "Sales Queue" vs "Sales Hunt Group".
Clicking the name of a queue or a hunt group lets you edit its settings and the agents or users assigned to it, but to add or remove queues or hunt groups you need to go to the Call Queues or Hunt Groups options under the Admin Center's Voice Features.
You can search (
) for a department by name or use the filter button (
) to show only specific departments.
Sort (
) the departments alphabetically (A to Z), by the number of Most Holding calls, or by the number of Most Answered calls.
Users
This column lists all the available users on the system, a description of their phone line, and their status. If a user's phone line description is empty the phone line number is shown instead.
You can click a user's name to edit settings relating to his account, but to add or remove users you need to go to the Admin Center Users screen.
A user's name can be edited in the User Profile settings but to edit the phone line description you need to expand the Lines & Devices options, select 
next to the relevant line, and expand the General Info options to find the Description field. You can read more about users' settings here.
You can search (
) for a user by name or use the filter button (
) to show only specific users.
Sort (
) agents alphabetically (A to Z), by User Status, or by call Duration (measured for answered calls). Status and Duration are further sorted alphabetically.
User Status
Offline: The user is signed out of his account or is without internet access.
Note that the user must be signed out of every TeleConsole app or telephone where he is using his account or another status will apply.
Ringing: Shows for incoming calls when the user's line is ringing with a direct call that arrived from another system user or from an external caller that dialed his direct number (the "On Call" status shows for system-routed ringing calls).
It also shows for any outgoing calls that a user dials while the call is ringing.
On Call: This status shows when the user has picked up a direct or a system-routed call.
It also shows while his line is ringing with a system-routed call that arrived from a queue or a hunt group (the "Ringing" status shows for direct calls).
DND (Do Not Disturb): The agent has activated the Do Not Disturb feature on his TeleConsole app or physical phone. Calls dialed or routed to him will be directed to voicemail.
Incoming and Outgoing Calls
Outgoing calls are calls placed by users. Incoming calls arrive from external callers or from other users.
Internal calls between users are considered outgoing calls on the caller's side and incoming calls on the recipient's side.
Each call box shows the name of the caller or the intended recipient, the call's duration (only counted from the moment a call is answered), and the number of the caller or the number/line description of an intended user.
For incoming calls, the name and duration are shown in red for holding calls and green for answered ones. The name and duration of outgoing calls are always shown in green.
Calls that are holding for departments are dynamically managed by Automatic Call Distribution as the system keeps ringing agents and users who belong to the queues or hunt groups that the call was directed to. The system will cycle a call between agents based on call distribution strategy and may move the call to other queues based on exit rules.
Call Journey
The call box also shows the the current call journey status. A call journey is the progression of a call in the phone system – for example, a call may start with an IVR menu, get routed to a a queue, get routed to a user, his phone line will ring, and the call will end at his voicemail if he doesn't pick up. You can see a call's full journey under Call History Reports.
Calls and Users Stats
Values for calls are updated continuously. Ringing calls are also counted in the Department Calls and Users On Call fields. Total Calls is the sum of incoming and outgoing calls, however note that internal calls between users are only counted as one call (even though technically they involve both an outgoing call for one user and an incoming call for the other).
When there aren't any calls these values will all be zeroed out. Average and Total Department Holding time get zeroed out when a call is answered.
If users get calls directly on their lines (from other users or by their direct number) these calls are naturally not counted as department calls, but when a user answers a department call it will count toward the Users On Call value.
Call Actions
Click a call box to display and use the following call actions:
- Join Call (
)/Pickup Call (
):
Pickup Call shows for holding calls. You can pick up a call from your default account line or enter a different number, leaving your own line free to receive calls. You will receive the "picked up call" on the TeleConsole app or your physical phone. So make sure you are signed in to either with the relevant account.
The Join Call action shows for answered (live) calls and allows you to listen or talk to the call parties. You can join from your default account line or enter a different number, leaving your own line free to receive calls. You will receive the "joined call" on the TeleConsole app or your physical phone. So make sure you are signed in to either with the relevant account.- Join call (muted yourself): You can hear both call parties but they cannot hear you. This is useful if you don't want them to know you are listening on the call or don't want the caller to hear background conversations in the call center.
- Join call, talk to both parties: This is like a conference call where you can talk and listen to the other parties and vice versa.
- Join call, talk to calling party only: You can hear both call parties but only the caller can hear you.
- Join call (muted yourself): You can hear both call parties but they cannot hear you. This is useful if you don't want them to know you are listening on the call or don't want the caller to hear background conversations in the call center.
- Transfer Call (
): This will open a window where you can select or search for a user to transfer a call to.
If an agent doesn't pick up a transferred department call the system will ring the other users in the queue or hunt group according to the call distribution strategy.
Transferring calls can also be done by dragging and dropping a call over the box of a department or a user.
- Hang up Call: (
): Self-explanatory. You will be asked to confirm this action to avoid accidentally hanging up calls. hanging up calls.
