Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Configuration Guide

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Configuration Guide

Microsoft Lync Server 2010

Published: March 2012

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Contents

Configuring Response Group

Response Group Configuration Prerequisites and Permissions

Deployment Process for Response Group

Create Response Group Agent Groups

Create an Agent Group

Create Response Group Queues

Create a Response Group Queue

(Optional) Define Response Group Business Hours and Holidays

Create Response Group Workflows

Create a Hunt Group Workflow

Design Call Flows by Using Interactive Voice Response

Create an Interactive Workflow

(Optional) Verify Response Group Deployment

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Configuration Guide

Configuring Response Group

Response Group is an Enterprise Voice feature that routes and queues incoming calls to groups of people, called agents, such as for a help desk or a customer service desk.

The components that Response Group requires are installed and enabled automatically on the Front End Server or Standard Edition server when you deploy Enterprise Voice. To make Response Group available to users, you must configure agent groups, then queues, and then workflows.

This section guides you through the configuration of Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group. It assumes that you have already read the planning sections related to Response Group and deployed an Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition server with Enterprise Voice.

Tip:

For details about and a sample script for creating a response group by using Lync Server Management Shell, see "Creating Your First Response Group Using Lync Server Management Shell" at

In This Section

Response Group Configuration Prerequisites and Permissions

Deployment Process for Response Group

Create Response Group Agent Groups

Create Response Group Queues

(Optional) Define Response Group Business Hours and Holidays

Create Response Group Workflows

(Optional) Verify Response Group Deployment

See Also

Planning for Call Management Features

Response Group Configuration Prerequisites and Permissions

Response Group is an Enterprise Voice call management feature. This topic describes what you need to have in place before you can configure Response Group and the administrative credentials and permissions you need to perform configuration tasks.

This section assumes that you have read the planning documentation related to Response Group. For details, see Planning for Call Management Features in the Lync Server 2010 Planning documentation.

Response Group Configuration Prerequisites

Response Group requires the following components:

Application service

Response Group application

Language packs

File store (to hold audio files)

Web Services (includes the Response Group Configuration Tool and the agents' sign-in and sign-out console)

All of these components are installed by default when you deploy Enterprise Voice.

You might need to perform the following tasks before configuring response groups:

Enable users for Lync Server 2010 and Enterprise Voice.

Modify a configuration file to be compliant with Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS).

Modify the database collation to support Yi, Meng, and Zang characters for queue names and agent group names.

Enabling Users

The first step in configuring Response Group is creating agent groups. Before you can create an agent group, you must enable the users who will be agents for response groups for Lync Server 2010 and Enterprise Voice. Enabling users for Lync Server 2010 is typically a step in the Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition server deployment. For details about enabling users for Lync Server 2010, see Enable or Disable Users for Lync Server 2010. Enabling users for Enterprise Voice is typically a step in the Enterprise Voice deployment. For details about enabling users for Enterprise Voice, see Enable Users for Enterprise Voice.

Complying with FIPS requirements

This section applies to you only if your organization needs to comply with Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS).

To be compliant with FIPS, you need to modify the application-level Web.config file to use a different cryptography algorithm after you install Web Services. You need to specify that ASP.NET use the Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) algorithm to process view state data. For the Response Group application, this requirement applies to the Response Group Configuration Tool and the agent sign-in and sign-out console. For details about this requirement, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 911722, "You may receive an error message when you access ASP.NET webpages that have ViewState enabled after you upgrade from ASP.NET 1.1 to ASP.NET 2.0," at

To modify the Web.config file, do the following:

1.In a text editor such as Notepad, open the application-level Web.config file.

2.In the Web.config file, locate the <system.web> section.

3.Add the following <machineKey> section to in the <system.web> section:

4.Save the Web.config file.

5.Restart the Internet Information Services (IIS) service by running the following command at a command prompt:

iisreset

Supporting Yi, Meng, and Zang Characters

This section applies to you only if your organization needs to support Yi, Meng, or Zang characters.

To support Yi, Meng, or Zang characters, you need to modify the collation for the Rgsconfig database. Change the collation of the Name column in the following tables in each Rgsconfig database:

dbo.AgentGroups

dbo.BusinessHours

dbo.HolidaySets

dbo.Queues

dbo.Workflows

The collation that you use depends on the version of the Microsoft SQL Server database software that you have installed:

If you have SQL Server 2005 installed, use Latin1_General (Binary Sort). If you need to use this collation, all object names become case-sensitive.

If you have SQL Server 2008 R2 or SQL Server 2008 installed, use Latin_General_100 (Accent Sensitive). If you use this collation, all object names are not case-sensitive.

You can change the collation by using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. For details about using this tool, see "Using SQL Server Management Studio" at Follow these steps to change the collation:

1.Ensure that SQL Server Management Studio is configured to allow changes that require tables to be recreated. For details, see "Save (Not Permitted) Dialog Box" at For details about setting a column collation, see "How to: Set Column Collation (Visual Database Tools)" at

2.Using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, connect to the Rgsconfig database.

3.Find the table you want to change in the Rgsconfig database, right-click the table, and click Design.

4.Change the collation of the Name column and save the table.

Response Group Configuration Administrative Roles

You can use the following administrative tools to configure Response Group:

Lync Server Control Panel

Response Group Configuration Tool

Lync Server Management Shell

To configure Response Group, you need to be a member of at least one of the following administrative roles:

CsResponseGroupAdministratorThis administrator role can create and configure Response Group agent groups, queues, and workflows, and configure all Response Group settings.

CsVoiceAdministratorThis administrator can create, configure, and manage voice-related settings and policies, including all Response Group settings.

CsServerAdministratorThis administrator role can manage, monitor, and troubleshoot servers and services, and can configure all Response Group settings.

CsAdministratorThis administrator role can perform all administrative tasks and modify all settings.

CsViewOnlyAdministratorThis administrator role can view the deployment to monitor deployment health.

Note:

For details about administrative roles, see Role-Based Access Control in the Lync Server 2010 Planning documentation.

See Also

Planning for Call Management Features

Deploying Enterprise Voice

Deployment Process for Response Group

This section provides an overview of the steps involved in deploying the Response Group application.

Response Group Deployment Process

Phase / Steps / Permissions / Deployment documentation
Install the Response Group application / The Response Group application is installed and activated by default when you deploy Enterprise Voice. / RTCUniversalServerAdmins / Deploying Enterprise Voice
Install components for Response Group / The Lync Server Control Panel, Response Group Configuration Tool, agents' sign-in and sign-out console, and Response Group Client Web service are installed as part of Web Services. Web Services is installed when you deploy an Enterprise Edition pool or a Standard Edition server. / RTCUniversalServerAdmins / Deploying Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition
Enable users / Enable users who are to be agents for Lync Server and Enterprise Voice. Users must be enabled before you can add them to agent groups. Typically, users are enabled for Lync Server during the Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition deployment. Typically, users are enabled for Enterprise Voice during the Enterprise Voice deployment. / RTCUniversalUserAdmins
CsUserAdministrator
CsAdministrator / Enable or Disable Users for Lync Server 2010
Enable Users for Enterprise Voice
Create and configure response groups / 1.Use the Lync Server Control Panel or Lync Server Management Shell cmdlets to do the following:
a.Create and configure agent groups
b.Create and configure queues
2.Optionally, use the New-CsRgsTimeRange, New-CSRgsHoursOfBusiness, New-CsRgsHoliday, and New-CsRgsHolidaySet cmdlets to define preset response group business hours and holidays.
3.Use the Response Group Configuration Tool or Lync Server Management Shell cmdlets to create and configure workflows (hunt groups or interactive voice response (IVR) call flows), including custom response group business hours and holidays. / RTCUniversalServerAdmins
CsResponseGroupAdministrator
CsVoiceAdministrator
CsServerAdministrator
CsAdministrator / Create Response Group Agent Groups
Create Response Group Queues
Create Response Group Workflows
Verify your Response Group deployment / Test answering calls to your hunt group and interactive voice response workflows to ensure that your configuration works as expected. / - / (Optional) Verify Response Group Deployment

Create Response Group Agent Groups

When you create an agent group, you select the agents that are assigned to the group and specify additional group settings, such as the routing method and whether an agent can sign in to and out of the group.

An agent who must sign in and out of the group, which is different from signing in or out of Lync Server, is called a formal agent. Formal agents must be signed in to the group before they can receive calls routed to the group. This can be useful for agents who answer calls from the group on a part-time basis. Formal agents sign in and out of their groups by clicking a menu item in Lync 2010 to open the Windows Internet Explorer Internet browser and display a webpage console.

An agent who does not sign in or out of the group is called an informal agent. Informal agents are automatically signed in to the group when they sign in to Lync Server, and they cannot sign out of the group.

In This Section

Create an Agent Group

Follow these steps to create an agent group by using Lync Server Control Panel.

Important:

When you assign users as response group agents, inform them that, if they have Privacy mode enabled, they need to search for "RGS Presence Watcher" contacts and add them to their Contacts list. Agents who have Privacy mode enabled but who do not have "RGS Presence Watcher" in their Contacts list cannot receive calls to the response group. Agents who do not have Privacy mode enabled are not affected.

To create an agent group

1.Log on as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group, or as a member of one of the predefined administrative roles that support Response Group. If you are not logged on as a member of one of these roles, you are prompted for alternate credentials.
2.Open a browser window, and then enter the Admin URL to open the Lync Server Control Panel. For details about the different methods you can use to start Lync Server Control Panel, see Open Lync Server Administrative Tools.
3.In the left navigation bar, click Response Groups, and then click Group.
4.On the Group page, click New.
5.In the Select a Service search field, type all or part of the name of the ApplicationServer service for which you want to add the group, click the service that you want in the list, and then click OK.
6.On the New Group page, in the Name field, type a descriptive name for the group.
7.In Description, type a description for the group.
8.In the Participation policy, select one of the following to set up the sign-in behavior for the group:
Select Informal to specify that agents in the group do not need to sign in and out of the group. Agents are automatically signed in to the group when they sign in to Lync Server 2010.
Select Formal to specify that agents in the group must sign in and out of the group. When you select this option, agents click a menu item in Lync 2010 to open Internet Explorer and display a webpage console for signing in and out of the group.
9.In Alert time (seconds), specify the number of seconds to ring an agent before offering the call to the next available agent (the default is 20 seconds).
Important:
The Agent alert time setting cannot exceed 180 seconds. If it exceeds 180 seconds, the client application will reject the call due to the SIP transaction timer reaching its maximum wait time. To avoid this, set the Alert Time value to less than 180 seconds.
10.In Routing method, select the method for routing calls to agents in the group as follows:
To offer a new call first to the agent who has been idle the longest (has had a presence of Available or Inactive in Lync Server the longest), click Longest idle.
To offer a new call to all available agents at the same time, click Parallel. The call is sent to the first agent who accepts it.
To offer a new call to each agent in turn, click Round robin.
To always offer a new call to the agents in the order in which they are listed in the Agent list, click Serial.
To offer a new call to all agents who are signed into Lync Server 2010 and the Response Group application at the same time, regardless of their current presence, click Attendant. Lync 2010 Attendant users who are configured as agents can see all the calls that are waiting and answer waiting calls in any order. The call is sent to the first agent who accepts it, and the other Lync 2010 Attendant users no longer see the call.
11.In Agents, specify how you want to create your agents list:
To use a Microsoft Exchange Server distribution list, click Use an existing email distribution list, and then in Distribution list address, type the email address of the distribution list (for example, ).
If you use an email distribution list, you are subject to the following constraints:
You cannot select multiple distribution lists for the agent group. Each group supports only a single distribution list.
If the distribution list contains one or more distribution lists, members of the nested distribution lists are not added to the agent list.
If serial and round robin routing are selected, the server offers an incoming call to the appropriate agent according to the routing method and according to the order in which agents are listed in the distribution list.
Important:
If you use an email distribution list, hidden memberships or hidden lists might become visible to the Response Group administrator or users.
Hidden memberships or hidden lists can become visible as follows:
If a distribution list was configured so that the membership is hidden and the Response Group administrator assigns the distribution list to the agent list, users can call the group to find out who the members are.
If a distribution list was configured so that it is hidden in the Exchange Global Address List, the Response Group administrator might be able to see the distribution list and assign it to the agent list if the Response Group process has the appropriate user rights and permissions, even if the administrator does not have the appropriate user rights and permissions.
To use a custom list of agents, click Define a custom group of agents. Click Select, and then in the Select Agents search field, type all or part of the name of the user you want to assign as an agent to this group, and then click Find. In the list of agents, select the user, and then click OK.
Note:
If the group is using either round robin or serial routing, arrange the agents in the order that you want them to be offered calls. To change the order of the agents in the Agent list, click an agent, and then click the up arrow or down arrow.
12.Click Commit.