Tracer Solution Overview and Functionality
Americas Headquarters
OAISYS
7965 South Priest Drive, Suite 105
Tempe, AZ 85284
USA
www.oaisys.com
(480) 496-9040
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 1
INTRODUCTION
Tracer automatically records, stores and organizes telephone
conversations on a central, secure network repository so that
they can be easily retrieved when the need arises. The Tracer
software provides a solution to address a number of critical
business concerns. For example, companies operating within a
wide variety of industries, including healthcare, automotive
dealerships, financial services, and the public sector, all have
requirements to document telephone conversations to minimize
business risk and ensure compliance with federal and state
regulations. Businesses that operate sales, customer service or
product support contact centers have needs for training and
accountability tools. Tracer can provide a powerful, yet easy-to-
use solution that effectively addresses all of these different
requirements.
CONTENTS
1 Introduction
2 Tracer Overview
3 Recording Calls
5 Trunk-Side Recording
6 Digital Station-Side Recording
8 VoIP Recording
10 VOX Recording
10 Combined Recording Modes
11 Screen Recording
12 Recording Rules
19 Quality Control Module
21 Recording Management
24 Live Desktop Monitoring
24 Live Auto Monitoring
25 Coaching
26 Recording Base Systems
28 Hardware Configurations/
Capacities
29 Server Base Systems/ Port
Licensing
30 System Upgrades and
Expansions
31 Desktop Client
32 Tracer Integration
33 Reports
38 System Administration
40 Alarms
43 Conclusion
44 Additional White Papers
45 About OAISYS
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 2
Tracer Overview
Tracer is engineered to support sophisticated, high volume recording needs. It can
record calls on either the trunk-side or station-side of a business communications
platform. Both digital and IP phones can be recorded on supported communications
systems, and Tracer offers data link integration with a wide variety of platforms. Tracer
can be programmed to record all calls or selective calls based on data triggers, such as
the outside party’s phone number, the incoming dialed number, the duration of the call,
etc. The system allows an administrator to select which extensions to record and
includes numerous administrative tools to automate file and data management as well
as problem notification processes. For convenience and ease-of-use, the Tracer unified
client supports multi-system, multi-node remote administration.
The OAISYS Management Studio is Tracer’s search and playback management
feature; it authenticates users and provides access to view authorized call data from the
database. Users can sort and search through all authorized call data to find specific
calls. Call recordings are then streamed over the network and played through speakers
at the user’s workstation. The OAISYS Management Studio makes finding a single or
select few recordings out of the hundreds of thousands that may be stored on the
system an easy task.
Every OAISYS recording system also comes equipped with an unlimited user license for
Talkument®, the voice documentation and collaboration software from OAISYS.
Talkument provides companies with a solution that addresses the call recording needs
of an organization’s knowledge workers. With Talkument, users outside the contact
center walls can search for, retrieve, play back, annotate, and share their own stored
conversations with others inside or outside the organization via a secure link.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 3
Recording Calls
OAISYS Tracer is a full-featured call recording software solution (sometimes referred to
as call logging). It monitors either select or all telephone calls, converts the audio into a
digital format and stores the recorded conversations as digital files that can then be
retrieved by authorized employees using sound-equipped PCs connected to the
network.
Tracer software is deployed either on an OAISYS off-the-shelf appliance, a built-to-
order server, or software only option and is typically installed alongside the business
communications system. Digital recordings of authorized users’ telephone
conversations are captured using OAISYS Portable Voice Document (PVDTM)
technology.
Conversations are captured in their entirety and can be shared with other authorized
users to facilitate improved collaboration. Users may also convert PVD files to WAV or
other standard file formats if they choose.
An overview of the various Tracer components is shown in Fig. 1 on the following page.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 4
Figure 1 - Tracer System Overview
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 5
Trunk-Side Recording
If the trunk-side recording option is selected, Tracer attaches or taps directly to analog
or digital (T1 or PRI) trunk lines, or SIP trunks, eliminating a need for any intermediary
hardware, such as a channel bank or digital-to-analog converter (see Fig. 2). In this
configuration, calls can be recorded from start to finish, or “cradle to grave”. This
means a user can hear the call ringing and the auto-attendant answering in addition to
hearing the complete conversation. They can even hear what might be said while the
call was on hold or while the caller was leaving a voicemail. Trunk-side recording is
generally used when the number of extensions to be recorded is much larger than the
number of incoming trunks that are connected to a PBX, or when the business need
requires trunk-side enabled features.
It is important to note that with the trunk-side recording configuration, station-to-station
(intercom) calls cannot be recorded since trunks are not used for those calls.
Figure 2 - Trunk-side Recording
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 6
Digital Station-Side Recording
For digital station-side recording, Tracer attaches or taps directly to the station lines.
This is usually accomplished by making a cross connect on a station punch down block
(See Fig. 3). It is possible using station-side and IP recording to monitor only selected
stations. In this case, a call is not recorded until it is connected to a station that is being
monitored. This means that call recording does not commence until the station user
answers the call, and “cradle to grave” recording is not available. However, in this
configuration, station-to-station (intercom) calls can be recorded.
With a digital station-side configuration, call recording scenarios can include:
Only a single station involved with the call from start to end
A call transferred to another station that is also monitored for recording.
In this case, the recording will continue with the other station’s recording (one call
will contain two recordings).
Multiple stations involved with the call but not all are being monitored for
recording. Each segment of the call connected to a station being monitored will
have its portion of the call recorded. The call appears as one record with multiple
recordings associated with it.
A call placed on hold while the user answers another call. During the holding
period, no recording is made. The second call handled by this station will be
recorded as a new call with a separate recording for that call. When the held call
is picked up, recording on the original call starts again but it will be stored as
another recording associated with the original call.
Station-side recording is generally used when the number of trunks that carry the call is
much larger than the number of stations to be monitored.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 7
Figure 3 - Digital Station-side Recording
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 8
VoIP Recording
Tracer uses one of three different approaches for recording Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) telephone conversations, depending on the PBX manufacturer.
For IP station recording on some PBXs, such as those manufactured by Toshiba and
Mitel, Tracer monitors IP packets traveling between the IP port in the PBX and the IP
Endpoint (See Fig. 4). To ensure that Tracer receives these packets, the network must
be configured so that all of the VoIP packets pass through a device capable of
replicating those packets. One way to accomplish this is by using the Port Mirroring
feature in a switch. With Port Mirroring, the switch sends copies of all of the packets on
one port to another port. This allows a device, such as Tracer, to obtain copies of
packets that it would not otherwise be able to receive.
The call recording scenarios listed above in the digital station-side recording section
also apply to IP recording.
NOTE: Tracer will not record peer-to-peer calls between endpoints.
Active recording is another method that can be used to deploy the Tracer solution in a
VoIP recording environment. With active VoIP recording, a CTI interface is used by
Tracer to monitor call states on the VoIP network.
Example
VoIP recording on ShoreTel IP phone systems uses the Telephony Application
Programming Interface (TAPI), an industry-standard IP telephony interface providing an
efficient call control connection between computers and/or IP telephones. With TAPI-
based integration, Tracer receives and records a media stream provided by the
ShoreTel Application Server, a component residing on the Tracer machine.
Another method for deploying Tracer active VoIP Recording is available for the Mitel
3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP). This method uses Mitel’s Secure Recording
Connector (SRC) to enable a secure connection between Tracer and the 3300 ICP.
SRC provides a central connection point and allows IP extensions and other devices
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 9
with voice encryption activated to be recorded. Environments using SRC can record
encrypted, peer-to-peer and intercom (IC) calls.
NOTE: The SRC is stand-alone software that resides on a separate blade server and
can be downloaded and licensed from the Mitel Application Management Center.
Figure 4 - VoIP Recording
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 10
VOX Recording
VOX Recording is a feature that activates recording when the sound to be recorded
exceeds a particular amplitude. This functionality is particularly useful for radio and
related digital communications environments, such as in dispatch centers.
OAISYS Tracer supports the following VOX recording environments:
Radio (Analog board required). If radio recording is enabled by using VOX, the
customer must provide a Digital-to-Analog converter.
Digital – Station Side – AI Logix Station Tap Cards required (This allows for
station side recording without a CTI link).
Trunk VOX – Digital trunk recording.
Combined Recording Modes
Unlike many call recording systems, trunk-side, digital station-side, and IP station
Tracer recording can all be implemented in a single OAISYS system by installing the
required audio interface hardware and software.
Example
If a company monitors all calls coming into its customer service department over
dedicated trunks, but only 4-5 phones in its billing department where users share a
large number of trunks with many other employees, with Tracer, this can be
accomplished in a single, cost-effective platform.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 11
Screen Recording
Screen Recording is an optional feature for the Tracer solution. This functionality
simultaneously captures what is occurring on an agent’s PC screen while they are on a
phone call that is being recorded. Associated screen activity is saved as a screen
recording file and stored along with the audio recording of the phone conversation.
Screen recording functionality allows a supervisor to grade and evaluate agents both on
what they say during phone calls and how effectively they use their PC applications
during the phone call. An optional wrap-up timer on the desktop can be used to ensure
agents complete their work after the call has ended.
Tracer screen recording software runs on a dedicated server separate from the OAISYS
recording server or appliance, and screen recordings are stored on that dedicated
server as well. The screen recording server communicates with the Tracer server via
an IP connection.
Client software runs on the PCs of agents who are being recorded, and can be
deployed in a Citrix environment. This application can appear transparent to the user,
so agents will be unaware that screen recording is occurring.
Playback is performed by the OAISYS Management Studio application. The video
playback is synchronized with the playback of the audio with which the phone call is
associated.
NOTE: A screen recording port license is required per desktop recording.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 12
Recording Rules
In some companies, managers want all calls recorded while others may want to only
record calls received by particular groups such as a customer service department.
Tracer provides administrators with a powerful but flexible set of tools called Recording
Rules that can be used to specify which calls should be recorded and which should not
(See Fig. 5). These recording rules allow the administrator to program the system to
record specific calls based on a wide range of factors, including: Time of Day, Day of
Week, PBX extension number, Phone number dialed, Caller ID, ACD group, ACD
agent, Account Code, Length of call, and random percentage usage. Some of these
rules require either SMDR or CTI integration with the PBX in order to function.
Whenever a phone call begins, the Tracer software examines the defined Recording
Rules to determine if the call should be recorded. Recording rules follow a hierarchal
structure; the ‘Do Not Record’ rule is the highest in the hierarchy.
Example
If the recording rules are set to record All Calls, but you do not wish to record calls from
employee home phone numbers, you may have a list called Home Numbers. You can
create a phone number rule to override Tracer’s initial decision to record ‘all’ calls. In
this example, Tracer would record all calls except those calls from your Home Phone
Numbers list.
Figure 5 - Recording Rules
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 13
Manual Recording Control
This feature provides the administrator the ability to configure settings for individual
telephone extensions, enabling station users to manually control (Start/Stop,
Pause/Resume) recordings from their desktop PC using the OAISYS Recording Client
application or possibly by entering a special account code via their digital or IP
telephone. Recordings can also be triggerd using an OAISYS API to interface with a
web page or third-party application.
After-Call Actions
After-Call Actions can be configured to be executed after each call is completed. Each
of the actions can be triggered when (1) the call was recorded, (2) the call was not
recorded, or (3) always. These actions can be used to perform logging, cleanup,
notification or other types of tasks. For example, the system manager may want to
keep a special log file on tollfree trunks to track the date/time of every call made to a
“special offer” DNIS number. Or, the administrator may configure Tracer to email a
copy of the call recording to a supervisor each time a specific employee takes a call.
Annotations Annotations are text-based comments that can be added to a voice document either
live, or once a call has completed. They serve as call notes to help users identify key
information about conversations they have shared. Annotations have a starting point,
an ending point, an author, a subject, and text.
A user with permissions can annotate an entire call, or any part of a call. There are no
limitations on the number of annotations a voice document can have. Additionally, text
annotations can be searched as well, further enhancing the ability to quickly and
conveniently locate specific call recordings.
The ability to annotate is permissions based. A user may have permission to Add, Edit,
and/or Delete annotations. By default, a user will have the ability to annotate all of the
voice documents that appear in their My Calls folder. The ability to annotate other voice
documents is determined by permissions lists.
Recording Scenarios
The controls described in this section provide administrators with tremendous flexibility
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 14
in how they configure Tracer to record calls. It allows managers to define which calls
are to be recorded and which are not in order to align the call recording operation with
their business needs. Some examples of how these features can be used to customize
the call recording process are listed below:
Record all calls, inbound and outbound on all trunks, 24x7
Record 20 percent of inbound calls to the Customer Service group from 7:00am
to 6:00pm, M-F (excluding calls from home numbers)
Record all inbound and outbound calls to the Customer Service 24x7. Also
record all inbound and outbound calls the three clerks in the Billing Department
24x7, and allow all managers to record calls on demand.
Record any call to/from a major competitor and automatically email a copy of the
recording to the Human Resources Director once the call is complete.
Retrieving and Playing Calls
Tracer is capable of storing tens of thousands of calls through on-line storage and
essentially an unlimited number of calls in off-line storage. But how does a user quickly
and easily find a single call or a small group of calls when the need arises? The
OAISYS Management Studio provides a simple, fast, and powerful search and retrieval
application.
OAISYS Management Studio
The OAISYS Management Studio is a .NET application that resides on the user’s sound
equipped PC and provides recording management and playback functionality. The
OAISYS Management Studio authenticates users and provides access to view
authorized calls. From the Management Studio (See Fig. 6), a user can view the entire
history of calls even if the call wasn’t recorded. Since the call list could contain a very
large number of calls, it is often useful to be able to search for certain calls. Tracer
search functionality allows a user to search through the call records by one or more
search parameters such as the date and time a call was made or received, the direction
of the call, duration of the call, called or caller name and phone number, extensions
involved with the call and many others. Thus, “searches” can be used to quickly filter
and display only the calls that are desired.
Examples of typical searches are: “All Calls in Last 7 Days”, “All Recorded Calls”, “All
ACD Calls”, “Today’s Calls that need Follow-up”, “Calls to/from 480 Area Code”, “Calls
to/from ABC Telecom”, etc. These searches can be saved in the form of Search
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 15
Folders for quick reference.
Once the call has been found, it can be easily played over the speakers on a sound
equipped PC. A user can listen to all or just select portions of the call using the
annotation feature. During playback, many playback control options are available,
including: rewind, pause, fast play, or fast forwarding of the recording. In addition, a
user can skip over held portions or paused portions of the call. There is also a volume
adjustment.
Figure 6 - OAISYS Management Studio
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 16
Searching Annotations
Annotations can be searched according to the subject associated with the annotation or
the actual text contained within the annotation. Both Basic and Advanced searches can
be performed on annotations. Basic searches execute the search on all fields available.
Example
If you wanted to conduct a search for a call with an annotation that includes a street
address of “7965 South Priest Drive”, you could enter “7965” in the basic search field;
your results will return all calls with an annotation that contains “7965” and all other calls
that contain “7965” in any field; such as the outside number field.
An advanced search can be conducted based on the criteria of either the subject of the
annotation or the text content of the annotation.
Sharing Recordings
Users with appropriate assigned permissions can share a recording located in any
folder. Another option is to highlight a segment or multiple segments of a call to export
and share the selected segments. They can select one or more users/user
groups/external users to share the selected recording with and use the arrow to move
them to the “Share with” box.
The user class is displayed next to the name:
User
A user is defined as an individual assigned a client account by the administrator.
User Group
A user group represents a group of users set up in the Administrative client
application.
External User
An external user is someone outside of the regular business that has a
temporary user account. An external user must have an email account
associated with their name as well as an expiration date associated with their
user account.
There are a variety of sharing options, such as, “This share will expire on”, “Allow
internal user(s) to further share the document”, and “Allow the recipient(s) to create,
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 17
change, and delete their own annotations” based on the assigned permissions.
Users can also easily share a copy of a recording to a particular person or group (See
Fig. 7).
Figure 7 - Email a Recording
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 18
Integrity Checking
As a standard feature, Tracer comes equipped with a Recording Integrity Checking
application that can be initiated from the Management Studio application (See Fig. 8).
This provides a reliable method for reviewing recordings to ensure the content has not
been altered from the original recording. This feature is particularly valuable in the
event the recording is to be used in a legal proceeding, as it can prove that the
recording hasn’t been tampered with or modified.
Figure 8 - Recording Integrity Validation
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 19
Quality Control Module
Quality Control functionality is included with the Tracer call center management solution
providing users the option of evaluating calls using categories with an unlimited number
of questions and customizable scales. The Quality Control Module allows an evaluator
to review a call either live or after completion and rate the call by providing a grade on
each of an unlimited series of pre-selected questions/criteria. To launch an evaluation,
the user selects the call they want to evaluate and clicks on the evaluation link
contained in the OAISYS Management Studio. Using the controls on the Evaluation
window, the evaluator can fill in the evaluation questionnaire. They can grade each
question or criteria on a scale from 1 to 5 or by recording a Yes or No answer (See Fig.
9). Customizable scales in the application provide a weighted average for each
evaluation as an overall score. Each set of questions in a category has a place for
comments as well as an overall evaluation comment section. Each call can be
evaluated by multiple evaluators.
The evaluation templates can be
created or modified using the System
Administrator. Many different
templates or questionnaires can be
built so that each group being
evaluated can have their own unique
evaluation form.
The Quality Control Module can be
used for many purposes:
As a self-learning tool – each
employee can listen to and
evaluate their work
performance.
As a management tool –
managers can evaluate how
well employees are taking care
of their callers.
As a training assessment tool –
assess employee’s skills and
determine when additional
training may be needed.
Figure 9 - Employee Evaluation
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 20
Quality control work queues allow users to create rules for the count and types of calls
that supervisors must evaluate. Work Queue folders are randomly populated with calls
a manager must evaluate based on the number of calls, percentage of calls, or calls per
agent. An option exists to have the agents evaluate the same calls a manager
evaluates, and a report can be generated to see how the two compare.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 21
Recording Management All recordings made by OAISYS Tracer are stored on the hard disk of the OAISYS
Recording System by default. Because disk space is limited, older recordings must be
periodically deleted or archived (moved to an external storage device) to continually
provide enough space for the newest recordings. There are two methods available to
the system administrator:
Temporary
This method is used when recording files need only be kept for a few days or a few
weeks. For example, a high school may record all calls to capture recordings of bomb
or terrorist threats, abusive parent calls, and any 9-1-1 calls made from the school.
OAISYS Tracer can be configured to keep all recordings for 14 days and automatically
purge any older recordings. Using the OAISYS Management Studio Application,
recordings of problem calls can be easily copied by any administrator to another PC,
disk, or CD before 14 days have passed. In this case, no formal archiving plan is
needed and a simple automated purge process is used. The purging process operates
on a daily basis and deletes all recordings older than the designated age.
Archival
This method is available when recording files need to be kept for long periods of time
(months or years). For example, a financial institution may want to keep recordings of
all phone transactions for a year in case any customer conflicts arise. This type of
installation requires a file archival plan to systematically archive the recording files to
other storage media.
All recordings made by OAISYS Tracer are stored on a hard disk in a real-time
recording area. These recordings are online and can be reviewed at any time by any
approved user. Depending on (1) the size of the real-time recording area on the
OAISYS system and (2) the amount of recordings made each day, these recordings can
be left in this area for a significant period of time (two weeks to more than one year).
However, at some point these files must be moved to make room for more recordings.
For long-term recording solutions, OAISYS Backup Assistant is used to automatically
move recording files from the real-time recording area to the Backup Staging area so
they can be easily archived onto removable media (i.e. DVD, CD, etc.). Backup
Assistant automatically creates a new media folder for each new archive and moves
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 22
only enough recording files into the folder to fill up the target archive media. Once that
media folder is full, it will generate an email notification to alert the system administrator
that archiving is needed. Once the recording files have been successfully moved onto
the archive media, the recordings are purged (deleted) from that media folder using the
purge folder feature in Backup Assistant. This purge process makes disk space
available for subsequent archiving.
If desired, a network share can be specified for the Backup Staging folder so that
network-attached storage devices or storage area network (SAN) devices can be used
to store call records for archival purposes. Tracer provides a set of features that
updates the database to reference the new location so that users can automatically
retrieve these files using Search.
Targeted Archival Feature
This feature provides the ability to archive calls based on call filters or identifying
information.
Example
If calls with a specific account code must be kept for three years, but all others can be
purged after six months or to ftp calls to each vendor on different ftp sites; Targeted
Archival allows users to accomplish this.
Restoring Recordings
Once recordings have been archived offline and removed from the Backup Staging
area, those recordings are no longer on-line. This means that someone using the
OAISYS Management Studio Application cannot directly access and listen to those
recordings. To listen to one of these recordings, the recorded file is copied back from
the archive media (CD or DVD) and brought back online. The playback feature can
then be used to play the recording.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 23
Live Call Monitoring The Tracer Live Call Monitor feature provides real-time monitoring of call activity and
call monitoring across the entire enterprise voice network.
Example
A contact center manager working from a main office in one state can seamlessly and
transparently live monitor calls taking place in that office’s contact center as well as in a
remote contact center located in another state. The user is authenticated and can
access only those calls they are authorized to monitor. Users can view information
(See Fig. 10) about all authorized calls in progress including the outside party’s number,
extension number (requires CTI integration), and incoming dialed number data. They
can monitor any live call through their multimedia workstation while it is in progress.
Monitored calls can be paused and restarted. Users can rewind the call and fast
forward the call up to the point of the live conversation. They can also trigger the
recording of the monitored call, if not already triggered. Users also have the option of
emailing a copy of the call to a user-entered email address.
Figure 10 - Call Monitoring
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 24
Live Desktop Monitoring OAISYS Desktop Monitoring is an optional product that records the Live Desktop
Activity of an agent while the call is in progress. This feature can be run transparently
and in a Citrix environment.
Live Auto Monitoring
Tracer’s Live Auto Monitoring feature allows for automatic live monitoring of calls by
agent or by dynamic business rules. For example, a call that is tagged by an agent
using a custom “Upset Caller” button can enable a contact center supervisor with the
appropriate auto monitor configuration to begin hearing the call instantly, or to receive
an instant visual and/or audible notification of the event. Each manager can
independently create, enable, and disable rules.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 25
Coaching
Tracer also provides integrated supervisor and agent chat capabilities which enable
unobtrusive coaching support (See Fig. 11). Agents can request coaching assistance
and supervisors, upon accepting the request, begin hearing the live call and can
respond via integrated instant messaging. This provides an inaudible communication
path between call handlers and the supervisory staff. Support personnel receive a view
to the call with full call details and an audit trail of the call handling history, along with
any previous text conversations that occurred on that call. A user can also share a
URL, a file, or a screen capture with the agent. All chat communication is captured in
context with the voice recording.
Figure 11 - Integrated Instant Messaging
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 26
Recording Base Systems
Tracer software can be deployed in one of two basic delivery models:
APPLIANCE-BASED SOFTWARE DELIVERY (AbSD)
20 IP, 20 IP and 8 Analog, 2 T1/PRI Bundles
Can act as the slave in a seamless recording network
Unlimited Talkument user license
SERVER-BASED SOFTWARE DELIVERY (SbSD)
Up to 350 channels of IP, analog, and digital
Can act as the master in a seamless recording network up to 1,750 channels
Unlimited Talkument user license
Includes Tracer software and a pre-defined number of user licenses dependent
on server model
Each OAISYS Recording Appliance includes approximately 56,000 hours of storage,
archiving software, and unlimited Talkument user accounts for access to the system,
and unlimited real-time recording control clients that can be used with any CTI or VOX
enabled installation. Appliances come pre-configured with the set audio connection and
voice port license requirements to satisfy the specific appliance model being deployed.
OAISYS Recording Servers are available to suit the needs of small, medium, and large
call recording applications. Servers range in channel capacity from 48 to 350 and in
storage capacity from 56,000 to 200,000 hours of recordings. Each server can hold a
maximum of four recording tap boards and will support any combination of analog,
digital, and IP connectivity. Each OAISYS recording server comes pre-licensed with
both Talkument and Tracer software, including an unlimited Talkument user license and
a range of one to three concurrent Tracer user licenses. Additional Tracer user licenses
can be added for a fee. OAISYS recording servers can be included in a seamless
recording system network and can act as the master or remote nodes.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 27
OAISYS Recording Servers are built from a combination of the following:
1. One of the available OAISYS Recording Servers (Standard, Advanced,
Advanced Plus)
2. Any combination of audio connections (Tap Boards or the VoIP Recording
Engine) up to four total boards in any given system
3. Voice Port Licenses for each trunk or extension to be recorded
Each OAISYS Recording Server includes archiving software, DVD burning software; a
web server to provide connections to user applications, unlimited Talkument user
accounts, and unlimited real-time recording control clients that can be used with any
CTI or VOX enabled installation.
Additionally, OAISYS offers optional RAID 1 disk mirroring functionality for each of the
Standard, Advanced, and Advanced Plus server models enabling advanced fault
tolerance and data protection capabilities.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 28
Hardware Configurations/Capacities OAISYS hardware configurations and call storage capacities are summarized in the
table below.
OAISYS Recording Base System
Description Port Maximums
(Combination of Trunks, Stations, or IP Ports)
Appliance Windows 7
1U chassis ~ 56,000 hours online storage
1-100 total ports
(Up to 100 VoIP; up to 48 digital trunk; up to 8 analog trunks)
Standard Windows 7
Rack mount chassis
~ 56,000 hours online storage
1-100 total ports
(Up to 100 VoIP; up to 48 digital trunk; up to 48 analog trunks, up to 48 digital stations)
Standard w/RAID 1 Windows 7
Rack mount chassis
RAID cont. & redundant disk drives
~ 56,000 hours online storage
1-100 total ports
(Up to 100 VoIP; up to 48 digital trunk; up to 48 analog trunks, up to 48 digital stations)
Advanced Windows 7
Rack Mount Cabinet
~ 100,000 hours online storage
1-200 total ports
(Up to 200 VoIP; up to 96 digital trunk; up to 96 analog trunks, up to 96 digital stations)
Advanced w/RAID 1 Windows 7
Rack mount cabinet
RAID cont. & redundant disk drives
~ 100,000 hours online storage
1-200 total ports
(Up to 200 VoIP; up to 96 digital trunk; up to 96 analog trunks, up to 96 digital stations)
Advanced Plus Windows Server 2008
Rack Mount Cabinet
Dual Power Supplies
~ 200,000 hours online storage
1-350 total ports
(Up to 350 VoIP; up to 192 digital trunk; up to 96 analog trunks, up to 96 digital stations)
Advanced Plus w/RAID 1 Windows Server 2008
Rack Mount Cabinet
Dual Power Supplies
RAID cont. & redundant disk drives
~ 200,000 hours online storage
1-350 total ports
(Up to 350 VoIP; up to 192 digital trunk; up to 96 analog trunks, up to 96 digital stations)
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 29
OAISYS Server Base Systems
Standard Standard w/RAID 1
Advanced Advanced w/RAID 1
Advanced Plus
Advanced Plus w/RAID 1
Dual Core Dual Core Dual Core Dual Core Quad Core Quad Core
320GB
SATA HDDs
2x320GB
SATA HDDs
320GB & 500GB
SATA HDDs
2x320GB & 2x500GB
SATA HDDs
320GB & 1TB
SATA HDDs
2x320GB & 2x1TB
SATA HDDs
4GB RAM 4GB RAM 4GB RAM 4GB RAM 8GB RAM 8GB RAM
Windows 7
Or
Windows Server 2008
Windows 7
Or
Windows Server 2008
Windows 7
Or
Windows Server 2008
Windows 7
Or
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008
Port Licensing A license is required to enable each recording port. In addition a license for each
recording port, licenses would also be needed for the quantity of simultaneous OAISYS
Live Call Monitor users. So, the equation to find the number of licenses needed is:
Licenses needed = # of enabled ports + # of simultaneous Supervisor clients to be used
There is a 16 port maximum for Call Monitor licenses.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 30
System Upgrades and Expansion Tracer can be upgraded to future software releases and can have additional recording
licenses added through software updates. OAISYS offers a comprehensive technology
protection plan, the OAISYS Diamond Support Program under which a customer can
upgrade to the current software release version at no additional cost.
Additional Voice Boards can also be added to the system as long as spare PCI slots are
available. The addition of more Voice Boards requires hardware administration.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 31
OAISYS Desktop Client This is a desktop client (See Fig. 12) designed to provide a desktop control and
interface with OAISYS recording products (Tracer and Talkument). This desktop client
connects with the OAISYS recording platform over TCP/IP and uses CTI events from
the phone system to monitor what is going on with “its” phone extension. It can show
when the phone is busy, when recording is in progress (if allowed), and can let the user
manually start/stop recording (if allowed).
In addition to a Record Start/Stop button, it has six programmable buttons that can be
assigned to attach information to call in progress, open a browser to a specified URL, or
select an option from a drop down list. This information can be used as searchable
criteria, and can be used to generate a report.
The OAISYS Desktop Client application can be used by Call Agents for coaching
purposes. The Call Agent can click a button to send a request out to the Call Managers
for help. The call manager(s) can then coach the agent while listening live to the call.
Figure 12 - OAISYS Desktop Client
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 32
Tracer Integration
OTHER APPLICATIONS: OAISYS APPS, CRM, ETC.
A number of other OAISYS Management Studio applications are compatible with
OAISYS Tracer and can thus be used in Tracer customer solutions. These include:
OAISYS Chat
This legacy text messaging application can be used in conjunction with the
OAISYS Call Monitor allowing supervisors to “coach” employees during phone
calls using interactive text messaging.
OAISYS Recording Client
This legacy desktop control application monitors activity on its user’s extension.
Tracer provides a free, system-level Application Programming Interface (API), which
leverages open technology and supports an easy development and deployment
environment. The Tracer API is an open architecture developer’s kit that is designed to
allow communication with third-party software and devices, such as various predictive
dialers, ACD, and other contact center applications.
The OAISYS Web Services API allows key components of OAISYS voice
documentation solutions to be accessed via other commonly used business applications
such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, ACT!, and Microsoft SharePoint.
The Web Services API also provides the foundation for OAISYS Mobile Recall which
enables users to access recorded calls via a smartphone, PDA or other mobile device.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 33
Reports Tracer Reporter is the powerful reporting package for the OAISYS Tracer call recording
software. Tracer Reporter generates reports, including graphs, based on the telephone
call information stored in the Call History database. These reports can be run on
demand or scheduled for publishing at specific times. Reports can also be instantly
viewed using a standard Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.
Tracer Reporter can be used to create a report and once a report is defined, it can be
saved and used over again or scheduled for publishing at specific times. Reports can
be private or public. A user can create a report by first selecting the report template and
then choosing the time frames and other objects to be included in the report. Once the
definitions are done, they can be saved so they are available for either scheduled or
manual creation of the report. The dates assigned for the reports can be fixed, such as
“December 1-5, 2009” or sliding dates, such as “This Quarter”, “Last Week”, etc. Sliding
dates are very useful for reports that will be reused later.
Once the report is ready, it will be displayed in the browser screen. The browser scroll
function can be used to view all of the report data as well as any graphs that may be
included in the report. The standard “Print” and “Email” or “Export” features can be
used to print the report, email a copy to someone else, or export it to a designated
location. On some reports, the user may be allowed to “drill down” to a list of the
individual telephone calls, view the detailed call information, and even listen to
recordings of the phone conversations (if available).
Scheduling Reports
Tracer Reporter also offers highly efficient scheduling capabilities. Reports can be
scheduled to run on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis at a specific time. Once reports
are completed, authorized users can print, output to a file in a selected format, and/or
email to one or more recipients. Some examples of how this functionality might be used
are:
The sales manager would like the “Sales Calls” report for the week emailed to
him every Friday at 5pm.
The Customer Service Manager would like all of the employees on his team to
receive an “Employee Comparison” report via email every Friday.
The VP of Marketing wants a printout of the “Weekend Advertising Responses”
report printed out and waiting for him every Monday morning.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 34
The head of Information Services wants the internal web site to be automatically
updated every night with the “Call Traffic” report.
Tracer Usage Reports
The Tracer Usage reports provide ways to view how the Tracer system has been used
over selected periods of time (See Fig. 13 for sample Usage report). This can include
the entire system, certain ports, or even specific users. These reports show the quantity
and types of calls as well as how many of the calls were recorded and include the
following report templates:
Extension Report – Views of calls to/from selected phone extensions
Tracer Port – Views of port usage
System Wide Report – System-wide usage views
Inbound Calls Only – Inbound calls are reported on
Owner’s Report – View for oversight and QA responsibilities
Figure 13 - Sample Usage Report
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 35
Customer Interaction Reports
The Customer Interaction reports show the responses to and effectiveness of various
ad campaigns (See Fig. 14 for sample Customer Interaction report). They provide basic
information about the various advertising campaigns that have been launched including
the name of the media (i.e. “Yellow Pages Ad”), the phone number used in the ad, the
timeframe, and cost of the ad. By using a different phone number (DNIS number) in
each of the various ads, the Customer Interaction reports can measure and show the
phone calls that were received in response to those ads. If Caller-ID is received with
those phone calls, the area of the country, city, or state where the ad had the most
impact can be seen. The Customer Interaction report templates include:
Ad Campaign Effectiveness – Measure and compare effectiveness of ads
Call Arrival Times – Shows when callers responded to an ad
Callers by Area Code – Shows where callers were reached by an ad down to the
central office code
Inbound Calls – only inbound calls
Effectiveness Comparison – Measures which ad campaigns are most effective
Figure 14 - Sample Ad Campaign Report
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 36
Employee Assessment Reports
The Quality Control Module provides supervisors and employees with a consistent
method to grade performance on calls. The Employee Evaluation application records
ratings and the Quality Control Reports Suite provides management reporting including
graphs (See Fig. 15 for sample Employee Evaluation report). The Quality Control
Reports Suite consists of five types of reports:
Employee Evaluation – Provides weighted average of ratings for each evaluation
question for one or more employees
Employee Comparison – Compares ratings of multiple evaluators
Employee Quality/Efficiency – Compares Efficiency (average call duration) to
Quality (average of all ratings summaries)
Criteria Trend – Compares ratings for each question over time to assess trends
(single employee)
Group Trend – Demonstrates evaluation trends over a specific time frame
Figure 15 - Employee Evaluation Report
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 37
Owner’s Report
The Tracer Owner’s Report feature provides a convenient report complete with graphs
(See Fig. 16 for sample Owner’s Report) that can help hold management accountable
to their oversight and QA responsibilities. The Owner’s Report, which can be
automatically generated and delivered via email, lists all user activity for a specified
period (daily, weekly, monthly) for the following functions:
Live Calls Monitored (who listened live to what calls?)
Calls Reviewed (are managers reviewing calls?)
Calls Evaluated (is your QA team evaluating the number of calls required?)
Calls Coached (which managers are responding to your agent needs?)
Reports Run (are the reports being utilized by all managers?)
Figure 16 - Sample Owner's Report
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 38
System Administration The OAISYS Administrator is used for centralized class of service administration of
OAISYS applications (See Fig. 17). There are four major areas for setup and
configuration:
1. Applications and Services
2. Lists and Other Resources
3. Users and Permissions
4. Evaluations
Applications and Services
This section of OAISYS Administrator is used to configure the settings for the OAISYS
Net Server and OAISYS Tracer as well as the web and .NET based applications.
For Reporter, Automatic Reports and Programmable Links can be configured. In
addition, the administrator can set up Call Recording Triggers and configure Purge and
Backup Settings. For the .NET based OAISYS Management Studio Application, the
administrator can define what columns are displayed to users.
Lists and Other Resources
From this section the administrator can create, edit, copy, or delete lists. The lists
created here are used to populate drop downs in several places in Administrator and for
reports.
Also, Call Filters can be created. Call Filters are used when determining what calls a
user can listen to or view in the OAISYS Management Studio Application and what calls
someone can review in Reporter. For example, suppose there is a user at extension
1235 named Rob. Rob is only allowed to listen to recordings that have an account code
on them. You can use a Call Filter to allow Rob permission to listen to these calls, but
not others.
This section is also used to program Area Codes, Office Codes, Local Area Codes used
in reports.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 39
Users and Permissions
This section can be used to program Users, User Groups, and Permissions for the web-
based applications. Users can be given access to the OAISYS Management Studio
Application, Agent Evaluation, or Reporter. Permissions can be assigned to a group of
users, in which case all users of that group inherit the permissions set for the group.
This tool is also used to assign users to a user group or to override Permissions on a
user-by-user basis. From the Applications folder, an administrator can drill into the
OAISYS Management Studio Application, Agent Evaluation, or Reporter to see what
user groups and what users have Permissions to access applications. OAISYS also
offers an optional feature for Active Directory Integration which imports user and user
group information from Active Directory.
Figure 17 - Sample System Administration Screen
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 40
Alarms Tracer provides an extensive alarm system with four levels of alarms:
1. Critical
2. Major
3. Minor
4. Informative
Once an alarm condition is met, the following actions can take place:
Send an email
Start an application
Notify OAISYS Service Center
Send a service command
Example
If a recording port is not recording, the alarm generated will alert an administrator via
email so they can find out why the port is not recording.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 41
Summary The OAISYS Tracer contact center management software delivers a host of features
designed for today’s business environment. It provides a variety of audio connections
(trunk-side, station-side, and IP recording) and hardware configurations (56,000 to
200,000 hours of call storage) to ensure a cost effective implementation.
TRACER:
Offers a powerful yet flexible set of Recording Rules that, in combination with CTI
integration, can be used to target and record only those conversations that are
relevant to the business
Includes Live Call and Auto Call Monitoring, which allows management to
selectively listen to calls as they happen as well as automatically based on
dynamic business conditions
Delivers integrated agent and supervisor chat capabilities, making it easy to
oversee and coach work teams and support contact center objectives
Uses a secure, user-friendly, “point and click” interface to quickly search and play
recordings from the recording database
Provides the ability to attach flags or comments to call records that in turn can be
used as the search criteria to locate specific calls, such as all the calls that need
“Follow-up”
Includes a digital watermark that can be used to verify if the recording has been
modified or not – this is especially important if the recording is to be used in any
legal proceeding
Allows a company to keep call recordings for a short period of time or indefinitely;
easily purge recordings after their usefulness has ended, or archive them on a
long lasting media for quick search and playback
Can automatically perform after-call actions such as emailing a copy of the
recording to a specific department or user
Can integrate with other applications to streamline business processes such as
validating an order
Can be used to implement a fair and consistent employee evaluation process
and track the results
With all of these features, Tracer brings multiple benefits to many different types of
industries. Tracer is targeted at two general business applications: documentation
and quality management. Healthcare providers, insurance firms, businesses with
telesales or telemarketing departments, credit and collection departments,
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 42
government facilities, and emergency response centers can all benefit from using
Tracer to document their verbal communications to 1) ensure regulatory compliance,
2) check the validity of orders, 3) provide liability protection from false or erroneous
claims, and 4) enhance corporate security.
Other organizations that provide sales, credit/collections, or service through
telecommunications can benefit by using Tracer to improve call quality. Call
recording along with Quality Monitoring can provide management with answers to
questions such as:
Are customers receiving friendly, polite service?
Are complaints properly acknowledged and is the appropriate response given?
If there is a dispute, are all the facts known?
Do employees have the proper skills and adequate training to perform their jobs?
Companies can use Tracer to manage the customer experience by improving
business processes and enhancing training/coaching programs, ensuring that
service levels meet customer expectations. Tracer enables companies to unlock the
full potential of their business communications.
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 43
Conclusion Even though call recording and reporting are mature technologies, there remains a
great deal of variation between solutions. Selection of the right technology solution can
serve to strengthen customer relationships, build brand equity, and drive sales.
Conversely, a lackluster technology choice can actually undermine customer
confidence, damage relationships, and even result in a loss of customers and revenue.
The OAISYS Tracer call recording and interaction management solution is an
outstanding choice for contact centers because it was purpose-built with the specific
needs and challenges of the contact center in mind.
Benefits of OAISYS and the Tracer solution include:
Seamless integration with leading business communications platforms
Robust feature functionality driven by end-user feedback
Intuitive, easy-to-use and understand interface
Advanced reporting and data mining capabilities
Highly scalable, future-proof investment
Industry-leading service and support programs
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 44
Additional White Papers
CALL RECORDING AND ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY
http://www.oaisys.com/downloads/electronic_discovery.pdf
CALL RECORDING AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
http://www.oaisys.com/downloads/regulatory_compliance.pdf
CALL RECORDING FOR CUSTOMER RETENTION AND SUPERIOR SERVICE
http://www.oaisys.com/downloads/customer_retention_and_superior_service.pdf
VOICE DOCUMENTATION FOR HEALTHCARE
http://www.oaisys.com/downloads/Voice_Documentation_for_Healthcare_wp.pdf
Tracer: Solution Overview and Functionality 45
About OAISYS
OAISYS is a leading developer of call recording and contact center management
solutions for a wide range of organizations, from small-to-medium sized businesses to
multi-site large enterprises. The OAISYS voice documentation and interaction
management solutions help companies within a variety of industries attract and retain
customers by digitally capturing phone-based interactions for simple retrieval, playback
and management. Compatible with leading business communications systems,
OAISYS Tracer and Talkument applications help companies improve risk management,
quality assurance, customer retention, dispute resolution, regulatory compliance and
other critical business concerns.
OAISYS is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and OAISYS Limited is located in
Cambridge, England.
To learn more about OAISYS, Tracer and Talkument, please visit our website at
www.oaisys.com. To schedule a live demonstration, please email [email protected] or
call us at 888.496.9040.
To find a reseller near you, go to www.oaisys.com; click Support, then Reseller Locator.
Follow us on: