Module 20 · The agent workstation

Lee en español: Módulo 20 · El puesto del agente.

Goal: set up your workstation (softphone and audio), know what the browser does on its own and what waits for your click, read the debtor panel, transfer a call, bring a third party in, and understand the regulatory script and the screen-monitoring notice. Time: ~10 minutes · Before: Module 5 (check-in, live floor and call close) and Module 8 (what the supervisor sees).

Some parts of this module ship switched off

Four functions in this module are off by default and someone on the platform side turns them on, not you or your account administrator. Each section names its flag and who turns it on. While a flag is off, the matching control does not appear on your screen or the platform refuses it; that is not a fault, it is the normal state.

Part	Flag	Who turns it on	Ships
Conference with someone inside the account	conference_enabled	operator (platform operator)	off
Conference with an outside number	conference_external_enabled	operator (and it needs the one above on)	off
Regulatory script by jurisdiction	disclosure_script_enforced	founder	off
Monitoring notice, acknowledgement and live screen	screen_monitor_enabled	founder	off by default (see section 7)

Everything else —softphone, auto-answer, debtor panel and transfer— depends on no flag.

1. Set up the softphone and the audio

Your workstation is My Workspace (/agent) and it starts with Start your shift. There are two ways to get audio:

• Browser audio. The Take calls — browser audio, go Ready button registers your seat and calls ring in this tab.
• External SIP device (Zoiper or a desk phone). Check in on my SIP device instead keeps audio out of the browser; you answer, mute and hang up on the device, and the screen still asks you to wrap up when the call ends.

If your session has no linked seat

The seat comes from your session email: it cannot be chosen here. If there is no active seat with that email you cannot check in, and the workstation says: «This sign-in (your email) has no active seat, so there is nothing to check in on». Ask whoever manages the Seat Roster (your account administrator) to create or activate a seat with exactly that email (Module 19). The platform answers 403 seat_not_linked.

In Settings → Softphone you will find the Browser audio switch. Off is the same as the external SIP device, which is a first-class alternative, not a workaround. Below it, Audio devices lets you choose the Microphone and the Speaker and test them with Play test tone. If the browser hides the device names, choose Allow microphone access. If your browser cannot pick a speaker, it uses the system default output.

The pre-flight checks

With browser audio, Pre-flight checks appear before you go Ready, with three checks: Microphone, Speaker and Network. Each shows "checking", "OK", "warning" or "failed". By default a failed check blocks the check-in (you will see Blocked); Continue goes on and Cancel leaves. If the network check fails, the text says the relay and STUN servers gave no usable candidate and that calls may have no audio from this network: change network before going on.

If the microphone fails, the message tells you why: access blocked for the site, no microphone found, the one picked in Settings is unplugged, or another app is holding it. In every case you can check in with an external SIP device instead.

Softphone auto-answer

While your browser is taking calls it shows the auto-answer on chip. It means that calls from automatic campaigns are answered on their own in this browser, with a short tone, and the bar marks them answered on its own. Preview, manual, inbound queue and transfers still wait for your click on Answer. The platform puts the mark only on the automatic dialing paths; a campaign that a person starts (preview or manual) never carries it. It is not a setting you switch on: the chip only tells you what your browser will do.

2. Dial by hand

Dialing by hand means you start the call, unlike the automatic dialer. There are three ways, and none is a free dialer:

• A "Preview" campaign. An agent reviews an account and then calls it (or skips it) from the agent widget embedded in your CRM. A person starts it: it is never dialed automatically.
• A manual campaign ("Manual (click-to-dial)"). The system does not dial on its own: the agent calls the account they choose, one at a time, from the agent widget embedded in your CRM. A person starts it: it is never dialed automatically.
• The dialpad of the embedded widget. If your company embeds the agent frame, that frame offers Dial a number: type the number with + and the country code (7 to 15 digits in total, for example +13125550100) and choose Dial number. It only rings if it belongs to one of your company's accounts, and the usual compliance checks run before it dials. If it belongs to no account, to several, or the account is not in a campaign, the system answers Not dialed with the reason and nobody is called. The technical detail is in the widget guide.

"Preview" and "Manual" campaigns are worked from the embedded widget, not from the console: the console's My Workspace screen does not dial in this version, and it does not have the dialpad either. That difference is true of this version.

3. Read the debtor panel

When a call rings or arrives, Debtor account shows who you are about to talk to, before you say anything:

• Balance, Debt type and Account #;
• Dialing (the number being called) or Caller (on an inbound call);
• Location and Consent basis;
• Contact history (for example "Last conversation: never." and "attempt N").

On a call from the inbound queue you first see Incoming call in queue and the note "offered to you — your softphone rings next"; if no account matches the caller, the panel says so. During the call you have Mute / Unmute, Hold / Resume, Keypad (DTMF) and End Call. When it ends, the wrap-up (disposition, promise to pay) is the one in Module 5.

On the workstation, the single-key shortcuts (the wrap-up digits and N, which is “Do not call me again” (do_not_call), and / in the search) come on by default and you can turn them off in Settings → Keyboard shortcuts; Alt+digit, Alt+N and Alt+/ always work. Four wrap-up codes — Cease and Desist, Attorney Represented, Deceased and Do not call me again — write the stop themselves, with nothing for you to report (Module 5). The wrap-up picker (eleven options) is one Tab stop, then the arrow keys, Home and End, and a screen reader announces “Disposition: …” when you choose. The detail is in Module 5.

4. Transfer the call

Once the call is answered the Transfer panel appears (never while it is only ringing). In Transfer to choose who takes it; the list has three groups: Agents, Extensions and Registered outside numbers. An outside number only appears if an account administrator registered it beforehand in Settings; if there is none, the panel says so and the call can only stay inside the account.

There are two ways:

• Blind transfer — "Transfer now". It asks you to confirm: "The call leaves you at once and cannot come back." Choose Yes, transfer or Back.
• Attended transfer — "Talk first". Only with another agent (an extension or an outside number takes the call directly). The caller is on hold: they hear hold music and do not hear you, and the person you consult can hear the caller if they keep talking. When you agree, Hand the call over; if not, Back to the caller.

If it does not complete, the screen says why and does not leave the call half done: the destination did not pick up (the caller is back with you), the agent is not free, compliance blocked the transfer (it quotes the rule), or the account plan is not active and outside transfers are paused. A transfer never skips compliance.

Developers and analysts can read a transferred call leg by leg (who held it, who consulted, for how long) in the REST API guide.

5. Bring a third party in: the conference

Off by default

The conference panel does not exist on your screen while conference_enabled is off for your account. A platform operator turns it on per account. Adding an outside number also needs conference_external_enabled, also off and also an operator's, and it requires the first one to be on. Ask your Dialer Digital contact to turn them on.

With the conference on, an answered call shows Add to the call. In Add to the call choose a colleague (Agents, Extensions) and choose Add to the call; the original call with the caller stays in place and the third party joins on a separate leg. To remove them, Take off the call.

• With an outside number (only with conference_external_enabled on and the number registered by an administrator): you must tick The caller agrees that an outside third party will join and be heard. Without that box the platform refuses and dials nothing. An outside third party hears the caller, so the caller's agreement is not optional.
• One conference per call, and not at the same time as a transfer consultation: finish one to open the other.
• Recording: if the call is recorded, the third party's voice is mixed into the caller's recording; it is not a separate track and cannot be separated afterwards.
• Compliance: an outside third party goes through the same checks as any outbound call. If compliance blocks it, the screen quotes the rule and the call with the caller continues.

The technical guide is Three-way conference calls.

6. The regulatory script

During the call, the Required collection notice panel shows the text you must read. When you finish you declare what happened:

• I delivered the notice, or
• I could not deliver it, and you choose Why it was not delivered: "Consumer hung up", "Third party on the line", "Consumer declined" or "Other" (with a short note).

Your selection is recorded with Save & Ready when you close the call, or earlier with Record my declaration. The panel shows an indicator of the declaration's state: "No declaration", "Agent declared delivered", "Declared not delivered", "Notice not applicable" or "Scope pending final call row".

The script by jurisdiction: disclosure_script_enforced, off, turned on by the founder

With the flag off (the default), the declaration is the one above. When on, for an account with at least one approved script version, the declaration must name the script version you could see; the panel loads "the notice assigned to this call" according to the jurisdiction. If the notice changed or does not match, the screen says "Reload the call before recording your declaration"; if core cannot resolve it, it says not to record the declaration and to ask an account administrator. A half declaration is never written: a gate that cannot decide blocks. Only the founder turns it on, once each account has an approved script.

7. The monitoring notice and the live screen

Off by default: screen_monitor_enabled, turned on by the founder

With the flag off there is no notice, nothing is acknowledged, nobody's screen is observed or recorded, and the Screen monitoring card does not appear. The platform catalog ships it off and turns it on by segment (scale and enterprise), with a per-account override that wins over the segment; only the founder writes it. If you want to use it, ask your Dialer Digital contact whether it is on for your account.

What you see as an agent. With the function on, Screen monitoring appears at your check-in and during your shift. Your supervisor can ask to see your screen —and your screen can be recorded— only after you acknowledge the notice for that purpose. The notice is shown exactly as it was published, with its version and fingerprint (SHA-256), under Monitoring notice (/agent/monitoring-notice). There are two purposes, each with its own acknowledgement: Live viewing of my screen and Recording of my screen. Choose I have read the notice — acknowledge: …. If the notice changes while you read it, the screen loads the current version and asks you to read it again. With no notice published nothing can be acknowledged, shared or recorded.

The recording and supervision notice at check-in. This is a different notice from the screen one. If your account records calls and the platform has turned on the requirement (agent_monitoring_ack_enforced, off by default, turned on only by the founder), a check-in or a return from a pause can be refused with monitoring_ack_required until you accept the current version of that notice. The check-in card then shows the notice as it was published, with its version; you read it, accept it, and the same check-in is retried. If the notice changes, you are asked again. If no notice is published, there is nothing to accept and the platform does not let you go available. With the requirement off, nothing is asked of you. Closing a call's after-call work is never blocked. The text of the notice and what each jurisdiction requires are not stated in this course; see the roadmap. The three API operations behind it are in the screen-monitoring guide.

For your screen to be observable you also need to: choose Share my screen and pick the entire screen (a monitor; a window or a tab is refused), and keep the tab armed (your shift has to be confirmed, and only one tab per seat). While no session is open, nothing leaves your device. If sharing is cut, the screen says so and you have to share again. Stop sharing cuts everything.

While someone watches or records you, you know: the indicator says Your screen is being viewed or Your screen is being recorded, and when a supervisor connects you see "A supervisor is seeing your screen". If a call's recording breaks (tab not armed, sharing cut or upload failed), the card says so with that reason.

What the supervisor sees. In Agents & Seats (/agents), on each agent's row, View screen appears only for a supervisor or admin seat and with the function on. The button spells out the rules: the agent sees an indicator while you watch and every attempt, accepted or not, is written to the session ledger. While the screen connects you see "Waiting for … screen to connect…" and then "Watching … screen", with the agent's name filled in. It cannot be watched if the agent has not acknowledged the current notice ("the agent has not acknowledged the current monitoring notice") or is not sharing their screen; only one person at a time watches an agent ("already being watched by someone else"); and the session ends on its own when the agent stops sharing or checks out. If there is no direct route between the two browsers, nothing is shown and the session is closed. The network requirements and the events are in the screen-monitoring guide.

8. Pause on hang-up, callback, lost microphone and where you land

Four workstation behaviours that depend on no flag.

Pause when the call ends

If you need a break and your seat is ringing or on a call, you do not have to wait for the hang-up to ask for it. Pick a Pause reason (Other, Break, Lunch, Training or Meeting) and press Pause when the call ends. The screen shows "Pause armed: it will apply when the call ends" and the button becomes Remove, which disarms it. The call carries on as it was; when it is released your seat goes straight to paused with that reason, without becoming available in between. Arming it again with another reason keeps the last one.

When it does not appear: with the seat available or in after-call work you get the usual Pause (the immediate pause); with the seat paused, Back to calls; and if the platform does not report whether a pause is armed, the arming button is not offered. The platform decides, not a setting of yours. API integrators find the detail (on_release, pause_armed) in the REST API guide.

Schedule a callback from the close, and cancel it

If the customer asked to be called later, the call close carries the Schedule a callback (the consumer asked to be called later) block. Turning it on, you choose the Phone (contacts of the account), When to call (quick time chips and a custom date: "In 30 min", "In 2 hours", "Tomorrow 9:00" and "Custom…") and a Callback note. The callback is sent after the disposition is saved.

• Only with a phone of the account. The number must be among the contacts of the call's account; if the call has no account, the block says "This call has no account: there is nothing to schedule the callback against."
• Minimum notice. The time must be at least 60 seconds ahead; the real minimum is set by your account (10 minutes unless someone changed it), and the platform decides it on submit: the refusal is shown as is.
• If it fails, the disposition is already saved and is not sent again: you see "Disposition saved, but the callback was NOT scheduled:" with Retry callback and Dismiss.

The ones you scheduled appear in the Callbacks I scheduled panel, with "DUE NOW" when the call was due and Cancel on each row, which asks you to confirm ("Yes, cancel callback"). The panel says it plainly: the dialer calls them on the first free seat of the campaign, not necessarily yours, and to change the time you cancel and book again. Callbacks are explained in Module 5.

Lost-microphone notice

If in the middle of a call your microphone stops sending audio (the headset is unplugged, another application takes it, or the permission is revoked), the line stays up but the customer hears silence. So the notice "Your microphone is not being heard — reconnect it or pick another." appears with the Use the default microphone button. If that cannot be opened either, it says the default microphone could not be opened and to check the browser permission or plug one in. It only shows during a call with browser audio; with an external SIP device the audio does not go through here.

There is a sibling notice for the other direction: "The browser is not playing the call audio (…) — you cannot hear the other party.", with the Retry audio button. If the browser refused it between calls, the notice says the next one may also stay silent for you.

Where an invited agent lands

Someone who signs in with their email and has an agent seat linked to them (an invited member, not a supervisor or an administrator) lands on My Workspace (/agent), where Take calls is, and not on the floor board (/dashboard). Supervisors, administrators, a member with no linked seat and machine keys still land on /dashboard. If the session came from a specific page (the link you were heading to), that one wins. It applies on password sign-in, with a second factor, through SSO, and when opening / with the session already started.

What you learned

• How to prepare audio (browser or SIP device), how to read the pre-flight checks, and that auto-answer only covers automatic campaigns.
• That dialing by hand means you start the call, and that the dialpad is in the embedded widget and only dials numbers from your company's accounts.
• How to read the debtor panel and transfer —blind or attended— without skipping compliance.
• That the conference, the script by jurisdiction and screen monitoring ship off, and who turns each on: operator for the conference, founder for the script and the monitoring.
• How to ask for a pause before hanging up, schedule and cancel a callback from the close, recognise the lost-microphone notice, and that an invited agent lands on /agent.