Overview: Time Controls workflow module (Console)

This article provides an overview of the Time Controls workflow module in Console.

In this article

Overview

The Time Controls workflow module gives you the ability to route workflow sessions based on the current time of day, day of the month, or holiday.

The module works by checking the current date and time when the workflow session is running. Based on the result, the module determines if the evaluation is either:

• Met: The current date or time matches what’s configured in the module

• Not met: The current date or time doesn’t match what’s configured in the module 

Common use cases

Below are some common use cases for the Time Controls module:

• Setting business hours: Use the Time Controls module to designate your business’ hours of operations. If someone contacts you outside of those hours, the Time Controls module can route them down an alternate path to tell them that you’re closed and that they can leave a message.

• Setting holiday hours: Use the Time Controls module to define any holidays that your business observes. Similar to setting business hours, if someone calls during a holiday, the Time Control module can route them down a branch that allows them to leave a message.

• Routing for high / low volume: Use the Time Controls module to route to queues based on expected volume. If you receive fewer calls during evenings, you could use the Time Controls module to route calls made during evening hours to a different queue.

Breakdown

This section contains a breakdown of each configurable option in the Time Controls module. Options are available depending on the module type selected. Some options are available on multiple module types.

Label

The Label field is where you provide a description for the workflow module. This appears on the workflow module in the workflow editor.

Module Type

The Module Type menu is where you select the type of time evaluation you want the Time Controls module to make. Available options include:

• Work Week (evaluate based on days of the week)

• Holiday (evaluate based on whether it’s currently a holiday)

• Calendar (evaluate based on whether it’s a specific day or range of days)

Timezone

The Timezone menu is where you select the timezone used to evaluate time by. This option is available for all module types. In most circumstances, this should be the same timezone as the one your contact center operates in.

Days of the Week

The Days of the Week menu is where you select the days of the week for the Time Controls module to evaluate against. This option is available when the Module Type is Work Week. Selected days appear as highlighted in orange.  

You can click the +Add button to add additional checks for days of the week.

Hours

The Hours menu is where you define a time range. Hour selection is available for all module types. 

A time range is established by inputting a time in the From menu and in the To menu. Used in conjunction with the Days of the Week menu, this further specifies when the Time Controls module should evaluate a time condition as met.

All day

The All day toggle is where you set the Time Controls module to evaluate the entire 24-hour day as “met”. This toggle is available for all module types.

Holidays

The Holidays menu is where you search for and add holidays to the Time Controls module.

Note that, depending on your goal, evaluating based on holiday can work opposite of days of the week. Controlling by holiday typically means your contact center is not available during the specified holiday. But, this means that the “met” branch is the branch of “failure”, while the “not met” branch is the branch that connects the customer to a queue user.

Keep this in mind when building workflows that contain multiple Time Controls modules.

Calendar

The Calendar tool is where you select date ranges for the Time Controls module. This is most often used for temporary periods where you want a workflow session to do something different. This could be due to a closure of a contact center that lasts a particular amount of time. Or, it could be used for temporarily routing customers to a different queue.

Simulate

The Simulate menu is a sub-menu of the Time Controls module that allows you to test your selections.

In the left sidebar of the Simulate menu, you can choose a date, time, and timezone to test against your configurations in the module. When you click Run, the module will either return a Met or a Not Met result. This tells you whether the module would work during your desired time.