Overview: Wait Period workflow module (Console)

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

In this article

Overview

The Wait Period workflow module gives you the ability to put a configurable pause in your workflow. There are two types of wait periods you can put into a workflow:

• Wait for a specific period of time to elapse

• Wait for an event to complete

Waiting for a specified period of time to elapse means to give the Wait Period module a predefined length of time (e.g. 30 seconds). In this scenario, when the workflow reached the Wait Period module, it would do nothing for 30 seconds. Once the 30 seconds had elapsed, the workflow would continue down its path.

Waiting for an event to complete means waiting until an action (usually initiated in a previous module) completes before continuing. For example, if you use the Update module to update a CRM or database, you could use the Wait module to instruct the workflow to wait until the database update has completed before proceeding.

Common use cases

Below are some common uses cases for using the Wait Period module:

• Opting into More Time:  Give customers the option to request more time within an IVR/IVA experience. For example, the workflow could ask something like “If you have your account number ready, press 1. If you need more time to find it, press 5.” with the Say+Intent module. Then, upon pressing 5, the workflow could use Wait Period to pause for 3 minutes before prompting the customer again.

• Increase Timeout Settings: Automatically give customers additional time to respond to the IVR/IVA. So, the workflow could say something like, “Thanks for calling, how can I help you today?” with the Say+Intent module, and if the customer doesn’t respond within timeout settings of the Say+Intents module, the workflow automatically proceeds to Wait Period and pauses for another 1 minute before prompting the customer again.

• Data Processing Time: Provide the workflow the time to process large amounts of data during the workflow session before proceeding onto the next module. An example of this is when using the Transcribe module for processing large audio files for the Calculate Sentiment module.

Breakdown

This section contains a breakdown of each configurable option in the Wait Period module.

Label

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

Wait For Event

The Wait For Event toggle is where you define whether the module waits for an ongoing action to complete before proceeding. 

Waiting for an event to complete means waiting until an action (usually initiated in a previous module) completes before continuing. For example, if you use the Update module to update a CRM or database, you could use the Wait module to instruct the workflow to wait until the database update has completed before proceeding.

In contrast, waiting for a specified period of time to elapse means to give the Wait Period module a predefined length of time (e.g. 30 seconds). In this scenario, when the workflow reached the Wait Period module, it would do nothing for 30 seconds. Once the 30 seconds had elapsed, the workflow would continue down its path.

Time To Wait / Max Time To Wait

The Time To Wait toggle, called the Max Time To Wait toggle when “Wait For Event” is enabled, defines the amount of time for the Wait Period module to wait for.

Time dropdown menu

The Time dropdown menu is where you select the measurement of time for the Wait Period module to wait. Options include:

• Seconds

• Minutes

• Hours

• Days