myContactCenter consists of three programs for the workstations and a number of Windows services on one or more servers. Each program and each service has its own installation package; this lets you run the system on a single server or distribute it across several computers.
Programs on the workstations
| Program | Installation package | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Agent | myContactCenter Agent | Workstation of agents and supervisors. Comes with a softphone and opens phone number and email links (tel:, callto:, mailto:) from other programs. |
| Administration | myContactCenter Admin | Setup and monitoring of the entire system. Also installs templates for reports, dashboards and wallboards, holiday lists and dictionaries for the spell checker. |
| Wallboard | myContactCenter Wallboard | Shows the wallboards designed in the Administration with real-time values on a screen, optionally in full screen. |
The Agent and the Wallboard learn from the Dispatcher which server is currently active and then connect to it. The Administration connects directly using the server’s name.
Services
All services run as Windows services named “myContactCenter …”. They start with Windows. The configurator that sets up a service also makes Windows restart it after a crash (see below).
| Service | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Server | The hub. Stores the configuration, manages agents, administrators and licenses, and runs the distribution: queues, agent status, activities and wrap-up. Writes statistics and tickets, creates scheduled reports and monitors the performance indicators. Synchronizes users, presence and address book with the phone system. |
| Routing Service | Runs the flows. Toward the phone system, it is the endpoint that answers the calls: it plays announcements and music, recognizes speech, records and takes voicemails. It connects customer and agent by calling the agent. It also fetches emails and faxes from the mailboxes, sends the replies and accepts chats and web callbacks from your website. |
| ExternalDatabase | Is installed with the Routing Service and gives flows access to your own databases — Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL or PostgreSQL, through an SSH tunnel if required. |
| Dispatcher | Tells Agents, Wallboards, Routing Services and Loggers which server is currently active. In the programs, the addresses of the Dispatchers are called Registration points. |
| Logger | Receives the log messages of all components and writes them to a common file. |
| SwyxCDS | Is installed with the Server and only needed with SwyxWare and SwyxON. Connects myContactCenter to the configuration database of the phone system: users, credentials, presence and address book. |
After installation, a configurator sets up each service: database, service account, registration points and, for the Routing Service, the login to the phone system. The configurators start by themselves after installation; later you find them in the Start menu under ilogixx GmbH › myContactCenter › Configurators. How to install and set up the system is described in the Installation chapter.
Databases
Configuration, statistics and license data are stored in Microsoft SQL Server. For conversation data and tickets, you choose SQL Server or PostgreSQL when you set up the server. The Agent and the Administration read the data for reports and dashboards directly from the database.
Connections
- Phone system. All calls go through exactly one phone system. The Routing Service registers there as a SIP endpoint. Agents make calls with the softphone of the Agent program or with a phone that is registered on the phone system under the same extension.
- Mail server. The Routing Service fetches emails and faxes via IMAP; it sends replies via SMTP.
- Your website. The chat window and the callback form connect to the Routing Service.
- Address books. Besides the address book of the phone system, Outlook and Microsoft 365 can be used as address books.
- Microsoft Azure. Speech synthesis, speech recognition, transcription, translation and the AI functions run on Azure.
- ilogixx activation server. Licenses are activated here, through a proxy if required.
Deployment options
A single server
In the simplest case, all services run on one Windows server; SQL Server runs there as well or on a separate database server. The programs run on the workstations.
Distributed
Each service can be installed on its own computer. The Routing Service, Logger, Agent and Wallboard only know the registration points and learn through them where the server is currently running.
High availability
Master and standby. A second server can stand by as a standby server. The configuration is continuously transferred to it, and the Dispatcher directs all programs and services to the currently active server. You switch over in the Administration with Make Server Active and Make Server Passive. The standby server needs its own standby licenses. Set it up as described under Standby server.
Multiple Routing Services. Any number of Routing Services can be registered. Exactly one is active and accepts calls, chats, web callbacks, emails and faxes; the others wait passively. If the active one logs off, a passive one takes over automatically.
Workstations outside the company network
Workstations that cannot reach the company network directly need a VPN or direct access to the ports of the server. If they reach the servers under a different name than in the company network, you can store an alternative name each for master and standby — see Names and addresses.