To manage the high volume of calls, the Uniform Call Distribution (UCD) feature offers enhancements to basic hunt group functionality. Hunt groups (agents) are assigned extension numbers. The maximum number of agents per group is 64 and the maximum number of agent skill groups is 176.
Dialing the pilot number of the agent activates the hunting sequence to find an available agent. If all voice groups are busy, an incoming call will automatically queue (camp-on) and wait for an available agent.
Each hunt group can have a first level, second level, and night recorded announcement device (RAD) associated with it. The first and second level RAD allows individual departments to have two specific recorded messages geared to their clients while they wait for service. The night RAD has a different message to reflect non-business hour operation.
UCD allows agents to be in more than one hunt group because they often service clients from more than one department. This improves the time in which calls wait for service. Hunt groups can be programmed as the following:
Circular Hunting - Incoming calls terminate at the next idle agent in the group; for example, the first call goes to Agent A, second call to Agent B etc.
Terminal Hunting - Incoming calls terminate at the first agent programmed in the group. If this agent is busy, the call is then routed to the second programmed agent.