Contact Center Setup Guide

This guide walks through setting up a contact center from scratch. By the end, you will have queues distributing calls to agents, with optional features like disposition codes, after-call work, messaging sessions, and real-time monitoring.

The contact center builds on top of basic call routing. If you haven’t configured inbound routes yet, start with the Call Routing Setup Guide first.

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Minimum Setup

A basic contact center needs only three things: a queue, agents assigned to it, and an inbound route pointing to it. Everything else is optional and can be added incrementally.

1. Create a Queue

A queue holds incoming calls and distributes them to available agents.

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Queues

1. Click Add
2. Enter a Queue Name (e.g., “support”, “sales”) and Description
3. Set the Ring Strategy — this controls how calls are offered to agents:

Strategy	Behavior
ringall	Ring all available agents simultaneously (default)
roundrobin	Take turns, cycling through agents in order
rrmemory	Round robin that remembers who answered last
leastrecent	Ring the agent who has been idle the longest
fewestcalls	Ring the agent with the fewest completed calls
random	Pick a random available agent

4. Set Agent timeout (how long to ring before trying the next agent) and Agent retry (delay between attempts)
5. Configure Maximum Callers (0 = unlimited) for the queue capacity
6. Save

Tip

Start with ringall for small teams where any available person should answer quickly. Switch to roundrobin or leastrecent for larger teams where you want even distribution.

2. Add Agents to the Queue

There are two ways agents can be in a queue:

Static Members — always in the queue, no login/logout needed. Best for small teams or dedicated reception desks.

On the queue form, go to the Static Queue Members section:

1. Select extensions from the available list
2. Optionally set Penalty (lower penalty = higher priority to receive calls)
3. Save

Dynamic Agents — log in and out of queues on demand. Best for shifts, part-time agents, or agents who serve multiple queues.

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Dynamic Agents

1. Click Add
2. Set Agent #, Name, and Password (PIN for phone login)
3. Set a Web Password (for the Agent Panel web interface)
4. Use the shuttle to assign the agent to one or more queues
5. Save

Dynamic agents log in by:

• Dialing feature code 611 from their phone and entering their PIN
• Opening the Agent Panel web interface
• Using Thirdlane Connect

Agents can pause/unpause (612/613) and log out (614) using feature codes.

You can use both static members and dynamic agents in the same queue. Static members are always available; dynamic agents are only available when logged in.

3. Route Calls to the Queue

Point an inbound route’s action script at your queue so external calls land in it.

Where: Tenant > Routing > Inbound Call Routes

When creating or editing a time-based inbound route, select an action script that targets a queue (e.g., tl-queue) and choose your queue as the parameter. See the Call Routing Setup Guide for detailed inbound route configuration.

4. Test

Call the DID assigned to the inbound route. The call should enter the queue, play music-on-hold, and ring the assigned agents based on the ring strategy.

If this doesn’t work	Check
Call doesn’t reach the queue	Inbound route action script points to the correct queue
No agents ring	Static members are assigned, or dynamic agents are logged in
Agent’s phone doesn’t ring	Extension is registered; “Ring busy members” setting on the queue
Queue is full	Maximum Callers limit; check join/leave conditions

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Adding Policies and Dispositions

Once the basic queue is working, you can layer on contact center policies for after-call work (ACW), disposition codes, and messaging session management.

Disposition Codes

Disposition codes label the outcome of each interaction (resolved, follow-up, escalated, etc.). Agents select a code after each call or messaging session.

Step 1: Create codes and code sets

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Codes & Sets

1. Click Add Code Set
2. Choose category Disposition
3. Name the set (e.g., “Support Dispositions”)
4. Add codes to the set (e.g., Resolved, Escalated, Follow-Up, Spam)
5. Save

You can also create Pause code sets (Break, Lunch, Meeting, Training) for agent unavailability reasons.

Step 2: Assign code sets to queues via policies

Codes are bound to queues through the Policies tab on the queue form. See the next section.

Contact Center Policies

Policies control ACW behavior, disposition requirements, and messaging session settings. They follow an inheritance hierarchy: Global > Tenant > Queue. Each level can inherit from the parent or define its own values.

Tenant-level policies (apply to all queues in the tenant):

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Policies

1. Switch from Inherit to Own to define tenant-specific values
2. Configure the settings you want to override

Queue-level policies (override tenant settings for a specific queue):

On the queue form, go to the Policies tab and configure per-queue overrides.

Key policy settings:

Setting	What it does	Typical value
Disposition required	Agents must select a code after each interaction	Yes
Disposition timeout	Auto-apply default code after this many seconds	60-120
ACW time limit	Max time in after-call-work state before auto-available	30-120
Disposition ends ACW	Selecting a code immediately ends ACW	Yes for fast-paced queues

Messaging Session Policies

If your queues handle text-based interactions (SMS, WhatsApp, chat), configure messaging-specific policies:

Setting	What it does	Typical value
Max text interactions per agent	Concurrent messaging sessions per agent	3
Agent accept timeout	Time to accept before trying another agent	30
Customer idle timeout	Close session after customer inactivity	300 (5 min)
Customer idle warning	Warn customer before idle close	120 (2 min before close)
Auto-close timeout	Maximum session duration	3600 (1 hour)

The messaging policy also defines automated messages (greeting, goodbye, hold/unhold, idle warning, auto-close) that are sent to customers at the appropriate points in the interaction lifecycle.

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Adding Messaging to Queues

Queues can handle both voice calls and text-based messaging (SMS, WhatsApp). To add messaging capability to a queue:

1. Create messaging channels and assign them to the queue — see the Messaging Setup Guide
2. Create inbound messaging routes pointing to the queue
3. Configure messaging session policies (above)

Agents in Thirdlane Connect will see both voice and messaging interactions routed to their queues.

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Queue Callback

Queue callback allows callers to request a callback when they reach the front of the queue instead of waiting on hold.

Step 1: Create callback rules

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Queue Callback Rules

1. Click Add
2. Enter a Name and Pattern (e.g., _NXXNXXXXXX to match 10-digit numbers)
3. Save

The pattern controls which callers are eligible for callback based on their caller ID.

Step 2: Enable callback on the queue

On the queue form, enable the Callback Option and select the callback rule.

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Monitoring and Reporting

Live Monitor

Real-time dashboard showing queue status, agent states, and active interactions.

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Live Monitor

Use this during operations to see at a glance: how many callers are waiting, which agents are available/busy/paused, and current service levels.

Queue Membership Overview

A consolidated view of all agent-to-queue assignments.

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Queue Membership

Use this to audit workload distribution and identify staffing gaps.

Interactions History

Complete history of all contact center interactions across all channels.

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Interactions

Filter by agent, queue, channel, DID, disposition, or date range. Click the C badge to see a customer’s full interaction history, or the A badge for an agent’s history.

Call Center Metrics

Generate reports on queue performance including call volumes, agent performance, service levels, and distribution patterns.

Where: Tenant > Contact Center > Metrics

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Admin Roles

Two built-in roles provide contact center access without full administrator privileges:

Role	Scope	Use case
Contact Center Admin	All queues	Operations manager overseeing the entire contact center
Contact Center Supervisor	Assigned queues only	Team lead responsible for specific queues

Create these roles from Administrators. Supervisors are assigned specific queues and can only see interactions, metrics, and agents for those queues.

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Setup Checklist

Step	Required?	Screen
Create queues	Yes	Contact Center > Queues
Add static members or dynamic agents	Yes (at least one)	Queue form or Contact Center > Agents
Route inbound calls to queues	Yes	Routing > Inbound Call Routes
Create disposition code sets	Recommended	Contact Center > Codes & Sets
Configure tenant policies	Recommended	Contact Center > Policies
Configure per-queue policies	Optional	Queue form > Policies tab
Create pause code sets	Optional	Contact Center > Codes & Sets
Set up callback rules	Optional	Contact Center > Callback Rules
Add messaging channels to queues	Optional	Messaging > Channels
Create supervisor/admin roles	Optional	Configuration > Administrators
Test and monitor	Yes	Contact Center > Live Monitor