System Management Guide

Chapter 9. Planning for Data Collection and Reporting

CallCoordinator automatically saves information on every call event that is received by the host computer. This information is stored in the Management Information System (MIS) Log file. With the MIS Log data, you can create reports that give more information than is available from the switch. These reports can help you evaluate the efficiency of your call center for telephone service and provide specific business related information.

You can choose how you want to store MIS log data:

• In a specified CICS User Journal
• Via the MIS User Exit and a user program

You use the COR Telephony Settings panel (VA32) to specify the MIS Log settings. The details and the settings required for these options are described in "MIS Log".

Planning for data collection and reporting involves two major tasks for each area:

• Evaluating Data Collection and Reporting
• Preparing to Enable Data Collection and Reporting.

Planning for Data Collection

Planning for data collection in your call center involves evaluating the kind of data you want to collect. After evaluating data collection, you must complete the necessary tasks to enable data collection.

Evaluating Data Collection

The MIS Log file might contain the kind of information you need to generate reports about your call center. However, your application programmer can do some modifications to your application that can add to the data and organize it in a different way. You must answer the following questions to evaluate how data collection needs to be modified for your call center:

1. Do you want your agents to enter call information into the MIS Log file during calls?

2. Do you want your application to include call data about any of the following?
   • A call in progress
   • A party on a call in progress
   • An agent currently signed on to CallCoordinator
   • ANI or DNIS data.

3. Do you want your application program to write business records to the MIS Log file?

4. Do you want to use the MIS Log exit to edit, filter, delete, redirect, or reformat records written to the MIS Log file?

Preparing to Enable Data Collection

After evaluating data collection for your call center, you must work closely with your application programmer and complete the following tasks to enable data collection:

1. If you want your agents to enter information about the items listed below into the MIS Log file during calls, your application programmer must use the following CallCoordinator APIs as described in CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide.
   • Add a control number to the CMCT -- Set Control Number API
   • Update the business value of a call -- Set Control Number API
   • Update ANI data - Set ANI ID API.    

2. If you want your application to include call data about the items listed below, your application programmer must add code to use the following CallCoordinator APIs or interfaces as described in CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide.
   • A call in progress -- Inquire Call Data API        
   • A party on a call in progress -- Inquire Party Data API
   • An agent currently signed on to CallCoordinator -- Inquire Agents API    
   • ANI or DNIS data -- Initiate With Data Interface or Inquire Call Data API.

3. If you want your application program to write business records to the MIS Log file, your application programmer must add code to use the Write MIS Record API.    

4. For a customized program to edit, filter, delete, redirect, or reformat records, your application programmer must write a program to handle these operations. The name of this program is entered in the Exit name field on the COR Telephony Settings panel.

Refer to the section "Features, Functions, and APIs" in CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for a summary of data collection information. Your application programmer can refer to CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for detailed instructions on enabling data collection in your call center.

Planning for Data Reporting

Planning for data reporting in your call center involves evaluating the kind of reports you want to generate. After evaluating data reporting, you must complete the necessary tasks to enable data reporting.

Evaluating Data Reporting

To evaluate data reporting for your call center, you must answer the following questions:

1. Do you want the MIS Log records of processed call events sorted, reformatted, and written to the Processed Event file using the CallCoordinator standards and specifications?

2. Do you want the MIS Log records of processed call events sorted, reformatted, and written to the Processed Event file using standards and specifications other than those specified by CallCoordinator?

3. Do you want to produce a file of data that can be downloaded for use by a spreadsheet program?

4. Do you want to produce a file of error records from the MIS Log and print the Event Message Error listing?

5. Do you want to produce a printed listing from the Individual Party Event Message file?

6. Do you want to extract and tabulate totals of processed events from the Processed Event Records file and create a Call Analysis (Totals) file used for printing the Totals report?

7. Do you want to customize some or all of the sorting and reading of data, the arithmetic operations, the data files, and the printed results from the MIS Log files?

Preparing to Enable Data Reporting

After evaluating data reporting for your call center, you will need to complete the following tasks to enable data reporting:

1. If you want the MIS Log records of processed call events sorted, reformatted, and written to the Processed Event file using the CallCoordinator standards and specifications, your application programmer must modify the required parameters in the CallCoordinator-supplied Job Control Language. See the CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for further information.

2. If you want the MIS Log records of processed call events sorted, reformatted, and written to the Processed Event file using standards and specifications other than those specified by CallCoordinator, your application programmer must modify the CallCoordinator-supplied Job Control Language as needed. See the CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for further information.

3. To produce a file of data from the Processed Event file that can be downloaded to be used by a spreadsheet program, your application programmer must modify the required parameters in the CallCoordinator-supplied Job Control Language to produce the file. See the CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for further information.

4. To produce a file of error records from the MIS Log and print the Event Message Error listing, your application programmer must modify the required parameters in the CallCoordinator-supplied Job Control Language. This information can be useful for problem determination. See the CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for further information.

5. To produce a printed listing from the Processed Event file, your application programmer must modify the required parameters in the CallCoordinator-supplied Job Control Language. See the CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for further information.

6. To create a Call Analysis (Totals) file and print the Totals report, your application programmer must modify the required parameters in the CallCoordinator-supplied Job Control Language as needed. See the CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for further information.

7. If the MIS Log has been customized, your application programmer will need to modify the CallCoordinator-supplied Job Control Language and possibly write your own processing program. To customize some or all of the sorting and reading of data, the arithmetic operations, the data files, and the printed results from the MIS Log, your application programmer must write new Job Control Language and a new processing program. See the CallPath CallCoordinator/CICS Application Programming Guide for further information.