Contact Expert v7.5
Contact Expert v7.5 Release Notes
Release news, recommendations and up-to-date information about this version of Contact Expert.
This version was released on 8th Jun 2023.
Notes and Recommendations
This document describes all enhancements and bugs fixed in the above product version. In addition, all major known issues not yet addressed are also listed in this document.
Versioning and Hotfix releasing Strategy
Starting from v5.9, Contact Expert version numbers have the following format: vMajor.Minor
Major Version
The first number represents the major version. When this number is increased, a new major version is introduced. Major versions contain significant changes in the product such as an extensive set of significant new features, new architecture or completely redesigned software components. Consequently a new major version might be backward incompatible with the previous major version (but not necessarily).
Minor Version
The second number represents the minor version which is increased when less significant features are added to the product.
Cumulative Hotfixes
In addition to minor versions, Geomant also releases cumulative hotfix packages to provide quick fixes to serious problems that should not wait until the next minor release. These hotfix packages are tied to a specific minor version and contain the fixes of all the previous hotfix packages for this minor version.
Version Compatibility and Upgrade Strategy
When upgrading, consider the difference ("distance") between the old and the new version. If the upgrade is within the same major version then we are talking about a minor version upgrade. If the distance between the old and new version overlaps at least one major version, then this is a major version upgrade.
Minor versions are always backward compatible. Example
- v7.0 - major version (architectural changes & new features & bug fixes; not compatible with v6.x)
- v7.1 - minor version (new features & bug fixes; compatible with v7.x)
A clean and a cumulative upgrade installation media is created for each major and minor version, so every package contains the fixes and feature additions of all previous releases. However Geomant proceeds to perform exhaustive compatibility tests with the last 2 minor versions only, therefore if the distance between your 6.x version and the currently available latest 6.x is greater than 2 minor versions, then you might need gradual, step-by-step upgrades.
Also, since major versions usually bring architectural changes that make them backward incompatible, the old version must be completely uninstalled and the new version must be installed from a clean installation package. An upgrade install is typically not usable in such cases. When a major upgrade (thus a clean install) is due, the system typically have accumulated a number of previous minor upgrades all of which must be uninstalled individually starting from the most recent.
Or, as an alternative, instead of uninstalling all the existing upgrades, the recommended way is reinstalling Contact Expert on a clean operating system (restored from a previous snapshot or installed newly).
Note
Client/Server Version Compatibility
Please note that if you upgrade the Contact Expert server components to a new minor version, all Contact Expert agent client applications are highly recommended to be updated also at the same time. Older clients may not work with a new minor version of Contact Expert server.
However, the maintenance version of the server and the client does not matter as long as they have the same minor version. In other words, each client having the same minor version as the server's minor version is always compatible with the server, regardless of the maintenance version.
Note
Database Version Compatibility
Contact Expert databases are not removed or altered during a minor upgrade or uninstall process, therefore all the configuration data, except for the ones entered during an installation, are left intact. This includes all the business related data such as agent, campaign, contact and historical data.
Since a major upgrade typically contains database schema changes which might cause potential data loss, Contact Expert databases will need to be updated to reach compatibility with the new major version to be installed. This can be achieved by using the SQL scripts from the upgrade installation package of the concerned major version.
Microsoft Lync/Skype for Business Version Compatibility
Please review our CE Compatibility Matrix with SfB/Lync Platform on Microsoft Lync and Skype for Business support.
OnCall IVR Version Compatibility
Please review our official statement on OnCall IVR Engine and OnCall IVR Designer compatibility matrix.
Cloud Requirements
For chat functionality, a Buzzeasy subscription and cloud connection is required. For cloud based agent scripting, a cloud connection is required.
Important
64 bit Windows operating system is required for Cloud based agent side scripting!
Special Notes
Note
Microsoft SQL Server 2008, 2012, 2014 are no longer supported by Contact Expert v7.4 Customers are required to migrate to one of the supported versions.
Note
Retention policy for chat data is introduced. Chat conversation history data older than 18 months will be purged/deleted from the system on a weekly basis and will not be available.
Deprecated API & Services
Legacy scripting is deprecated (since CE v6.1) and will be removed in future releases
Old scripting or legacy scripting is deprecated and will be removed from the product in future releases. Customers using old/legacy scripting are required to migrate to the new cloud based scripting platform.
Note
Legacy scripting is not tested to cooperate with other components of the product. While using it is not yet explicitly blocked, runtime errors might show up.
Skype for Business based chat service
Skype for Business platform based chat service has been deprecated and removed from Contact Expert 6.0 solution, components include:
- Chat Widget
- Chat Proxy
- WordPress plugin
Customers running chat service prior to 6.0 will need to update their corporate web site to include reference to the new cloud based chat services.
Client Access Server - Administration methods removed (since CE v7.1)
Client Access Server Administration interface methods are removed, customization using this API are required to be rewritten using the REST API provided by Management Service. For more information please visit the following article.
Client Access Server - InformationService methods deprecated (since CE v7.1)
Client Access Server Information Service interface methods are deprecated. Customization using this API are required to be rewritten using the REST API provided by Management Service. For more information please visit the following article.
Installation
Install the product as usual and apply all hotfixes released for this specific version as these hotfixes fix every critical issues revealed.
Please read the Upgrade Guide for further details about the update process and our backup recommendations.
Note
Please note that upgrading to Asterisk from an existing Skype For Business or Avaya deployment is not possible, a new clean install needs to be performed.
Highlights
Enhanced administration functionalities:
Asterisk/FreePBX Telephony Integration
In Contact Expert version 7.5, we are introducing Asterisk/FreePBX telephony support, in addition to the existing Skype for Business and Avaya telephony integrations. Asterisk is a framework for building communications solutions. Asterisk provides IP PBX functionality. It is used by small businesses, large businesses, call centers, carriers, and governments worldwide. Asterisk is free and open source. FreePBX is a web-based, open source GUI that can control and manage Asterisk PBX. Compared to our existing telephony integrations, the Asterisk/FreePBX comes with a pack of advantages, such as:
- Speed and Performance: Asterisk Telephony offers faster call routing and bridging, resulting in reduced time to connect customers to agents, reduced time to wait in queues, improved service level, and increased agent productivity.
- Lower Overhead Costs: Asterisk is an open-source telephony framework, which significantly reduces hardware and software costs compared to proprietary systems like Avaya. There are no server and per agent licenses to be paid for the telephony platform provider.
- No Softphone Required: Unlike Skype for Business and Avaya, Asterisk Telephony enables agents to handle calls directly within the CE Agent application, eliminating the need for a separate softphone. This streamlined setup simplifies the agent's workflow, reducing dependencies and enhancing usability.
- Full Feature Compatibility:The Asterisk Telephony integration ensures that all existing functionalities available with Skype for Business and Avaya Telephony are also accessible with Asterisk, ensuring a smooth transition and no compromise on essential features. Intelligent skill-based and presence aware call routing and queuing, call recording, callback, messaging, inbound call scenarios, outbound dialing (preview, progressive, predictive), advanced call control, etc. all work similarly to the previous telephony solutions. Please note that the Answering Machine Detection feature, available with Skype for Business and Avaya Telephony, is not supported in the current release of the Asterisk integration. We are implementing this feature in future updates to ensure a comprehensive solution across all telephony options.
Enhanced agent application functionalities:
Other improvements
Important
Early media is available with Agent Client Application 7.3 version or newer. If you want to use the early media feature, you can not use older Agent Client Application version event if it has the same major version number.
Feature Matrix
General
| 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | |
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| Basic agent scripting |  |
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| Highest priority queue ACD strategy added | |
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| Built-in call recording | |
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| Transfer to CE queues enabled | |
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| Support for localization | |
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| Support for TLS 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 | |
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| Support for secure HTTPS and TLS communication protocols | |
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| Contact Expert enabled with predictive dialing strategy | |
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| Queue and campaign linking & cloning | |
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| Automated IVR outbound campaigns using On Call IVR | |
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| Introduction of a new administration interface – CE Portal – replacing ACE Admin | |
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| Enhanced Administrative Features using CE Portal | ! |
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| Administrative Interface integrated with Skype for Business to display agent state and start chat conversation from CE Portal | |
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| User management and role based access to resources | |
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| RESTful web API is introduced to replace the Client Access Server | |
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| Retention blending introduced – allowing to keep a number of agent retained for inbound interaction for a dedicated skill | |
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| Enhanced predictive dialling strategy enables agents to work in a predictive and inbound mode | |
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| Multi-tenant architecture – allowing multiple individual organization can share the system | |
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| Ability to define custom voice messages. E.g. queue music, welcome message, hold music, etc. | |
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| Enhanced agent owned recalls – task are delivered to agents regardless of their skill settings | |
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| Enhanced skill update – supervisor performed skill updates to agent is automatically applied | |
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| Multi-tenant architecture – alarms and resource updates is applied for each tenant separately | |
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| Corporate address book | |
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| Scheduled task filtering enhancement –type, -status, -preference, | |
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| Ability to initiate a call over CE Automation API | |
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| Automatic failover support on secondary server | |
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| Campaign specific wrap-up timers | |
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| Redirect calls on no answer – place agents to RONA auxiliary reason | |
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| Support for initiating calls to response groups | |
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| In queue messaging improvement / audio volume dipping during TTS messages | |
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| Agent application automatic recovery in case of failure | |
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| Automatic (configurable) closure of abandoned calls | |
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| Support of multiple chat sources (website, social media, apps.) | |
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| Real time queue display and ability to select next work item from the queue | |
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| Control predictive start-up parameters | |
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| Predictive healing - Campaign dialing remains in predictive even if reference control values are breached | |
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| Campaign level contact phone number exclusion - Excluded numbers are not dialed | |
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| Before connect compliance messaging | |
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| Time zone support | |
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| Support for Business Unit organization layer | |
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| Multi-skill power dialling | |
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| Retain agent for running campaigns | |
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| Agent Auto Answer option by policy | |
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| Separate permissions of quick dial and customer lookup | |
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| Enhanced contact import functions | |
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Agent Desktop
| 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | |
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| Agent consult and transfer enabled | |
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| Enhanced agent experience in full screen and toolbar mode | |
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| MSI Installer provided for client application | |
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| Enhanced agent script pages and designer | |
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| Customizable agent dashboard – including global, team and agent statistics | |
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| Agents are able to initiate or revoke a break request during work | |
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| Agent dashboard replaces skill statistics with queue statistics | |
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| Agent can leave a comment for each interaction as is shown in the contact history | |
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| Business tags are presented in the order of administration | |
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| Email Search interface | |
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| Quick Email | |
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| Support for Arabic language localization - Agent & customer facing interfaces | |
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| Voice and email concurrent handling, ability to handle/park multiple emails and be available for voice interactions | |
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| Agent can accept internal IM’s during call handling | |
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| Agent’s ability to handle multiple concurrent chat request | |
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| Agent’s ability to handle multiple concurrent chat and email and be available for voice | |
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| Russian language support on Agent facing interfaces | |
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| Document sharing during chat session | |
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| Spell checking support when using the email editor | |
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| Agent scripting powered by Adaptive Scripting | |
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| Companion | |
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| Campaign based scripting tool support | |
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| New contact creation based on lookup criterias | |
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| Enable using computer keyboard input to keypad | |
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| Comment field on Lookup Task history page | |
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| Disconnect on recording Failure | |
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| Contact Merging | |
BI and Reporting
| 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | |
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| Reporting enhancement, filtering options added | |
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| Enhanced call detail reports showing hold and talk time | |
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| Introduction of Personal BI - Excel based personal business intelligence reporting providing flexible and comprehensive business reports | |
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| Introduction of a new reporting interface – CE Portal – replacing ACE Supervisor | |
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| CE Portal reporting interface provides daily operational reports and allows thresholds to be defined to agent and queue states | |
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| Enhanced Analytical and Executive Reports | |
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| Reporting capabilities on predictive dialling strategy – Overdialing Rate and Nuisance Call Rate | |
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| Operation report extended, time range support extended on Agent status, performance, Business Tag, Queue Service Level report | |
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| Call result – operation report introduced / detailing call activity outcome | |
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| Tracking report support displaying 5000 records | |
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| New BI Agent Break type report added | |
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| Comment collected are displayed on CE Portal reports | |
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| Agent status monitor report filtered by skills | |
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| Agent status monitor report with contact/task Ids | |
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3rd Party Compatibility
| 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | |
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| Verba call recorder native integration | |
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| Support for Active Directory service accounts | |
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| Support for Skype for Business Server 2015 | |
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| Support for Skype for Business Client 2015 | |
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| Support for Skype for Business Client 2016 | |
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| Web chat JavaScript API enabling chat integration for custom web pages | |
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| Support for SQL Server 2016 and JDBC 6.0 driver | |
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| Contact Expert is integrated with Afiniti agent and optimized customer pairing | |
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| Ability to integrate with an external ACD | |
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| Embeddable web chat widget | |
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| SQL Server 2017 support | |
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| Windows Server 2019 support | |
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| Support for Skype for Business Server 2019 | |
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| Microsoft SQL Server 2019 support | |
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Fixed and known issues
These are product defects addressed in this version.
| Issue ID | Telephony | Description |
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| 8399 | All | CE Portal - Contact Master Data Fields form should not allow field names not conforming to MSSQL syntax |
| 18623 | All | Tenant A can see notes created by Tenant B |
| 20791 | UCMA | Remained in Passive agent state after logged out of voice media |
| 21264 | All | CE Portal - Service Endpoints - Field validators do not catch unacceptable SIPURI characters, like quotes or double quotes, etc |
| 28462 | All | CEPortal - Built in users password cannot be changed |
| 31839 | All | CE Email validation Upper Case letter issue |
| 32285 | All | CEAgent - Email search shows oldest 100 email instead of latest 100 |
| 32661 | All | CEPortal - Campaign state change resets endpoint selection for new campaigns. |
| 32738 | All | Quotation marks in the Agent Policies break the agent policy json |
| 39617 | All | Portal: changing phone number retry count via the Portal has no effect on contact sorting |
| 40005 | All | Agent Application - Chat - Long phrases not wrapped, resulting in a disproportionately large drop down |
| 40511 | All | The agent sometimes receives a new outbound call instead of an expired callback |
| 41065 | All | ManagementSvc - RecordingRules can be created with null or "" values for Storage |
| 42250 | All | CE Portal - The portal can not be opened using Internet explorer |
| 43025 | All | CE Portal - Email History - Deleted agent's name is not displayed in the email history |
| 43052 | All | Agent available in agent app but offline in the servers. |
| 43055 | All | Agent App - Available agent sees lookup form. |
| 43095 | All | CE Portal - Can't save alarm settings if alarmtopics view permission missing. |
| 43214 | All | CE Portal - RBAC - Assign to Agent controls enabled when lacking necessary permissions |
| 43248 | All | Contact record with closed parked email can not be deleted |
| 43620 | All | Emails closed in the queue when database is not available |
| 44835 | All | CEAgent - Redial/Contact Search fails using AgentClientApp |
| 45656 | All | Email History report: "None - Closed" action displayed for emails in queue |
| 46503 | All | CE Portal - Changing the Hierarchy of a User Account from full access to a specific tenant is not reflected in the portal |
| 46529 | All | Parked email blocks contact delete |
| 48702 | All | CE Portal - Several reports are broken |
| 48709 | All | Conference time calculated into both talk and hold time |
| 49440 | All | When routing inbound email, parked email ceiling is not respected when agent logged-in to email media while she/he was on break |
| 50897 | All | CE Portal - IVR Status report's row selection is not working |
| 51208 | All | Fix NHibernate null reference mapping issue. |
| 51907 | UCMA | Predictive dialling stops in case half of the agents are on break |
| 52408 | All | Contact phone number is lost between subsequent chat interactions |
| 52518 | All | Can't send DTMF to customer |
| 54638 | All | DialerServer - Crash with unhandled exception when resource's all skills removed |
| 54721 | All | CE Portal - Resources that are automatically created with a new Tenant are not visible until login back in |
| 54757 | All | CE Portal - Campaign status report - Anytime filter returns no results |
| 55231 | All | Admin CSP installer: Reset the IIS Application Pools Identity to default |
| 55257 | All | Server CSP installer: UCMARecorderService's config.xml does not restored after upgrade |
| 55613 | All | Active alarms have different time zones |
| 55819 | All | Call History report does not displays the name of existing customers because SP_TRANSFER_CONTACTS SP fails |
| 56485 | All | AgentClientApp crashes in toolbar mode |
| 57233 | All | Can not parse an email when it contains same inline attachment multiple times |
| 58945 | All | Scheduled tasks updated on Management Service API is not visible for the agent |
| 59252 | All | Scheduled contacts not called out in time |
| 60348 | All | Contact closed with an active phone number when another phone number is inactivated before task closure |
| 60996 | All | Agent stops receiving new outbound tasks |
| 62935 | Avaya | Avaya TSAPI: agent gets stucked in "Wait for logout" status |
| 62380 | All | Management Server - Fails to retrieve scripts from cloud scripting because using wrong TLS version |
| 64523 | All | Installer db script error |
| 64911 | All | DB - Contact synchronization constantly fails when too much changes generated |
| 70449 | All | Emails sometimes distributed after 15-25 minutes while idle agent is waiting for the email |
| 81930 | All | Sometimes callback task delivered to the agent, but can not be dialed and closed. The contact stuck in processing state. |