Inbound VRU System

The ARCOS Inbound Voice Response Unit (VRU) allows employees to call in to accept or decline callouts and interact with ARCOS. The VRU interprets the telephone touch tones and responds according to your company's established call flows. Each company's call flow is very detailed and very different from the next.

When an employee has an open callout and calls Inbound ARCOS, he gets slotted into a row in the callout table as soon as he logs in, to:

• Prevent another outbound call from starting after then employee enters his PIN but before ARCOS begins playing the callout information. If an employee is on hold, ARCOS does not begin another outbound call until the inbound call has been completed, provided the inbound caller is responding for the last available position of the callout.

• Allow for tracking employees who upon hearing they have an open callout, hang up prior to the completion in an attempt o receive an "excused" result.

• Provide detailed information about the callouts with a callout response of No Result that has an associated text explanation with it.

The Inbound VRU System allows all of the options listed below; however, the options may be limited by company preference. For example, it varies by company which availability status exceptions employees can change by calling the Inbound System and some companies only allow employees to make themselves available, not unavailable.

• Respond to a callout

• Record their name

• Change their PIN

• Change or add contact number

• Set temporary phone numbers

Temporary Numbers

A temporary number is an alternate phone number that temporarily replaces one of the permanent devices for an employee. The number of temporary devices allowed varies from company to company. A temporary device can be configured to replace either the first or the second permanent device.

To save a temporary number, the employee enters the number and the amount of time that the device will be active, from a minimum of 1 hour to a maximum that is configured by company. Most companies use 72 hours (3 days) as the upper limit. However, there are a few companies that have the upper limit set to 168 hours (7 days). Once the selected amount of time has passed, ARCOS deletes the temporary number and reverts to the original, permanent number without any action on the part of the employee.

• Request a test phone call

• Change availability status

• Check callout response percentage

Click here to view Setting Up the VRU to Receive Callouts

As with the Outbound VRU System, the call flows are unique to each company. Generally speaking, the first thing an employee hears upon initiating an Inbound call is a prompt for their Company Code. Since all ARCOS users access the same database, the unique, two- to three-digit company code allows ARCOS to identify the company associated with the person who calls in. Next, you are prompted to identify yourself by entering an employee ID and a PIN. If either number you enter is incorrect, for security purposes, ARCOS merely indicates that you entered an "Invalid Number" and you must determine if you entered an incorrect employee ID or an incorrect PIN.

Note: If your company uses the Trusted Number device option, employees do not need to enter their Employee ID or PIN when calling inbound from a specific number.

If this is the first time you have used the Inbound system and your PIN is still 1234, ARCOS prompts you to change your PIN. Further, if you have not recorded your name in the system, ARCOS prompts you to do so at this time.

Once you have successfully logged in and any miscellaneous housekeeping tasks are completed, ARCOS tells you how many (if any) available positions are awaiting your feedback. If your company uses Inbound Pager Delay, see the topic titled Inbound Pager Delay in this section. If there are no open callouts, ARCOS provides you with a list of options from which to choose, based on company preferences. The list can include changing availability status, changing or adding contact information, changing your PIN or re-recording your name, or setting a temporary phone number. Also, if you have Message Administrator privileges, ARCOS offers you an option to access a menu that allows you to add a new custom message or change an existing custom message.

Qualified No is not an option through the Inbound VRU System.

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*Note: ARCOS documentation is a living document. For inconsistencies or missing features, contact ARCOS Support. Not all companies have all items in the Online Help.