Patent Publication Number: US-6215865-B1

Title: System, method and user interface for data announced call transfer

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/660,997 filed Jun. 10, 1996 entitled “System, Method and User Interface for Data Announced Call Transfer,” now U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,010 issued on Jun. 22, 1999. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates generally to the field of data processing and management methods for telephone systems, and more particularly, to systems, methods, and user interfaces for transferring customer calls between customer service representatives in a call center. 
     2. Background of the Invention 
     Call center operations are used by many companies to provide an enhanced and broadened range of customer services. Call centers are typically used to process account inquiries for existing customers, to accept orders for products or services from new or existing customers, provide technical support, and the like. An employee who handles customer calls is typically known as a customer service representative (“CSR”). A typical company will often have several different groups of CSRs (“customer service groups”), each group providing different types of customer services, such as sales, account inquiries, technical support and so forth. 
     In many cases the CSR who receives a customer call is not alone able to assist the customer and requires another CSR to handle the call. The originating CSR will then transfer the customer call to a receiving CSR or to a call queue of another customer service group for further processing. 
     There are two conventional ways of transferring a customer call, a blind transfer and a voice announced transfer. In a voice announced transfer, the originating CSR transfers the customer call, placing the call in a queue for either a particular CSR, or a particular customer service group. The originating CSR stays on the line with the customer until a receiving CSR is reached. The originating CSR then informs the receiving CSR of the reason for the transfer, such as the need for particular services of the receiving CSR, and the like. This information helps the receiving CSR understand the customer&#39;s needs and thereby provide better service. At this point, the originating CSR can release the line. 
     In a blind transfer, the originating CSR transfers the customer call to a receiving CSR or group, and then releases it from his line. The originating CSR does not stay on the line, but can then immediately receive and handle another customer call. 
     Unfortunately, there are problems with both of these approaches, which result in both reduced levels of customer service or decreased efficiency in the call center operation. With the voice announced transfer, the originating CSR and the customer must wait together in the queue for the receiving CSR to be reached. Because the originating CSR is waiting, effectively on hold, he is not able to return his line to the queue so that other customer calls can be connected to him for customer service. This lowers the productivity of the originating CSR and the overall throughput and efficiency of the call center, and ultimately reduces customer service. In addition, the customer must wait on hold while the discussion between the originating CSR and receiving CSR is occurring, typically increasing the customer&#39;s frustration with the delay in receiving service. 
     However, a blind transfer, while freeing up the originating CSR, also reduces customer service. This is because the receiving CSR does not have any information about the customer call and the customer&#39;s needs, the reason for the transfer and the like. The receiving CSR will typically have to ask the customer for this information. The CSRs lose time and efficiency in handling the customer&#39;s needs, and the customer&#39;s frustration increases from having to deal with multiple CSRs, and having to repeat information previously communicated. 
     The simple use of ISDN for integrated voice/data transfers is known. However, ISDN merely provides a transport mechanism for associating and transferring voice and data. ISDN does not inherently include in such integrated voice/data transfers a description of the reason for transferring the customer call. Rather, ISDN merely provides for correctly associating existing data for the customer, such as the customer&#39;s account balance, account number and the like, with the customer&#39;s voice line, and transferring this information consistently from one CSR to another. 
     Similarly, other types of integrated voice/data transfers do not generally overcome these problems since they simply allow both voice and data to be moved simultaneously from the originating CSR to the receiving CSR (or queue). The receiving CSR still has no context for the reason for the transfer unless the originating CSR stays on the line and verbally informs the receiving CSR of the reason for the transfer. In addition, the originating CSR may have altered the customer&#39;s data in a host database, and may need to explain to the receiving CSR the reasons for such changes. 
     In addition, some existing voice/data systems rely on the existence of customer data in the existing host databases of the call center, and modify this data, possibly for describing the reason for the transfer. However, if the customer does not have any customer data already stored, such as a new customer calling about a product, or for sales information, or the like, there is no customer data available to be modified, and it is even more inefficient for the originating CSR to enter all of the necessary information about the customer into the host databases merely to transfer the call to another CSR. 
     Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method that combines the efficiency of a blind transfer, with the information about the transfer provided by voice announced transfer. More particularly, it is desirable to provide a system, method and user interface that allow the originating CSR to transmit selected data to a receiving CSR that describes the reasons, status, or other information about a transferred customer call. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     The present invention overcomes the limitations of conventional systems by providing in its various embodiments, systems, methods, and user interfaces for data announced call transfer. The systems and methods are adaptable to call centers with both single and multiple automatic call distributors (ACD). In one embodiment of the present invention, the call center includes a number of CSRs, each operating a CSR workstation executing a screen based telephony client capable of initiating a transfer of a customer call on the CSR&#39;s telephone. The CSR workstations are routed customer calls by an ACD. The CSR workstations further may receive customer data, such as account information, from a telephony server and connected databases. 
     After receiving a customer call, an originating CSR initiates a request on his CSR workstation to transfer the customer call. The originating CSR provides a destination for the customer call. Potential destinations include other CSR telephone extensions, other queues or groups within the call center&#39;s ACD, or groups of CSRs that are in another call center that is either physically or logically connected to the local ACD. 
     In addition to specifying a transfer destination, the originating CSR provides a data input to the CSR workstation describing the reason for the transfer. The data input may further include the status of the customer call, the status of the customer&#39;s account, or other useful information to the receiving CSR so that the receiving CSR can understand the nature of the transfer. In one preferred embodiment, the reason for the transfer is selected from a pre-configured list or menu of selections. For example, the pre-configured list may include such data selections as “Caller has not paid bill,” “Caller needs current balance,” “Caller needs promotional literature,” and the like. The originating CSR may also input other data describing the transfer if the list is not sufficient. For example, in one embodiment, the pre-configured list includes a selection for “Other . . . ”, which allows the originating CSR to input the other data. This other data may include text data entered into a text dialog box, and providing a short explanation of the reason for the transfer, and other information. Alternatively, the other data may include a voice recording of the originating CSR describing the reasons for the transfer. 
     Once these two selections have been made, the originating CSR completes the transfer, and releases his line back to a queue for receiving incoming customer calls from the ACD. 
     The customer call is then re-queued at the ACD for routing to the supplied destination. When this happens, the input reason data that has just been specified is provided to the telephony server where it is queued until the ACD assigns a receiving CSR to the customer call. Once the ACD assigns the receiving CSR, it forwards the telephone extension of the receiving CSR to the telephony server. The telephony server forwards the reason data to the receiving CSR. This reason data is then displayed by the telephony client on the receiving CSR&#39;s workstation. The receiving CSR knows why the customer call is being transferred, and can immediately service the customer&#39;s needs. 
     The present invention may be used to eliminate the inefficiency of voice announced transfers, and the poor customer service provided by blind transfers. The originating CSR can immediately return to the queue and accept the next customer call, even before the original customer&#39;s voice and reason data have been presented to a receiving CSR (for example, when another customer call is still queued for the next-available receiving CSR). Therefore the data announced transfer provides both efficiency and enhanced customer service. 
     However, sometimes the originating CSR may still choose to remain on the line and converse briefly with the receiving CSR. The data-announced transfer method may still be used in this case, and results in improved efficiency because the receiving CSR is still presented with the reason for the transfer even before he converses with the originating CSR. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an illustration of a call center system in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is an illustration of one portion of the user interface of a screen based telephony client providing customer call handling features. 
     FIGS. 3 a - 3   e  are illustrations of another portion of the user interface of the screen based telephony client for inputting the reason data in accordance with present invention. 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B are a data and event trace of the operation of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 is an illustration of hierarchical reason data sets for providing a hierarchical set of reasons. 
     FIG. 6 is an illustration of destination driven reason data sets. 
     FIG. 7 is an illustration of a portion of a database schema for use by a telephony server in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an illustration of the call center system operating in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. The call center system  100  includes at least one automatic call distributor (ACD)  110 , a plurality of customer service representative (CSR) workstations  120  each executing computer software providing a screen based telephony client  122 , a plurality of CSR telephones  124 , each capable of supporting, preferably, at least two extensions  123 , a telephony server  160  coupled to a server database  170  by a network  130 , such as a LAN, WAN and the like, and one or more host computers  140 , variously coupled to host databases  150  by the network  130 . 
     The ACD  110  receives incoming customer calls and routes them to a selected CSR at a CSR telephone extension  123 , which may be coupled to the ACD  110  in a conventional manner. Multiple ACDs  110  may be located in the same physical facility, or communicatively coupled between different facilities. The ACD  110  may receive customer calls from the public network  113 , or along private dedicated lines from other ACDs  110  in other call centers. Each customer call received by the ACD  110  has a line identifier  127  identifying the trunk line on which the call is received. For an incoming call, the ACD  110  is preferably able to obtain caller identifier data, typically the caller&#39;s telephone number, using, for example, Caller ID or Automatic Number Identifier (ANI) information provided by an ISDN interface. Other caller identifier data may also be obtained, such as input account numbers, and the like, with the use a voice response unit (VRU)  180 . The line identifier  127  of a customer call is used by the ACD  110  to maintain the proper logical identification of each incoming call in relation to an assigned CSR telephone extension  123 . The ACD  110  routes the voice component of a customer call to a CSR telephone extension  123  based on various queuing algorithms, for example, routing the longest holding call to the CSR telephone extension  123  that has been available the longest. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that numerous other queuing and assignment algorithms are also applicable. 
     Each CSR workstation  120  is connected to the network  130 , and has a network IP address  121  that specifies its location or identity on the network  130  for receiving data from the telephony server  160  and the host databases  150 . A CSR workstation  120  may be implemented with a conventional computer, such as a Intel-based computer. In a preferred embodiment the CSR workstation  120  is based on an Intel 80486 or Pentium processor, with 16 Mb of RAM, and a conventional operating system, preferably either the Microsoft Windows 3.x or Windows95 operating system. The CSR workstation  120  further includes a display device, preferably a VGA compatible color display, a keyboard for text and other data inputs, and a pointing device, such as a mouse. 
     The call center  100  further includes a telephony server  160 . The telephony server  160  provides control and coordination of voice and data, and particularly provides customer data for customer calls to each of the CSR workstations  120 . The telephony server  160  executes on a conventional computer or workstation, such as an Intel 80486 or Pentium based computer, or a Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARCstation™, in each case preferably using Sun&#39;s Solaris 2.x operating system. The telephony server  160  preferably has 32-64 Mb of memory, depending on the size of the call center and the number of CSR workstations  120  being supported. The application for the telephony server  160  executes conventionally in such memory, may provided in various forms of computer readable memory, such as CD-ROM, 8 mm tape, floppy diskette, or the like, for conventional installation and execution. 
     The telephony server  160  manages a server database  170 , preferably with at least 1 Gb of disk storage, with suitable backup and recovery systems. The server database  170  maintains various tables useful to control and transfer calls and customer data. FIG. 7 illustrates the schema for one set of such tables. Table  700  correlates the extension  123  of the CSR telephone  124  used by the ACD  110 , the network IP address  121  of the CSR workstation  120  of the CSR, and the line identifier  127  of the customer call(s) that the CSR is currently handling. Table  702  correlates the line identifier  127  of each customer call and caller identifier data, such as customer telephone numbers, and the like, and account data maintained on the host databases  150 , such as account numbers, names, and the like. Additionally, the telephony server  160  may use the line identifier  127  in table  702  as a foreign key to table  700 , or other key values for retrieving and updating information between the tables. The host computers  140  support conventional enterprise databases  150 , including account information, technical support data, and the like. The databases  150  are preferrably relational, and support SQL or other database manipulation and definition languages. 
     Each CSR workstation  120  executes a telephony client  122  of the telephony server  160 . Minimally, the telephony client  122  supports the ability to initiate the transfer of a customer call from the telephone extension  123  associated with the CSR workstation  120 . Call transfer by the telephony client  122  is provided using either first or third party control, as further described below. The telephony client  122  further provides data retrieval and data entry operations on data screens provided by the telephony server  160  from one or more of the host computers  140  and host databases  150 . The telephony client  122  is executed in the memory of the CSR workstation  120  in a conventional manner. The telephony client  122  maybe provided to the CSR workstation in various forms of computer readable memory, such as CD-ROM, 8 mm tape, floppy diskette, or the like, for installation and execution thereon. 
     The telephony server  160  receives from the ACD  110  a line identifier  127 , caller identifier, and CSR telephone extension  123 . With the caller identifier, such as the ANI or VRU  180  provided data, the telephony server  160  performs a database lookup in its database  170 , to obtain additional caller identification data useful to obtaining additional specific customer data from the host databases  150 , such as the customer&#39;s name, company, city, account number, and the like, as needed to interrogate the host database  150 . For example, a lookup in table  702  on the customer&#39;s telephone number from ANI would return the customer&#39;s account number. The telephony server  160  would then update the table  702  with the line identifier  127  of the customer&#39;s call. The account number, for example, may then be used to access further customer data in the host databases  150 . 
     With the CSR telephone extension  123  the telephony server  160  further performs a lookup in database  170  to obtain the network IP address  121  of the CSR workstation  120  that corresponds to the CSR telephone extension  123 . Such lookup may be readily performed in table  700 . The located network IP address  121  allows the telephony server  160  to communicate with the CSR workstation  120  for the CSR handling the customer call associated with the line identifier  127 . In one embodiment, the telephony server  160  may provide to the telephony client  122  of the CSR workstation  120  handling the call the caller identification data associated with the customer, such as an account number, and the telephony client  122  directly requests other customer data as needed from the host  140  and host database  150 . 
     Alternatively the telephony server  160  may provide to the host computer  140  the network IP address  121  of the CSR workstation  120  and the caller identification data, which will then forward customer data associated with the caller identification data directly to the appropriate CSR workstation  120  for the network IP address  121 . In either case, the CSR workstation  120  and telephony client  122  receive the customer data and display it using an appropriate user interface. The CSR is then typically able to service the caller&#39;s needs and operate on the caller data, updating it to the host database  150 , if desired. 
     For the purposes of the present invention, each CSR has the ability to indicate an intention to transfer a customer call to another CSR, and for that intention to be provided to the ACD  110 . Accordingly, in a third party control embodiment, the ACD  110  is coupled to the CSR telephone extensions  123 ; this is illustrated in FIG. 1 as the solid line connecting the ACD  110  to the CSR telephone extensions  123 . In this embodiment, the telephony server  160  couples to the ACD  160  through a gateway  161 , to provide third party control over the ACD  110  for transferring customer calls. For each customer call, the ACD  110  provides to the telephony server  110  the caller identifier, the line identifier  127 , and the CSR telephone extension  123  handling the customer call. 
     When a call is to be transferred, a telephony client  122  passes a dial instruction request, and a destination extension (the extension  123  of a receiving CSR or a queue for a customer service group) to the telephony server  160 . The telephony server  160  in turn instructs the ACD  110  through the gateway  161  to dial the destination, and transfer the active call on the CSR telephone extension  123  associated with the requesting telephony client  122 . 
     In another embodiment, first party control is used, with each CSR workstation  120  interfacing with the ACD  110  through a digital interface. This embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 1 by the dashed lines connecting the CSR workstations  120  directly to the ACD  110 . In this embodiment, the telephony client  122  has an interface to (shown as dashed lines), and control over, the CSR extension telephone  123 , and controls the handling of customer calls at the extension  123 , including answering, releasing, wrap up, and transferring calls. The CSR telephone  124  may be standalone. Alternatively, control over the CSR telephone  124  may be integrated directly into the CSR workstation  120  using a compatible interface, such as Teknekron Infoswitch Corp.&#39;s Infoset™, or MCK Inc.&#39;s Telebridge™. In this embodiment, the interface includes voice input and output, preferably through a conventional telephone headset, such as the Supra® or Mirage® headsets made by Plantronics, Inc.. 
     For this application, the CSR workstation  120  can then directly signal the ACD  110  to transfer the active call on the CSR telephone extension  123  to destination extension or queue. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown one embodiment of the user interface of the telephony client  122  providing screen based controls for answering, releasing, and transferring customer calls, along with other telephony functions. This portion of the user interface of the telephony client  122  is called the agent station  200 , and preferably is operated using a mouse or a pointing device, though keyboard equivalents are supported. The agent station  200  may be used in either the first or third party control embodiment. 
     Accordingly, the agent station  200  includes first line button  226  for accepting or placing a call on a first extension  123 , and second line button  224  for placing, transferring, or conferencing a call on a second extension  123  line. The CSR can answer either line by clicking on the appropriate button with the mouse. When the CSR answers the customer call, the incoming customer call becomes the active call on that extension  123 . The line buttons  226 ,  224  also allow the CSR to connect to an extension  123  for outbound calling. 
     When a CSR completes a call, the available button  230  releases the incoming extension line  123  with active call back to the ACD  110  for queuing, and changes the status of the telephony client  122  with the ACD  110  to ‘available.’ A hold button  222  allows a CSR to place the active call on hold. The add-on button  218  allows the CSR to conference the active call with another extension  123 . The mute button  216  controls volume muting of the active line. The line waiting field  214  indicates the number of customer calls waiting for the CSR&#39;s extension, and the group waiting field  212  indicates the number of customer calls waiting for the CSR&#39;s group at a given time. The calls waiting icon  210  flashes at a rate dependent on the number of customer calls waiting. The talk time field  208  indicates the duration of the active call. The more button  206  provides access to further functions of the telephony client  122 . The volume slider  204  and field controls the volume on the active line. The agent field  202  displays the name of the CSR or other identification information. The information display field  232  displays caller identifier data, call type information, dialed digits, message, and other information. 
     Finally, the transfer button  220  enables the CSR to transfer the active call. When the call transfer is initiated, the originating CSR provides to the telephony client  122  both a destination for the customer call, and reason data describing the reason for the transfer. In a preferred embodiment, this information is provided to the telephony client  122  through a graphical user interface that appears when the transfer function is invoked. One embodiment of such a user interface is shown in FIGS. 3 a  through  3   c.    
     In FIG. 3 a , there is shown a screen window  304  with fields  300   a-d  that display the customer&#39;s company name, customer name, account number, and phone number, respectively. In addition, two menus  301 ,  303  are provided for selecting a destination and a reason for transferring the customer call. 
     The CSR can specify a destination for the customer call using a destination menu  301  or similar mechanism, such as a pick list. The CSR can specify a receiving CSR if known, or the customer service group. The selection may be by some form of identifier, such as name, extension  123 , CSR or group id, or other indicia. An example of the menu  301  is shown in FIG. 3 b , and includes a list of destinations  302  for transferring the call. Entry of destinations that are not included in the list is made by selection of the “Other . . . ” item  302   a    
     In accordance with one aspect of the present invention the originating CSR is then able to input to the telephony client  122  additional data describing the reason for the transfer, the status of the customer call, and the like. Any suitable text entry technique may be used to input a reason for the transfer. In a preferred embodiment, there is provided a reason menu  303  or pick list or other data entry means for describing the reason for the transfer. Preferably, the menu  303  includes predefined reason data elements  305 . FIG. 3 c  illustrates an example of a menu  303  with a set of reason data elements  305 . Where none of the predefined reason data elements  305  apply to the customer call, there is provided an additional data entry for inputting a reason not otherwise specified in the list. This is illustrated by the “Other . . . ” data item  305   a  in FIG. 3 c . Upon selection, a dialogue box  307  (FIG. 3 d ) appears in which the CSR may enter any data describing the reasons for the transfer. Alternatively, the CSR may record a spoken description of the reason for the transfer using the record button  309 . The voice recording of the reason is stored in digitized form by the telephony server  160  and associated with the customer call in the same manner as other reason data elements. When the receiving CSR receives the transferred customer call, the receiving CSR can playback the voice recording through the telephone  124  and attached headset, if any, under the control of the telephony client  122 . 
     The selection of reason data may also be hierarchically driven, such that the CSR first selects a top-level reason category from a menu, which in turn results in a second menu with more detailed reason data selection within the top-level reason category. This hierarchical structure may be repeated as desired. FIG. 5 illustrates one exemplary hierarchical listing  508  of reason data elements. The hierarchical listing  508  includes a number of levels of reason data sets  505 . A root reason data set  505   a  provides the entry point for selecting reason data elements  507 . For example, a CSR may select a reason data element  507  in the root, such as “sales inquiry.” The telephony client  122  then provides access to a next reason data set  505   b , with more detailed reason data elements  507  that can be selected. FIG. 3 e  illustrates an implementation of the hierarchical listing in a menu form. The reason data sets may be extended to further sublevels, such as reason data set  508 , resulting in a combined number of reason data elements being transferred from the originating CSR to the receiving CSR. 
     In addition, as a further refinement of the reason data element structures, for each customer service group, there may be provided a specific set of reason data elements that appears in the menu  303  when the receiving customer service group, or the receiving CSR in the group, is selected as the destination of the call transfer. FIG. 6 illustrates this type of destination driven hierarchy. In FIG. 6, there are shown three sets  510 ( a-c ) of reason data elements  507 . Each set is associated with a particular customer service group  503 ( a-c ), which has an extension  501  assigned to its call queue by the ACD  110 . Thus, the accounts customer service group  503   a  has extension  1 , and the reason data elements  507  in the reason data set  510   a  associated with this group  503   a  include “bill past due,” “open new account,” and so forth. The sales customer service group  503   a  and the technical support group  503   b  also each have particular extensions  501   b ,  501   c , and respective reason data sets  510   b ,  510   c.    
     When a CSR selects the extension  501  of one customer service group, the reason data set  510  associated with the, group is displayed to the CSR for selecting a reason data element  507 . For example, selecting destination extension “3” to transfer a customer call to the technical support group  503   c  results in the display of a reason data set  510   c , from which the CSR can select the product with which the customer needs technical support. When the receiving CSR connects to the transferred customer call, he knows the reason for the transfer, and can immediately initiate further actions to assist the customer, such as retrieving technical support data from a host database  150 . This destination driven data announcement provides further benefits in the efficiency and level of customer service provided by the various embodiments of the present invention. If desired, the destination driven data announcement may be combined with hierarchical listings, as further illustrated in FIG. 6, and FIG. 3 e , with reason data elements  507  of each customer service group&#39;s reason data set further associated with lower level reason data sets  515 ( a, b ). The sublevels of this hierarchy may be repeated as desired, to provide any depth and richness of customer service options needed. 
     The reason data elements provided by the telephony client  122  are configurable by a systems administrator, so that they may reflect the needs of the call center operations, and may be updated from time to time as needed. Thus, the reason data elements, and the configuration of the user interfaces shown in FIGS. 3 a - 3   e ,  5  and  6  are merely illustrative, and those of skill in the art will readily contemplate variations thereof in accordance with the present invention. 
     However determined, once the desired reason data element(s) is selected, the call transfer is completed by selecting the transfer button  306 . 
     The reason data elements are preferably managed by the telephony server  160  and maintained in the server database  170 . The reason data is then provided to each telephony client  122  when the telephony client  122  is executed on the CSR workstation  120 ; in this manner the reason data elements used by all the telephony clients  122  are always current. Alternatively, the reason data may be dynamically provided to a telephony client  122  in response to a request. 
     The reason data input by the originating CSR will be displayed to the receiving CSR to whom the customer call is transferred. In one embodiment, the reason data is displayed in the information display field  232  of the agent station  200  of the receiving CSR, as illustrated in FIG.  2 . In the preferred embodiment, the agent station  200  is updated slightly before the CSR is connected to the transferred call, and the reason data is thereby displayed in the information display field  232 . This allows the receiving CSR to understand the reason for the transfer before even speaking to the customer, and thus to continue efficiently handling the customer&#39;s needs, without having to obtain additional information from the customer, and without having to communicate directly with the originating CSR. As can be further understood, this method eliminates the time the originating CSR spends waiting in the ACD queue with the customer to reach the receiving CSR, and the time the receiving CSR spends obtaining information from the customer. The overall result is thereby improved customer service. 
     As another benefit and feature of the present invention, call center efficiency can be more accurately monitored. Because the reason for the transfer is represented as computer data, it can be discretely tracked and evaluated, to provide an analysis of CSR productivity, call center efficiency, and call center operations. For example, for each CSR, the present invention allows a system administrator to determine which reasons are used most often and least often by the CSRs for transferring a call, and to which groups the CSRs transfer customer calls and for which reasons. This information may help identify where a CSR needs further training in providing customer service. Further, it informs the underlying business operations of critical issues customers have in the underlying business products or services, and may thereby lead to improved products and services. 
     Likewise, with the reason data inputs, the system administrator can track individual CSR productivity as a function of reasons for call transfers. In addition, tracking the reason data for transfers allows the systems administrator to identify the critical points in customer service, enabling retraining or reorganization of the customer service groups to reduce the number of transfers and improve overall efficiency, productivity, and customer service. In addition, reason data tracking may be used to optimize the system configuration, such as the organization of the physical or logical network, the menuing, voice prompts and the like of the VRU  180 , and other elements of the system that may cause customer frustration or inefficiency. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4A, a data flow and event trace diagram shows further detail of a method of transferring a customer call in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
     A customer call is received  400  at the ACD  110 . The customer call may come in on any of the available trunk lines from the public network  113 , or it may come from a logically or physically connected second ACD  110 . The ACD  110  queues  402  the customer call for the next available CSR telephone extension  123 . The ACD  110  may also forward  403  the call to the VRU  180  to provide the caller with menu options for selecting the appropriate customer service group, obtaining caller identifier data and the like. The ACD  110  forwards  404  caller identifier data, such as the VRU data, Caller ID or ANI data, if available, to the telephony server  160 . The telephony server  160  uses the caller identifier data such as the telephone number to lookup  406  additional caller identification data, such as the customer account number, from the server database  170 , for example, performing lookup in table  702 . This allows the telephony clients  122  to access the customer data on the host databases  150 , as described above. 
     The ACD  110  selects an available CSR telephone extension  123  to receive the customer call according to its queuing algorithm, and forwards  408  to the telephony server  160  the selected CSR telephone extension  123 . The telephony server  160  lookups  409  the network IP address of the CSR workstation  120  associated with the selected CSR telephone extension  123  in the server database  170  for example, performing the lookup in table  700 . The network IP address  121  allows the telephony server  160  to properly control routing of the caller data of the customer to the selected CSR workstation  120  on the network  130 . The telephony server  160  then sends  410  the caller identifier, caller data to the telephony client  122  of the selected CSR workstation  120  of the originating CSR. 
     In the preferred embodiment, the telephony client  122  of the selected CSR workstation  120  receives and caches or displays this data to the originating CSR in the agent station  200 . The CSR may see that the customer call is waiting in the agent station  200 , and connect to the customer call with the line button  226 . The ACD connects  411  the customer call to the CSR workstation  122 . The CSR is now able to talk to the customer and handle the call, with the agent station  200  displaying selected customer data, such as the customer&#39;s name, account number and the like. The telephony client  122  may further display the additional caller data retrieved from the host database  150 . The telephony client  122  identifies the customer call as the active call on the extension  123  on which it is received. 
     At some point, the originating CSR decides to transfer the customer call to another CSR or customer service group to provide further assistance to the customer. The CSR initiates  412  a call transfer function of the telephony client  122 , for example, using the transfer button of  220  of the agent station  200 . The CSR provides  414  a CSR telephone extension  123 , customer service group number as the destination for the transfer, using any of the input techniques described above. In other embodiment, the destination may be specified by the name of the CSR or customer service group, which is correlated with a destination extension or queue. The originating CSR inputs  416  a reason for the call transfer. This may be done by selecting a reason from a menu or pick list, as shown in the interfaces of FIGS. 3 a-e , or other similar interface or data entry method, inputting text data, reason code, or the like. 
     The first CSR then completes the transfer. In a first party control embodiment, the telephony client  122  sends  418   a  directly to the ACD  110  a request to transfer the active call to a destination extension or destination queue. Alternatively, in the third party control embodiment, the telephony client  122  of the originating CSR workstation  120  sends  418   b  a request to the telephony server  160  including a dial instruction and the destination extension data to be dialed by the ACD  110 . In either case, the telephony client  122  also sends  420  to the telephony server  160  the line identifier  127  of the customer call, and the reason data. The reason data may be sent as a text string. Alternatively, where the reason data is a key to a database table, the telephony client  122  will map the user&#39;s selection in the user interface to a particular key value, and transmit the key to the telephony server  160 . The telephony server  160  stores  421  the line identifier  127  of the customer call, and the reason data. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4B, in a third party control embodiment, the telephony server  160  instructs  422  the ACD  110  to dial the specified destination extension and transfer the active call on the originating CSR telephone extension  123 . The ACD  110  takes the active call on the specified extension, and queues it for the specified destination extension, whether a particular CSR or customer service group. Since the destination may be a queue for an entire group, the telephony server  160  may not at this time have the particular telephone extension  123  of the receiving CSR to which to transfer the reason data and other caller data. 
     When a receiving CSR telephone extension  123  is available in a customer service group, the ACD  110  assigns  424  the extension  123  of the available CSR to the customer call, specifically linking the extension  123  of the receiving CSR with the line identifier  127 . The ACD  110  then transfers  426  the customer call to the receiving CSR telephone extension  123  of the receiving CSR. The ACD  110  also sends  428  the telephony server  160  this extension  123 , along with the line identifier  127 . 
     The telephony server  160  is now able to couple the reason data from the originating CSR to the receiving CSR. The telephony server  160  matches  430  the line identifier  127  received from the ACD  110  with the stored line identifier  127  received from the originating CSR. The telephony server  160  further determines  432  the network IP address  121  of the receiving CSR workstation  120  from the extension  123  of the receiving CSR, looking up this data in the server database  170 . These lookups allow the telephony server  160  to forward the reason data and other caller data from the originating CSR workstation  120  to the receiving CSR workstation  120  since the line identifier  127  of the customer call is the single constant value that both of these CSR&#39;s share with respect to the customer call. In addition, the telephony server  160  may obtain any other data available for the caller from the server database  170 . If there is no customer data for the caller, the receiving CSR is still linked to the reason data via the line identifier  127 . In this manner, the receiving CSR will know the reason for the transfer even if there is no existing customer data in the host databases  150 . Thus, unlike some conventional system, no existing data need be present in the host databases  150  in order to provide the reason data to the receiving CSR. 
     The telephony server then sends  434  the reason data and the caller identifier data to the receiving CSR workstation  120  as specified by the network IP address  121  just retrieved. The reason data and caller identifier data appear in the user interface of the telephony client  122  of the receiving CSR, for example, in a user interface like the agent station  200 . The receiving CSR can review the reason for the transfer, and handle the customer call in light thereof. If there is additional customer data associated with the caller, the receiving CSR can retrieve the additional data either from the telephony server  160  or the host databases  150 . 
     In summary, in its various embodiments, the present invention provides useful systems, methods, and user interfaces for transferring customer calls in a call center. The originating CSR who handles the call and initiates the transfer and announces to a receiving CSR the reason for the transfer with selected reason data, eliminating the need for waiting on hold to vocally communicate with the receiving CSR, and without performing a blind transfer. Various embodiments of the present invention may be used in call centers without the need for significant investments in ISDN equipment and software, and without the need to have any prior data for the customer available in the system. The present invention allows for tracking CSR performance and productivity, improving call center design, and increased overall levels of customer service.