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Defining the business rules for online customer dialogPrior to implementing the technical aspects of this scenario, there are specificbusiness rules that need to be defined. These will help further define therequirements of the technical solution.►►►►►Call center attendants will not be dedicated to online dialog. Instead, callcenter attendants must balance their efforts between telephoneconversations and online requests via Sametime.Chat dialog windows must be limited to one window per session. Too manywindows with customer questions would present a significant distraction tothe attendant. Once an attendant is interacting with a customer, they shouldbe marked as “unavailable” until their dialog is completed and they are readyfor the next question.Since the call center is also responsible for internal employees calls, amechanism must be in place to give priority to outside customers.A customer call cannot be directly addressed to a specific attendant. (This isat least a limitation for the initial rollout.)The call center attendant controls their available status, and must have theoption to attend the next customer at their own pace.Based on these business rules, the following features will be required:► A queueing mechanism must be implemented to prioritize and managemultiple users’ requests.► This queue must be available for all attendants to see.► Each attendant must be able to identify if another attendant is alreadychatting with a customer.► There must be at least two separate queues for questions. One queue will befor external customers, while the other will serve internal employees.Further visualizing the solutionFinally, it helps to use a commonly known analogy to better conceptualize thescenario/solution we are trying to build. Perhaps the best analogy is one of banktellers serving customers at a retail banking branch. Here are somecharacteristics that apply to both the retail banking teller scenarios, as well as toour proposed approach to the online support interface.►►The teller window is composed of “n” tellers, each one with similarresponsibilities, and essentially performing the same job. If one teller stepsaway, another can substitute for them.There is usually a single line of customers, waiting to be served by the “n”tellers available.Chapter 13. Visioning scenario: Sametime enterprise integration 401