Communication Panel

This section instructs in setting up Communication Panel, which enables handling conversations, such as phone calls, emails, tasks and messages.

1. Create a DNS address that points to Communication Panel, for example phone.company.com.

   By default Communication Panel can be launched from https:// [Web Server VU IP address] /ecf/[software version]/communicationpanel/index.html where software version can be one of the following:

   • Current version (no hotfixes applied)

   • Previous version

   • Latest, which always points to the latest version in use (the recommended way)

2. If client certificates are used for user authentication in HTTPS, install the appropriate certificate on the client workstation.

3. To enable proper communication with the Sinch Contact Pro service, make sure that all necessary ports are opened and workstations have a sufficient connection.

   For details on ports and protocols, see Default Ports of Sinch Contact Pro Components in the Security Guide document.

4. Make sure that:

   • There is an appropriate audio device software installed on the client workstation. If a user selects a brand in CP's audio device settings but the necessary drivers and firmware aren't installed on their workstation, this may cause issues.
   • Access to the URL openui5.hana.ondemand.com is allowed as Communication Panel needs to load this library in order to work.
   • Access to the CDN URL is allowed if Communication Panel is loaded from Content delivery network (CDN).

5. Either create a company-wide policy to allow audio device use with Communication Panel or instruct users to allow microphone use in the browser. For the latter option, when users log into Communication Panel for the first time, the browser will ask them to allow audio device use. You can also find the microphone use setting in the browser's settings:

   • Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Microphone
   • Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > All permissions > Microphone

   If integrations are used, for example, Communication Panel embedded in SAP Service Cloud (C4C), microphone access must be allowed in the browser for both pages (sinch.com and C4C ondemand.com).

6. Disable Windows USB selective suspend.

   By default Windows tries to save electricity and follow the USB device activity. If the device has been inactive for a long period of time, Windows turns on sleep mode and Sinch Contact Pro will lose connection to the device. This causes problems when a call is allocated to a user. Therefore, please disable USB power save feature. Do this in both of the following locations:

   1. Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus controllers > USB Root Hub and deselect Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

      Repeat this for all USB hubs.

      

   2. Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings > USB settings and choose the power plan you have in use. Then disable the setting USB Selective suspend settings.

      

7. If your browser is:

   • Microsoft Edge, check that the browser is not using sleeping tabs

   • Google Chrome, check that the browser is not using memory saver

   These may be in use either as a system setting or an extension. Disable them or add the Communication Panel URL to the site exception list. If the Communication Panel tab is put in sleep mode, it loses the connection to the backend.

8. To enable Windows notifications for incoming conversations, ask users to do the following:

   1. Go to the browser's notification settings:

      • Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Permissions > Notifications

      • Edge: Settings > Cookies and Site permissions > Notifications

      • Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Settings > Permissions > Notifications

   2. Enable notification sending.

   3. Add the Communication Panel URL as an allowed site.

   4. Confirm your notification behaviour from Windows Settings > System > Notifications & actions.

9. By default, the microphone remains active even when there is no ongoing call or when the CP browser is running in the background, as disconnecting from the audio device during these times can cause problems when trying to connect the next call. To change the default behavior, change the setting keepAudioDeviceActive to false in VU\[ecf agents VU]\tomcat\webapps\ECFSettings\CommunicationPanel.json.

10. To enable users to use Communication Panel, use the user settings template Communication Panel Agent when creating users in the System Configurator tool. For more information, see the System Configurator document.

    The template provides the following mandatory settings:

    • To enable handling chats: User and Role Management > Users > Contact Settings > Multi-Chat Settings > Enable Multi-Chats.
    • To enable handling emails: User and Role Management > Users > Contact Settings > ECF Task Settings > Use ECF for E-Mail. Also make sure that the value Maximum Number of Simultaneous ECF Tasks is between 1 and 6.

11. To enable conversation handling, define the following rights in System Configurator. We recommend defining the rights via appropriate user and queue groups.

    • To be able to handle conversations, users need View and Serve rights to the queues.
    • To see conversation history and details, users need Statistics Details and Manage Contact History rights to the queues.