Quick-Start Tutorial: Instructions

When Active Call Center is started for the first time, it loads the "Answering Machine" example Call Tree. This Call Tree can be found in the Examples folder in the Active Call Center program folder (usually C:\Program Files\Active Call Center).

This Quick-Start Tutorial will show you how to build the Answering Machine Call Tree step by step. We strongly recommend working through this tutorial to help you quickly understand basics of how the software works.

Instructions

Step 1. Create a New Call Tree

• From the Active Call Center menu bar, click File ... New Call Tree.
• Name the call tree My Answering Machine and click Save.
• From this point forward, all changes made to the Call Tree will be saved automatically.

Step 2. Enter a Digital Greeting

• Click on the Answer_Phone Node in the Call Tree (you can click either the purple telephone icon or the text that reads "Answer_Phone").
• A window labelled "Edit Node" will appear. The "Question" tab will be active on the Edit Node window by default.
• Under "Ask this Question" type:
  Thank you for calling Bill and Mary. Neither of us can come to the phone right now, so please leave us a message. To leave a message for Bill, press 1. To leave a message for Mary, press 2.
• Under "If there is no response, or the question must be repeated..." type:
  Please press 1 to leave a message for Bill or 2 to leave a message for Mary.

Step 3. Enter the Response Expected

• Any time the user is posed a question, such as the one above, Active Call Center will require you to define the responses it should expect. To begin defining the type of response to expect, click on the tab marked Responses in the Edit Node window.
• In the box under "Branch to Node" type:
  Check_Response
• In the box under "When response matches" type or choose from the dropdown:
  <TouchTone>
• To complete adding this response definition, click the Add New button.
• Active Call Center has now been instructed to expect a single touch tone from the user at this Node. Since we are now done with this Node, click the button marked Click here when finished.

Step 4. Configure the Check_Response Node

• You will now see a new Node named Check_Response in the Call Tree. To begin configuring this Node, click the question mark icon or the words Check_Response.
• As before, the "Edit Node" window will appear with the "Question" tab selected. On this tab, check the box marked Don't Ask a Question at this Node. Selecting this setting will cause Active Call Center to not ask a question at this Node.
• When there is no question asked at a Node, the user's response from the previous Node is used to perform conditional branching of the call based on what is defined on the "Responses" tab. To begin defining the routes on which this call can continue, click the Responses tab.
• Start by creating a route for calls that are for Bill. In the box under "Branch to Node" type:
  Call_for_Bill
• In the box under "When response matches" type:
  1
• To complete adding this response definition, click the Add New button. The Call_For_Bill Node will now be displayed in the list of responses recognized at this Node.
• Click the Add New button again to begin entering a new response.
• Now create a route for calls that are for Mary. In the box under "Branch to Node" type:
  Call_for_Mary
• In the box under "When response matches" type:
  2
• To complete adding this response definition, click the Add New button. The Call_For_Mary Node will now be displayed in the list of responses recognized at this Node.
• We have now addressed the most likely results of the question posed at the Answer_Phone Node. However, the caller might make a mistake and press a touch tone besides 1 or 2. We will address these possibilities in the macro at this Node. To begin defining the macro for this Node, click on the VBScript Macro tab.
• You will see a window with the words " ' Insert your VBScript code here.". Delete this text or position the cursor below it. Now type or copy the VBScript code below into the window. You may skip lines that begin with an apostrophe; lines beginning with an apostrophe are comments that are ignored by the VBScript processor.

' Did the caller press something besides 1 or 2?
If Answer_Phone <> "1" and Answer_Phone <> "2" Then
' Yes, this is a mistake. Let the user know!
Speak1 = "Your response was not understood."
' Send the caller back to the start node.
GotoNode = "Answer_Phone"
End If

• When you're done entering the VBScript code above, press the Click here when finished button to finish out the call routes.

Step 5. Finish Bill's Mailbox

• You should now see two new Nodes named Call_For_Bill and Call_For_Mary in the Call Tree. To finish configuring the route that calls for Bill will follow, click on the Call_For_Bill Node.
• As before, the "Edit Node" window will appear with the "Question" tab selected. On this tab, check the box marked Don't Ask a Question at this Node.
• There will be no responses to process at this Node, since the conditional processing has already taken place at the Check_Response Node. Skipping the "Responses" tab, click over to the VBScript Macro tab.
• You will see a window with the words " ' Insert your VBScript code here.". Delete this text or position the cursor below it. Now type the VBScript code below into the window. You may skip lines that begin with an apostrophe; lines beginning with an apostrophe are comments that are ignored by the VBScript processor.
  ' Prompt the user to leave a message for Bill
  Record = "Please leave a message for Bill at the beep."
  ' Remember to say good-bye when the caller is done.
  SpeakAfterRecord1 = "Goodbye."
  ' For the Call History, we will save a value
  ' for the Check_Response Node.
  Check_Response = "Message for Bill"
  ' File this call in the "Bill" folder
  Folder = "Bill"
  
• When you're done entering the VBScript code above, press the Click here when finished button to continue with Mary's mailbox.

Step 6. Finish Mary's Mailbox

• To finish configuring the route that calls for Mary will follow, click on the Call_For_Mary Node.
• As before, the "Edit Node" window will appear with the "Question" tab selected. On this tab, check the box marked Don't Ask a Question at this Node.
• There will be no responses to process at this Node, since the conditional processing has already taken place at the Check_Response Node. Skipping the "Responses" tab, click over to the VBScript Macro tab.
• You will see a window with the words " ' Insert your VBScript code here.". Delete this text or position the cursor below it. Now type the VBScript code below into the window. You may skip lines that begin with an apostrophe; lines beginning with an apostrophe are comments that are ignored by the VBScript processor.
  ' Prompt the user to leave a message for Mary
  Record = "Please leave a message for Mary at the beep."
  ' Remember to say good-bye when the caller is done.
  SpeakAfterRecord1 = "Goodbye."
  ' For the Call History, we will save a value
  ' for the Check_Response Node.
  Check_Response = "Message for Mary"
  ' File this call in the "Mary" folder
  Folder = "Mary"
  
• When you're done entering the VBScript code above, press the Click here when finished button to begin testing your Call Tree!

Step 7. Test the Call Tree with a Microphone

• Active Call Center includes a Call Simulator that allows you to test the behavior of your call trees using the speakers and microphone on your computer. This feature is extremely useful for testing complex call trees without having to pick up a phone and dial. To start the simulator, choose Phone Calls and then Simulate Call from the Active Call Center menu bar.
• After a few seconds, a window titled "Active Call Center Call Simulator" will appear. To start a simulation, click the button labelled Simulate a Call.
• You should hear the greeting spoken over your speakers. Test the call tree by doing any of the following: Press 1 (for Bill), Press 2 (for Mary), something else (to see how the Call Tree handles mistakes), or do nothing at all. If you don't respond to Active Call Center's request, notice that the second time it will ask you the repeat prompt you entered in step 2.
• If necessary, use your microphone to record audio messages when prompted to do so.
• Run through this test several times. If you encounter errors, make sure you have entered everything exactly as above. For your convenience, a completed version of this tutorial is available under the program's Examples folder in the file Answering Machine.acc.
• When you are finished, close the simulator by clicking the X in the top right hand corner of the simulator window.

Step 8. Test the Call Tree with a Telephone

• Ready for the real thing? To test the Call Tree on an actual phone call you will need a second phone you can use to call yourself. Instruct Active Call Center to answer the phone by choosing Phone Calls ... Monitor Phone Lines from the menu bar. After a few seconds, a window for the "Active Call Center Call Monitor" will appear.

Active Call Center automatically monitors all available modems and telephony devices for incoming calls. To see the status of a particular device, select a different line from the dropdown.

• Once the Call Monitor window appears, you can call your computer.
• After a few rings, Active Call Center will answer and speak your greeting. Test the Call Tree as you did with the simulator: Press 1 (for Bill), Press 2 (for Mary), something else (to see how the Call Tree handles mistakes), or do nothing at all. If you don't respond to Active Call Center's request, notice that the second time it will ask you the repeat prompt you entered in step 2.
• When prompted to do so, record messages by speaking into your telephone.
• Run through this test several times. If you encounter errors, make sure you have entered everything exactly as above. For your convenience, a completed version of this tutorial is available under the program's Examples folder in the file Answering Machine.acc.
• When you are finished, close the Call Monitor by clicking the Stop Monitoring button.

Step 9. Listen to Recorded Messages and Examine Call History

• Recorded messages and other details of all incoming and simulated phone calls have been saved to the Call History. To begin viewing the Call History, choose Phone Calls ... View Call History from the menu bar. A window will appear that shows the phone calls on the left and the details of the phone calls on the right.
• To view only messages for Bill or only messages for Mary, click on the Folder button at the bottom left. Select either the Bill or Mary folder from the list and only messages in that folder will be displayed.
• To listen to recorded audio, click on a phone call in the left hand pane of the window, then click on the Recorded Audio field in the right hand pane. You should see a message in top right hand portion of the window that reads "Audio playing" while you hear the message played over your speakers.
• Notice the values that were saved for the Answer_Phone and Check_Response Nodes in the right hand pane. The Answer_Phone field stores the button that was last pressed by the user. The Check_Response field shows either "Message for Bill" or "Message for Mary" - both are values we designated in the VBScript code. As you can see, the Call History is a powerful way to store all kinds of information about a call, regardless of whether the information is entered by a user or the information is generated in a macro during the Call Tree's execution.