Set Up Call Suppression

Setting up call suppression requires the following steps:

  1. Create a call suppression Studio script.

  2. Determine which information about the contactClosed The person interacting with an agent, IVR, or bot in your contact center. the system will check.

  3. Assign the script to an ACD skillClosed Used to automate delivery of interactions based on agent skills, abilities, and knowledge..

  4. Create and upload the call suppression records.

Call suppression is supported in outbound phone ACD skills, including Proactive Voice or Proactive SMS skills and manual outbound phone skills. The setup requirements for call suppression are the same for all supported ACD skills.

Complete each of these tasks in the order given.

Create Call Suppression Script

You can create a call suppression script in Studio or in the settings of an outbound phone or SMS ACD skill. Studio has a template for suppression scripts. When you create a suppression script using either method, the script is automatically populated with the required actions. A script developer must configure the script to ensure it works as you intend.

The template suppression script instructs NiCE CXone to check a specific column in the calling list to determine whether the interaction should be suppressed. You specify the value you want suppressed in the call suppression record, explained in the next section.

Screenshot of call suppression script

Create a Suppression Script in Studio

Required permissions: Applications > Studio > Scripts > Create/Edit

  1. In Desktop Studio, click File > New to create a new script.
  2. Click Specialized Scripts > Call Suppression > OK.
  3. Edit the properties of the Assign action, called Assign dataValue.
  4. For Value, replace the SuppressionField placeholder property with {_phonenum} if you want the script to check the phone number from the call suppression record. Alternatively, you can enter other values to check other types of information.
  5. Click File > Save As. Enter a descriptive name for the script and click Save.
  6. Return to NiCE CXone to assign this script to an ACD skill.

Create a Suppression Script via an ACD Skill

Required permissions: Skills Edit

These steps only create the template-based script file. Additional configuration is required to complete the script.

Your Studio script developers may have requirements for script naming. Check with them before completing this task.

  1. Click the app selector icon of app selector and select ACD.

  2. Go to Contact Settings > ACD Skills.

  3. Click the outbound  phone or SMS skill you want to edit.
  4. Click the Call Suppression tab and click Edit.
  5. Click Create a new script.
  6. Enter a descriptive Script Name. Follow the naming conventions your organization's script developers use, if required. Scripts cannot be renamed later.
  7. Click Create.
  8. Have a script developer configure the script you created in Studio following the steps in the preceding task.

Assign the Script to the ACD Skill

Required permissions: Skills Edit

  1. Click the app selector icon of app selector and select ACD.

  2. Go to Contact Settings > ACD Skills.

  3. Click the outbound ACD phone or SMS skill you want to edit.
  4. Click the Call Suppression tab and click Edit.
  5. Select a suppression script from the Script drop-down.
  6. Click Save.

Create Call Suppression Records

You can suppress one phone number as a single call suppression record, or you can suppress multiple phone numbers by bulk uploading records.

Create a Single Call Suppression Record

Required permissions: Call Suppression Create

If you want to bulk upload multiple records for call suppression, skip this step.

  1. Click the app selector icon of app selector and select ACD.

  2. Go to Lists > Call Suppression.

  3. Click Create New > Single Record.

  4. In the Value field, enter the phone number you want to suspend outbound calls to or the value you want records to match in the column you specified for your call suppression script. Don't include any formatting.

  5. Specify the range of time that you want calls to the number to be suppressed in the Start Date/Time and End Date/Time fields.

  6. Click Next.

  7. If you want to suppress calls from all ACD skillsClosed Used to automate delivery of interactions based on agent skills, abilities, and knowledge. in the business unitClosed High-level organizational grouping used to manage technical support, billing, and global settings for your NiCE CXone system., don't add any ACD skills to the call suppression record.

  8. If you want only specific skills to suppress calls or messages to the chosen records, select those skills in the Add Skills table. Click Add Skills.

  9. Click Create.

Bulk Upload Call Suppression Records

Required permissions: Call Suppression Create

If you created your call suppression records individually, skip this step.

  1. Click the app selector icon of app selector and select ACD.

  2. Go to Lists > Call Suppression.

  3. Click Create New > Manage Multiple Records.

  4. Click Download Template. Leave this page open to use again later.

  5. Open the template in a spreadsheet or text editor.

  6. Below the header and explanation rows, enter the information about each new call suppression record in its own row.

    Screen capture of a call suppression spreadsheet with three records

    Field

    Details
    Call Suppression ID Skip this column. NiCE CXone generates the ID of new call suppression records as you create them, and you cannot modify the ID of an existing record.

    Value

    The phone number you want to temporarily suppress outbound calls to. Don't include formatting.
    Start Date/Time The date and time you want to start suppressing calls to the phone number from the selected ACD skillsClosed Used to automate delivery of interactions based on agent skills, abilities, and knowledge..
    End Date/Time The date and time you want to stop suppressing calls to the phone number from the selected ACD skills.
    Skill ID The numeric IDs of the ACD skills you want to suppress calls or messages to matching records. For multiple ACD skills, delimit each ID with a semi-colon. For example, 23843;23930;94755.

  7. Save the file to your machine as CSV or XLSX.

  8. Return to the Manage Multiple Records page in NiCE CXone. Click Choose File. Find and select the file you just created.

  9. Select the File Type corresponding with the file extension you used to save the file.

  10. Select All Rows for Rows to Include.

  11. Click Upload File.

  12. If you see errors on the Data File Results page, resolve them. For example, the ACD skill IDs for the records might be invalid. To resolve that, fix the skill IDs in the file, click Back, and re-upload the file.

  13. If no errors appear, click Close.