The number of calls that should be in-dial at any one point is calculated by the project's dialing algorithm component. This is stored in DPM in the PredictScript property in SampleManagements>ProjectName>DialingPredict.

When dialing starts for the day or restarts after a break, the predictive algorithm requires some initial statistics on which to base its calculations. In other words, a certain number of call attempts need to exist in the call history before the call statistics work reliably. The details of what is required can vary between algorithms and is therefore specified in the algorithms themselves.

The StatisticsSync sample management property resets the statistics back to the start-up state. The dialing provider checks the value of this property every five seconds.

A predictive algorithm written in mrScriptBasic is supplied with UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer. This script is loaded and cached by the dialing component. You can use the DialingPredictSync sample management property to force the script to be reloaded, but this property is only checked every 60 seconds. For further information about this algorithm see Predictive dialing algorithms.

Silent calls occur when a connection is made but there is no interviewer available to take the call. You can record a message that can be played to participants when this happens. Each dialer must use the same file for every project. The file is named in DPM in the SilentCallAudioFile property in DefaultCatiProjectParameters.

UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer is able to switch between predictive and nonpredictive dialing according to the current dialing statistics. Predictive dialing takes place only while the silent calls limit has not been met. This limit is calculated as a percentage of silent calls against total connected calls, with the default limit being 3%. Once the limit has been reached, group dialing continues but over-dialing does not. The percentage of silent calls must fall below the target silent calls limit before predictive dialing can resume. The default target silent calls limit is 2.5%.

These defaults are configurable using the project's TargetPredictiveSilentCalls and MaxPredictiveSilentCalls properties. The dialing provider caches these properties in order to minimize the number of calls to DPM. The DialingSync sample management property can be used to force this property to be reloaded. It is checked every five seconds.

The DialingActivity report in the session engine displays the current predictive dialing state for each project running on that engine. An example of the report XML is as follows:

The EngineStartTime is reported as UTC.