Dialing: Autodialer
The Autodialer settings allow you to define settings that relate to the use of an autodialer. The autodialer settings are valid only when
SPSS Dialer (Extension) - Power dial for the interviewer screen or
SPSS Dialer (Group) - Dial for the interview in a group (with optional predictive dialing) is selected as a
Dialing option in the Interviewer settings (see
Interviewing: Interviewer).
Note The Dialing options are only available when a dialer is installed on the server.
Send caller identification
When selected, the caller's telephone number is displayed to the called party when the autodialer makes a call.
Phone number to send (leave blank to use dialer's settings)
Enter a valid phone number. The phone number should contain only the digits 0 to 9, * and # (optionally preceded by a plus (+) to present the international access code). In addition, the phone number can contain the visual separators SPACE, (, ), . and -. Visual separators are not allowed before the first digit.
Error if login position is not in configuration
When selected, the Phone Participants activity will not open on a station with an unrecognized position and an error message appears instead.
When not selected, stations with unrecognized positions can be used to conduct interviews (the Phone Participants activity will still open), and manual dialing must be used on those stations.
Ring time
Enter the minimum length of time (in seconds) that an unanswered phone call must ring before the autodialer terminates the call. Use a value that gives participants plenty of time to pick up the phone. In addition, local laws might specify the minimum value that you must use. The default value is 15 seconds.
Name of silent call announcement file (leave blank to use dialer's settings)
Enter the name of a wave-sound (.wav) file that contains a message that will be played to the participant when a silent call occurs (for example, SilentCall.wav). Silent calls can occur when an autodialer generates more calls than there are interviewers available to handle the calls.
The .wav file must be in the autodialer's "audio" folder, which is defined in the autodialer's dialer.ini file. To specify a .wav file that is in a subfolder of the audio folder, include a relative path (for example, Projects\MyProject\SilentCall.wav).
Time to try connecting to interviewer
Enter the numbers of minutes that interviewers must wait to be connected to a participant before the autodialer cancels the connection attempt, allowing interviewers to leave their stations if they need to. The default value is 10 minutes.
Percentage of calls to record
Enter the percentage of calls that the autodialer will record. Both individual questions and entire calls are recorded, and the recordings are saved as sound files in the autodialer's file system. To record calls, enter a whole number from 0 to 100. To record no calls or all calls, enter 0 or 100 respectively. The default value is 0.
If you enter any other value, that percentage of calls will be selected at random for recording, with the following exceptions:
▪All subsequent calls to a participant whose previous call was recorded will also be recorded. This includes calls to keep an appointment or calls to complete an interview that was interrupted by a disconnection.
▪Calls to participants retrieved by the Specific Contact button are recorded only if that participant was called previously and that previous call was recorded.
When you change this setting, there might be a delay of up to a minute before the new value takes effect.
For more information, see
Recording calls and interviewssearch for “Recording Calls and Interviews” in the UNICOM Intelligence Developer Documentation Library documentation.
See also