Setting up stations to use an autodialer

If one or more autodialers have been added to the Dialer Administration activity, every telephone interviewer station (that is, any computer on which the Phone Participants activity will be used) must be assigned one of the position names that you defined in your dialer configuration file (see Creating a dialer configuration file). When an interviewer asks to be connected to a participant, UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer uses the position name to route the request to the appropriate autodialer. When a call has been successfully generated, the autodialer connects the participant to the extension number specified for that position name so that the interviewer can speak to the participant.

If a station has not been assigned a recognized position name, it cannot be used for autodialing. For projects that use an autodialer, you can choose whether the station can still be used to conduct interviews by manual dialing – see ‘Stations with Unrecognized Position Names’ later in this topic.

You must also assign position names to supervisor stations that will be used for either audio monitoring of interviewers or for reviewing interviews that include audio recordings: see ‘Stations used for audio monitoring and Stations used for reviewing interviews.

Position names are assigned to telephone interviewer stations in one of two ways:

▪By an administrator. Make sure that you have been assigned the Phone Participants activity feature “Can set up interviewer stations”. Then open Phone Participants on each station and, when prompted, enter the appropriate position name. For example, the name might be R02-S18 for the computer at seat 18 in room 2. This needs to be done only once on each station. Any interviewers who subsequently use the station (and who have not been assigned “Can set up interviewer stations”) will not be prompted for a position name.

▪By the interviewer. Assign the Phone Participants activity feature “Can set up interviewer stations” to telephone interviewers. Every time that an interviewer opens Phone Participants, he or she must either confirm the position name entered by the previous user or enter a new position name.

Depending on your requirements, you can use the same method for all interviewers or use the first method for some interviewers and the second method for others.

For more information about assigning to the activity feature “Can set up interviewer stations”, search the UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server Admin User Guide for ‘Assigning Users or Roles to Activity Features’.

When a position name is entered in Phone Participants, UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer validates the name against those defined in the Dialer Administration activity. If UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer does not recognize the name, the station cannot use autodialing.

For projects that use an autodialer, you can specify whether stations with unrecognized positions can still be used to conduct interviews (that is, Phone Participants will still open). If so, manual dialing must be used on those stations. For more information, see Dialer settings.

If you intend to use the Interviewing Monitoring activity in UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer and want audio monitoring to be available, you must assign a valid position name to each station on which the Interviewing Monitoring activity will be opened. When a supervisor starts monitoring an interviewer, the autodialer will connect the interviewer’s telephone call to the extension number associated with the position so that the supervisor can hear the interview. Note that audio monitoring is possible only when the interviewer’s and supervisor’s positions are associated with the same autodialer.

Position names are assigned to stations used for audio monitoring in one of two ways:

▪By an administrator. Make sure that you have been assigned the Interviewer Monitoring activity feature “Can set up supervisor stations”. Then open Interviewer Monitoring and, when prompted, enter the appropriate position name. This needs to be done only once on each station. Any supervisors who subsequently open Interviewer Monitoring on that station (and who have not been assigned “Can set up supervisor stations”) will not be prompted for a position name.

▪By the supervisor. Assign the Interviewer Monitoring activity feature “Can set up supervisor stations” to supervisors. Every time that a supervisor opens Interviewer Monitoring, he or she must either confirm the position name entered by the previous user or enter a new position name.

For more information about assigning to the activity feature “Can set up supervisor stations”, search the UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server Admin User Guide for the topic ‘Assigning Users or Roles to Activity Features’.

If you intend to use the Review Interviews activity in UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer and want to be able to listen to audio recordings of participants’ answers, you must assign a valid position name to each station on which the Review Interviews activity will be opened.

Position names are assigned to stations used for reviewing interviews in one of two ways:

▪By an administrator. Make sure that you have been assigned the Review Interviews activity feature “Can set up supervisor stations”. Open Review Interviews, and then enter the appropriate position name. This needs to be done only once on each station. Any supervisors who subsequently open Review Interviews on that station (and who have not been assigned “Can set up supervisor stations”) are not asked for a position name.

If a station is being used for both audio monitoring and reviewing interviews, you do not need to carry do this if you have already carried out the equivalent step in Stations used for audio monitoring.

▪By the supervisor. Assign the Review Interviews activity feature “Can set up supervisor stations” to supervisors. Every time that a supervisor opens Review Interviews, he or she must either confirm the position name entered by the previous user or enter a new position name.