Set Up Omnichannel Session Handling

If you haven't already done so, contact your NICE CXone account representative to help you enable Omnichannel Session Handling (OSH).

Complete each of these tasks in the order given.

Enable OSH for Your Business Unit

Contact Handling section in the business unit Details tab.

  1. Click the app selector and select ACD.

  2. Go to ACD Configuration > Business Units.

  3. Click Edit.
  4. In the Contact Handling section, set Contact Handling Method to Omnichannel.
  5. Read the verification pop-up and click Yes.
  6. Scroll to the top of the page and click Done.

Configure OSH for Teams

Once you enable OSH for your business unitClosed High-level organizational grouping used to manage technical support, billing, and global settings for your CXone environment, you can customize the experience for each team.

The Contact Settings tab of a team in an environment where OSH is enabled.

Field

Details
Delivery Mode

Whether an agent can handle one or many interactions at the same time.

  • Omnichannel lets agents handle multiple interactions from different channels at the same time.
  • Single Contact lets agents handle only one interaction from one channel at a time.

For either setting, agents can elevate contacts to other channels.

Voice

Whether agents can handle 1 voice interaction at a time or voice interactions are turned Off. Voice interactions include inbound calls, manual outbound calls, Personal Connection dialer calls, and voicemails.
Chats, Emails, Work Items, SMS, and Digital

The number of interactions an agent can handle at the same time per channelClosed A way for contacts and agents to interact, such as voice, email, chat, social media, and so on.. The maximums are:

  • Chat— 12
  • Emails—25
  • Work items—25
  • Digital—50

If you use Digital First Omnichannel:
Req Contact

Disables automatic routing of digital contactsClosed The master or parent ID for one or more related contacts. A new master contact ID will be assigned if a contact has been transferred 3 or more times.. Instead, the agent clicks a +1 Contact button in the agent application to add more digital interactions. They cannot request the type of digital interaction they receive. The ACD skillClosed Used to automate delivery of interactions based on agent skills, abilities, and knowledge priorityClosed Skill-based designation of the importance of contacts that determines delivery order. and acceleration rules determine what they receive. The agent can continue to request interactions until they meet the maximum or the queue is empty.

When this isn't selected, interactions route automatically to the agent. This occurs until the agent is handling their maximum interactions or the queue is empty. This is true even when the agent refuses an interaction.
Auto-focus

Shifts the agent's view to the new interaction when it is first connected to the interface.
Total Contact Count

The maximum number of total interactions an agent can handle at a time. For example, if you set Chats to 5, Emails to 5, and Total Contact Count to 7, the agent would receive a maximum of seven interactions at any given time. Up to five of those seven contacts could be chat contacts and up to five of them could be email contacts.

  1. Click the app selector and select Admin.

  2. Click Teams.

  3. Click the team you want to edit.
  4. Click the Contact Settings tab.

  5. Set the Delivery Mode in Team Defaults to Omnichannel or Single Contact.

  6. If you use Salesforce External Routing to route chats and cases to your agents, set the default number of Chats and Emails to Off. Otherwise, move to the next step.

  7. Set the default number of concurrent interactions for Chats and Emails. Set the default number of maximum concurrent interactions for SMS, Digital, and Work Items you want agents on the team to handle.

  8. Set the Total Contact Count to the maximum number of interactions of any type you want agents on the team to handle at the same time.

  9. Toggle on the Request Contact and Auto-focus options to change the experience agents have in the agent application as needed.

  10. If you want any agents on the team to have different settings, you can modify them by selecting Custom instead of Default for that agent and then entering a new value for the setting. Settings at the agent level override settings at the team level. Alternatively, you can configure those settings in the ACD User profile.
  11. Click Done.

Configure OSH for Users

User OSH settings override team OSH settings. For example, you can specify that a user on an omnichannel team uses single channel handling, and vice versa.

The Contact Settings tab for a user in an environment where OSH is enabled.

Field

Details
Delivery Mode

Whether an agent can handle one or many interactions at the same time.

  • Omnichannel lets agents handle multiple interactions from different channels at the same time.
  • Single Contact lets agents handle only one interaction from one channel at a time.

For either setting, agents can elevate contacts to other channels.

Voice

Whether agents can handle 1 voice interaction at a time or voice interactions are turned Off. Voice interactions include inbound calls, manual outbound calls, Personal Connection dialer calls, and voicemails.
Chats, Emails, Work Items, SMS, and Digital

The number of interactions an agent can handle at the same time per channelClosed A way for contacts and agents to interact, such as voice, email, chat, social media, and so on.. The maximums are:

  • Chat— 12
  • Emails—25
  • Work items—25
  • Digital—50

If you use Digital First Omnichannel:
Req Contact

Disables automatic routing of digital contactsClosed The master or parent ID for one or more related contacts. A new master contact ID will be assigned if a contact has been transferred 3 or more times.. Instead, the agent clicks a +1 Contact button in the agent application to add more digital interactions. They cannot request the type of digital interaction they receive. The ACD skillClosed Used to automate delivery of interactions based on agent skills, abilities, and knowledge priorityClosed Skill-based designation of the importance of contacts that determines delivery order. and acceleration rules determine what they receive. The agent can continue to request interactions until they meet the maximum or the queue is empty.

When this isn't selected, interactions route automatically to the agent. This occurs until the agent is handling their maximum interactions or the queue is empty. This is true even when the agent refuses an interaction.
Auto-focus

Shifts the agent's view to the new interaction when it is first connected to the interface.
Total Contact Count

The maximum number of total interactions an agent can handle at a time. For example, if you set Chats to 5, Emails to 5, and Total Contact Count to 7, the agent would receive a maximum of seven interactions at any given time. Up to five of those seven contacts could be chat contacts and up to five of them could be email contacts.

  1. Click the app selector and select ACD.

  2. Go to Contact Settings > ACD Users.

  3. Click the ACD user profile you want to edit.
  4. Click the Contact Settings tab.
  5. Click Edit.
  6. To customize the agent's individual settings, clear the Team Default checkbox.

  7. Set the Delivery Mode of the agent to Omnichannel or Single Contact.

  8. If the agent uses Agent for Oracle Service Cloud or Salesforce-routed chats and cases:

    • Set the default number of Chats and Emails to Off.
    • Set the default maximum number of Work Items you want the agent to handle.
    • Set the Total Contact Count to the maximum number of contacts you want the agent to handle at the same time.
    • If you want to, toggle on the Request Contact and Auto-focus options.

  9. If the agent uses MAX or Agent for Salesforce:

    • Set the default maximum number of Chats, Emails, SMS (only available in Agent for Salesforce, and Work Items you want the agent to handle.
    • Set the Total Contact Count to the maximum number of contacts you want the agent to handle concurrently.
    • Enable the Request Contact and Auto-focus options as needed.
  10. Click Done.