Technical inner workings

For the technically oriented who want to know more about the inner-workings of the system, here is the sequence followed by the Robot system:

  • Once the cwrobot.cgi is started, it verifies how many requests for calls are currently queued for the current project in the Asterisk queue (in the commandes table of the robot data base).
  • If the queue is longer than five calls, the system waits one second before checking again.
  • Otherwise, cwrobot.cgi selects a series of next cases to process based on call selection rules; the number of cases is determined by the number of phone lines awarded to the robot or to the number of lines left accouting for the number of interviewers currently logged in and a user-determined slack value.
  • The call robot registers a series of new requests for a phone call in the queue, adds entries in the case call history indicating that the numbers were dialled and waits for one second before resuming with the second point above.
  • On the Asterisk server, cwASTcall.pl constantly monitors the call queue. If a new call request is found, the script formats the information as an Asterisk call request file and deletes the call request from the queue. It is best to "install" cwASTcall.pl into the Linux system right from the boot (and to ensure that it is always running) by placing the following command in /etc/inittab: ca:2345:respawn:/usr/bin/cwASTcall.pl
  • Asterisk dials the number using the context named in the call request.
  • Within the context, the interaction with the respondent takes place and cwASTstocke.sh stores information in the Asterisk call disposition table upon request.
  • The call robot constantly monitors for new call results recorded by the Asterisk server. When one is found, it is absorbed into the CallWeb case history and deleted from the Asterisk call result list.

Technical inner workings

For the technically oriented who want to know more about the inner-workings of the system, here is the sequence followed by the Robot system:

  • Once the cwrobot.cgi is started, it verifies how many requests for calls are currently queued for the current project in the Asterisk queue (in the commandes table of the robot data base).
  • If the queue is longer than five calls, the system waits one second before checking again.
  • Otherwise, cwrobot.cgi selects a series of next cases to process based on call selection rules; the number of cases is determined by the number of phone lines awarded to the robot or to the number of lines left accouting for the number of interviewers currently logged in and a user-determined slack value.
  • The call robot registers a series of new requests for a phone call in the queue, adds entries in the case call history indicating that the numbers were dialled and waits for one second before resuming with the second point above.
  • On the Asterisk server, cwASTcall.pl constantly monitors the call queue. If a new call request is found, the script formats the information as an Asterisk call request file and deletes the call request from the queue. It is best to "install" cwASTcall.pl into the Linux system right from the boot (and to ensure that it is always running) by placing the following command in /etc/inittab: ca:2345:respawn:/usr/bin/cwASTcall.pl
  • Asterisk dials the number using the context named in the call request.
  • Within the context, the interaction with the respondent takes place and cwASTstocke.sh stores information in the Asterisk call disposition table upon request.
  • The call robot constantly monitors for new call results recorded by the Asterisk server. When one is found, it is absorbed into the CallWeb case history and deleted from the Asterisk call result list.