MXPA99010719A - System and method for providing call center-based customer services - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for providing call center services, such as customer surveys and order rentry, is data-driven and can be used to perform services for many different customers, without developing a separate application program for each customer. A product, running as an application on a PC workstation, provides basic call flows that are easily customized for specific customers by integrating customer profiles with an underlying application. The underlying application retrieves pre-defined customer profiles for various services at start up. When an agent workstation receives a call, the application references the particular customer profile by a key, such as the called number. The application then performs one of several basic call flow processes, such as a question and answer survey, taking orders for a customer's product, etc., under the customer profile. The application reads and interprets the customer profile, and inserts information specific to that customer into specific places during the call process.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD TO PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICES BASED ON CALL CENTERS TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for handling calls and collecting data thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A call center is commonly used to provide customer services, such as caller surveys, television sales, order entry, technical assistance, and so on. A typical call center consists of multiple agent consoles, where each console is operated by a human agent to provide customer services to callers. A call center also includes a system for receiving and distributing telephone calls to agent consoles and other intelligent peripherals, such as audio response units. Each agent console typically consists of a personal computer workstation (PC), a telephone pad for entering numerical or DTMF inputs, and a set of headphones. A specific software application that runs on the workstation of the PC, performs a series of steps or "call flow" to guide the agent through the handling of the call. The specific software application, for example, provides manuscripts to the agent that present textural questions, which are visually displayed to the agent, which the agent can make the caller. The specific software application also includes functions for entering the answers of the caller to the questions, taking orders from the caller, and providing the agent with series of options, and sub-options, under previously defined decision trees. The software application that is defined in the call flow also includes certain automatic features to process incoming calls, such as creating billing records, interacting with an automatic call distributor, and printing the files containing the information that is collected during a call. Many companies that provide call center services must also provide the same services for many different clients. For example, one customer can run a mail order catalog company, while another customer can request customer survey information that is based on an ongoing advertising campaign. As a result, the company that provides call center services must develop custom software applications for each client. Additionally, the agents that operate the agent workstations should learn each new application for each new client.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION One embodiment of the present invention includes a telecommunications system for receiving and processing calls, which includes a server and at least one call receiving station. The server stores a plurality of profiles specified by the users, where each profile specifies the details of the specific process of a call flow. The call reception station is coupled to the server and coupled to receive incoming telephone calls. The call reception station retrieves one of the plurality of profiles and defines a call flow process based on the profile it recovered and a routine that can be executed. The defined call flow process provides questions for an incoming phone call. The call reception station collects the answers to the questions. Additionally, one embodiment of the present invention includes a method implemented by computer for use in the telecommunications system. The method includes the steps of: (a) recovering one of the plurality of stored profiles, each profile containing the call flow data specified by the users; and (b) defining a call flow process based on the profile that was retrieved and a routine that can be executed, wherein the call flow process provides questions for a call receiver that handles telephone calls.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the system suitable for practicing an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing a logical architecture of a portion of the system of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a data flow diagram for the data collected and routed under the system of Figure 1. Figure 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary agent console that is shown in the system of Figure 1. Figure 5 is a block diagram of a logical architecture of the agent console shown in Figure 1. Figure 6 is a flow diagram showing the steps performed by at least a portion of the system of Figure 1. Figure 7 is a flow chart showing the steps that are performed under a step of the call flow application of Figure 6. Figure 8 is a flow diagram showing the steps performed by the customer service step of Figure 7. Figure 9 is a front view of a computer screen showing a visual display of exemplary screen in the computer. wave of the agent. Figure 10 is a front view of the computer screen showing a visual screen display of the exemplary order entry in the agent console.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A computerized network is described in detail herein, and in particular, a method and apparatus for providing customer response services based on call centers in a telecommunications system. In the following description, numerous specific details such as data formats, user interface screens, call flows, menu options, etc., are set forth in order to provide a complete understanding of the present invention. One skilled in the relevant art, however, will readily recognize that the present invention can be practiced without some of the specific details described herein, or with other specific details. The well-known structures and steps are not shown or described in detail, in order to avoid confusing the present invention. 1- Overview A system and method for providing call center services, such as customer surveys and order revenues, is driven by data and can be used to perform services for many different clients, without developing a different application program for each customer. A product, which runs as an application on a PC workstation, provides basic call flows that are easily customized for specific clients by integrating customer profiles with an implicit generic application. The implicit application retrieves the client profiles previously defined for different services at startup. The profile specifies other characteristics, such as lists of products and services offered by the customer for which orders can be taken, questions asked during the course of a survey of the caller, the client's business name to use, and data formats and processes to enter orders or data. The terms "profile" and "customer profile" are generally used interchangeably herein. When an agent workstation receives a call, the application refers to the profile of the specific customer using a such as the called number (for example, the customer's 1-800 number). Then, the application performs one of several basic call flow processes, such as a question-and-answer survey, taking orders for a customer's product, etc., under the customer's profile. The application reads and interprets the client's profile, and inserts the specific information to that client within specific places during the process of the call. For example, the application visually displays a textual manuscript for the agent in the agent's console to use an initial greeting for the caller; the manuscript is personalized for each client by means of specifying the text in the client's profile. Exemplary mode allows a call service provider to provide call center services for many different clients without developing a separate, expensive software application for each client. The exemplary mode defines basic call flows and data fields to be used in any client application and the ability to easily customize a call flow for each client, under the customer profiles driven by data. You can generate customer profiles through someone who is not a programmer, such as a member of the sales or marketing accounting team. The exemplary mode, based on the profile, automatically generates a specific software application for the client. Each client application that was generated automatically has substantially the same user interface, or see and feel. In this way, people in the agent consoles do not need to learn a new application program for each client. 2. System Description As generally used herein, a "service provider" is a company that performs call center services for other companies or customers. A "customer" typically refers to a company for which services are being performed through the service provider. A customer typically owns one or more phone numbers, such as toll-free long-distance numbers (numbers 1-800 or 1-888), and hires a service provider to handle calls for at least one of the numbers . A "caller" typically refers to a person who is calling the number, and who is routed to the call center of the service provider. A caller is typical, but not necessarily, a customer / customer / prospect of the "customer" described above. Figure 1 describes an envirnt that is suitable for practicing the preferred embodiment of the present invention. This envirnt includes a call center 105 to which the calling person 100 can access by means of a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 102. The PSTN 102 can be connected to the call center 105 through of a main voice release line (RLT) 104. The call center 105 includes an automatic call distributor (ACD) 106 for distributing calls within the call center. The ACD is connected via a main voice line 110 to an automatic response unit (ARU) 108. The ARU 108 provides voice response and menu routing functions to a caller. The call center 105 may also include an application processor (AP) 114 that is associated with the ACD 106. The AP 114 may be a dedicated computer system that provides intelligent processing of the application to assist the ACD 106. In particular, some functionality that can be performed by ACD 106 to AP 114 is released to enable the ACD to focus on performing the switching and linear listing functions. The AP 114 is linked to the ACD 106 by means of an ISDN implementation of an interface link 112 of the switch / computer application (SCAI). The call center 105 may include multiple consoles 118 of the agents. These consoles are connected to the ACD 106 by means of the main voice lines 116. Each agent console can include a workstation, a telephone pad, and a set of headphones. The human operators in the agent consoles carry out manuscripts, announcements and transfer of the calls that are needed for the processing of the call on behalf of the clients. The call center 105 may also include multiple distributed information services of the network (NIDS) 120. Each of the NEDS 120 can be implemented as a separate computer system. The NIDS 120 can be redundant, and generally perform the role of storing the information in the database, including data and billing records. The NIDS 120 can all be connected to an Ethernet local area network (LAN) 42 which also interconnects the ARU 108, the AP 114, the agent consoles 118, a boot server 124, and a validation server 126. The boot server 124 stores the customer profiles in the call center 105 and is responsible for distributing the customer profiles to other entities within the call center 105. The validation server 126 is responsible for making the validations of the credit cards for the callers' orders. The validation server 126 can be connected via a network, such as an X.25 network 138, to a credit card validation system 140. The boot server 124 is connected via a LAN or a wide area network (WAN), for its acronym in English) 130 to an answering service (ADS) 132. The ADS 132 can be implemented through a mid-range computer system that is responsible for sending customer profiles to customers. appropriate boot servers via LAN / WAN 130. The ADS 132 can be connected to multiple call centers and can distribute customer profiles to the appropriate call centers. Client profiles are received from profile editor 136. Client profiles can be sent via email over an email network (such as a PSTN, the internet, an intranet, or a LAN / WAN) 134 to the ADS 132. Profile editor 136 can be run on a computer personal, such as a laptop that a marketing representative can carry, as discussed above. Figure 2 illustrates the flow of a customer profile from the profile editor 136 to the other components within the call center. The profile editor 136 sends the customer profile by email (see arrow 180 in Figure 2) to the ADS 132. The ADS sends the client profile over a LAN / WAN 130 to one or more boot servers. In the example shown in Figure 2, the client profile is sent to the boots 124A, 124B, and 124C.

Then, the boot servers 124A, 124B, and 124C distribute the client profiles to the applications that are running on the consoles 118 of the agents, as necessary. In the examples shown in Figure 2, the boot server 124A distributes the client profiles on a LAN 122 to three consoles 118 of the agents. The programs of the application that are running on the consoles of the agents, use the profiles of clients to personalize the handling of the calls on behalf of the clients. These applications gather the data that was collected from the caller within the records that are sent on the LA? 122 to the server 120 of the? IDS. These records are added to the database that is maintained on the ID server 120. Figure 3 illustrates the flow of data that was collected in the profiles throughout the call center. A caller 100 provides the information to an operator over a voice link or an operator console 118. The programs in console 118 of the operator generate records in response to the call, as discussed above, which are sent to the server 120 of? IDS. The IDS server 120 can be connected to a mainframe computer system 182 that is responsible for maintaining a large database of call center information, such as response and billing data.

With reference to Figure 4, each operator console 118 includes a central processing unit (CPU), such as an Intel 486 or Pentium processor, which manages and operates the functions of the console. The operator console 118 may also include a number of peripheral devices, including a keyboard 68, a mouse 70, and a visual display device 72, such as a video display device. The agent console 118 may have a modem 74 for interconnecting with the telephone lines and a network adapter 76 for interfacing with the Ethernet LAN. A telephone keypad 84 and a set of headsets 86 allow the agent to operate the agent console 118 to send and receive telephone calls, as is typical for call center agent stations. The agent console 118 includes main storage 78 and / or secondary storage 80. The main storage 78 includes an operation system 82, such as the IBM OS / 2 operation system. The main storage 78 may also include executable and configuration files, which are described below. The secondary storage 80 may contain a number of different types of data or programs, including the operating system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that it is intended that the computer architecture described in Figure 4 be merely illustrative and not limiting of the present invention. The present invention can be practiced with other computer architectures, including distributed systems. With reference to Figure 5, a logical architecture of the agent console 118 includes three files CONSOLE.EXE 150, MOX.EXE 151 and GUI.EXE 152 that can be executed. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 performs the core processing of call flows in console 118 of the agent, while the GUI. EXE 152 provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for the agent for visual display in the visual display device 72, as will be described more fully below. The MOC.EXE 151 transfers and receives the data to and from the console 118 of the agent, as described below. A communication interface process 154 communicates with a similar communication interface process 156 in the boot server 124. The communication interface process 154 also communicates with the NIDS server 120, as well as with other components connected to the Ethernet LAN 122. A configuration file, MOC.DLT 158, contains information such as which profiles the agent console 118 should recover from the boot server 124. In the exemplary embodiment, the MOC.DLT 158 identifies the directories or locations of the profiles on one or more of the boot servers 124 of the profiles to be downloaded to the agent console 118 (for example, multiple profiles may reside in a given directory). In the preferred embodiments, the MOC.DLT 158 and the MOC.EXE 151 can use wildcard characters to represent more than one character and recover multiple profiles by the same. Based on the configuration file MOC.DLT 158, the MOC.EXE 151, by means of the communication interfaces 154 and 156, retrieves an appropriate profile from a database 160 of the profile in the boot server 124, and stores it in local storage, such as a local database PROFILE.DB 162 in console 118 of the agent. With reference to Figure 6, an exemplary routine 500 is shown to create customer profiles and process calls under these profiles. In step 502, a sales or marketing representative creates a customer profile. In the exemplary mode, the representative creates the customer profile using a profile editor, such as the one described in detail in the co-pending patent application of the United States of America Number, which is entitled "System For Compiling and Integrating Customer Profiles For Cali Center Services ", which was presented concurrently with the present and which was assigned to the same attorney as the present request. In step 504, the representative downloads the client profile to the ADS 132 via an email network, such as a PSTN, Internet, Intranet, LAN / WAN, and so on. In the exemplary mode, the representative attaches the profile to an email that was sent to the ADS 132. The ADS 132 receives the email, extracts the client's profile, and validates the profile, as discussed above. If the profile meets the validation requirements, then in step 506 the ADS 132 distributes the profile to one or more boot servers 124. The ADS 132 uses an internal configuration profile to determine which profiles to send to which boot servers 124. If the profile is not validated, then the ADS 132 returns the message to the representative, indicating that the profile was not validated, preferably with a reason code to help instruct the representative on how to correct the error. In step 508, the agent console 118 retrieves one or more client profiles from one or more of the boot servers 124. When agent console 118 is initialized, or energized, MOC.EXE 151 consults MOC.EXE 158 to determine which clients the client console 118 will handle. Customers are typically identified by their toll-free 800/888 long distance number ("800 number") that callers can dial. Each client profile that is stored on the boot servers 160 is stored as a file called by or with the customer's 800 number. Each profile also includes an activation date and time. The activation date / time represents the date and time when the profile will be activated. As a result, representatives can create the profile for future use, and upload and store it on one of the boot servers 160, without using the profile and before its activation date / time. At startup, MOC.EXE 151 determines from MOC.DLT 158 which profiles to remove from boot server 124. Then, the MOC.EXE 151 places these recovered profiles in the profile database PROFILE.DB 162. When the ACD 106 receives a call, the ACD sends a call offer message containing the number that was dialed to the AP 114. Then, the AP 114 sends the call to a console 118 of the appropriate agent that was previously specified as handling the calls for the number that was dialed. After that, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 uses the number marked as a key to retrieve the appropriate client profile from the PROFILE.DB 162. Alternatively, multiple numbers can be associated with the same customer profile. Therefore, CONSOLE.EXE 150 retrieves a property record that is based on the number that was dialed, where the property record identifies the profile of the appropriate customer, and then retrieves the appropriate customer profile. In an alternative mode, at the beginning and after determining from MOC.DLT which profiles to recover, MOC.EXE 151 queries the database 160 of the profile on the boot server 124 and retrieves the profiles that were specified in the MOC.DLT. Then, the MOC.EXE 151 places the recovered profiles in the local PROFILE.DB 162 database. When the console 118 of the agent receives a call, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 retrieves, from the database PROFILE.DB 162, only the profile that is called or that corresponds to the number that was marked that has the date / time of the most recent activation, and which is not in the future. In still another alternative mode, certain agent consoles 118 provide call center services for particular clients. Therefore, PROFILE.DB 162 locally stores certain customer profiles in it. First, MOC.EXE 151 determines whether the appropriate client profiles are stored in the local profile PROFILE.DB 162 database. Then, the MOC.EXE 151 queries the database 160 of the profile on the boot server 124 by means of sending LAN messages and communication interfaces 156 and 156, to determine if there is any new profile for the given 800 number. . In step 510, the agent console 118 receives a call and performs a call flow process to handle the call. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 loads, from the PROFILE.DB 162, the client profile associated with the received call and performs a call flow defined generically by means of the compiled source code customized by the customer profile. Rather than a compilation of the source code, the process or application of the call flow is an interpretation through the executable code. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 reads the profile data of the client stored in the profile database PROFILE.DB 162, and interprets that data to perform the call flow process. This process is much faster in execution than compiling the client's flow data with the source code at the same time during a call. Additionally, this process is much faster to develop than the development of individual applications, customized for each client. An exemplary call flow process is described in more detail below, with respect to Figure 7. In step 512, the agent console 118 writes the data that was collected from the caller in the server database 120 of NIDS. More specifically, when the call is terminated, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 formats the data that was collected in the client specifications that were identified in the client's profile, and then writes the data to a result file in the NIDS 120 Alternatively, the agent console 118 can locally store the data that was collected, if the agent console determines that it can not communicate with the NIDS 120. The customer specifications that were identified in the profile can include how many. columns are defined, if delimiters should be used (for example, commas), what type of delimiters will be used, and so on. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 sends the data that was collected and formatted to the NIDS server 120 as individual data records. Each record identifies the customer, typically using the 800 number and the date / time. In this way, the data that was collected may be available to the client a few minutes after it has been collected. In step 514, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 creates a billing data record ("BDR"), with call statistics, such as the caller's ANI, the number that was dialed, the customer's identifier , the duration of the call, the date / time of the call, the agent that handled the call, the services that were provided to the caller, and so on. The CONSOLE.EXE 151 sends the BDR to the NIDS server 120. The BDR will be sent through the NIDS to the billing systems of the downstream call processing, for billing purposes. The NIDS server 120 also sends the BDR to the client data delivery system 128 so that other types of customer reports can be provided to the customer, or to the call service provider. These reports can include the total number of calls. received, the total number of calls that were handled, the average call handling time, the average waiting time of the call, and so on. In the exemplary modalities, two types of reports based on the BDR are provided: a summary report on the statistics of all the calls that were handled during a period of time, and a report of individual call detail. The agent console 118, when creating a BDR record, uses the data that was generated by the agent console, as well as the data that was received from the ACD 106. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 of the agent console 118 performs the function of creation of the BDR, which has many elements or common fields, regardless of the application of the individual client. Therefore, it is not necessary to develop a separate application for agent console 118 so that each customer profile creates billing records. Instead, the representative can create any custom BDR when creating the customer's profile. In general, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 performs at least steps 508 through 514 of routine 500. With reference to Figure 7, an exemplary call flow process for handling an incoming call under a previously defined profile will now be described. In steps 550 and 552, CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 read in the profile data that was retrieved and populate or visually display the fields in the visual display window in the visual display device 72 with the associated text. For example, each call flow usually begins with a greeting and survey type process. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines from the profile that a particular greeting should be visually displayed, retrieves a text field, from the client's profile, which contains the greeting, and activates the GUI. EXE 152 to display that text visually. The GUI. EXE 152 visually displays the textual greeting for the agent to read. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 also determines, from the profile, what questions the agent should ask the caller, by retrieving the fields of the client profile that contain the number of questions to be asked and the associated questions, and activate the GUI. EXE 152 to display visually. The agent can then see how many questions should be asked, and proceed to do them. The windows or exemplary display screens are described below, with respect to Figures 9 and 10. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 also retrieves fields from the client profile that specify the allowed responses (ie, "yes" or "no"). ", integer values, alphanumeric text, etc.), the field formats to enter the answers, the indicators as to whether each field is required or optional, and so on. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 provides these fields, the field formats, the indicators, and so on, to the GUI. EXE 152. When the agent enters the answers of the caller, the GUI. EXE 152 validates these responses (type of response, format of the response, the fields that were required to be populated, etc.) and register them in the appropriate fields. For example, most call flow processes require four fields: the name of the caller (alphanumeric text), full address (alphanumeric text), telephone number for the day (whole values) and telephone number for the afternoon (integer values). The -GUI. EXE 152 visually displays these fields in similar locations on the screen, so that the agent always interacts with a common interface, regardless of the call flow process. You can also provide additional optional fields in the customer's profile and display them visually on the screen for the agent to enter. In general, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 provides certain generic text and visual display window items for call flow processes, while the client profile provides specific product tables, options and manuscripts. After steps 550 and 552, the call flow process is ramped depending on the type of call flow process being performed. In exemplary mode, three types of basic call flow processes are defined: direct response, survey and order entry. The direct response and survey response flow processes are question and answer sessions, in which the agent asks the caller a series of questions, and records the answers of the caller in the fields defined by the caller. Client's profile. The customer profile for the direct response call and survey flow processes includes a greeting manuscript (as noted above), the number of questions to be asked, the questions themselves, the responses allowed, the response format, and the data format to send to the client. The customer profile for the direct response call and survey flow processes may also include items or fields such as the customer's name, address, shipping options, billing methods, and other information that is needed to provide the service what the client specified Examples of direct response call flow processes or applications include creating a database of a client / client prospects, collecting "change of address" information, enrolling callers within a program that offers the customer, track the responses to a particular advertising campaign or program, or fill out a request from the caller for information, for example, a request for product brochures. As a result, a direct response call flow process is typically a short session, which usually consists of five to ten questions. A survey call flow process is more extensive. Provides branching capabilities in which answers to questions determine additional questions and processing. Examples of survey call flow processes include obtaining survey information from the client / prospect, allowing callers to record the products they purchased, allowing more "open-ended" responses, opinions, suggestions, and allowing that the agent collects more specific details of the questions. Order flow call flow processes are used to place the caller's orders for a product and / or customer services. Order flow call flow processes provide a manuscript and other writings for the agent, as well as tables of products and services offered, and list options for each selected product. In this way, order flow call flow processes include not only the "four fields of data required for direct response / survey, but also three additional required fields: credit card number (integer value), expiration date of the credit card (integer value) and credit card authorization code (whole or alphanumeric text). Order flow call flow processes can also include additional fields, such as the customer account number, fields to enter orders, fields to provide additional pieces of information needed to define or describe the type of item that was ordered, and / or complete descriptions of the products / services of the companies. The caller's account number is used for callers who have ordered merchandise in advance, and in this way, the name, address and telephone number fields are already available. In this way, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 recovers, starting from the boot server or the local database 162, the data for those fields. Examples for order entry call flow processes include the corporation record, event ordering tickets, home sales television networks, catalog purchases, and so on. The agent console 118 can receive additional data directly from the client, such as the caller's account numbers, and so on. In step 554, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether the customer profile corresponds to an order-entry data flow process. If so, then, in step 556, CONSOLE.EXE 150 is visually displayed and a soft key for order entry is enabled. The soft key of order entry is displayed visually in the visual display window and indicates a key that you can press on the keypad 68 to place an order. When the agent selects this key, the order entry screen appears to take orders, validate credit cards, etc., as described below. After steps 554 and 556, CONSOLE.EXE 150 and THE GUI. EXE 152, in step 558, collects the caller's data based on the agent's income. Many of the data collected in step 558 are common to the three call flow processes (ie, direct response, survey, and order entry). In this way, the agent console 18 visually displays a greeting and initial questions for the agent to read to the caller and fields for the agent to enter the answers to the questions. For direct response or survey processes, CONSOLE.EXE 150 and GUI.EXE 152 visually display the questions in sequence for the agent to do, or visually display all the questions at the same time and let the agent select which questions do in what sequence. In step 560, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether certain keys have been pressed. If the order entry soft key has been pressed, then in step 562, CONSOLE.EXE 152 determines whether the required data has been entered into the corresponding data fields. For example, the order-entry call flow process may require an initial credit card validation process. The call flow process can only visually display the products and services after a credit card is validated, thus reducing the call time for callers, whose credit cards have not been validated. If the credit card data has not been entered, then the call flow process goes back to steps 558 and 560. If the credit card data has been entered in step 560, then in the Step 564, the agent console 118 transmits the credit card information to an appropriate credit card validation center or to the validation server 126. In step 566, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether the credit card was validated. If it was not, CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 sets a field status of the credit card to an error value in step 568, and visually display an appropriate error brief for the agent in step 570. If the credit card data is valid in step 556, or after step 570, the call flow process turns back to the steps 558 and 560. Assuming that the credit card data has been entered and validated, then after step 562, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 in step 572, collect the order information from the caller. During the process of order entry call flow, the agent under CONSOLE.EXE 150 can simply enter an item number at any time during the process to gain access to another screen that visually displays detailed information about that item. In response to the item number that was entered and to which an appropriate fabric was pressed, CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152, based on the data in the customer profile, visually displays detailed information about the article in the visual display window. For example, a caller could know more about an article before actually buying that item. Then, the agent selects the item number to access a "product number / product description" screen and provides the caller with the appropriate information by telephone, in step 574, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether the agent has pressed a poll key or a "completed" key (completed). If the completion key has been pressed, then in step 576, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether all the required data was entered. If not, the call flow process returns to steps 558 and 560. Similarly, if the survey key was pressed, indicating that the caller requests additional information based on the additional questions, the flow process of calls returns back to steps 558 and 560. If the completion key was pressed in step 560, and / or all the data required in step 576 was entered, then in step 578, CONSOLE.EXE 1 -50 determines whether the customer profile and the call flow process correspond to an order entry process. If not, then in step 580, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 generates a BDR, as noted above. After this, in step 582, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 writes or creates a response for the caller and / or a report for the client. A response to the caller may include confirmation of faxing of an order or request for information. In the exemplary embodiment, the agent console 118, by means of the modem 47, faxes the documents stored in the secondary storage 80 or stored elsewhere. For example, the customer may be announcing an 800 number to call and receive an immediate and complete listing of the customer's products and services, along with how they compare with the competitors. The caller dials the 800 number and requests the agent's document. The agent simply fills in the name and address information, along with the fax number and possibly other information in the appropriate fields of the visual display window under the previous steps, and faxes the document to the caller. Alternatively, the agent console 118 can transfer calls to another platform to automatically request that the other platform fax or transmit the appropriate information to the callers (with or without transfer calls), or allow people to call. that they call themselves obtain the information by means of interacting with the other platform. In step 584, CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 read from the client's profile and visually display a closing manuscript in the visual display window. The agent reads the closing manuscript and ends the call. If the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines in step 578 that an order entry call flow process is being performed, then in step 586, agent console 118 calculates a tax for the order based on the state in which the caller resides, whether goods or services were purchased, goods / services purchased, and so on. In the exemplary mode, the agent console 118 communicates with a tax server to obtain the appropriate tax information for each order. In step 588, CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 visually display the order revenue totals in the visual display window. In step 590, CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether the agent has selected a change order key. If so, then in step 590, the agent collects additional information from the caller's order, and the call flow process turns back to step 574.

If the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines in step 590 that the process order key has been selected, then in step 594, the agent console 118 validates and records the credit card data with the order quantity. In step 596, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether the credit card data with the amount is valid, and if they are not, it sets the credit card field status to an error value and visually sets and displays it. an appropriate error manuscript in steps 598 and 599, in a manner similar to that of steps 568 and 570. If the credit card data and amount are valid, then the call flow process performs steps 580 -584, as described above, and the call ends. During the call flow process, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 provides the ability for the agent to "take back and transfer" the incoming call. In this way, the agent can transfer the call to another 800 number after the request of the caller or the agent's option, at any time during the call. Callers frequently request that they be connected to a customer service center. Alternatively, a caller may have recently ordered different items from the agent and is now requesting that it be transferred to the customer's billing department. The agent can simply dial the appropriate number to transfer the caller to the customer. In the exemplary mode, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 provides a soft key client service that is displayed visually on the screen for the agent. In step 560, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether the agent has selected the customer service key. If so, then a customer service subroutine 600 is called. With reference to Figure 8, if the customer service key is pressed in step 560, then the CONSOLE.EXE 150 determined in step 601 of the customer service subroutine 600, if the current time is within the range of business hours for the customer (based on the service number ("CS #") of the client that corresponds to the client). If so, then CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 records the data that was collected from the caller, such as the name, address and telephone number for the caller in step 602. The data that was recorded can also include how the call was completed. In step 604, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 writes a BDR, as noted above. In step 606, console 118 of the agent completes and transfers the call to the customer service number belonging to the customer. In exemplary mode, the agent console 118 provides conference call functionality to allow the agent, the caller and a customer service representative to hold a conference simultaneously during the transfer of the call. The agent console 118 can also send certain data to the customer service center, such as the data that was previously collected. If the current time is outside business hours for the customer service center that belongs to the customer (as defined in the customer's profile), then in step 608, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 provides a textual manuscript in the visual display window for the agent to inform the caller about the business hours of the customer service center that belongs to the customer, provides a customer service telephone number for the customer. client, and offers to help you additionally. In step 610, CONSOLE.EXE 150 determines whether the caller requires additional assistance, based on an additional help key that the agent presses. If so, then in step 612, the customer service process returns to step 558 in Figure 7. If no further help is required, then CONSOLE.EXE 150 provides the data of the responses that were collected in step 614, and writes a BDR in step 616, as with steps 580 and 582 of Figure 7. With reference to Figure 9, shows a window or screen 300 for visual display of opening or generic initial. Screen 300 is displayed when a call is first received, and includes a portion 302 of greeting manuscript for the agent to read, and a portion 304 for entering the name and address of the caller. Screen 300 also includes the name and address of the customer's company in a portion 306 and a portion 308 of a notebook on which the agent can take notes. Additionally, a window 310 visually displays messages from a supervisor of the call center to the agent. Screen 300 also includes a soft order entry key 312, as well as a status portion 314 indicating the duration of the call in progress in the call center. After the agent enters the name and address of the caller (if necessary), CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152 visually displays another screen under the appropriate call flow process that is being performed, to receive additional data from the caller.; With reference to Figure 10, a window or screen 400 of visual display of income of exemplary order is shown. The details of an exemplary order ingress flow are described below, with respect to screen 400. All these details under the processes are generally performed by means of CONSOLE.EXE 150 and the GUI. EXE 152. Screen 400 includes a list of ordered items 402 that form approximately a top section of the screen and that have a group of correctable fields that include the product code, and possibly non-correctable fields. The product code field is entered from the agent either by entering the product code or by selecting an item in an item menu selection portion 404, which forms an intermediate section further to the left of the item. screen 400. The key on the keyboard 68 can validate the product code, link the description of the product code and move the cursor to a quantity field. The introduction of a value within the quantity field validates the entry of the item and updates the following fields: article price, shipping and handling, total cost, and total in a portion 406 of the screen 400. The price of an item can vary jdepending on the at that was ordered. The item selection portion 404 of the item provides a group of up to seven menus that are used to select the items offered by the customer. The title of the menu and the list of items in the menu are activated by the data (specified in the customer's profile). selecting an item from the menu can cause a refresh of the hierarchical menus below the current menu, depending on the items that were selected. Certain keystrokes can provide additional functionality. For example, if you press the Alt + tab key while in any menu or if you press the tab or enter key while in the last menu, it will cause an update of the current product code / description entry in the 402 portion of order entry and move the cursor to the quantity field to enter it. The agent can scroll or move through the item lists in the menu portion 404, by pressing the arrow keys, while the tab, tab shift or enter key selects the items and moves the focus to the next menu in the hierarchy, in a known way. A section 408 of additional information is reserved on screen 400, which forms a third lower portion of the screen, for the defined customer controls. In general, the controls and visual display information in portion 408 are directly related to the current product that is being offered. For example, a left portion of the portion 408 of additional information of the screen 400, visually displays a box to control and collect the boarding options and a right portion to collect the boarding directions. The shipping option portion of portion 408 may provide a drop-down list of items to choose from, such as shipments on the first or second day of UPS, FedEx shipments, and so on. Based on the selection of the items in this table, shipping and handling costs will vary. For example, boarding options may include a fixed charge for the entire order or a charge for each boarding-to-address. You can separate the charge for each boarding-to-address for each address, or a fixed additional cost for each boarding-to-additional address. A surcharge may be provided for multiple shipments-to-the-address, or the shipping and handling charge may vary based on a weight range stored in the weight table. Additionally, shipping and handling charges can be provided as a percentage of the price of the complete order, which is also provided in a search table, or a fixed charge that is based on the dollar value of the order. A menu bar 410 provides the agent with controls over order entry processing, access to help information, and visual display of traditional agent console windows and editing services. These functions are presented and organized under the menu bar titles of order, view, edition and help. In general, the data that was processed in the platform 105 is modeled in a tab-length-data format, in which each record or data field has three parts. First, a "tab" identifies the type of data, including a version of the type. Second, a "length" specifies the length of the complete record. Third, follow the current data. In this format, each aspect of a call flow process is specified (ie say how the agent sees a question, what was written in a BDR, product orders, etc.). The records of the data that was extracted from a customer profile are similar in this format, as well as the data that was collected from the agent in the agent console 118, and which are written to the NIDS server 120. By specifying a tab defined generically in each record, rather than defining a current data type, the platform 105 is independent of the operating systems and the data type versions. If a certain component (for example, a PC containing the profile editor, the agent console, the ADS, the boot server, etc.) changes, perhaps due to a change in the operating system, the data record still complies with the interface specification. Each component maps a tab defined generically to its own data type. Also, if you change a version of a data type in a certain component, this does not affect other components. In this way, one can replace a console 118 of the OS / 2 agent with a Windows agent console, or another operating system, since the communication of the data records in the exemplary mode is independent of the operating system or the computer that generated the data. Preferably, the console 118 of the agent collects the data in two general formats: only data and labeled data. Typically, a order entry call flow process provides only data in the format of tagged data, while the survey and direct response can provide data in any format. Under the data-only format, the data that was collected from callers in previously determined positions is provided, where these positions determine the field to which the data belongs. Preferably, the clients have the ability to define the delimiters of the field, as well as the delimiters of the record under the profile editor. In exemplary mode, the first six fields of each record that was generated by agent console 118, based on a call, are generated by CONSOLE.EXE 50, as shown later in Table 1. The agent records the Subsequent fields in the order in which they were stored in the client's profile, and therefore in the order in which they were visually displayed to the agent on the screen. Consequently, each record includes the first six initial fields, in addition to the number of questions that were provided under the client's profile. In the exemplary mode, all fields are stored in quotes, except for a status code and the duration of the operator. Fields that an operator did not collect are stored simply as a set of references without a space or interval character indicating that no data was collected for that field. In the exemplary mode, a record delimiter is CR-LF. Table 1 below shows an exemplary data structure for the data that was collected under the survey or direct response call flow process and the sample data that was collected. Table 1 Exemplary Data: Field Name Number Field Example Field 1 #Sec BDR "0380123412345678" 2 Time / Date "Dec 17 1995 13:58" 3 State 101 4 Duration, Seg 231 5 Number 800"8005551212" 6 Start Date "1201950000" ( start date of the profile) 7 Previous Order? "No" (first question of the survey) 8 Contact "Through a Friend" (second survey question) 9 Day Phone "5552221111" 10 Phone Extension "x2256" 11 Battery Name "Juan" 12 Last Name "Pérez" 13 Address 1"1260 3rd Street." 14 Address 2"Suite 120" 15 City "City of Iowa" 16 State "IA" 17 Zip Code "52246" 18 Sending by Mail "Yes" The exemplary data output under the data-only format for two consecutive records is represented below. The exemplary data presented below are listed as if the TYPE < filename > (TYPE <DOS filename>) in the data, so that the data would be recycled per word and the entire content would be displayed visually on a computer screen. "0380123412345678", "Dec 17 1995 13:58", 101, 231, "8005551212", "1201950000", "No", "Through a friend", "5552221111", "x2256", "Juan", "Pérez" , "1260 3rd Street.", "Suite 120", "City of Iowa", "IA", "52246", "Yes" "" 0380123412345689"," Dec 17 1995 14:58", 101, 131," 8005551212"," 1201950000"," No "," Company "," 6662221234"," Sam "," Davies "," 220 Camino del Nogal "," "," Coralville "," IA "," 55245"," NO " Under the labeled data format, a label identifies each field that was collected by an agent in the corresponding data collection log. In this way, the agent console 118 can handle varying amounts of fields and data collected for each received call, such as with an order-entry call flow process. Additionally, the labeled data format provides a very generic version of the "free ASCII text". Under the exemplary mode, the customer can define the values for three items in the resulting records: column separator, field separator, and record delimiter. The field labels define the first six fields that were automatically collected under CONSOLE.EXE 150, in which each one starts with an "@" symbol. Field labels for the data collected by an agent are defined in each customer profile and must have a unique value. All the data that was collected can be written in quotes, except the status code, the duration of the operation, the order entry, the quantity and the price of the order's income. Preferably, two options are provided for the data population of the fields under the order-entry call flow processes: repeated survey data and unique survey data. These options are defined in the customer's profile. Under the option of repeated survey data, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 repeats all the survey questions that the agent collected and the credit card data for all the items that were purchased. In this way, a data record for all items that were purchased will include all the data that was collected under the survey portion of the call, along with the credit card data. For example, if three products were purchased during a single order entry call, then CONSOLE.EXE 150 produces three data records collected, each with the same six reserved system fields (the first six fields), information from the survey (for example, customer name and address) and credit card information. Under the unique survey data format, CONSOLE.EXE 150 writes a single record of collected data, even if multiple items were purchased. The CONSOLE.EXE 150 can only collect the fields associated with the product being sold. Only those fields associated with a given product are collected and written to the output records. For example, if a product A requires that two additional fields be collected, such as cookie flavor and greeting card, while product B requires three items such as cookie flavor, greeting card and personalization data, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 records only two or three additional fields for products A and B, respectively. Table 2 below shows the definable options of the customer under the format of data labeled. These options are defined in the customer's profile.

Table 2 Table 3 below shows an exemplary data structure for a record under the tagged data format that has both the initial six defined system labels, and the subsequent defined customer labels (as defined in the customer profile).

Table 3 The following is an exemplary record under the format of tagged data, using the following three defined client options: column delimiter "comma plus tab", "field delimiter" CR-FL "and delimiter record" « page change > " 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890"© NúmSecBDR", "1234567890123456" "© HoraFecha", "14:28:35 DEC 05, 1995" "© Estado", "101" "© Duration", "231" "@ Núm800", "8005551212" " © Fechalnicio "," 199603010000"" Name Pila "," Timoteo "" Nombre_Segundo "," M "" Surname "," Leonard "CalleJDirección", "421 SE 3a. "City", "Ankeny" "State", "IA" "Telephone", "5159653749" "CreditJTarjeta", "1234567890123" "Expiration_Date", "0197" "Postal Code", "50021" "Conf Núm", "1A2E4"" Prod_SKU "," NAV_CAJA_DOCENA "" ProductName "," Dozen Christmas Cookies "" Cookie Flavor "," Mixed Flavors "" © Amount "," Greeting_Card "," Thanks for a good year "" Greeting_Card "," and the best wishes for a "" Greeting Card "," successful 1996 year - MCI "" Personalization "," Prod_SKU "," SANTA_DOCENA "" Product_Name "," Dozen of Santa Cookies "" Taste Cookie "," Mixed Flavors "" © Quantity "," Felici-ación_Tarjeta "," Thanks for a good year "" Personalization "," Prod SKU "," PEG_MECE_CABALLITO "" Product_Name "," © CLIENTELA - Caballito Pegaso Mecedor "" Sabor Galleta "," Mixed Flavors " "© Quantity", "Greeting_Card", "Personalization", "John Smith" "Personalization", "Nov. 28, 1995" "Personalization", "7 pounds 2 ounces" "Embarque_Name_Pila", "Timoteo" "Embarque_Second_Name", "M" "Embarque_Surname", "Leonard" "Embarque_Calle_Direcc", "421 SE 3a. "" Embarque_City "," Ankeny "" Embarque_Estado "," IA "" Embarque_Phone "," 5159653749"" Embarcel_Method "," Standard of UPS "" @Orden_Tot_Products "," $ 123.02"" © Tax Order "," $ 0.00"" © Boarding and Handling Order "," $ 39.00"" © Total Order "," $ 162.02"< page change > In exemplary mode, state codes are also written into the data records that were collected, to document the manner in which the call was completed. Customers can use these status codes to filter the data collected by the agents. Many calls can be completed and recorded as "successful". while many other calls may fail for a variety of reasons. Table 4 below shows the decimal and hexadecimal values for the state codes, and the corresponding descriptions for each code.

Table 4 In an alternative embodiment, the CONSOLE.EXE 150 and other logical components of the console 118 of the agent shown in Figure 5 can be implemented in the audio response unit ARU 108. As is known, the ARU is commonly used for provide automatic operator services. The call flow processes can be executed on an ARU by receiving the calls, notifying the caller for the entry, and recording the DTMF digital and spoken entry. Later, the spoken responses can be transcribed into text or converted into text using speech recognition technology, while the DTMF signals are automatically converted into responses or into the information they represent. All data is placed in the result file for the service provider or the client. Under an exemplary alternative survey call flow process, the caller initially places a call from 1-800 that receives the ARU 108, which in turn retrieves the appropriate customer profile and executes the call flow process. The ARU 108 provides a greeting to the caller and requests that the caller leave their full name and email address in the electronic signal repeated in code, and the ARU provides an audible short sound tone and pauses to receive and record the name and spoken address of the caller. ARU 108 may also request that the caller provide additional information under the questions specified in the profile. A numeric entry can be provided via the DTMF entry. Preferably, the ARU 108 echoes the responses that were introduced or spoken to the caller and requests that the caller press a key if the information that was entered is correct, otherwise, they will return to pronounce or re-enter the information. The ARU 108 may request that the caller answer the questions by pressing certain keys for yes or no. The ARU 108 also provides an exit or final message to the caller after the questions. After the same, the ARU 108 automatically transcribes the calls, or through an agent that is listening to the names and addresses recorded of the callers, which are matched with the DTMF entry to complete the registration. You can verify the customer's addresses by using an address verification routine that adds the postal codes. Under any of the modalities described above, the exemplary embodiment may provide an announcement or pre-recorded call message for callers after dialing within platform 10. The advertisement serves a dual purpose of: (1) notifying callers who are waiting on a linear list that their call will be answered by the next available operator (or ARU), or (2) inform callers about the different promotions or marketing products and services offered by the customer . Additionally, the advertisement can provide a standard greeting for the client that pronounces the name of the client, as well as other information as desired by the client and / or provides other messages that the client wishes to present to the callers. Although specific embodiments of, and examples for, the present invention are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. The teachings provided herein of the present invention can be applied to other call processing systems, not necessarily the exemplary order intake and survey process systems described above. For example, the present invention can be applied to systems to provide electronic input from surveys that are provided to the client / prospect in a survey conducted by Interne. Additionally, the process can be used to provide technical support or other services for clients and their clients / prospects. The teachings provided herein of the present invention can be applied to other call processing, data collection, and record production systems, not necessarily the exemplary telecommunications system described above. The aspects and embodiments of the present invention can be combined to still provide additional systems and processes. All of the patents of the United States of North America and applications that were previously cited are incorporated herein by reference. These and other changes can be made to the invention, in light of the above detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms that were used to limit the invention to the specific embodiments described in the specifications and claims should not be interpreted, but should be construed to include all call processing systems and of data collection operating under the claims, to provide a method to collect data and produce records from them. In accordance with the foregoing, the invention is not limited by the description, but instead, its scope should be determined exclusively by the following claims.

Claims (33)

1. CLAIMS 1. A method implemented by computer for use in a telecommunications system comprising the steps of: creating a plurality of profiles of the call flow data specified by the users; store the plurality of profiles; recover one of the plurality of profiles; define a call flow process based on the profile that was retrieved and a generic executable routine, where the call flow process provides questions for a call receiver that handles phone calls; and store data entries through the call receiver, based on the answers to the questions.
2. 2. The method of compliance with the claim 1, wherein the step of storing the plurality of profiles includes the step of storing the plurality of profiles, based on the telephone numbers of the users, and wherein the step of recovering includes the step of recovering one of the plurality of profiles, after receiving a telephone call to a corresponding one from the plurality of telephone numbers.
3. 3. The method of compliance with the claim 1, wherein the call receiver is an agent of the call center, where the step of defining includes the step of visually displaying standard data for the agent, based on the executable routine, and visually displaying the specific data by means of the profile that it was recovered, where the standard data includes a schematic of a visual display window, and where the specific data includes the questions. .
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the call receiver is a call center agent, wherein the step of defining includes the step of providing the executable routine, and wherein the executable routine includes an interface portion of the user to define the data that can be displayed visually to the agent, and a manipulable portion of data that receives and uses the data in the profile.
5. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of storing data includes the steps of: storing the data of each call that was processed by the call receiver corresponding to the profile that was retrieved; transfer the records electronically to a storage location.
6. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of creating a billing record for each call that was processed by the call receiver corresponding to the profile that was retrieved.
7. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the defining step includes the step of generating either a call flow survey process of the caller or an order entry call flow process that is based on the profile that was recovered.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the call receiver is an automatic response unit, and wherein the step of storing data includes the step of recording the spoken responses to the questions.
9. 9. A telecommunications system for receiving and processing calls comprising: a server for storing a plurality of profiles specified by the users, wherein each profile specifies the details of a specific call flow process; and at least one call receiving station coupled to the server and coupled to receive incoming telephone calls, wherein the call receiving station retrieves one of the plurality of profiles and defines a call flow process based on the profile that was retrieved and a routine that can be executed, wherein the defined call flow process provides questions for incoming telephone calls, and where the call receiving station collects the answers to the questions.
10. The system according to claim 9, characterized in that it further comprises an automatic call distributor coupled to first and second call reception stations., wherein the first call reception station is an automatic response unit and the second call reception station is a computer work station.
11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of profiles can be retrieved from the server based on the telephone numbers of the users, and wherein the call receiving station retrieves one of the plurality of profiles after having received a telephone call to a corresponding telephone number.
12. The system according to claim 9, wherein the call receiving station is a computer work station for a call center agent, wherein the work station visually displays the standard data for the agent, which they are based on the executable routine, and visually display the data specified by the profile that was retrieved.
13. 13. The system in accordance with the claim 9, wherein the call receiving station is a computer work station for a call center agent, and wherein the executable routine includes a user interface portion to define the data that can be displayed visually to the agent, and a manipulable portion of data that receives and uses the data in the profile.
14. The system according to claim 9, characterized in that it further comprises a network server coupled to the call reception station, and wherein the call receiving station creates records of each processed call corresponding to the profile that was retrieved, and electronically transfers the records to the network server.
15. The system according to claim 9, wherein the call receiving station generates either a call flow survey process of the caller or an order entry call flow process that is based on the profile that was recovered.
16. 16. A method implemented by computer for use in a telecommunications system comprising the steps of: recovering one of a plurality of stored profiles, each profile containing call flow data specified by the users; and defining a call flow process that is based on the profile that was retrieved and an executable routine, wherein the call flow process provides questions for a call receiver that handles phone calls.
17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that it further comprises the step of storing the data entry by the call receiver, based on the answers to the questions.
18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of recovering includes the step of recovering one of the plurality of profiles, after having received a telephone call to a correspondent of a plurality of telephone numbers.
19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of recovering includes the step of recovering a property record indicating which of the plurality of profiles to retrieve, based on the corresponding one of a plurality of telephone numbers, where when less a profile corresponds to two or more telephone numbers.
20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of recovering includes the step of recovering one of the plurality of profiles, wherein the recovered profile specifies a format in which the data that was provided in response should be formatted. to the questions .
21. The method according to claim 16, wherein the call receiver is a call center agent, wherein the step of defining includes the step of visually displaying the standard data for the agent based on the executable routine, and visually display the specific data specified by the profile that was retrieved, where the standard data includes a schematic of a visual display window, and where the specific data includes the questions.
22. The method according to claim 16, wherein the call receiver is a call center agent, wherein the step of defining includes the step of providing the executable routine, and wherein the executable routine includes a user interface portion to define the data that can be displayed visually by the agent, and a manipulable portion of data that incorporates the data in the profile.
23. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that it further comprises the steps of: storing the records of each call that was processed by the call receiver corresponding to the profile that was retrieved; and electronically transfer the data to another location.
24. 24. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the step of creating a billing record for each call that was processed by the call receiver, which corresponds to the profile that was retrieved.
25. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of defining includes the step of generating either a call flow survey process of the caller or a call flow process of order entry that is based on the profile that was recovered.
26. 26. The method according to claim 16, wherein the call receiver is an automatic response unit, and wherein the method further includes the step of storing which includes the step of recording the spoken responses to the questions.
27. 27. A computer readable medium that stores executable steps by computer under a method, the method comprising the steps of: recovering one of a plurality of stored profiles, each profile containing call flow data specified by the users; and defining a call flow process that is based on the profile that was retrieved and an executable routine, wherein the call flow process provides questions for a call receiver that handles telephone calls.
28. 28. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that it also comprises the step of storing the data that the call receiver introduced, based on the answers to the questions.
29. 29. The method of compliance with the claim 27, wherein the step of recovering includes the step of recovering one of the plurality of profiles, after having received a telephone call to a correspondent of a plurality of telephone numbers, wherein the plurality of profiles is stored based on the plurality of telephone numbers.
30. 30. The method according to claim 27, wherein the call receiver is a call center agent, wherein the step of defining includes the step of visually displaying the standard data for the agent based on the executable routine, and displaying visually the specific data specified by the profile that was retrieved, where the standard data includes a schematic of a visual display window, and where the specific data includes the questions.
31. 31. The method of compliance with the claim 27, where the defining step includes the step of generating either a call flow survey process of the caller or a call flow process of order entry that is based on the profile that was retrieved.
32. 32. The method of compliance with the claim 27, wherein the call receiver is an automatic response unit, and wherein the method also includes the step of storing which includes the step of recording the spoken answers to the questions.
33. 33. The method of compliance with the claim 27, wherein the step of recovering includes the step of recovering one of the plurality of profiles, wherein the recovered profile specifies a format in which the data that is provided in response to the questions has to be formatted.