Web Predictive Dialer

Collect!'s Web Predictive Dialer enables you to easily integrate your Predictive Dialer with VoIP and IP-PBX dialing systems. You simply start Collect! with the /w2 Web Host mode, start Predictive Dialer in Collect! and wait for calls. Collect! pops up the Debtor on your screen. If several accounts are found with the same phone number, Collect! returns all results in a Find by Phone list.

This feature requires that you have confirmed that your predictive dialer provider can communicate with your browser and send URL requests to it. Also, you must have licensed the Predictive Dialer module in Collect!.

Web Dialing Protocol

Using the existing Predictive Dialer functionality, a dialing system can connect to Collect! via HTTP and pass a URL string containing a phone number.

Collect! listens in a special Web Host mode for HTTP requests and processes dial strings in the following formats.

Your dialing service must be able to pass the URL string in one of these formats. Collect! can process numbers with or without dashes. It is most efficient if you store numbers in the same format that your dialer uses.

Phone Number

http://ipaddress/dialer?phone=phone number

Examples:

http://127.0.0.1/dialer?phone=5551111222
http://127.0.0.1/dialer?phone=555-111-1222

Phone Number With Text String

Collect! also accepts special strings if the defaults are not adequate for your dialer. The text must be added to the /w2text argument when starting Collect! in Web Dialer mode.

Example:

http://127.0.0.1/dialer?text=5551111222

The string "text" may be replaced by any identifying character string that you want Collect! to look for instead of the default "phone".

Collect! will search the database for the phone number and if a match is found, display the debtor. If the phone number exists, Collect! will leave the Predictive Dialer and open the debtor. If multiple matches are found for different debtors, a list of matches is presented instead. Partial matches will never displayed.

File Number

Collect! can also pass the Debtor File Number if you use the /w2file argument when starting Collect! in Web Dialer mode.

Example:

http://127.0.0.1/dialer?file=1430

Collect! will search the database for a matching File Number and will display the debtor.

Web Dialing Setup

To put Collect! into Web listening mode, you must create a Collect! shortcut with one of the following command line arguments.

/s80 /w2 to start the Web Dialer Server on port 80.

Web Dialer Shortcut

Or

/s80 /w2ss to start the Secure Web Dialer Server on port 80.

When Collect! is in /w2 mode, the Operator can work normally in Collect!. Although this is technically a Web Host mode, it does not open Collect! in Web Host mode. It listens in the background instead. While the operator is working, any packets received are discarded, unless Predictive Dialer is active.

Special Text String

If you are not using the default string "phone" in your URL, as in "http://127.0.0.1/dialer?phone=5551111222" then, the Collect! shortcut can contain the string that you are going to use.

Example:

/s80 /w2text tells Collect! to look for a URL in the format, http://127.0.0.1/dialer?text=5551111222" where "text" is replaced with the character string you want Collect! to look for instead of the default "phone".

/s80 /w2sstext starts the Secure Web Dialer Server where "text" is to be replaced with the character string you want Collect! to look for instead of the default "phone".

Pass File Number

If you are not using the default string "phone" in your URL, as in "http://127.0.0.1/dialer?phone=5551111222" then, the Collect! shortcut can contain the Debtor File Number that you want to send.

Example:

/s80 /w2file tells Collect! to look for a URL in the format, http://127.0.0.1/dialer?file=1430" where "file" tells Collect! that the number included in the URL refers to a Debtor File Number instead of the default "phone".

/s80 /w2ssfile starts the Secure Web Dialer Server where "file" enables Collect! to pass the Debtor File Number instead of the default "phone".

When you send the Debtor File Number instead of the Phone Number, this assumes that your dialer has its own database of matching File Numbers and Phone Numbers already supplied by you.

Using Web Dialer

Start Collect! from a shortcut with the special arguments outlined above.

Select Tools-> Predictive Dialer to start the Predictive Dialer. Collect! will display a message box and begin waiting for phone number packets to arrive via HTTP.

Waiting for Calls

As soon as a match is encountered, Collect! will display the Debtor.

If multiple matches are found, Collect! will display the list of matches. Partial matches are never displayed.

Multiple Matches Found

Testing Web Dialer

To test, run the Predictive Dialer, "Tools->Predictive Dialer".

Then open up a browser and type http://ipaddress/dialer?phone=phone number where ipaddress is the IP address of your machine.

You should be able to just type 127.0.0.1 if you are testing from the same machine.

Example:

http://127.0.0.1/dialer?phone=5551111222

If collect is operating in "Secure Web Dialer" mode, then use "https" instead of "http."

Secure Mode

There may be issues with secure mode as this requires authentic certificates. Depending on your situation, your web browser may display certificate messages rather than completing the URL transfer. If in doubt, use the /w2 mode to make sure you are able to connect and display Debtors.

Collect! supports all common encryption methods. You can use any one of the following.

To enable a specific encryption method, you can simply add one of the following arguments to the Collect! shortcut.

Summary

Automatically retrieve information through VoIP and IP-PBX dialing systems using Collect!'s Predictive Dialer and the special Web Host command line argument /w2. Provided that your Predictive Dialer is able to communicate with your browser, they can send a specially formatted HTTP or HTTPS request string to retrieve data from the database.

Collect! will pop up the Debtor screen when a match is found. If several matching accounts are found, Collect! will display a list of matches.

See Also

- Web Host Topics
- Predictive Dialer Topics