SAP BCM 7 and SAP CRM Integration Description
SAP BCM 7 and SAP CRM Integration Description
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Table of Content:
1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................................... 4
2 INBOUND CONTACT CENTER INTEGRATION ................................................................................................. 6
2.1 LOGGING IN ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
2.2 USER INTERFACES ................................................................................................................................................ 6
2.3 CALL HANDLING ................................................................................................................................................... 9
2.3.1 Answering or rejecting calls, ending calls.............................................................................................. 9
2.3.2 Putting calls on hold and releasing them ............................................................................................ 10
2.3.3 Calling out ........................................................................................................................................... 10
2.3.4 Making consultation calls.................................................................................................................... 11
2.3.5 Transferring calls ................................................................................................................................. 11
2.3.6 Context transfer .................................................................................................................................. 12
2.3.7 Making conference calls ...................................................................................................................... 13
2.3.8 Queue information .............................................................................................................................. 14
2.3.9 Contextual Presence ............................................................................................................................ 15
2.4 E-MAIL HANDLING ............................................................................................................................................. 17
2.4.1 E-mail Response Management System (ERMS) integration ................................................................ 17
2.5 CHAT HANDLING ................................................................................................................................................ 18
2.6 ACTION ITEM ROUTING AND HANDLING .................................................................................................................. 19
2.7 SIMULTANEOUS CONTACTS HANDLING ................................................................................................................... 21
3 OUTBOUND CAMPAIGNS INTEGRATION .....................................................................................................23
4 INTEGRATION FOR SAP CRM INSTANT MESSAGING ....................................................................................25
5 ADVANCED SAP BCM CDT SOFTPHONE FUNCTIONALITY .............................................................................26
5.1 QUEUES ........................................................................................................................................................... 26
5.2 DIRECTORY ....................................................................................................................................................... 27
5.3 CDT SUPERVISOR TOOLS ..................................................................................................................................... 28
6 REPORTING INTEGRATION ..........................................................................................................................30
7 INTEGRATION ARCHITECTURE .....................................................................................................................31
7.1 TELEPHONY INTEGRATION .................................................................................................................................... 31
7.2 E-MAIL INTEGRATION.......................................................................................................................................... 32
7.3 CHAT INTEGRATION ............................................................................................................................................ 33
7.4 PRESENCE INTEGRATION ...................................................................................................................................... 33
7.5 OUTBOUND INTEGRATION ................................................................................................................................... 33
7.6 REPORTING INTEGRATION .................................................................................................................................... 34
7.7 SUPPORTED VERSIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 34
SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
1 Overview
SAP Business Communications Management software version 7 (SAP BCM 7) provides a Voice
over IP and software based contact center suite with feature rich multi-channel inbound and
outbound communication tools, IVR capabilities and call recording functionality. It serves both front
line agents and back office experts, is ideal for distributed contact center environments operations
and extends flexibly to include mobile workers. SAP BCM 7 empowers customer-facing business
processes by linking communication capabilities with operational business systems and content.
SAP BCM 7 contact center suite can be operated as a stand-alone solution or integrated with SAP
Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM). The deep integration allows organizations to build
end-to-end and streamlined sales, marketing and service processes with tools from a single vendor.
The SAP BCM 7 also integrates with other SAP applications such as SAP ERP, BusinessByDesign
and Business Data Warehouse and numerous third party software solutions.
In the SAP CRM integration scenario, SAP BCM provides advanced communication platform with
efficient multi-channel contact routing, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services, personnel
directory and presence services, online monitoring and reporting for contact management and voice
logging services. SAP CRM and Interaction Center functions are used for account and transaction
management such as order intake and service ticket management, activity management, outbound
campaigns, etc. The figure below illustrates the main roles of BCM and CRM in the integrated
system.
Customer
AIC 7.1 SAP BCM SAP CRM
CRM user
Contact Transaction
Management Management
e-mail
chat
Delivery of contact to Enables the agent to
the right agent at the provide the right Agent
phone call
right time services to the Desktop
customer
With SAP BCM – SAP CRM integration, agents can handle customer interactions (e.g. calls, e-mails
and chat) and customer issues /transactions with a single user interface. Customer information is
automatically retrieved from SAP CRM database based on caller number or email address. The
information is presented in the SAP CRM agent desktop before answering. SAP CRM information
and functionality is fully available during the customer interaction. After the call agent can report
contact issues and statistics to SAP CRM for further actions.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
From the SAP CRM user’s point of view, SAP BCM – SAP CRM integration means the following:
• SAP CRM Interaction Center toolbar includes buttons for call, e-mail and chat contact handling.
• Incoming calls, e-mails and chat requests are automatically routed and offered to the SAP CRM
Interaction Center agents based on defined routing rules on SAP BCM side.
• SAP CRM sales, marketing and service user interface includes controls for call handling.
• Account information is retrieved automatically based on calling number or e-mail address.
• Action item routing enables action items to be routed in real-time for immediate action.
• When a call is transferred, the related business context can be transferred along with the call.
• Presence / availability of other users and queues can be seen in the SAP CRM user interface.
• SAP BCM softphone (Communication Desktop, CDT) is available for advanced call handling
functionality such as real time queue status views, queue login management, directory and
presence services and supervisor functionality.
This document describes the functionality of SAP BCM 7 when integrated with SAP CRM 7.0 EhP1.
If earlier program versions are used, only a subset of the functionality is available as shown in the
table below.
Versions BCM 5.5 SR1 and BCM 6.0 and BCM 6.0 and BCM 6.0 BCM 7.0
CRM 4.0 Service CRM 4.0 Service CRM 5.1 – and and
Industry Extension Industry Extension CRM2007 CRM 7.0 CRM 7.0
Functionality – CRM 7.0 – CRM 5.0 EhP 1
Inbound call handling X X X X X
Email handling X X X X X
Click-to-dial X X X X X
Context transfer X X X X X
Chat handling X X X X
ERMS support X X X
Communication toolbar
X X
in all SAP CRM roles
Contextual presence X X
Action item routing X X
Action item routing
X
using agent skills
SAP CRM Outbound
integration with SAP X
BCM Outbound Dialer
Simultaneous contacts
X
(email + call or chat)
SAP BCM absence
X
profiles access via IC UI
CRM internal Instant
X
Messenger support
E-mail handling, chat handling and ERMS support are only available for SAP CRM Interaction
Center, not for the other SAP CRM roles.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
2.1 Logging in
An agent must log in to both SAP BCM CDT softphone and SAP CRM user interface by entering a
username and password into the appropriate login addresses.
In order to receive incoming calls the agent must set the work mode to ready. In the SAP CRM IC
user interface in the right hand side of the Toolbar, there are radio buttons, shown in the figure
below, for setting the work mode.
When an agent chooses Ready, SAP BCM sends incoming contacts from queues to him or her
according to defined contact routing rules on SAP BCM side. When an agent chooses Not Ready,
SAP BCM does not send incoming contacts to him or her and CDT softphone status is set to not
ready. Drop down menu No Phone will be set automatically by SAP CRM IC in case telephony
integration is not in use or does not work.
Next to the work mode radio buttons there is a drop down menu from which an agent can select an
SAP BCM absence profile; this activates the selected absence profile on CDT softphone. Absence
profiles are defined by SAP BCM administrators. It is possible to have different profiles available for
each agent. Absence profile informs other users about the agent’s current absence such as a
meeting, business trip or holiday. In addition the system uses the profile information when making
routing decisions. Absence profile information can also be used for reporting purposes on SAP BCM
side (detailed agent work done report).
Within SAP CRM user interfaces there are several ways to access communications functionality, for
example:
• Click-to-dial
• Softphone controls in the communication toolbar
• Link to SAP BCM user interface
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
CLICK-TO-DIAL
It is possible to specify that the telephone numbers of business partners are displayed as
communication hyperlinks in assignment blocks related to business partners. If a user who is logged
on to SAP BCM clicks a hyperlink, the dial pad opens, the number is prefilled, and the user can place
a call directly. The figure below shows an example where telephone number is displayed as a
communication hyperlink.
COMMUNICATION TOOLBAR
Using communications toolbar in SAP CRM Sales, Marketing, Service or Interaction Center (IC) user
interface, it is possible to do the following call handling operations:
• Automatic caller recognition from SAP CRM database based on caller telephone number
• Answer or reject incoming calls
• Hang up calls
• Put calls on hold
• Retrieve calls from hold
• Dial outgoing calls
• Make consultation calls
• Toggle between calls (original call and consultation call)
• Direct transfers (cold), transfers via consultation call (warm) and transfers via 3-way conference
(assisted transfer).
• Make conference calls
SAP CRM Interaction Center communication toolbar look a little different from SAP CRM Sales,
Marketing and Service communication toolbar, but the same call handling operations can be
performed with toolbars. This document describes most of the call handling details using Interaction
Center as the example user interface.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The figure below shows the top of the Interaction Center User Interface where telephony related
buttons and information is located. Communication Info area displays technical information about the
current contact. This area is in the right in the figure below. In the IC toolbar all the buttons for call
handling are visible all the time as shown in the bottom left in the figure below.
The figure below shows a SAP CRM Sales, Marketing and Service user interface with telephony
related buttons at the top of the screen. The buttons shown are changed dynamically so that only the
ones that are currently relevant are visible. In the figure below there is no ongoing call. The toolbar
includes only the buttons useful in such a situation, i.e. there are buttons for things like accepting or
rejecting incoming call and a button for launching a dial pad for making a new call, for example.
The figure below shows a SAP CRM user interface with an ongoing call. In this case the telephony
toolbar includes additional buttons for various call handling tasks such as buttons for call transfer and
conference call.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
When there is an incoming call to a service number, SAP BCM assigns the call to an agent that is
available to serve the queue. The agent’s SAP CRM IC application plays a ringing tone and displays
information in the Communication Info and Account Info areas.
Communication Info area in the upper right corner of IC user interface displays technical information
about the current contact, such as channel, duration, and state. For example the figure below shows
that there is an incoming call (Phone Inbound) from number +358505773656. The call has not been
answered: it is in Alerting state and has been alerting for 6 seconds.
The Account Info area shows information about the account, such as contact person and company
name. The information is automatically retrieved from SAP CRM database based on the calling
number. If there is no information stored in the system related to the calling number, only the phone
number is shown, as in the figure below.
When there is an incoming call to an agent, the agent has the ability to accept or reject the call.
During this offering procedure, the call itself will remain in the queue with prompts played for the
caller. The incoming call can be answered by clicking the Accept button in the IC toolbar.
The incoming call can be rejected by clicking the Reject button in the IC toolbar. If the call is
rejected, call remains in a SAP BCM queue and SAP BCM assigns the call to another agent. If the
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
accent does not take any action (accept or reject the call), in specified time threshold, e.g. 15
seconds, call remains in a SAP BCM queue and SAP BCM assigns the call to another agent.
Hang Up button closes the connection between the caller and the agent. However, the call
remains active in the system (wrap-up time) until the agent chooses End in the toolbar. When the
agent is in wrap up mode, i.e. until he or she has selected End, new customer contacts from queues
are not connected to the agent.
An active call can be put on hold (i.e. parked) by pressing the Hold button. While a call is on
hold, the caller can’t hear what the agent is saying. Instead music is played to the caller on hold.
The call is on hold until it is retrieved or it ends (the other party terminates it or the agent hangs up).
Retrieve button takes the call off hold and makes it active again.
If there is another call active when a parked call is retrieved, the possible active call becomes parked
simultaneously. It is not possible to retrieve a parked call during an active consultation call.
Pressing the Dial pad button displays a dial pad that can be used to make calls. Calls can be
made by entering the destination number into the Destination field and pressing enter. Alternatively,
SAP CRM may use telephony number specified in SAP CRM account information as default number
for outgoing call if account information is confirmed on IC user interface and dial pad button is
pressed. However this is dependent on SAP CRM version in use.
Selecting “Dial Pad” in the top of the window, shows the buttons that look like the numbers on a
telephone as shown in the figure below in the left. The buttons can be used to enter the destination
number. Selecting “Queues” in the top of the window, shows the queues in the system as shown in
the figure below in the right. The queue to be called can be selected from the list.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
If there is an active call while another call is made, the first call is automatically put on hold.
Hang Up button closes the connection between the agent and the called person. However the
call remains active in the system (wrap-up mode) until the agent chooses End in the toolbar. When
the agent is in wrap up mode, i.e. until he or she has selected End, new calls are not connected to
the agent.
It is possible to make a consultation call to another number during an active call. For example, an
agent may want to check something from a colleague or manager without hanging up the active call.
When the original call is on hold, the first party cannot hear the conversation between the agent and
the second party. Instead music is played to the first party.
1. While a call is active, pressing the Consult button opens the Dial pad window.
2. The number of the second party is entered into the destination field in dial pad.
3. Clicking the Dial button in the Dial pad makes the application to put the original call on hold
automatically and initiates the second call.
4. Agent can toggle between first and second party during the conference call.
5. Clicking the Hang up button terminates the consultation call (i.e. the second connection).
6. Pressing the Retrieve button resumes the original call.
While there is an active call and another party is on hold, pressing Toggle button switches
between the call on hold and the active call, automatically placing the active call on hold and vice
versa.
There are three ways to transfer an active call to another number. Transferring a call without prior
consultation with the person the call is being transferred to is called transfer (direct transfer). Another
way is for the agent to first consult the person the call is being transferred to and do the actual
transfer only after that (warm transfer). Third way is to establish an 3-party conference call and drop
out from
1. While a call is active, pressing the Warm Transfer button opens the Dial pad window.
2. The number of the second party is entered into the destination field in dial pad.
3. Clicking the Dial button in the Dial pad makes the application to put the original call on hold
automatically and initiates the second call.
4. After the second party has answered the call, pressing the Transfer button in the dial pad
connects the initial caller to the second party and disconnects the agent.
5. The agent is entered into wrap up mode and must press End to be able to receive new contacts
from the queues.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
1. While a call is active, pressing the Transfer button opens the Dial pad window.
2. The number of the second party is entered into the destination field in dial pad.
3. Clicking the Transfer button in the dial pad connects the initial caller to the second party and
disconnects the agent.
4. The agent is entered into wrap up mode and must press End to be able to receive new contacts
from the queues.
The SAP BCM system supports adding business information to a particular phone call. If the call is
transferred, the attached data follows with the call. For example if the agent, who first answers a
customer call, confirms account identification data in IC and then transfers the call to another agent,
the account identification data follows with the transfer and is presented to the agent receiving the
call. The data is presented to the receiving agent upon answering the call.
Transferring business context with a call Accepting the call and receiving business context with it
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The above figure shows an example where Mark Browns transfers a call and the associated
business context to Shirley Bishop. Mark’s screen is shown in the figure in the left. The topmost
window is a dial pad window used to transfer the call. The business information Mark was working
with is visible behind the Dial bad. The same business information is transferred to Shirley’s screen
as shown in the figure in the right.
1. While a call is active, pressing the Conference button opens the Dial pad window.
2. The number of the party to be added to the conference is entered into the destination field in dial
pad.
3. Clicking the Dial button in the Dial pad makes the application to put the original call on hold
automatically and initiates the second call.
4. After the called party has answered the call, clicking the Conference button connects the three
parties into a conference.
It is possible to add further parties into the conference by repeating the steps 2, 3 and 4.
The conference parties (except the two parties in the original call) are listed in the Dial pad window. It
is possible to drop parties from the conference by selecting the party in the list and pressing Drop
Party.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The queue status, located in the bottom right hand corner of the Interaction Center, allows an agent
to quickly display the channels and queues he or she is assigned to.
• Displays the current date and time (default display) or queue. If queue information is available,
then an arrow is shown after the date. Clicking on the arrow shows which queue the current
incoming contact was sent to. Clicking on the arrow again returns the current date and time.
• Displays a tool tip with a quick view of multi-channel information. The queue status tooltip
displays the channels an agent is working in, for example, e-mail, chat, and telephony, specific
phone numbers and e-mail addresses from which the agent can receive inquiries, and all queues
to which the agent is currently assigned. The channels to which the agent is not currently logged
in are marked with dash (-) after the channel name.
• Displays the Agent Dashboard.
• Clicking on the queue status displays the agent dashboard. Agent dashboard can be used to view
information relevant to the current interaction center (IC) session. It is useful when an agent
needs more information about what is displayed in the queue status.
• The agent dashboard displays the following information:
• Agent’s user ID and business role
• Channels and queues
The agent sees all channels he or she is working in, for example, e-mail, chat, and telephony,
specific phone numbers and e-mail addresses from which he or she can receive inquiries, and the
queues to which he or she is assigned. The channels to which the agent is not currently logged in
are marked with dash (-) after the channel name.
• System information
• System information is used primarily by system administrators for troubleshooting. It includes:
• Information on the domain in which the servers are operating (for example, wdf.sap.corp)
• Name and description of the communication management software being used
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The presence status of users who are assigned to communication-enabled SAP CRM business roles
can be displayed in the dial pad and in all assignment blocks on the SAP CRM UI related to business
partners. A traffic light indicates the user presence / availability. User presence information is
retrieved from SAP BCM system, see chapter 5.2. for further information. Next to this presence
indicator is a collaboration drop down with the possible options. If a user is available, different
options for collaboration like Call, Transfer, and Warm Transfer will become available. An example is
shown in the figure below.
Business context
Presence information can help users to quickly locate and communicate with subject matter experts,
managers, or supervisors. The figure below shows an example where a SAP CRM user has received
a call from a customer. The customer wanted to talk about a specific order and the SAP CRM user
retrieved the information related to the order into the screen. After a while he noticed that he is not
the best person to handle the call. He wants to transfer the call and the related business context to
the appropriate person. At the bottom of the SAP CRM screen there is a list of the parties involved
including “the employee responsible”. In the presence column there is a green symbol indicating that
the person is available. In the collaboration column (at the bottom right) the user can select what he
wants to do: call the person or transfer the contact to the person.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
Additionally, the presence of individual users can be retrieved in the dial pad as well along with the
presence information for the queues. The figure below shows a dial pad displaying presence
information for individual users.
When an agent transfers a call to another queue, the transferring agent can verify if there are free
agents in the queue to answer the customer call immediately. Selecting “Presence” in the top of the
transfer dial pad window, shows a window including a list of queues with free agents. This queue
presence functionality provides additional information for agents to make decisions how customer
can be served in the best possible way.
An example presence window is shown in the figure below. The figure shows a situation where there
are free agents only in the queues “queue2” and “queue3”. Refresh button can be used to ensure the
latest queue presence data status.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
This chapter applies to SAP CRM Interaction Center user interface only.
When there is an incoming e-mail to an email service address, BCM routes the e-mail to an agent
that is available to serve the e-mail queue (push email). In order to receive incoming e-mails, an
agent must be logged in and set the work mode to ready.
When there is an incoming e-mail, the agent work channel is e-mail, and the IC toolbar contains only
the universal buttons accept, reject, transfer, end and dial pad. Buttons specific to the e-mail
function, such as Reply, New, or Forward, appear on the e-mail page dynamically, when and where
the agent needs them.
When there is an incoming e-mail assigned to an agent, the agent has the ability to accept or reject
the e-mail. The incoming e-mail can be accepted by clicking the Accept button in the IC toolbar.
The incoming e-mail can be rejected by clicking the Reject button in the IC toolbar. If the e-mail
is rejected, it remains in BCM queue and BCM assigns the e-mail to another agent. If the agent does
not take any action (accept or reject the e-mail) in a specified time range, e.g. 20 seconds, the e-mail
remains in BCM queue and BCM assigns the e-mail to another agent.
After accepting an incoming e-mail, the agent can handle it with the usual CRM IC e-mail handling
functions (e.g. reply, forward). Once the agent has replied to the customer, the contact remains
active (wrap-up mode) in the system until the agent chooses End in the toolbar. When the agent is in
wrap up mode, i.e. until he or she has selected End, new contacts from queues are not offered to the
agent.
If an agent sends an e-mail to a customer and the customer replies to that e-mail, the reply e-mail is
not allocated to the first available agent. Instead the reply is allocated to the agent who sent the mail
to which the customer replied.
This chapter applies to SAP CRM Interaction Center user interface only.
It is possible to use SAP CRM E-mail Response Management System (ERMS) together with SAP
BCM. In this case incoming e-mails are first received and processed by ERMS.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The ERMS is a tool for managing large amounts of incoming e-mail. Users can define rules which
the ERMS uses when processing incoming e-mail. With ERMS it is possible to send an automated
response to all e-mails containing certain words in the e-mail header for example. A rule can also
contain instructions to send the e-mails to a new queue. In the SAP BCM – SAP CRM integration
scenario, the ERMS sends the e-mails to be queued to SAP BCM. SAP BCM then finds a free agent
serving in the e-mail queue and routes the e-mail to that agent (push email). The agent handles the
e-mail with SAP CRM IC UI as explained in the previous chapter.
This chapter applies to SAP CRM Interaction Center user interface only.
Chat channel enables customer to request online help when visiting company web pages. Customer
chat requests are routed by SAP BCM to agents using SAP CRM Interaction Center. Agent can then
use SAP CRM IC capabilities to answer and manage chat session with the customer: For example,
the agent can search for solutions in the knowledge search while having a chat session open with
the customer.
When there is an incoming chat request in a queue, SAP BCM assigns the request to an agent that
is available to serve the chat queue. In order to receive incoming chat requests, an agent must be
logged in, have chat as the selected work channel and set the work mode to ready.
When the work channel is chat, the IC toolbar contains the universal buttons accept, reject, transfer,
end and dial pad. In addition there are two chat specific buttons: main and leave. Main opens the
account identification page in IC and Leave finishes the chat.
When there is a new chat request assigned to an agent, the agent has the ability to accept or reject
the request. The chat request can be accepted by clicking the Accept button in the IC toolbar.
The chat request can be rejected by clicking the Reject button in the IC toolbar. If the chat
request is rejected, it remains in SAP BCM queue and SAP BCM assigns it to another agent. If the
accent does not take any action (accept or reject the request) in a specified time range, e.g. 20
seconds, the chat request remains in SAP BCM queue and SAP BCM assigns the request to another
agent.
After accepting a chat request, the agent can handle it with the SAP CRM IC chat handling functions
(e.g. insert standard response, edit message, send). The agent can also use scripts to guide him or
her through the chat session and save the transcript of the chat session to the interaction record for
future use. The IC chat user interface is shown in the figure below.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
Leave button closes the chat session between the customer (the person who initiated the chat) and
the agent. However the session remains active in the system (wrap-up mode) until the agent
chooses End in the toolbar.
SAP BCM routing capabilities can be used also for action item routing (aka business process push).
In this case the system works as follows: whenever there is an action item fulfilling the configured
criteria, the item will be routed immediately to a suitable and available person for immediate action.
The action item can be, for example, a service ticket, an alarm or an alert. The configured criteria for
immediate routing can be, for example, that the action item priority must be “very high”.
The figure below shows an action item routing example visualized by three pictures:
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
o According to the rule, the action item gets forwarded to the routing engine which matches the
item with queue structures, people skills and presence information.
o Based on the information, the routing engine finds a suitable and available person and
pushes the action item to the person.
• The third picture in the right shows the screen of the person receiving the action item:
o When the item arrives to the selected person, accept and reject buttons flash.
o If the user accepts the item, the related information is shown in the screen.
o If the user does not accept the item, it is offered to another suitable and available user.
Escalating a service ticket Routed like a phone call in real-time to the best available person
Queues
Skills
Presence
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The figure below shows example screen contents when an action item is pushed to a CRM user.
This chapter applies to SAP CRM Interaction Center user interface only.
It is possible to have the SAP BCM system push a new incoming call or chat request on top of an
active e-mail interaction. This feature can be activated for each SAP BCM e-mail queue separately.
For SAP BCM e-mail queues there are settings which control this feature:
• There is a setting to define whether an incoming queue call or a chat request can be allocated to
an agent who is busy with another email from particular queue.
• There is a setting to define whether an incoming direct call can be connected to an agent who is
busy with another email interaction.
If this feature is active for a SAP BCM email queue and an agent is handling an email interaction
from that queue, a new incoming contact (call or chat) appears in a new tab on SAP CRM IC UI. The
new tab includes the relevant controls and data for the new contact.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The figure below shows example screen contents when a user has several contacts.
Agents can also start a new additional contact (call or e-mail) themselves by opening a new tab and
initiating a contact. This feature is always active. If an agent initiates a new call on top of an existing
call, the first call is put on hold.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
In the integrated solution, outbound campaign is planned and created on SAP CRM side. Once
calling list created on SAP CRM side, calling list can be easily imported to SAP BCM using
SAPphone integration interface between SAP CRM and SAP BCM systems. Once calling list is
imported to SAP BCM, campaign administrator shall assign agents to the campaign, define dialing
mode (preview, progressive or predictive) and start the campaign using SAP BCM System
Configurator /Campaign Management user interface.
Once outbound campaign is started, assigned agents can login to campaign via SAP BCM CDT
softphone (Outbound Campaigns tab). After these agents starts receiving campaign calls to SAP
CRM Interaction Center user interface and agents user SAP CRM capabilities to handle customer
issues during the call; e.g. take in orders. Once agent hangs up outbound call, he /she classifies the
call using SP CRM IC user interface and receives another campaign call until agent activates pause
or logs out from the campaign.
SAP BCM Monitoring and Reporting solutions provides outbound calls related statistics both from
outbound campaigns and agents perspective; e.g. how many calls has been made (per campaign
and agents), how many customers are handled and unhandled at any given time, number of
scheduled recalls, calls related durations, etc. SAP CRM solution focus is to report outbound
campaign and agents business results; e.g. number of orders per campaigns and agents, number of
refusals, etc. SAP CRM related activities.
Above picture illustrates SAP CRM Outbound Campaign – SAP BCM Outbound Dialer integration.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
Several dialing modes are supported. Preview dialing and progressive dialing modes utilize SAP
rd
BCM inbuilt outbound dialer. Predictive dialing mode uses a 3 party Sytel Softdial dialer (requires
separate licenses from Sytel, http://www.sytelco.com/).
PREVIEW DIALING
SAP BCM system offers an agent a contact from the call list. When the agent accepts the preview
call contact via SAP CRM Interaction Center UI, information related to the business partner to be
called is shown to agent. The agent can study the information and prepare for the call. When the
agent is ready to call she can establish the call manually using SAP CRM IC telephony toolbar.
PROGRESSIVE DIALING
SAP BCM system offers an agent a contact from the call list. When the agent accepts to the
outbound contact via SAP CRM Interaction Center UI, information related to the business partner to
be called is shown to agent. With progressive dialing mode SAP BCM starts calling the business
partner immediately, or as soon as the pre-defined preview time has elapsed.
PREDICTIVE DIALING
Predictive dialing mode places the outbound calls automatically to customers based on outbound
campaign calling list managed by the predictive algorithm. SAP BCM system allocates answered
calls to agents using SAP CRM Interaction Center user interface. Predictive dialing mode is the most
effective dialing mode since it generates outbound calls automatically and connects only answered
calls to available agents. All other calls, e.g. busy and no answered calls, are automatically
rescheduled by predictive dialing engine based on campaign settings. Predictive dialing uses third-
party Sytel Softdial dialer (http://www.sytelco.com/) that is out-of-the-box integrated with SAP BCM.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
The figure below shows example screen contents when a user is viewing the list of personal contacts
and opens instant messenger window.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
5.1 Queues
Agents may log into the Contact Center queues using CDT softphone or alternatively supervisors or
managers manage agent queue login statuses via CDT Supervisor tool or Online Monitoring user
interface. In addition all agents are able to view real-time queue status information in the contact
center. Queue status information shows number of customers in each queue, the longest waiting
time in each queue, the number of logged in agents serving each queue and number of free agents
in each queue.
Furthermore the agents can review their contact handling history (past 5 days) and utilize CDT
Dashboard view providing statistics for the current day on application levels (e.g. contact center or
helpdesk unit), on team level and on personal level. Dashboard view provides statistics like incoming
call and email volumes with handling statistics and outgoing call information. The figure below shows
real time queue status view in CDT.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
5.2 Directory
CDT softphone provides access to SAP BCM system internal company directory (in-house) and
optional common and/or personal directories. SAP BCM system presence data is also integrated
with SAP CRM user interfaces, see chapter 2.4. for further details. Directory information includes
company and personal contact details such as: titles, job descriptions, substitute and assistant
information, as well as lots of other information related to the company and its personnel. The in-
house directory also includes one’s own and other’s absence information. The in-house directory
supports photos, which are shown next to the contact details.
CDT search engine enables effective searches by using, e.g., name, title, company name, location,
or phone number. The selected directory entry is immediately available for calling, e-mailing and
messaging. Users with special rights, for example switchboard operators, have additional information
fields available for specifying search terms and categories. The figure below shows CDT directory
view.
SAP BCM includes personnel presence data management functionalities. Every SAP BCM user can
inform other users about their current and future absences such as: meetings, business trips and
holidays. One’s own availability information can be managed in many ways, for example, via CDT
softphone, SAP Convergence softphone, MS Outlook calendar, CMC mobile client, IP desk phone,
IVR service, or SMS messages. In addition, SAP BCM directory and availability information can be
integrated with 3rd party applications. Such integration is typical, for example, with corporate Intranet
so that directory and presence information is available via an Intranet user interface.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
CDT softphone users can search and review other in-house user’s availability information, including
directory information. With directory and availability management system, the productivity and
effectiveness of an organization can be increased. The time for tracing colleagues is minimized
eliminating unnecessary internal call transfers and reducing the workload of all users, especially call
attendants, and contact center agents.
The CDT Supervisor tool enables supervisors to perform all the most commonly used functions
needed for Contact Center quality control and agent training. The Supervisor tool is additional
functionality to the browser based Communication Desktop (CDT) softphone. A supervisor tool
window is shown in the figure below.
The CDT Supervisor can select an agent for more specific monitoring. Agents using CDT softphones
are notified once they are monitored and they can also deny supervising via their own CDT user
interface. The features of the CDT Supervisor tool incorporate the following:
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
29
SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
6 Reporting integration
SAP BCM provides statistical information about phone call, e-mail and chat connections routed via
SAP BCM to/from SAP CRM. SAP CRM can get the statistical information from SAP BCM and
combine it with the other contact related statistics collected by SAP CRM. Combining communication
event statistics with SAP CRM Interaction Center process statistics offers a complete view of
customer interactions.
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
7 Integration architecture
Web services (SOAP over HTTP) is used to integrate SAP BCM to SAP CRM solution. The SAP
BCM integration interface is called Online Interaction Interface (OII) and it connects to Integrated
Communication Interface (ICI) on SAP CRM side. SOAP over HTTP interface is used for call, email
and chat contacts control, presence information exchange, business process push and call attached
data exchange. In addition there is a Remote Function Call (RFC) interface, SAPphone, which is
used for uploading reporting statistics data from SAP BCM to SAP BW and outbound call list from
SAP CRM to SAP BCM.
SAP BCM and SAP CRM are managed separately using the respective administration tools. Each
system and related user accounts are configured with their own configuration user interfaces.
Personnel data is stored separately to both SAP BCM and SAP CRM databases. Customer data is in
SAP CRM database only. Each system commands its own end user interface. The figure below
illustrates the main connections between the systems.
Integrated Communication
E-mail
e-mail server
Online Integration
C Business
Interface (OII)
Interface (ICI)
E Comm.
Web Broker
Phone call
M
VoIP Services
Gateway
CRM-
Application
3rd party
PBX
(optional)
BCM softphone and
CRM UI
3rd party
PBX user Agent Desktop
phone
The SAP BCM Online Interaction Interface (OII) makes it possible for SAP CRM user interfaces
(Sales, Marketing, Service and Interaction Center) to control telephony functions in real time. The
SAP CDT softphone application behaves as if the user would have used the functions in the CDT
user interface, but the CDT user interface does not need to be visible at all. For example, it may be
hidden behind another user interface (eg. SAP CRM IC UI).
The integration is enabled when the user is subscribed to OII by using the same user login ID as
used in the CDT application. It is possible to run some agent CDTs with integration enabled and
some not. Furthermore, it is possible to use CDT normally when the integration is enabled. New calls
made directly in CDT are not visible in the integration, but if a queue call is answered in CDT, it
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
behaves as if the call was answered via the integration. The interface offers only one phone call
(from a queue) to a user at a time.
SAP BCM fetches e-mails from corporate e-mail server using IMAP4 protocol and routes them to the
SAP CRM agents, using OII interface. OII connects with ICI interface in the SAP CRM side. The
figure below illustrates the connections between the systems.
Integrated Communication
E-mail
Online Integration
e-mail Web
Interface (OII)
server
C Services
Interface (ICI)
E
M
CRM-
Application
Agent Desktop
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
When SAP CRM E-mail Response Management System (ERMS) is used together with SAP BCM,
incoming e-mails are first received and processed by ERMS. ERMS sends the e-mails to SAP BCM,
using ICI and OII interfaces. SAP BCM routes the e-mails to the agents, using OII and ICI. The figure
below illustrates the connections between the systems.
SAPconnect
SAP CRM
SMTP
E-mail
server ERMS
e-mail
SAP BCM
software
Communication
Interface (ICI)
Online Integration
Integrated
Interface (OII)
C
E Web
M Services CRM-
Application
Incoming e-mail
Agent Desktop
The OII interface offers only one e-mail message to a user at a time.
Chat customer application in the customer web site connects to SAP BCM, which handles chat
queuing and routing. SAP BCM invites the SAP CRM IC user to a chat conversation via the Online
Integration Interface (OII) and the corresponding events for the chat session are communicated
through the Integrated Communication Interface (ICI). Standard responses, scripts and interaction
records are handled by SAP CRM. The OII interface offers one chat session to a user at a time.
Presence information and queues are defined and maintained in SAP BCM system. When a user
selects transfer in SAP CRM IC user interface, SAP CRM calls SAP BCM for the presence
information. SAP BCM returns queue status information to SAP CRM IC user interface. SAP CRM IC
user interface call transfer view displays only the queues that have free agents at the moment. The
SAP BCM interface used for presence is Online Interaction Interface (OII) and it connects to
Integrated Communication Interface (ICI) in SAP CRM.
Campaign planning (including call lists, scripts etc) is done in SAP CRM using SAP CRM Marketing
role. Calling lists are transferred to SAP BCM via SAPphone interface. SAP BCM System
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
Configurator tool is used to assign agents to campaigns, select the dialing mode and parameters to
be used and activate campaigns.
Agents use SAP BCM CDT to login outbound campaign and SAP CRM Interaction Center user
interface to handle the outbound calls. Relevant customer data and campaign script is fetched to
agent’s SAP CRM IC UI based on contact ID in the campaign calling list. Business result data is
collected to SAP CRM reporting database. SAP BCM monitors and reports progress with the call
lists and agent activities.
SAPphoneBCM interface connects to SAP BCM web services based Reporting Data Interface (RDI)
to read statistical information about contacts handled using SAP CRM Interaction Center user
interface. SAPphoneBCM interface provides reporting statistics information to SAP BW by providing
SPS_STAT_DATA_GET RFC function for SAPphone interface.
The table below shows the features supported by the different SAP BCM and SAP CRM version
combinations:
Versions BCM 5.5 SR1 and BCM 6.0 and BCM 6.0 and BCM 6.0 BCM 7.0
CRM 4.0 Service CRM 4.0 Service CRM 5.1 – and and
Industry Extension Industry Extension CRM2007 CRM 7.0 CRM 7.0
Functionality – CRM 7.0 – CRM 5.0 EhP 1
Inbound call handling X X X X X
Email handling X X X X X
Click-to-dial X X X X X
Context transfer X X X X X
Chat handling X X X X
ERMS support X X X
Communication toolbar
X X
in all SAP CRM roles
Contextual presence X X
Action item routing X X
Action item routing
X
using agent skills
SAP CRM Outbound
integration with SAP X
BCM Outbound Dialer
Simultaneous contacts
X
(email + call or chat)
SAP BCM absence
X
profiles access via IC UI
CRM internal Instant
X
Messenger support
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SAP BCM 7 AND SAP CRM 7.0 EHP1 INTEGRATION OVERVIEW
There are small differences in the SAP CRM user interface look and feel between the different
versions. For example the call handling buttons may look different in different versions.
SAP BCM can be integrated also with the following SAP CRM Interaction Center Winclient versions:
• SAP CRM version 4.0 Service Industry Extension + Service Pack 7 or higher + note 1001703 to
be installed
• SAP CRM version 5.0 Service Pack 8 or higher + note 1001703 to be installed End of the
example.
Please note that SAP BCM 7 supports Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems and Internet
Explorer (IE) versions 7, 8 and 9 on workstation side. Please check SAP CRM client software
requirements from appropriate version of SAP CRM documentation.
35