VFC to WFE Metadata Integrator

AVAILABLE IN 9.7.7 AND ABOVE

Overview

The purpose of the VFC to WFE Metadata Integrator tool is to import call metadata, supported by switch platform and user data, from the VFC platform to the Verint V15.2 Workforce Engagement (WFE) suite. Once imported, the data is available for use by certain applications within the WFE suite. The Integrator continuously verifies the data in both VFC and WFE and carries out a one-way synchronization periodically.

This integration offers the following features:

• Synchronization of call record metadata and their related audio quality, speech transcription, and screen recording metadata from VFC to WFE.
• Synchronization of switch platforms, and extensions from VFC to WFE.
• Synchronization of groups and users from VFC to WFE.

The data synchronized to Workforce Engagement is then available for use in certain WFE applications:

• You can configure Capture Verification Collectors to collect Call Detail Records (CDRs) from the switch platforms and verify your call recording, audio quality, audio transcription, archiving, screen recording, and sensitive data masking compliance with Automated Verification.
• You can create Automated Verification reports to summarize your recording compliance results.

Supported switch platforms

The Integrator supports the synchronization of recording data for the following switch platforms:

• Avaya DMCC/MR
• Cisco Network Based
• IPC Unigy
• IP Trade
• Zoom Meeting
• Zoom Phone

Minimum software version

• VFC Capture 9.7.7 or higher
• Workforce Engagement V15.2

Concepts and functionality

Architecture

The Integrator connects to the VFC Media Repository through API calls to gather system information and sets up an SQL connection to the VFC database to read in the data to synchronize. The Integrator communicates with WFE services and sends data to the WFE database using API calls.

The Integrator supports the following deployments:

* Multi-tenant cloud VFC deployments are supported if each tenant has its own Integrator configured.

The Integrator must be installed on a VFC server. Only one Integrator can be installed on a single server.

When the Integrator first runs, it creates its editable configuration file, appsettings.<environmentName>.json. All connection details are specified in this file, along with parameters to monitor and optimize the synchronization process. The default value of environmentName is Production, otherwise, if configured, the value matches the DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT environment variable configured on the server. Any references to appsettings.Production apply to this file.

There can only be one Integrator running per VFC environment. There can be multiple idle Integrators configured for the same environment, which take over if the active Integrator fails. An Integrator and a VFC environment are associated by configuring the Environment ID in the appsettings.Production configuration file of the Integrator. If multiple VFC environments use the same VFC database, the active Integrator of each environment can connect to that database at the same time. See Resilience for more information.

An Integrator synchronizes VFC data to a single WFE tenant. The connection to the WFE installation is specified by configuring the URL of the WFE Application Server on which the WFO_ProductionDomain_ProductionServer runs. Multiple Integrators can synchronize data to a single WFE tenant, but there are parameters in the appsettings.Production file that must be unique to each connected Integrator. Refer to the Configuration Guide for more details. The tenant to which an Integrator connects is specified by creating an API token for the tenant in WFE and adding that token to the Integrator configuration.

User groups

The Integrator synchronizes all user data from the VFC database to WFE, recreating the same group structure in WFE as it exists in VFC.

While organizations do not exist in VFC, WFE relies on organizations for enforcing user access scoping, and logically associating users and data sources. As the first step of the deployment process, the Integrator requires the creation of a parent organization in WFE. This organization can be on any level of an existing WFE organizational hierarchy. The name of the parent organization must be added to the Integrator configuration. The user groups and data sources managed by the integration are associated with the organization upon creation.

You must also manually create a parent WFE group that holds all groups of VFC synchronized employees, and the name must be added to the Integrator configuration.

Under the parent group, a default group holds all individual VFC synchronized employees, regardless of what VFC groups those employees belong to. On the same hierarchical level, under the parent group, the WFE groups matching the VFC groups get automatically created by the integrator. They retain their VFC names, with the configured name prefix.

Changes to users or groups that happen in VFC are applied to their WFE equivalent the next time the synchronization process runs. Changes to users or groups that happen in WFE do not apply to their VFC equivalents. If conflicting information exists in VFC and WFE, the changes in WFE are overridden the next time the synchronization process runs. However, if a non-VFC user is manually added to any of the WFE groups representing a synchronized VFC group, the user is not removed the next time the synchronization process runs.

The integration supports the synchronization of all VFC users, including users created by an Active Directory synchronization.

Switches and data sources

To synchronize the required recording metadata, the switch platforms for which the Integrator is configured must be specified in the appsettings.Production file of the Integrator.

The Integrator supports the synchronization of metadata from:

• recorded switch platforms, and
• import sources, where VFC does not record the calls, but it ingests the recordings from the switch platform through the configured import source.

The list of supported switch platforms is listed in the configuration file, specifying the platform IDs or import source types, and the platform type that describes the WFE data source type of the platform. The integration process does not run until one or more of the supported platforms is added to the list of configured platforms in the file.

Data sources in WFE do not have to be created manually, the Integrator automatically creates them to represent the switches configured in VFC. You must configure the Integrator to create the right WFE data sources for your deployment and monitoring needs by supplying switch configuration details in the appsettings.Production file.

You must specify:

• the VFC Recording Server addresses,
• the platform name, describing the platform ID or import source type of the switch,
• the time zone of the switch,
• optionally, the extensions configured for that switch platform.

The granular configuration options in the Integrator allow for the accurate mapping of extensions to data sources in WFE.

A data source object in the appsettings.Production file can only be of one platform name, and it must be in a single time zone. However, it can represent multiple switches of the same name, in the same time zone, being recorded by one or more VFC recorders. If the extensions are configured for the data source object, the specified extension numbers are associated to the WFE data source upon creation.

The extension parameter can be omitted or left empty for a data source object, which results in all extensions recorded by the specified recorders on the specified platform name to be associated with that data source. The extensions can be configured as an array of individual alphanumeric values or number ranges, but do not support wildcard operators.

If multiple identical data source objects exist in the appsettings.Production file without extension values specified, extensions for that platform name are associated with each WFE data source.

If multiple data source objects exist in the appsettings.Production file without extensions specified but different platform names are set for them, extensions configured to record all platforms are associated to each data source.

If multiple identical data sources exist in the appsettings.Production file and some of them have extensions specified, the described extensions are associated with the corresponding data source created in WFE. The other, unspecified extensions are associated with the first data source that has no extensions added.

If a platform name has been added to the Configured Platforms parameter, but no data source objects exist in the Data Mapping section, no corresponding WFE data source is created, and no related recording data is synchronized to WFE.

The Integrator configures both the local and UTC time zone of a switch platform to the corresponding WFE data source. The Integrator configuration requires the time zone configured in the IANA time zone format <area>/<location>, but in the WFE user interface the time zone shows in both IANA and UTC/GMT-offset formats, depending on the application. For example, a switch at a site in Los Angeles is seen as America/Los_Angeles in Reports, but shows as GMT-08:00 Pacific Time (US & Canada) on the data source settings page under Recording Management.

For each configured data source in the appsettings.Production file, the Integrator searches WFE for an existing data source that meets the following criteria:

• It has the same name as the data source platform name configured in the DataMapping section of the appsettings.Production file.
• The Type matches the platform type associated with the platform name specified in the ConfiguredPlatforms parameter of the appsettings.Production file. 
• The Switch/sub-type is External Recorder.
• The Organization associated with the data source matches the organization ID of the parent organization created as part of the Integrator deployment process.

If the Integrator finds an existing data source with matching details, it notes the switch_ID of the WFE data source. If the Integrator does not find an existing data source with matching details, it creates one.

The Seating Arrangement property of the created data source is set to:

• Hybrid for phone types,
• Free for trader and application types.

The Contact Policy Type of all created data sources is set to Back office - Contact per call.

The Recorded Platform property of the created data source is set to the value of the data source platform specified in the Integrator configuration file.

Recorders and call metadata

The Integrator synchronizes recording metadata to WFE by periodically checking the VFC database for new recording data and marking them for synchronization. Call marking is the process of reading in a call record from the database, evaluating it against the Integrator configuration, and sending it to the WFE database.

The Integrator only synchronizes recording metadata, not media files.

Each VFC installation is represented as a single recorder in WFE, and all synchronized call records get associated with this recorder, regardless of the number of distinct VFC recorders that captured the calls. The Integrator creates an external recorder server in WFE for each VFC installation. The Server Name of the external server must be specified in the appsettings.Production. It is recommended the Server Name matches the host name of the Media Repository the Integrator connects to.

The way calls are recorded and stored is different in VFC and WFE. Refer to Data models for more details on the VFC call data models, and see Contacts and Interactions for information about the WFE call data models.

Due to the difference in the call record handling, the call search and replay functionality also differs in VFC and WFE. To keep the call search experience consistent across both systems for VFC users, the Integrator retains the VFC call model in WFE.

In WFE, every record in the search results under Interactions represents a single session from the WFE call model. In VFC, every record in the search results under Conversations represents a single conversation entry from the VFC call model.

If more than one record was created during a conversation, related records can be shown together by selecting the ellipsis (…) button on the record and selecting Show Related.

During the synchronization process, each VFC conversation is mapped to a WFE session, allowing for the WFE call search experience being the same as in VFC.

To maintain the Show Related functionality, sessions are related to contacts and associated records can be viewed when selecting a call record from the search results.

The call records originating from WFE remain unchanged and a single record in the Interaction search results still represents a single session.

Deployment process

The VFC to WFE Metadata Integrator deployment process requires configuration in the VFC and WFE environments before the installation of the Integrator. The configuration of the synchronization details is carried out in the appsettings.Production.json file of the Integrator tool after installation.

1. Install server certificates
2. Create a parent organization in Workforce Engagement
3. Create a parent group in Workforce Engagement
4. Create API key in Workforce Engagement for each WFE Tenant
5. Create a VFC API user account
6. Configure file upload from Recorder Servers
7. Enable External Recorder data sources in Workforce Engagement
8. (optional) Enable AQS in Workforce Engagement
9. Install the Integrator
10. Configure the Integrator

Install server certificates

1. Open your browser in Administrator mode and go to your VFC Web Interface.
2. Follow the Server Certificates topic to download the server certificate for the VFC Media Repository server from the VFC Certificate Authority.
3. Install the downloaded certificate on the server that runs the Integrator service.

Create a parent organization in Workforce Engagement

1. In an on-premise or single-tenant WFE environment, sign in as Administrator. In a multi-tenant environment, sign in as Tenant Administrator.
2. Follow the Create an organization topic in the WFE User Management Guide to set up an empty organization for the synchronized VFC data.
3. Note the name of the organization created. You must enter the exact name in the appsettings.Production configuration file of each Integrator during the configuration process.

Create a parent group in Workforce Engagement

1. In an on-premise or single-tenant WFE environment, sign in as Administrator. In a multi-tenant environment, sign in as Tenant Administrator.

2. Follow the Create a group topic in the WFE User Management Guide to set up an empty group for the synchronized VFC data.

   No users must be assigned to the created parent group, or the synchronization process fails.

3. Note the name of the group created. You must enter the exact name in the appsettings.Production configuration file of each Integrator during the configuration process.

Create API key in Workforce Engagement for each WFE Tenant

1. In an on-premise or single-tenant WFE environment, sign in as Administrator. In a multi-tenant environment, sign in as Tenant Administrator.
2. Follow the Generate an API Key topic in the WFE Enterprise Configuration and Administration Guide to create an API key for each Integrator.
3. Set Key type to External.
4. When each API key is generated, note their Key ID and Key Value. You must enter the exact values in the appsettings.Production configuration file of each Integrator that synchronize data to this tenant during the configuration process.

Create a VFC API user account

1. Sign in to VFC as an Administrator user.
2. Follow the User Configuration topic to create a new user that is only used for submitting API requests to VFC.
   1. Set API Access Only to enabled.
3. Note the user name and password of the created user. You must enter the exact values in the appsettings.Production configuration file of each Integrator during the configuration process.

Configure file upload from Recorder Servers

The Integrator does not process recordings that are stored on the Recorder Servers, so the upload of media and metadata files to a central storage location must be configured.

1. Sign in to VFC as an Administrator user.
2. Follow Configuring media file upload to configure policy-based or non-policy based file upload.

Enable External Recorder data sources in Workforce Engagement

To enable External Recorder data sources that represent the VFC switch platforms, turn on the Data Marking API for External Recorder license item in WFE.

1. In a browser, go to http://<wfo_app_server_address>/wfo/control/license_edit.
2. On the License Data page, under Features, enable 2021R1 - Data Marking API for External Recorder.
3. Click Save.

(optional) Enable AQS in Workforce Engagement

If you have Voice Quality scoring enabled in VFC and would like the voice quality data synchronized, the WFE Audio Quality Statistics license item must be enabled.

1. In a browser, go to http://<wfo_app_server_address>/wfo/control/license_edit.
2. On the License Data page, under Features, enable 2021R1 - Audio Quality Statistics.
3. Click Save.

Install the Integrator

Follow the Installation Guide to install the VFC to WFE Metadata Integrator.

Configure the Integrator

Follow the Configuration Guide to configure the VFC to WFE Metadata Integrator.

Troubleshooting

Follow the Troubleshooting Guide to troubleshoot issues with the VFC to WFE Metadata Integrator.

Post-deployment tasks

Once the integration is configured and active, the following items must be completed and checked:

• Verify that the parent organization with the name specified during configuration exists in WFE.
• Verify that the parent group with the name specified during configuration exists in WFE.
• Verify that the VFC Synced group exists as a child of the parent group in WFE.
• Verify that the VFC user groups exist in WFE.
• Verify that VFC users are available in WFE, are associated with the same groups as in VFC, and have the right extensions associated to them.
• Verify that the data sources configured in the Integrator appsettings.Production file exist in WFE, and have the right name, time zone, recorded platform, contact policy type, and extensions associated with them.
• Verify that recordings are visible in the Automated Verification component of WFE.
• Verify that recordings are associated with the right users, extensions, and data sources.
• Verify that recordings are associated to the Serial Number of the external server that is specified in the Integrator.
• Verify that an external recorder server exists in WFE with the Server Name specified in the Integrator appsettings.Production file.

Resilience

The VFC Integrator achieves a resiliency model using an active-passive design. Multiple Integrators can be running and be configured to read from the same VFC database per VFC environment, but only one Integrator is reading at once.

When an Integrator completes its initial dependency checks, it makes an internal note of all dependency statuses. If all dependencies are ready, the Integrator attempts to connect to the database to read data by sending the database a lock request. If no database locks are in place, the database grants the lock to the Integrator that requested it. The active Integrator keeps sending a heartbeat signal to the database to maintain ownership of the lock. While the ownership is allocated, the database declines any further lock requests from other Integrators.

Any Integrators that completed their dependency checks but were not granted the database lock remain in a passive state. In the passive state, Integrators periodically retries gaining ownership of the database lock. The period for reattempting to acquire the lock is 30% of the lock timeout value and is not modifiable. Before resubmitting the lock request, the passive Integrator checks its internal record of dependency statuses, and if all statuses are logged as ready, the Integrator sends the lock request. If any dependencies are not ready, the Integrator carries out another dependency check, and updates its record of statuses.

If the active Integrator fails and no heartbeat signal reaches the database, the lock timeout period starts. After the timeout period elapses, the lock is released, and the next Integrator to submit a lock request is granted database access. The lock timeout period is configurable in the appsettings.Production file of each Integrator.

Limitations

• The only WFE module with full functionality access through this integration is Automated Verification.
• If the time interval between the start time of the first segment of a call and the start time of the last segment is longer than 12 hours, the created sessions in WFE are not associated with the same contact.
• Passive Integrators that do not have ownership of the database lock use their internal record of the dependency statuses noted during the last dependency check to determine if all services are ready, and only run new dependency checks if any dependencies were previously not ready. This means that if a dependency was ready at the last dependency check but fails before the new lock request is sent to the database, the Integrator starts up and fails when it encounters the unavailable dependency, releasing the database lock and restarting the database lock timeout period. This can cause long wait times for Integrators competing for the database lock, as multiple Integrators failing can make the database connection unavailable for multiple consequent lock timeout periods.