Using Outbound Dialler for Testing

[Rory]

Anyone had any thoughts/experience of using a Genesys outbound suite for stress/volume testing new infrastructure and changes (when its not being used for production calling!).

I've been in a couple of situations where it would have been handy to reel off a few hundred calls very quickly (or under specific conditions) to test faults, upgrades and changes to our systems.

Being that we have 48 dialogic ports outbound on Genesys not being used over night it would be handy to control them. Problem is of course that I don't want to have any agents logged in to take the calls. Only way I can think of is to write something to interact with the dialogic cards themselves.

Any suggestions?

[Mark Newcomb]

Why not write an application which automatically registers the appropriate amount of users you require. This could be done by reusing the information stored in the cfg_db. As you will need to create an agent group and also assign some agents to it you could then get this application to check who was in that group and then register all of these users on a predetermined range of DNs. That way you can reduce the amount of manual intervention required in setting the test up, prior to actually running the campaign.

hope this helps
Mark

[Vic]

There is a little bit easier way to do it have you looked at GSDK ? Besides simulator they also offer the agent scripting simulator which allows you to simulate agents answering the phones, etc...

[Rory]

Thanks for the replies guys. Will maybe look at writing something which will allow us to use our Genesys outbound to test our nongenesys telephony.

Will post an update if I get anywhere.

Rory

[Calum]

Let me play devil's advocate What exactly are you testing the operating system, the PABX, the network, the database etc.?

Obviously if your network is slow it will affect the outbound suite, couple this with a slow db and you'll be operating at a snails pace. Furthermore, if you have such high param's in your outbound environment it is possible to spam your PABX.

Just thoughts...

[Rory]

Interesting thoughts.

Would be testing other PBXs from another site (running Genesys) to ensure such things as routing, new kit etc. as well as network connectivity and the like (on the sites which are not Genesys(some are CCR/MAX with others on Symposium). As all our PBXs are on a private DPNSS network we can also look at network loads etc.

[Calum]

Rory,

Do you have your environment engineered already? If so you should be able to verify if strategies work. Dealing with networks is a pain however, sporadically testing won't prove anything unless you plan on doing bound tests.

From my experience the weakest link in hammering outbound calls is the PABX. OCS/SDialer can overwork the switch. Genesys can only operate as fast as the network and db can handle. Just make sure your systems and db are up to snuff otherwise you will have problems.

Also, a couple hundred calls is nothing. However, what is really quickly? Unless you are routing callers back to an automated message OR you have a plethora of agents what is your option?

That goal may not be reached.

Cal