Pauses¶
A pause is the reason an agent is logged in but not taking work β lunch, a short break, a meeting, training. While an agent is on a pause, Daktela does not distribute activities to them from queues. Set up your pauses in Settings β Workflows β Pauses.
Why Pauses Matter¶
Pauses are not only a "do not disturb" switch β they are also how Daktela measures your agents' time:
- Reporting. Every pause an agent takes is recorded in the Pause sessions statistics, and supervisors see each agent's current pause in the Realtime panel. With one generic "Break" pause you cannot tell lunch from a coaching session; with a few well-named pauses you can.
- Occupancy. The Ready sessions statistic calculates occupancy as (ready time β unpaid pause time β idle) / (ready time β unpaid pause time). Only unpaid pauses are subtracted, so whether you mark a pause as Paid directly changes the occupancy you see. Mark breaks your agents are not paid for (typically lunch) as unpaid, and paid time that is not spent on activities (training, meetings) as paid.
- Break policy. A pause can have a maximum duration, a daily quota and a minimum gap between uses, so break rules are enforced by the system rather than by a supervisor watching the clock.
Recommended starter set
This is a suggestion, not a product default β adjust it to your own break policy:
| Pause | Paid | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lunch | No | The main unpaid break; excluded from occupancy. |
| Short break | Yes | Coffee or rest breaks. Consider a Max duration and making it Repeatable with a daily limit. |
| Meeting / Training | Yes | Paid time that is not spent on activities. |
| Back-office work | Yes | Follow-up work outside an activity, such as admin or preparing callbacks. |
Then review the three system pauses below: rename them if you like, and decide whether each is paid.
Pause Types¶
Every pause has a Type. There are three system pauses, which exist exactly once each and are started automatically or from the phone rather than chosen by the agent, and any number of custom pauses, which agents start themselves. Any pause can be paid or unpaid.
| Pause type | When it starts | What you can change |
|---|---|---|
| Inactive | Automatically, when an agent is inactive at a time they should be working β see the triggers below. | Its name and whether it is paid. |
| DND | Only from the agent's SIP or hardware phone, by dialling a feature code β see below. | Its name and whether it is paid. |
| Wrap | Automatically, after an agent saves an activity from a queue that has Wrapup time set. It ends automatically when the wrap-up time runs out. Use it to give agents a short gap between activities. | Its name and whether it is paid. |
| Custom pause | When an agent selects it. | All of its settings. |
The Inactive pause starts automatically when:
- Automatic pause is set in an incoming queue and the agent does not answer an incoming activity before Ring time runs out;
- Automatic pause is set in an incoming queue and the agent rejects an incoming activity;
- Time without activity is set in a manual campaign queue and the agent exceeds it;
- Automatic pause is set on a custom pause with a Max duration, and the agent exceeds the pause's time limit.
The DND pause must be enabled in Settings β Routings β Calls β Advanced settings β Feature codes β Internal application. The default codes are *181 (DND on) and *182 (DND off).
Create a New Pause/Edit a Pause¶
Go to Settings β Workflows β Pauses to see the list of your pauses, then create a new pause or open an existing one.
Tip
You can only have one pause each of the types Inactive, DND and Wrap. You can have as many Custom pauses as you need.
Pause Details¶
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Type | See Pause Types above. Selected automatically depending on the type of pause you have opened. |
| Display name | The name shown to agents and supervisors while the pause is active. |
| Paid | Whether the pause is paid. Unpaid pause time is excluded from occupancy β see Why Pauses Matter. |
| Max duration | The maximum length of the pause in minutes. Set to 0 for no limit. |
| Renewal (if Max duration set) | When the user's quota is renewed. If the pause is not Repeatable, the user receives the Max duration as a quota. If it is Repeatable, the user receives Max number per day as a quota and the Max duration is used for each pause. Daily at midnight: the quota is reset to its full amount every day at midnight β best if you prefer a predictable reset time. Running 24-Hour Period: the quota is renewed on a rolling basis, 24 hours after each use. |
| Repeatable | Allows the pause to be used several times per day. Set a daily limit and a minimum gap between pauses so breaks are taken in line with your company policy. |
| Max. number per day (for repeatable pauses only) | The maximum number of times this pause can be used in one day. |
| Minimum timeout (for repeatable pauses only) | The minimum time in minutes before this pause can be used again. |
| Automatic pause (if Max duration set) | When the pause ends, the Inactive pause starts automatically. |
| Prevent direct calls | Prevents direct calls, transfers and invites to the agent while they are on this pause. |
Save your pause.
Info
Direct and transferred activities still ring while agents are on a pause, unless Prevent direct calls is turned on for that pause.
Select Rights¶
A custom pause is available only to users whose user right includes it. In the pause list, click Change in the Rights column and tick the rights that may use the pause. You can also set this from the right itself, in its Pauses tab β see Rights β Functions in Tabs.
The system pauses Inactive, DND and Wrap are available to everyone, so you can't change the rights to them.