telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

, the term call processing has the following meanings: # The sequence of operations performed by a

switching system In telecommunications, an electronic switching system (ESS) is a telephone switch that uses solid-state electronics, such as digital electronics and computerized common control, to interconnect telephone circuits for the purpose of establishing tele ...

from the acceptance of an incoming

call Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call (poker), a bet matching an opponent's * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from L ...

through the final disposition of the call. See

call control In telephony, call control refers to the software within a telephone switch that supplies its central function. Call control decodes addressing information and routes telephone calls from one end point to another. It also creates the features that c ...

for a more complete description. # The series of steps and processes by which an organization automates the handling of telephone calls (usually incoming calls). Call processing in this sense may include the initial greeting of the call (perhaps time-of-day or other factor dependent) to routing the call based on dialed digits or lack thereof. The automated treatment may include routing the call to an Interactive Voice Response System (IVR), sending the call to a voice mail system, queuing the call, ''etc.'' or a combination of steps and real-time decisions. See also

Automated attendant In telephony, an automated attendant (also auto attendant, auto-attendant, autoattendant, automatic phone menus, AA, or virtual receptionist) allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the intervention of an operator/ ...

. # The end-to-end sequence of operations performed by a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

from the instant a

call attempt Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call (poker), a bet matching an opponent's * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from La ...

is initiated until the instant the call release is completed. # In

data transmission Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, signal transmission, transmitted and received over a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication chann ...

, the operations required to complete all three phases of an

information transfer In telecommunications, information transfer is the process of moving messages containing user information from a source to a sink via a communication channel. In this sense, information transfer is equivalent to data transmission which highligh ...

transaction. "Volume Call Processing" is the handling of calls when there are far more incoming calls than can be answered by an individual or group of attendants.

References

Federal Standard 1037C

Call processing tips
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