Attachment 11 - Interactive Voice Response System Functions.pdf

Interactive Voice Response System Functions

Web-Based Jury Management System Requirements

Version 1.1

Attachment 11

Contents Overview

Users and Roles Stakeholders

Interactive Voice Response Functions Juror Pool Records Current Status on the Online Public Access Website Cell Phone Carrier Table Outbound Texting Portal Block Call Summary Questionnaire Line Responsive Texting

Property of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Attachment 11 1

Overview The Government has given the option to the Contractor to either use the current VoiceMetrix Corporation’s Appear Speech software (preferred) or a new IVR system and/or application. The business functions outlined in this document must be seamlessly performed in any new IVR system and/or application. Whether the Contractor utilizes the existing or an alternative IVR solution, the Contractor is responsible for providing the primary support responsibility for the IVR system and application, including, but not limited to software/system modifications and monthly hotline support and maintenance.

This document outlines the messaging system that initiates messaging calls to remind jurors of their reporting date as well as updating their current status on the Online Public Access Website. This software performs data synchronization with the Jury Management System (JMS) application database.

The following VoiceMetrix Appear Speech business functions are summarized. The Contractor will be required to interface with the Appear Speech messaging system. Refer to the Data Synchronization section below for the scope of interface.

Users and Roles

Jury Administrators, Jury Clerks, and other jury-related user roles

Stakeholders

JMS users

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Interactive Voice Response Functions The Government’s current Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system is VoiceMetrix Corporation’s Appear Speech application. This application integrates with the Jury Management System (JMS) for the following purpose:

• Data Synchronization o Synchronizing juror pool records from JMS to Appear Speech.

o Updating the juror’s current status on the Online Public Access Website.

o Updating the cell phone carrier table in JMS.

The Contractor shall work with the IVR vendor to provide table and field access. The following information is provided so the Contractor can determine the scope of the interface between the web-based JMS and VoiceMetrix’s IVR system. Under the current configuration eighteen (18) fields are accessed in the JMS across three (3) tables, including approximately twelve (12) writes and six (6) reads. The Appear Speech application currently uses Informix Connect drivers through Microsoft .NET.

Juror Pool Records

VoiceMetrix copies juror information including statuses from the JMS using scheduled data synchronization intervals throughout the day. The status codes in the juror’s pool record are used to determine what messages are automatically assigned by Appear Speech. Based on the JMS statuses, and typical court call flow, the following message mapping could be configured for web-based JMS:

• JMS Status > Appear Message o 00 – Pool > “Summoned o 01 – Summoned > “Summoned” o 02 – Responded > “Responded” o 03 – Panel > No message in Appear Speech.

o 04 – Juror > “Juror” o 05 – Excused > “Excused” o 06 – Disqualified > “Disqualified” o 07 – Deferred > “Deferred” or “Postponed” o 08 – Reassigned > No message in Appear Speech.

o 09 – Undeliverable > Juror is deleted from Appear Speech jury pool.

o 10 – Transferred > No message in Appear Speech.

o 11 – Completed > “Service Over”

Current Status on the Online Public Access Website

The data synchronization service is used by VoiceMetrix to insert/update juror statuses on the Online Public Access Website. This service also reads the webpage access log records for importing data back to the Appear Speech application.

• The juror’s current status on the Online Public Access Website displays the same message as the juror hears from the Appear Speech voice message.

• VoiceMetrix transmits the JMS appear_msg_log table to the Appear Speech application.

• If no status record exists in the JMS appear_msg_log table, an error message will display on the Online Public Access Website.

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Cell Phone Carrier Table

VoiceMetrix updates the cell phone carrier table in the JMS database at specified intervals. Data from the this table is used in the following:

• Online Public Access:

o Juror chooses to receive text messages.

o Juror enters their cell phone number.

o Picks a cell phone carrier from a list.

• Jury Management:

o Participant record is updated from Online Public Access with cell phone number, cell phone carrier name and the Receive Text checkbox is selected.

o Source record is updated from Online Public Access with cell phone number, cell phone carrier name and the Receive Text checkbox is selected.

o Participant and source history records in Jury Management are updated with an entry for cell phone, carrier, and text selection.

Outbound Texting Portal

A key feature of the Appear Speech application is the ability for court users to send text message instructions or alerts to jurors who consent to receive texts and provide their associated cell phone number using eJuror during their juror enrollment. Access to a cell carrier portal provides the ability to send the text messages using only a cell phone number. The portal identifies the carrier to which the cell number belongs and relays the text message to that designated carrier and provides delivery confirmation.

Block Call Summary

A blocked calls report from the IVR server shall email the hotline a summary of any blocked calls, subtotaled by day, every Friday reflecting the previous 7 days of activity. This will allow the hotline to be able to monitor call trends for every court and alert the Government if there are an excessive number or blocked (busy signal) calls in the recent past or trending over time.

Questionnaire Line

The questionnaire line allows jury participants to enter their participant number to validate their request against JMS to have a paper qualification questionnaire sent to them. This feature constructs a report for jury staff to and individually print questionnaires for mailing. Additional features include:

1. Cloud-Based Call Handling – Provides unlimited call capacity and no busy signals.

This is a pay- per-use model.

2. Synthesized Voice – The call-in menus use a synthesized Alexa/Siri style voice allowing rapid menu changes upon request.

3. Automated Qualification Questionnaire Form Generation – Requests for printed questionnaires are automatically bundled into a daily PDF ready to print to double-sided QQ forms for mailing.

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4. Callback Requests – The questionnaire line allows callers to leave callback requests by type (i.e., over 70, deceased, moved-out-of-district, etc.). Callers enter their participant number and preferred callback phone. Court users can run a report and return calls or use a browser-based interactive call-back manager to list requests, mark the call as handled or need for follow-up, and record notes.

5. Answers to FAQ’s – Callers can select to hear up to eight FAQs with answers, thereby offloading unnecessary calls to the court.

6. Menu and FAQ Customization – Different courts have different needs, so courts may customize FAQ’s and callback request types.

7. Barcoded Reports – All request and call-back reports include participant number barcodes. Should a court user need to reference a JMS record, the user can scan the participant number for easy lookup.

8. Provisions a Phone Number – Local to the court from Twilio.com (the same provider of text messaging for VoiceMetrix’s Appear Speech application). The court includes this local number in their postcard/letter mailing, or alternately lists a toll-free number provided by the Government which connects to the local phone number.

9. Call Monitoring and Reporting – This feature monitors calling and sends each court a detailed call log each quarter.

Responsive Texting

Outbound texting allows for basic texting and more sophisticated intelligent “responsive” texting for jurors. For example, reporting instructions/status checking, division-specific location and parking information, jury office contact information, and more. Intelligent text responses offer numerous advantages over the IVR audio and can greatly enhance juror customer service, reduce the workload on jury staff, and improve juror communications. These features include:

1. Jurors who enroll to receive text messages through the Online Public Access Website will receive a “welcome” text message on the same or next business day after enrollment. The message will include their participant number and briefly describe the texting features and keywords to send to receive specific information responses. The Online Public Access Website enrollment screen may be enhanced to briefly describe the texting features and inform jurors they will receive a welcome message and additional information.

2. The welcome message will also contain a vCard (virtual contact file) attachment. With just a few taps, the juror can add the court texting information (court name and text phone number) to their cellphone contacts. Additionally, the notes portion of the contact will include all the keywords as included in the body of the welcome message for their reference. By adding the vCard to their contacts, jurors will see the court name as the sender for any future text instructions/status information sent by the court.

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3. Jurors can text “STATUS” as a keyword and immediately receive their reporting instructions/status exactly as they would hear it on the phone or see it on the Online Public Access Website. For security, the Appear Speech application will match the participant number and sender cell phone number to the juror’s cell phone number on file in JMS, and only send the instructions/status if they match.

4. Jurors can send other keywords such as “PARKING”, “LOCATION”, “WEBSITE”, “CONTACT”, etc. and receive their division-specific information for their request. It matches the sender’s phone number to their JMS cellphone field and can immediately identify the juror’s pool and division to provide the location-specific information.

5. If it does not recognize the sender’s cellphone (matching their JMS cellphone field as an active pool juror), it will respond with a message such as “You are not enrolled in the U.S. District Court text information program. Please contact the jury office for additional information.”

6. The application will include an option to allow jurors to request their participant number be texted to them. The selection will describe they must be calling from their cell phone (for authentication) and that they must have enrolled to receive text messages through the Online Public Access Website.

7. The desktop manager will include a text configuration screen allowing each court to customize their welcome message and create all their own keywords and responses.

8. The call tracking reports and screens will be enhanced to combine IVR call-in history with text message inquires to provide full accountability for juror interaction/status-checking.