FAQ 4: Historical Statistics

Question

The Talk Time reported in the Contact Actions data source is slightly higher than the value reported in the equivalent Talk Time field in the Contact Data Records data source. Why are they not equal?

Answer

The discrepancy arises in the part of the cleardown routine where each duration is logged. Although timers start at the same point in both data sources, the Talk Time field in Contact Data Records is calculated as soon as the disconnect routine is triggered. In contrast, the Talk Time in Contact Actions is calculated at the end of the disconnect routine. The difference is therefore the time taken to drop the call, which is very small and typically in the order of a fraction of a second.

As to which of the two Talk Time fields is more accurate, this depends on whether you consider the time to drop the call to be part of the customer's talk time. Some users may consider the Talk Time in Contact Data Records to be more accurate as the caller is no longer talking to the agent at the point when either of the parties on the call triggers a disconnection. But if it is the agent who hangs up, then, technically, the customer is connected for a further fraction of a second even though they are not talking.