Compass Bridge user manual

About Compass Bridge and this manual

What is Compass Bridge?

In short, Compass Bridge is a web and desktop app that allows you to handle calls and see the availability status of other persons in your organisation, making it ideal for call centre agents and receptionists. If you are a call centre agent or a receptionist taking calls for your organisation, this manual is for you!

What can I find in this manual?

In this manual, we’ll go through some basic Bridge functionality using step by step guides. If the answer to your question is not in here, please consult your administrator or send your feedback to the developers using the feedback form in Bridge. You can find the form by clicking on three dots in the top right corner and then on Send feedback.

Getting started with Compass Bridge

Bridge and your phone work together!

Bridge and your phone work together, so you need to be signed in to both the Bridge (web) app and be logged in to a phone at the same time to work with Bridge! If you’re signed in to Bridge, but not logged in to your phone, you’re colleagues will not see you as “Online” in the contact list.

Signing in to Bridge

To sign in to Compass Bridge:

Start by opening your web browser
You can visit the Compass Bridge web app by typing or copy-pasting the following URL in the URL bar of the web browser and pressing enter:
bridge.hostedcompass.com
When the web app has loaded, you’ll see Welcome and form fields for your username and password.
OR
If you were previously signed in to Bridge, you will see the Compass Bridge interface immediately.
If Bridge detects you are not yet logged in to a phone, you will be asked to select a phone to log in to first. You need to be logged in to a phone to receive calls with Bridge!
Note: If you do not log in to a phone, you won’t be able to take calls using Bridge and your availability status will not be shown as “Online” to other colleagues.

If you are signing in to Bridge for the first time, you are offered some help to get started:

Bridge will ask what kind of view you would like. More about the views can be found in the Changing your Bridge view chapter of this manual.
You will be offered a tour to show you around some of the basic functions.
If you use the Bridge desktop app, your Operating System (Windows or macOS) might ask you for permission to access your contacts. Allow this if you want to use the names and phone numbers from your contacts in Bridge. Your contacts remain private and won’t leave your computer!

If you are unable to sign in with your username and password, perhaps your account is not on the default Bridge environment. If that’s the case you will need to add an extension after your username. Your username and extensions together look something like this: your-username?extension-domain.com

In this example:

your-username is the username you’re already using.
The question mark indicates you want to try a different Bridge environment.
And extension-domain.com is the domain of your Bridge environment.

Please consult your administrator to ask if you need this to sign in to Bridge.

Signing out of Bridge

When you are done taking phone calls, we recommend signing out of Bridge.

To sign out of Compass Bridge:

Before you sign out of Bridge, log out of your phone first. Logging out of your phone will make you appear as “offline” to colleagues.
Then, click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge to show the main menu.
In the menu that drops down, click on Sign out.

After being signed out, you’ll be returned to the Sign in page and your colleagues will no longer see you as “Online” in the contact list.

Getting help while signed in to Bridge

While you’re signed in, if you see any icon, button or status you are unfamiliar with, you can check out the integrated help page which has everything listed together with a short description.

To view the help summary:

Just click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge.
Then, click on Help.

Logging in and out of phones

Why do I need to log in to my phone?

Bridge works together with your phone! To be able to take or make calls with Compass Bridge, you need to be both signed in to Bridge and logged in to a phone at the same time. If you log in manually, we recommend signing in to Bridge first, before logging in to a phone.

Logging in to your phone

To be able to use a phone with Compass Bridge, you need to be both signed in to Bridge and logged in to your phone at the same time. If you sign in to Bridge and we don’t detect any phones you’re logged in to, you automatically get a message asking you to select a phone.

You can also log in to a phone from the menu if you signed in to Bridge without selecting a phone.

To log in to a phone using Bridge:

Click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge.
Then click on log in to a phone. You are presented with a list of all phones available in your company. If a phone is being used already, the name of the colleague using it is shown.
Next, use the search to find the phone you wish to use or scroll through the list manually. Once you’ve found the phone you want to use with Bridge, click on it to highlight that phone.
With the phone you want to use highlighted, click Select this phone to start using Bridge. Remember: you can only choose to log in to a phone if it’s not in use by another colleague. If the Select this phone button is greyed out, select a phone that is not in use first.
If everything went well, you can see a message confirming that you have succesfully logged in to the phone you selected.

You are now logged in! Bridge automatically detects this and you are now able to control calls using Bridge.

When you are logged in to a phone, you appear as “Online” or “In call” to your contacts.

If you wish to switch to another phone, just click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge, then click Switch to another phone and select a different phone from the list!

Logging out of a phone

When you’re done working in Bridge, you may want to log out from your phone.

To log out of the phone you’re using in Bridge:

Click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge.
Then click on Switch to another phone. You are presented with a list of all phones. The phone you’re currently using is at the top marked as Your current phone, followed by the rest of the phones available in your company. If a phone is being used already, the name of the colleague using it is shown.
Next, click on Log out of my phone.
If everything went well, you will see a message confirming that you have succesfully logged out of the phone you were using.

You are now logged out of your phone. Bridge automatically detects this and you won’t be able to control calls using Bridge any more, until you are logged in to a phone again.

Being logged out of your phone also means you will no longer appear as “Online” or “In call” to your contacts.

Switching to another phone

If you are switching desks, you may want to switch the phone you are using with Bridge too! You don’t need to log out of your phone and log in to another one in sequence, instead you can easily switch between two phones in Bridge in one go.

If you want to switch to another phone to use with Bridge:

Click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge.
Then click on Switch to another phone. You are presented with a list of all phones. The phone you’re currently using is at the top marked as Your current phone, followed by the rest of the phones available in your company. If a phone is being used already, the name of the colleague using it is shown.
Next, use the search to find the phone you wish to use or scroll through the list manually. Once you’ve found the phone you want to use with Bridge, click on it to highlight that phone.
With the phone you want to use highlighted, click Select this phone to start using Bridge. Remember: you can only choose to log in to a phone if it’s not in use by another colleague. If the Select this phone button is greyed out, select a phone that is not in use first.
Upon switching, you will be automatically logged out of the phone you were using until that point!
It may take a couple of seconds for the switch to be finished. If everything went well, you will see a message confirming that you are now logged in to the new phone you selected.

You are now logged in to another phone. The phone you previously used is logged out.

You will still appear as “Online” or “In call” to your contacts.

Logging in your phone manually

If there’s a physical phone on your desk, you can log in manually by using the dial pad on the phone. You will need to know your extension and PIN code.

To log in to a phone manually:

Start by using the dial pad on the phone on your desk to dial *1.
Listen for a prompt indicating you can enter your extension.
Now, enter your extension using the dial pad on the phone. To confirm your input and continue, press # on the dial pad. If you don’t know your extension, ask your administrator to help you.
If asked, enter your PIN code using the dial pad on the phone. If you don’t know your PIN code, ask your administrator to help you.
If everything went well, you should hear a message confirming you’re now logged in.
After the call disconnects, you can confirm you’re logged in by looking at the display on the phone: when you’re logged in the display shows your username. The display may take a couple of seconds to update.

You are now logged in! Bridge automatically detects this and you are now able to control calls using Bridge.

When you are logged in to a phone, you appear as “Online” or “In call” to your contacts.

Logging out your phone manually

Once you are done using Bridge, it’s recommended to log out your phone first.

To log out a phone manually:

Use the (physical) dial pad of the phone you are currently logged in to to dial *1.
Listen for a prompt confirming you’re now logged out.
After the call disconnects, you can confirm you’re logged out by looking at the display on the phone: when you’re logged out the display of the phone doesn’t show your username any more. The display may take a couple of seconds to update.

You are now logged out of your phone. Bridge automatically detects this and you won’t be able to control calls using Bridge any more, until you are logged in to a phone again.

Being logged out of your phone also means you will no longer appear as “Online” or “In call” to your contacts.

Setting your availability status

You can determine what type of calls can reach you by setting your availability status in Bridge. The availability statuses are:

Available You will receive both direct calls and queue calls for queues in which you are an agent.
Busy You will receive only direct calls. You will not receive any queue calls even if you’re an agent in them until you set your status back to Available.
Away You will not receive any calls and your phone will not ring until you manually set your status back to either Available or Busy.

To change your availability status:

Click on your username in the top right corner of Bridge.
Choose an appropriate availability status from the list.

Note: In some situations, the application will automatically set your availability status. For example, your status can temporarily be set to Busy after completing a queue call to give you time to finish your notes before taking on the next queue call (this is called Wrap-up time). For more information on this, see the Wrap-up chapter.

Changing your Bridge view

Agent or receptionist view

When you first sign on to Bridge, you are asked what view you would prefer. Bridge has two views:

Agent view If you use Agent view, the main page shows you all queues in the organisation. We recommend selecting this view if you are a contact centre agentor frequently take (priority) calls from one or multiple queues.
Receptionist view If you use Receptionist view, the main page shows you a list of all persons in the company, and their availability status. We recommend selecting this view if you do receptionists tasks and are mostly transferring incoming calls to other persons in the organisation.

You can easily switch views later if you like! To switch your view:

Click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge.
In the main menu, click Switch to Agent view or Switch to Receptionist view.

Comfortable or compact view

Bridge allows you to choose how dense information is shown on screen. There are two choices:

Comfortable view If you select this option, information in your view will be spaced ideally for a clean and peaceful look.
Compact view If you select this option, information will be spaced apart less, so more information fits on the screen.

If you want to switch between comfortable or compact view:

Just click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge.
In the main menu, click Switch to Comfortable view or Switch to Compact view.
You’re always able to switch back to the previous setting. Just repeat the steps above!

Basic call control

Answering incoming calls

If you receive an incoming call, a call card appears at the top. Click on the green answer button marked with a phone icon in the call card to answer that incoming call.

If you already have an active call and you decide to answer a second one, the first call will be put on hold automatically.

You can also decline the incoming call by pressing the red cancel button.

Hanging up

To hang up a call, press the red hang up button on the call card.

The hang up button has another use in case of a transfer! If you are making a transfer, the hang up button is also used to end the call to your colleague and complete the transfer. See the chapter on making transfers for details.

Holding and unholding calls

You can hold a call by pressing the pause button on the call card. To unhold a call, press the pause button again.

If you have an active call and decide to unhold another one, the active call will be put on hold automatically.

Transferring calls

What are transfers?

Compass Bridge allows you to do several type of transfers:

Attended transfer An attended transfer means you first speak to the person who is going to receive the transferred call. For example, to tell them about the question the customer has, or to check if your colleague is available to have the call transferred in the first place.
The advantages of an attended transfer are you can relay information the caller has already told you, and you can cancel the transfer if your colleague is not available or unable to take the call.
Unattended transfer With an unattended transfer, you don’t first speak to the person who will receive the transfer. Instead, you send the call on it’s way to your colleague without relaying information. If your colleague is available and answers the call, there’s a direct connection to the caller.
The advantages of an unattended transfer are that you will be available to take other incoming calls quicker. If your colleague is not available, the call might be routed to a mobile phone, voicemail box, or be disconnected.

Making an attended transfer

An attended transfer typically goes like this:

First, you answer a call
The caller has a question and wishes to speak to a colleague in your organisation
You first check if the colleague is listed as available in Bridge
If so, you set up a call between yourself and your colleague. This process is called consultation.
- This way, you can confirm they are available to take the call
- You can also relay the question from the original caller ahead of the transfer
Next, you can finish the consultation by saying you will now connect your colleague to the original caller
When you hang up, the original caller will be connected to your colleague
You can now continue handling other calls

To make an attended transfer with Bridge, do the following:

After answering a call, start a transfer by clicking on the arrow button on your active call card.
A modal appears which lists all the contacts in your organisation.
Next, find the person you wish to transfer the call to in the list and click on it. Two buttons appear: one to transfer attended and one to transfer unattended.
For an attended transfer, press the Transfer attended button.
A second call is set up to the selected contact for a consultation call. The original call is put on hold automatically.
Call cards for the original call and the consultation call appear in the transfer modal.
When you are done consulting your colleague, you can do two things:
- Complete the transfer with the Transfer the call button.
- Cancel the transfer and get back to the original caller with the Cancel transfer button.

Making an unattended transfer

An attended transfer typically goes like this:

First, you answer a call
The caller has a question and wishes to speak to a colleague in your organisation
You first check if the colleague is listed as available in Bridge
If so, you route the original call straight through without consulting your colleague first
You can now continue handling other calls

To make an unattended transfer with Bridge, do the following:

After answering a call, start a transfer by clicking on the arrow button on your active call card.
A modal appears which lists all the contacts in your organisation.
Find the person you wish to transfer the call to in the list and click on it. Two buttons appear: one to transfer attended and one to transfer unattended.
To complete the unattended transfer, press the Transfer unattended button.

Making calls

Making calls from the contact list

By default, your contact list will have all the colleagues from your organisation. You can see the contact list by clicking the contacts button in Bridge.

To call contacts in Bridge:

First, make sure you’re on the contacts page. In Receptionist view, contacts are on the main page. In Agent view, press the Contacts icon.
Then, find the contact you want to call in the contact list. You can narrow down the list by using the search. Click on the Magnifying glass icon, then enter the name (or just a part of it) of the contact you’re looking for.
When you’ve found the contact, click on the name of the contact to highlight it.
The details of the contact appear.
To start a call, click the call button for one of the phone numbers of the contact.

You can now control the call by using the buttons on the call card.

Using your Windows or macOS contacts in Bridge

If you use the Bridge desktop app, you have the option of using your personal address book (Windows or macOS Contacts) straight from Bridge. When you have enabled access to your contacts, they are added to the list of your colleagues that are already in Bridge.

You are automatically asked for permission to access your contacts the first time you sign in to Bridge.
If you declined access earlier, you can still give Bridge permission from your OS settings. On Windows you do this in App settings > App permissions: Contacts. On macOS it is in System Preferences > Security & Privacy, on the Privacy tab.

Your contacts will always remain private and won’t leave your computer! The permission to access your contacts can be revoked from your OS settings at any time.

Making calls from the Bridge dial pad

If you want to dial a phone number that is not in the contact list, you can use the Bridge dial pad. You can display the dial pad by going to the contacts page and clicking on the dial pad icon.

To make a call from the dial pad in Bridge:

First, make sure you’re on the contacts page. In Receptionist view, contacts are on the main page. In Agent view, press the Contacts icon.
To the right of the Contacts page title, click the dial pad icon.
The dial pad appears.
Enter the number by pressing the dial pad keys. Press the green call key on the dial pad to start the call. OR Enter the number by pressing the number keys on your keyboard. Press the enter key on your keyboard to start the call.

You can use the dial pad both for internal numbers as well as phone numbers outside of the organisation.

Working with call queues

What are queues?

Call queues allow you to handle a call while the next caller waits in line until you or one of your colleagues is available. Incoming queue calls are distributed among the agents that have joined that particular queue. So, to start receiving calls from a queue, you should join that queue first.

You can still log out and in of your phone while being an agent in a queue. After logging out of your phone, you will no longer appear as an online agent and you won’t receive calls from the queue you joined. As soon as you log in to a phone, you’ll automatically become an agent for the queue again and start to receive queue calls.

Joining a queue

If you join a queue, you will be added to the pool of call agents that are available to take incoming calls for that particular queue.

To join a queue, do the following:

First, go to the Queues view. In Agent view, the list of queues are on the main page. In Receptionist view, press the Queues icon.
Click on the name of the queue you want to join. The details for the queue you clicked appear.
Now, to the right of the queue name, click on the Join queue button to join the pool of available agents.

After you join a queue, the name of the queue in the queue list will turn dark.

Leaving a queue

If you don’t want to receive queue calls for a particular queue any more, you should leave that queue.

To leave a queue, do the following:

Go to the Queues view to see all the queues for your organisation. In Agent view, Queues are on the main view. In Receptionist view, press the Queues icon.
Click on the name of the queue you want to leave. The queue details appear.
Now, to the right of the queue name, click on the Leave queue button.

After you leave a queue, the name of the queue in the queue list will turn grey.

You can always re-join a queue again later!

Managing queue agents

If you are a supervisor, the app allows you to manage queue agents other than yourself. This means you are able to add or remove agents from any queue in your company.

To manage queue agents, do the following:

Go to the Queues view to see all the queues for your organisation. In Agent view, Queues are on the main view. In Receptionist view, press the Queues icon.
Click on the name of the queue you want to manage agents for. The queue details appear.
Click on the Agents tab.
To the right of the queue name, click on the Queue settings button. A search box appears, and the list of agents will expand to show all agents in the company.
Use the search box or scroll over the list of agents to find the agent you are looking for.
If an agent is not joined the queue yet, press the plus sign to add the agent to the queue.
If an agent is already joined, press the minus sign to remove the agent from the queue.

If you add an agent that is not online or is in wrap-up, the agent will start receiving calls for that queue as soon as they are online again.

Wrap-up

What is wrap-up?

Wrap-up time is an automatic agent status that is triggered after a queue call to prevent receiving new queue calls for a set period of time. It is meant as a time in which you are able to finish up your notes before having to focus on other calls.

If a specific wrap-up time is set, wrap-up will end automatically and your status will be set to Available again. If no time is set, you will need to end wrap-up manually to receive calls again.

When does wrap-up start?

Wrap-up starts automatically when you end a queue call from a queue that has the wrap-up option enabled. Wrap-up can be enabled by an administrator.

Bridge will notify you when wrap-up starts.

What happens when wrap-up is active?

While you are in wrap-up, your availability status will be set to Busy. This means you will not receive queue calls unless they are from queues that require your immediate attention, such as high priority or emergency queues.

If a specific wrap-up time is set, a wrap-up countdown timer appears in the top right corner to indicate the time left before your status is set to available again.

If no time is set, a wrap-up indicator appears in the top right corner.

When does wrap-up time end?

If a specific wrap-up time is set, wrap-up will end automatically and your status will be set to Available again. A wrap-up countdown timer in the top right corner will indicate when wrap-up time ends automatically.

To end wrap-up manually and start receiving calls again, click on the wrap-up indicator. This is called “breaking out of wrap-up time”.

Bridge will notify you when wrap-up ends.

Cherry picking

What is cherry picking?

Cherry picking is when you select a specific queue call from the list of waiting callers. You can cherry pick any waiting call, even if that call is not the first in line. You don’t need to be an agent in the queue you pick from. Cherry picking is sometimes also referred to as queue pickup or queue call pickup.

Cherry picking a queue call

To cherry pick a queue call, do the following:

Go to the Queues view to see all the queues for your organisation. In Agent view, Queues are on the main view. In Receptionist view, press the Queues icon.
Click on the name of the queue you want to cherry pick from. The queue details appear.
Click on the Callers tab. A list of all waiting callers appears.
Click on the phone icon to the right of a waiting caller to answer that particular queue call.

Listen in

What is listen in?

If you are a supervisor, listen in allows you to listen to conversations agents are having with callers. This is useful for training and coaching new agents and checking the quality of service.

The agent and the caller will not be able to hear you, but the agent will be notified they are being listened to and who is listening.

The caller in conversation with the agent will not be notified that you are listening.

Listen in on a call

To listen in on an ongoing call, do the following:

First, go to the Contacts view. In Receptionist view, contacts are on the main page. In Agent view, press the Contacts icon.
Click on the name of the agent you want to listen in on. The details for the agent you clicked appear.
Now, click on the Calls tab which shows you which calls are currently being handled by the agent.
Click on the ear icon for the call you want to listen in on. A call card appears with the details of the call you are listening in on.

To end the listen in, click the End listen in button.

You can hold the listen in to handle an incoming call or make other calls from your phone if needed.

Pinning

What is pinning?

If you frequently call (or transfer calls to) specific contacts or join and leave particular queues, it’s convenient if they are always at the top of the view. You can do this by pinning them.

Pinning contacts or queues

To pin a contact or queue:

Go to the Contacts view or Queues view.
Search for the contact or queue you wish to pin to the top. If a pin is outlined (not one solid colour) this means the contact or queue isn’t pinned yet.
Click on the Pin icon next to the name of the contact or queue. The contact or queue will now move to the top of the list.

Pinned contacts and queues will have a filled Pin icon.

Unpinning contacts or queues

If you don’t use pinned contacts or queues often, you can unpin them again. They will be sorted alphabetically in the list.

To unpin a contact or queue:

Go to the Contacts view or Queues view.
Search at the top of the list for the contact or queue you wish to unpin. If a pin is one solid colour, this means the contact or queue is pinned.
Click on the Pin icon next to the name of the contact or queue.

Unpinning a contact or queue will make the pin icon appear outlined.

Sending feedback to the developers

Whether you’ve noticed a problem while using Bridge, or have recommendations for a new feature, we would like to hear from you! We are always looking for ways to improve our application so you have a great experience while going about your tasks in a efficient and focussed way.

You can send us your problem or feature description with the integrated feedback form:

Just click on the three dots in the top right corner of Bridge to see the main menu.
Click on Send feedback.
Please enter a detailed description of your problem or feature.
Entering an email address is completely optional, if you want to hear back from us.
Click Send my feedback so your feedback will be delivered to our inbox!

Thank you for helping us improve our product!