l Lutz of Rockwell. The Call Center environment has been one of the first to ex- periment with the integration of telephones and computers. In many Call Centers, when your call is answered by a representa- tive, a computer screen of information about you pops up. This is called a screen pop. ACD Hardware The ACD is put together in the same manner as the PBX. There is a control cabinet that holds printed circuit boards. There are separate circuit boards for different types of outside lines and other circuit boards controlling the telephone instruments. The system can expand in the same manner as a conventional PBX. Some newer ACDs are server based and may look like a PC. Some manufacturers provide different telephones for the ACD agents (agents are also called Custom Service Reps or TSRs/ 76 The Telecom Handbook CHAPTER 4 Telephone Service Reps). These telephones usually have a dis- play providing information such as how many calls are waiting to be answered. An ACD telephone may also be equipped with a headset, since the calls tend to come in one after another. This makes it cumbersome to keep picking up the handset. The head- set also keeps the agent's hands free to retrieve and enter computer-based information using the computer keyboard. The buttons of the agent telephone itself are different from regular PBX telephones. The telephone is typically set up SO that only one call at a time can be answered by each representative. Therefore only one extension number will appear. There may be another separate button used for outgoing calls. Note: An ACD is probably not the right choice if your environment requires cus- tomer service representatives to juggle multiple calls on hold. Other buttons on the telephone may enable the representa- tive to log on or log off the ACD system. When the agent is logged off, no calls will be sent to that telephone. As in other areas of telecommunications, there is a lot of ter- minology unique to ACDs. The queue, for example, refers to the group of callers waiting (lined up in order