Listening to Live Calls
Overview
Sharpen provides three real-time call monitoring features that allow authorized users to connect to live interactions for coaching and quality assurance purposes. These features are particularly valuable for training new agents and enabling supervisors to provide in-call guidance.
Listen
Connects the monitoring user to the live audio of an ongoing interaction in a listen-only capacity. Neither the agent nor the customer can hear the listener.
Whisper
Allows the monitoring user to speak directly to the agent during a live interaction without the customer hearing. This is ideal for real-time response coaching.
Join
Adds the monitoring user as a full third-party participant in the interaction, allowing them to speak with both the agent and the customer simultaneously.
Admin Configuration
Step 1: Enable Listen, Whisper, and Join on a User Group
Navigate to Admin > Settings > User Groups and create or edit the User Group you want to grant monitoring access to.
If Application Options is toggled off, toggle it On.
Check Hub Listen to enable the Listen, Whisper, and Join features for users in this group.
Check Sharpen Q Vue to add Sharpen Q Vue to the application dropdown menu for users in this group.
Step 2: Configure Parent and Child User Group Relationships
A user can only monitor calls belonging to users in a child user group beneath their own group in the hierarchy.
For example, if a user in the Q Manager group wants to listen to calls handled by users in the Q Agent group, the Q Agent group must have Q Manager set as its Parent Group. This is configured by editing the Q Agent user group and selecting Q Manager as the Parent Group.
Step 3: Configure the Monitoring User's Call Path
The user performing the monitoring must have their Call Path set to route to their My Q. Without this, the connection call that delivers the live audio will not reach them.
To configure this, navigate to Admin > Configuration > Extensions, select the monitoring user's extension, scroll to the bottom of the page, and confirm that the Call Path is set to route to their My Q.
Using Listen, Whisper, and Join
Before attempting to monitor a live call, the monitoring user must complete all three of the following steps. This is a common source of issues, skipping any one of these will prevent the feature from working:
Be logged into Sharpen Q in an active browser tab.
Be in an Available status — the user must not be paused, as the connection call is routed like a standard interaction.
Have their My Q call path configured as described in Step 3 of the Admin Configuration section above.
Steps to Monitor a Live Call
In a browser tab, log in to Sharpen and navigate to Sharpen Q. Ensure your status is set to Available.
In a separate browser tab, open the application dropdown menu in the top-left corner and navigate to Sharpen Q Vue.
Click the Agents tab to view agents who are currently on live calls.
Click the tile of an agent whose status shows On Call.
Click the Listen, Whisper, or Join button depending on the level of participation needed.
Sharpen will send a connection call to the monitoring user's Sharpen Q session, joining the audio from the selected interaction. For Listen, only the call audio is connected; the monitoring user's microphone remains inactive.
This article is part of a series on Admin Configuration topics.