Sharpen Q: Agent Readiness

Overview

Before beginning to take interactions, agents should take a few moments to confirm they are properly set up in Sharpen Q. This includes verifying your receiving status, confirming your call routing, and ensuring you are logged into the correct queues. Taking a minute to complete this checklist at the start of each shift helps prevent missed interactions and ensures a smooth day.

Accessing Sharpen Q

Open Google Chrome and navigate to app.sharpencx.com or http://app.iz1.sharpen.cx ; your administrator will confirm which URL applies to your organization. Log in with your Sharpen credentials or Single Sign-On.

Once logged in, click the dropdown menu in the upper-left corner and select Sharpen Q.

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The Sharpen Q dashboard is organized into three main areas:

• Top Bar

  • Manage your receiving status, call routing, and queue assignments.

• Activity Side Panel

  • View current and historical interactions for your user and queues.

• Q Phone

  • Make outbound calls and send messages from a specified queue number.

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Agent Readiness Checklist

1. Set Status to Receiving Calls/Auto Answering

In the upper-left corner of the dashboard, use the status toggle to switch between Receiving Calls/Auto Answering and Calls Paused. Before your shift begins, verify that the toggle is green with a check mark and displays either Receiving Calls or Auto Answering. The displayed status depends on the configuration your administrator has assigned to your user account.

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When set to Calls Paused, you will still see interactions listed in the queue, but they will not be routed to you, and you will not be rung. Use this state when stepping away for a break or meeting.

Hovering over the toggle reveals additional options, including the ability to set a pause reason and adjust alert volume.

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2. Verify Active Status

Confirm that your status shows as Active. If you ended your previous shift in a Calls Paused state and then logged out, that status will persist when you next log in. Simply toggle back to Receiving Calls to resolve this.

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If your status appears incorrect and toggling does not resolve it, try logging out of the dashboard and logging back in. If the issue persists, notify your supervisor or Sharpen administrator.

3. Check Call Routing

In the center of the Top Bar, you will find the “Route Calls To” dropdown. This setting determines where your interactions ring, for example, your computer, desk phone, or another device.

Available routing options include Connect Phone, Sharpen Q Phone, Desk Phone, Hot Desk, and Mobile Phone. Most representatives will use the Sharpen Q Phone as their default routing option, but this setting is important to review if you are working remotely or from a different workstation.

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• “Route Calls To” Options

  • Sharpen Q Phone

    • The standard option for most agents. Routes voice interactions' audio through a USB or wireless headset connected to your computer.

  • Desk Phone

    • Routes interactions to a physical IP desk phone registered to your extension. This option is only available if a desk phone has been configured for your extension by an administrator.

  • Hot Desk

    • Allows you to sign in to any compatible desk phone and receive calls at that location, without being tied to a single physical extension. This is ideal for agents who move between workstations, share desks, or rotate through different roles throughout the day.

  • Mobile Phone

    • Forwards interactions to your mobile device. This option is not available by default and must be requested through your Administrator via your Account Manager or the Sharpen Care team.

  • Connect Phone

    • This option is deprecated and should no longer be used.

Regardless of your routing selection, all queue activity remains visible in the Activity Side Panel, and interactions are answered, ignored, or rejected the same way across all routing types.

4. Manage Queue Assignments

Click the Manage Qs button in the upper-right corner of the dashboard to view and manage your queue assignments. A pop-up window will display all queues available to you, with toggle switches to log in or out of each one.

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You can click the down arrow next to any queue to view basic queue statistics, which can help you determine where your availability is most needed.

If you need to log out of a specific queue and want to provide a reason, click the small down arrow next to the Logged In Status label for that queue.

Queues marked with a double arrow icon are configured to support handling multiple interactions simultaneously.

Once your queues are set, click X to close the Manage Qs window and return to the dashboard.

Performance Tiles

If you see three colored tiles on your Sharpen Q dashboard, your manager has enabled Performance Tiles. These tiles display your performance against three key metrics selected specifically for your team, calculated over a rolling 7 or 30-day period as configured by your manager.

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For more information about Performance Tiles, click here.