This article defines the main concepts and metrics used within Talkdesk Data Platform™ for both voice and digital channels. These definitions clarify how the system measures contact types and key time-based performance indicators.
Contact Types (Voice)
Inbound:
- Answered: Contact reached an agent and was answered.
- Missed: Contact was rejected or missed by an agent, which led to the contact termination by a Studio flow rule after an assignment.
- Abandoned: The contact person finishes/disconnects the contact before it is answered by an agent (includes abandoned while ringing the agent).
- Short-abandoned: An abandoned contact that disconnects within a system-defined time threshold.
- Voicemail: The contact reached a voicemail component. It doesn’t guarantee that a voicemail was left by the contact person.
Outbound:
- Connected: The agent successfully connected to the intended person.
-
Not connected: The contact was not successful and ended without reaching the intended person.
More information about the definition of each contact type here.
Contacts and Interactions Duration
Voice Interaction:
Inbound Voice Interaction
Visual definition of inbound voice contacts and calls:
Visual definition of each time concept for an inbound answered contact:
Digital Interaction:
Inbound Email or SMS Interaction
Visual definition of inbound digital contacts and calls:
Outbound Email or SMS Interaction
Visual definition of outbound digital contacts and calls:
Time-based Metrics for Contacts
In the table below, you can see:
| Concept | Voice channel description | Digital channel description | Type of call |
|
Start: waiting queue End: call is answered , abandoned, missed or routed somewhere else Includes queue time and ring time. For voice channels, it is measured regardless of how the call ends (answered, abandoned, missed, short-abandoned or voicemail) |
Start: digital contact (e.g., chat, messaging, email) is created and is waiting to be assigned. End: agent sends the first reply to the contact For non-voice channels (chat, email, SMS, etc.) only answered contacts are included (unanswered contacts are excluded). Metric in Explore reporting: |
Inbound |
|
Start: ringing an agent End: call is answered, abandoned, missed or routed somewhere else For voice channels, it is measured regardless of how the call ends (answered, abandoned, missed, short-abandoned or voicemail) |
Inbound | |
| Talk Time |
Start: contact is answered End: contact is disconnected Does not include the ringing time nor After Call Work (ACW). On Calls dataset → Includes hold time during the call. On Contacts dataset → Excludes hold time during the call (hold time is reported separately). |
|
Inbound Outbound |
| Handle Time |
Start: talk time End: ACW finishes This includes talk time, hold time, and After Call Work (ACW). |
Start: agent starts actively working on the assigned contact It only includes the time the agent is actively focused on the conversation (i.e., has the conversation open and is working/responding) - if the agent switches away from the conversation, it will not count. |
Inbound Outbound |
| Abandon Time |
Start: waiting queue End: call is abandoned - caller disconnected before reaching an agent (even if it was already ringing an agent) |
|
Inbound Abandoned |
| Short abandon time |
Start: waiting queue End: call is abandoned within the short abandoned threshold |
|
Inbound |
| Connect time |
For connected contacts:
For not connected contacts (wrong number, busy, voicemail):
|
Outbound | |
| Time to missed |
Start: waiting queue End: call is missed (it rang an agent, but call was rejected by him or not answered) Does not include the time spent in IVR components |
|
Inbound |
| Time to voicemail |
Start: waiting queue End: call reached a voicemail component |
|
Inbound |
Note: All metrics described above apply to individual contacts, not to the interaction as a whole. Since a single interaction may comprise multiple contacts, these metrics are measured separately for each contact within an interaction.
Additional Resources
For more information about metrics based on the Contacts data model, see New Contacts Data Model - New and Updated Metrics in this article.