Set up recording behavior using Amazon Connect Contact Lens
To set up the ability for managers to monitor live conversations, and review and download recordings of past conversations, add the Set recording and analytics behavior block to your flows. Then assign managers the appropriate permissions, and show them how to monitor live conversations and access past recordings in Amazon Connect.
In addition, for voice interactions you can view human readable logs detailing key interaction points (for example, flows, prompts, menus, and keypad selections) and transcripts for interactions with Amazon Lex. First select Enable Bot Analytics and Transcripts in Amazon Connect in the Amazon Connect console within the Flows section. Then assign managers with appropriate permissions to view details of the interaction with DTMF menus and Lex bots and/ or additional information about flows.
When is a conversation recorded?
-
The call recording feature has options for choosing whether to record the customer and system audio during IVR interactions or any combination of customer, agent, or both during agent interactions.
-
There are a total of two possible recordings per contact: one for automated interactions (that is, IVR) and one for agent interactions. Enabling or disabling recording for automated interactions takes effect immediately. Conversely, modifying recording for agent interactions only takes effect after the agent joins the call.
-
Agent audio is NOT transmitted to Amazon Connect when the agent is not on a call. On November 9, 2023, Amazon Connect deployed an optimization to improve agent productivity that pre-configures the microphone media stream of the agent's browser before the contact arrives. This reduces setup time for both incoming and outgoing calls. As a result, the microphone icon in the agent's browser appears to be on, even when the agent is not on a call.
-
When a customer is on hold during agent interaction, the agent is still recorded.
-
The transfer conversation between agents is recorded.
-
When a call is transferred during a flow or IVR interaction (for example, by using the Transfer to phone number block) the recording continues to capture what the customer says and hears even after they are tranferred to an external voice system.
-
Any transfers to external numbers during the agent interaction are not recorded after the agent leaves the call.
-
If a participant mutes their own microphone, for example, to consult with a someone sitting next to them, their side-bar conversation is not recorded.
Where are recordings and transcripts stored?
Agents and contacts are stored on separate, stereo audio channels.
-
For automated (IVR) interactions, the stereo file contains customer audio in the right channel and system prompts in the left channel.
-
For agent interactions, the agent audio is stored in the right channel and customer (as well conferenced third parties) audio in the left channel.
Recordings are stored in the Amazon S3 bucket that are created for your instance. Any user or application with the appropriate permissions can access the recordings in the Amazon S3 bucket.
Encryption is enabled by default for all call recordings using Amazon S3 server-side encryption with KMS. The encryption is at the object level. The reports and recording objects are encrypted; there's no encryption at the bucket level.
You shouldn't disable encryption.
Important
-
For voice conversations to be stored in an Amazon S3 bucket, you need to enable recording in the flow block using the Set recording and analytics behavior block.
-
For chat conversations, if there's an S3 bucket for storing chat transcripts, then all chats are recorded and stored there. If no bucket exists, then no chats are recorded. However, if you want to monitor chat conversations, you still need to add the Set recording and analytics behavior block to the flow.
-
If a recording is moved from one S3 bucket to another for any reason, such as the retention period has expired, then the recording will no longer be accessible by Amazon Connect.
Tip
We recommend using the contact ID to search for recordings.
Even though many call recordings for specific contact IDs may be named with the contact ID prefix itself (for example, 123456-aaaa-bbbb-3223-2323234.wav), there is no guarantee that the contact IDs and name of the contact recording file always match. By using Contact ID for your search on the Contact search page, you can find the correct recording by referring to the audio file on the contact record.
When are recordings available?
When the recording for an agent interaction is enabled, the recording is placed in your S3 bucket shortly after the contact is disconnected. When IVR recording is enabled, the recording is placed in your S3 bucket shortly after the contact is disconnected or once the call is answered by an agent. You can review the recording for both agent interactions and automated interactions (IVR)..
Important
You can also access the recording from the customer's contact record. The recording is available in the contact record, however, only after the contact has left the After Contact Work (ACW) state. The IVR recording becomes available shortly after the call gets connected to the agent or contact is disconnected.
Tip
Amazon Connect uses the Amazon S3 PutObject and MultipartUpload APIs to upload the call recording to your S3 bucket. If you are using S3 Event Notifications when call recordings are uploaded successfully to your bucket, make sure you enable the notification for All object create events, or for both s3:ObjectCreated:Put and s3:ObjectCreated:CompleteMultipartUpload event types.
Prevent agents from accessing recordings
To prevent agents from accessing recordings outside of their agent hierarchy, assign them the Restrict contact access security profile permission. For more information, see Assign permissions to review past contact center conversations in Amazon Connect.
Headset requirements for listening to recordings
You need to use an output device (headset or other device) that supports stereo output so you can hear both the agent and customer audio.
Agent and customer recordings are presented in two separate channels. With a full headset, each side will play one channel. But for a one-ear headset, there isn't a mechanism to mix two channels into one.
How to set up recording behavior
To view a sample flow with the Set recording behavior block configured, see Sample recording behavior in Amazon Connect.
Note
We recommend using the Set recording behavior block in an inbound or outbound whisper flow for the most accurate behavior.
Using this block in a queue flow does not always guarantee that calls are recorded. This is because the block might run after the contact is joined to the agent.
To set up recording behavior in your flows
-
Log in to your Amazon Connect instance using an account that has permissions to edit flows.
-
On the navigation menu, choose Routing, Flows.
-
Open the flow that handles customer contacts you want to monitor.
-
In the flow, before the contact is connected to an agent, add a Set recording and analytics behavior block to the flow.
-
To configure the Set recording and analytics behavior block, choose from the following:
-
Automated Interaction Call Recording
-
Enable starts recording customer and IVR audio immediately.
-
Disable pauses any ongoing IVR recording.
-
-
Agent and Customer Voice Recording
-
When enabled, you can select from Agent and Customer, Agent only, or Customer only. This only take effect after the agent joins the call.
-
When disabled, no recording is captured when the agent joins the call.
-
-
To record chat conversations, you need to choose Agent and Customer.
-
To enable monitoring of voice and/or chat conversations, you need to choose Agent and Customer.
-
-
Choose Save and then Publish to publish the updated flow.
To set up recording behavior for outbound calls
-
Create a flow, using the outbound whisper flow type.
-
Add a Set recording and analytics behavior block to that flow.
-
Set up a queue that will be used for making outbound calls. In the Outbound whisper flow box, choose the flow that has Set recording and analytics behavior in it.
How to set up users to monitor conversations or review recordings
To learn what permissions managers need, and how they can monitor live conversations and review recordings of past conversations, see:
How to set up S3 Object Lock for immutable call recordings
You can use Amazon S3 Object Lock in combination with your recording bucket to help prevent call recordings and IVR recordings from being deleted or overwritten for a fixed amount of time, or indefinitely.
Object Lock adds another layer of protection against object changes and deletion. It can also help meet regulatory requirements for Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) storage.
Important things to know
-
You can enable Amazon S3 Object Lock on new and existing buckets.
-
You must enable versioning on your call recording bucket.
-
After you enable Amazon S3 Object Lock, you cannot remove it.
-
We recommend using a dedicated call recording bucket because all objects will be locked after the default Object Lock retention policy is applied.
-
Ensure that your retention policy is appropriate for your requirements. After the policy is configured, your call recordings will be protected from deletion for the duration specified.
-
We strongly recommended you thoroughly test the policy in a non-production environment before implementing it in production.
Step 1: Create an S3 bucket with Object Lock enabled
For a tutorial on creating a new S3 bucket with Object Lock enabled, see Protect Data on Amazon S3 Against Accidental Deletion or Application
Bugs Using S3 Versioning, S3 Object Lock, and S3 Replication
Step 1A: Enable Object Lock for an existing Amazon S3 bucket
For information about enabling Object Lock on an existing bucket, see Enable Object Lock on an existing Amazon S3 bucket, in the Amazon S3 User Guide.
Step 2: Configure Amazon Connect to use the S3 bucket for call recordings
Open the Amazon Connect console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/connect/
. -
On the instances page, choose the instance alias.
-
In the navigation pane, choose Data storage.
-
In the Call recordings section, choose Edit.
-
Choose Select an existing S3 bucket, and then in the Name dropdown box choose the bucket that you enable Object Lock for.
-
Choose Save.
Step 3: Test Object Lock is enabled
-
Make a test call to your contact center to generate a call recording.
-
Log in to Amazon Connect at https://
your-instance.my.connect.aws/home, with an Admin account, or an account that has permissions to search for contacts. -
Choose Analytics and optimization, Contact search. Search for your call recording to find the contact ID. Copy the contact ID. You're going to use it in the next step to locate the call recording in your S3 bucket.
-
Open the Amazon S3 console, select the bucket you created in Step 1, and follow the path prefix. The path to the call recording includes the year, month, and day the recording was made. After you're in the correct path prefix, search for the contact ID of the call recording.
-
Select the Show versions toggle next to the Search box. This option allows you to attempt to delete the object instead of only applying a delete marker. Applying a delete marker is the standard behavior when you delete an object from an S3 bucket with versioning enabled.
-
Select the call recording (the box to the left of the recording name), and then choose Delete. In the confirmation box, enter permanently delete and select Delete objects.
-
Review the Delete objects: status notification to confirm that the delete operation has been blocked due to the Object Lock policy.
