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Call Flow

Overview

Any voice interaction starts with a call. This guide describes how the calls are being processed in different scenarios.

Inbound calls are made to the Vonage platform by one of the following methods:

  • to a Vonage number from a regular phone,
  • to a SIP domain assigned to the application from PBX or any SIP capable software/hardware,
  • from a client application using the Client SDK.

Outbound calls are calls made from the Vonage platform to

  • a regular phone number,
  • a SIP endpoint,
  • client application, or
  • WebSocket server.

Outbound calls are usually initiated in response to a request made via the REST API to create a new call. Outbound calls may also be made from within the call flow of an existing call (either inbound or outbound) using the connect action within the NCCO. This scenario is generally used for forwarding calls.

There are two different types of call in terms of call flow:

  • "Scripted" Call: when the flow is determined by a sequence of question-answer steps (actions);
  • Live Conversation: which connects two or more participants in a conversation.

See both concepts described below, including switching seamlessly between on and another.

Scripted Call

Both inbound and outbound calls initially follow the same call flow once answered. This call flow is controlled by an NCCO. An NCCO is a script of actions to be run within the context of the call. Actions are executed in the order they appear in the script, with the next action starting when the previous action has finished executing. For more information about NCCOs, see the NCCO Reference.

When the Vonage API platform receives a call on your Vonage number, it makes an HTTP request to the answer_url provided. For inbound calls, the answer_url is configured in your Voice Application. For outbound calls, you provide an answer_url in the API request that creates the call.

sequenceDiagram activate User User ->> Vonage: inbound call activate Vonage Vonage ->> Application: answer URL activate Application Application ->> Vonage: NCCO Vonage ->> User: NCCO action deactivate Application deactivate Vonage deactivate User

Inbound call


You may choose to provide your NCCO as part of the request you send to create a call instead of supplying an answer_url. This is done by providing a ncco attribute in the NCCO object of your request.

sequenceDiagram participant U as User participant V as Vonage participant A as Application activate A A->>V: POST /calls note left of A: NCCO activate V V->>U: outbound call activate U V->>U: NCCO action deactivate U deactivate V deactivate A

Outbound call with embedded NCCO


During the call, Vonage is making callback requests to the application at the event_url, set in the application configuration or in the NCCO action, if one is provided in the NCCO. There are two types of callbacks:

  • notifications, for example, a call status change;
  • instructions request, for example, on an input or notify callback - for these events Vonage expects the application to provide a new NCCO for processing, which allows implementing different logical call flows.

Successfully established calls pass through the following states:

  • started
  • ringing
  • answered
  • completed

The Vonage platform sends corresponding event callbacks per each status. You can find more detail in the Webhooks Reference.

NCCO and webhooks allow scripting the call as a series of messages and questions to the user, which is applicable to voice notifications, IVR, voice assistants and other scenarios with a predefined list of possible events. With an NCCO, the application may instruct the Vonage platform to play the audio message (text-to-speech or prerecorded) and then expect user input either with DTMF or speech. When the user has made a menu selection, your application is notified and is able to direct the call appropriately by supplying new call instructions in the form of an NCCO.

sequenceDiagram participant U as User participant V as Vonage participant A as Application activate U U->>V: inbound call activate V V->>A: answer URL activate A A->>V: NCCO note left of A: talk
...
input V->>U: NCCO action 1: talk V->>U: NCCO action N: input U->>V: input V->>A: event URL A->>A: analyse input A->>V: NCCO V->>U: NCCO action deactivate U deactivate V deactivate A

Typical IVR flow


Live Conversation

In some scenarios, for example, a private voice communication use case, you want to connect two or more participants to establish a live conversation. Each call, inbound or outbound, is automatically added to the new conversation behind the scenes. To connect it to another call with an NCCO, the application can either

  • Create a new outbound call with the connect action - it will be automatically joined to the same conversation;

  • Move the call to an existing (or new) named conversation with the conversation action.

During the conversation, the call is no longer following a sequence of actions, it is now a live interaction between two or more members. To control the call during the conversation, for example, to mute/unmute a member, the application should use the REST API.

sequenceDiagram participant U1 as User 1 participant V as Vonage participant A as Application participant U2 as User 2 activate U1 U1->>V: inbound call activate V V->>A: answer URL activate A A->>V: NCCO note left of A: connect V->>U2: outbound call activate U2 note over U1, U2: Conversation starts A->>V: PUT /calls/id V->>U1: modify call deactivate U1 deactivate V deactivate A deactivate U2

Live conversation flow


Using a sequence of connect actions, the application may add other members to the conversation (up to 50 total conversation participants).

Since any type of voice endpoint might be used in the connect action, the second member is not necessarily a human: it might be a voice bot talking to the user using the media passed through the WebSocket connection.

Switching between Scripted Call and Live Conversation

IVR usually has one or more options to speak to a live agent, sales, or support person. Also, in some cases a live conversation may end up with some scripted parts. For example, a customer satisfaction survey. The Voice API allows switching from one form of interaction to another so that the call flow may consist of three (or more in complex cases) parts:

  • Initial IVR, controlled with NCCO and webhooks; ends with connect or conversation action →

  • Live conversation with a person (or multiparty conference), controlled with REST API; ends with PUT /calls/{id} REST API call with transfer action →

  • The survey, controlled with NCCO

sequenceDiagram participant U as User participant V as Vonage participant App as Application participant A as Agent activate U U->>V: inbound call activate V V->>App: answer URL activate App App->>V: NCCO note left of App: talk
input V->>U: question U->>V: answer V->>App: input callback App->>V: NCCO note left of App: conversation App->>V: POST /calls note left of App: conversation V->>A:outbound call activate A note over U,A: Conversation A->>V: hang up deactivate A V->>App: completed App->>V: PUT /calls/id note left of App: transfer: NCCO
talk
input V->>U: question U->>V: answer V->>App: input callback App->>App: save result App->>V: NCCO note left of App: talk deactivate App V->>U: message V->>U: end call deactivate V deactivate U

Switching from scripted call to live conversation and back


The scenario described above is a typical example; however, the application may have any combination of scripted and live parts depending on a certain use-case. See the Contact Center Augmentation tutorial to learn how to implement the described scenario step by step.

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