General Info
Sharpen Desktop Recording is a feature available to all Sharpen customers. It records all connected agent screens from inbound call answer through to “save” (end of wrap up) in Sharpen Q (on Windows and Mac).
The ADR app-tray records all screens in the event that the initiation policy for desktop recording is seen as “true” for a given interaction.
To make the most efficient use of customer networks, recordings are created and stored locally on each machine via a Sharpen Tray app, and then uploaded to Sharpen post call, where it is then attached to the historical Interaction Record alongside the audio recordings.
Assumptions
Local install of the tray app is required on all machines that need this functionality
Only call interactions are supported
Supported on MacOS and Windows 10/11
The desktop recording “target” is based on the last time the configuration was changed in Admin. So if ADR is set to 100% for several months and then a customer changes it to 50% target, the Desktop Recording service will target 50% desktop recording from that point forward. If looking at numbers of desktop recordings in Insights, be aware of changes in the target settings over time that may not match the current target in admin, since the time window could span multiple target setting changes.
The initial release works with integrations in some configurations:
Works and tested
Salesforce CTI
ServiceNow CTI (may require manually logging into a Q from the CTI in some circumstances)
Not yet supported
SSO configurations
Screen record/pause scenarios
Recording of screens can be paused or ceased under certain circumstances. A couple use-cases include:
Transfers - desktop recording ceases on the agent machine once the call is transferred (to Q, external contact, agent, etc). If transferred to another Q that also has ADR configured AND that entering interaction meets the recording percentage threshold, the new agent’s screens will also be recorded.
Agent Hold - If an agent uses the “hold” button for a call, the interaction WILL continue to record agent screens as part of a standard QA operation. This assumes the agent is still attending to the current customer they put on audio hold
Switch Hold - If using multiple interactions and an agent picks up a second interaction manually, this places the first call on hold and pauses desktop recording for that interaction (for security reasons). If the recording threshold was met for the second call, it would create it’s own separate set of desktop recordings tied to that second interaction. For security reasons, calls on switch hold do not continue to record screens for agents actively working with other customers/interactions. This also matches the functionality of the audio recording.
Failed/missing tray app - If a call in a Q meets the desktop recording threshold, but the agent who receives that call does not have the tray app properly installed, the call will still be delivered. The desktop recording service will attempt to meet the threshold by recording subsequent calls
Secure pause - If given permission (through user groups or user settings) an agent can have the ability to stop the recording on a call (and restart it). This is sometimes used if sensitive information is about to be relayed to the agent from the customer. When secure pause (stop recording) is used, the desktop recording also will pause, to protect instance when the agent may be typing that sensitive information on the screen, and to align secure audio pause with desktop recording pause
Accessing desktop recordings
Enable permissions
Along with the existing recording permission in user group setting for allowing transcript and download for audio, Sharpen has added two additional permissions specific to Desktop Recording
Allow Desktop Recording Download - when a user is in a user group with this permission enabled, they will have two options for downloading the screen recording files - either individual screens, or all screens at once in a single zip file
View Desktop Recording - when a user is in a user group with this permission enabled, they will be able to view/interact with the desktop recording panel in the Interaction Record. Without this enabled
Viewing the Desktop Recording
After a call is completed (after agent hits save or the wrap up timer auto saves it, the desktop recordings are uploaded to the cloud, and the file(s) are linked to the interaction record. This can be viewed in the “call recording” section. A sample Interaction Record with 3 screens recorded could look similar to this:
The standard player buttons below the audio recording are used to play both media and syncs the screens with the audio as it plays, or as a user scrolls/clicks through the audio sections. This allows viewers listen to the conversation while seeing what the agent was doing at the same time, and view all screens simultaneously (as the agent might be utilizing multiple monitors and apps.
If media is playing and the viewer needs to see the see greater detail on one of the screens, they can click on the expand/contract button in the lower left corner of each screen tile, and the player will expand that monitor to full screen.
If you wish to save the video files locally for any reason (much like with audio recordings and transcriptions), Sharpen offers 3 ways to procure the media files
Use the download button provided on each individual screen tile (each screen is a distinct video file)
Use the download all button to download a zip of all desktop recording files (for example 3 files from the screenshot above
Use the Sharpen API to grab individual or bulk groups of files. See our API documentation for more info
Additional Costs
Note that Agent Desktop Recording will incur additional monthly cost based on total storage of all desktop recordings. Only enable when you are confident you are willing to incur the storage costs
Agent desktop recordings are billed monthly, at a rate of $1 per gigabyte (or $900 per prepaid TB). Recording an agent's screen uses roughly 0.4mb of storage per minute, per monitor. Both settings below impact your total usage, and thus monthly cumulative storage costs.
Enabling Agent Desktop Recording (ADR)
Configure Admin Settings
Start by accessing Sharpen Admin → Configuration → Sharpen Q, and finding the Sharpen Q you want to turn Desktop Recordings on for. Once viewing the Sharpen Q editing page, scroll down until you see the “Desktop Recording” configuration item, then toggle the feature to the “On” position:
Note: If you do not see the toggle, contact your CSM to have the Desktop Recording feature enabled on your account
After enabling Desktop Recording, you have the ability to configure a specific percentage of interactions you’d like to have recorded on a queue-by-queue basis. Our retention policy is currently hard-set in the first release of Desktop Recording, however future versions will allow this slider to be set manually by Q. For longer retention needs, we provide both one-off downloading of the recordings on the interaction record or API access for bulk downloading.
Desktop recording is separate from, but designed to complement, the call audio, so be sure the Q has call recording set to always
By default, desktop recording files are permanently purged after 60 days. Using Data Management in Admin, you may customize this setting. If you need to store a desktop recording file beyond the retention period, you may manually download the individual files from the interaction record, or use our API to bulk download desktop recordings
Install Tray App on agent computers
ADR REQUIRES that any agent whose screen you wish to record, must have the Sharpen tray app/service installed and operational before their screens are recorded. Please download and install the appropriate app on any agents computers that will be part of ADR configured queues. If an agent logs into a Q that has ADR configured, but does not have the tray app installed, their screens will not be recorded, but they will still be able to accept the call
IZ0 installers
If you use app.sharpencx.com to login, use these:
IZ1 installers
If you use app.iz1.sharpen.cx to login, use these:
Windows Installation - Installation on the Windows OS is performed through an .exe installer. After downloading it in your browser, you can drag it to your desktop and double-click to launch the installation process:
The installation itself is silent - no pop-ups, confirmations, directory/path changing, etc. It should complete the install on its own and place an icon on your desktop like so:
** If you are not prompted, please manually reboot the computer after installation
Mac Installation - Apple computers require additional OS level steps and permissions, make sure to complete these if using on a Mac
After completing all steps, quit but DO NOT manually restart the tray app (it must be launched automatically from the browser)
** If you are not prompted, please manually reboot the computer after installation
Browser Permission Settings
After a successful installation, the app-tray should be automatically launched when browsing to Sharpen Q (as long as your user account is a member of a queue where Desktop Recording is turned on). You should see various screens prompting you to “allow” the app-tray to run (depending on browser, version, extensions, settings, etc):
You must give permissions to the browser page so that it is able to launch the app automatically when a call routes to your user. Click on the “Always allow…” selection box, then hit done.
You should not be launching the tray app manually - the Sharpen Q webpage will call the tray app as needed (and authenticate through it). The tray icon does allow you to click/right click and “quit” if you need to reset it.
Insights Field
The Has Desktop Recording field is available in Insights within the Queue Activity datasource. This allows users to configure a report column and to sort/filter based on 1 (has desktop recording) or 0 (no desktop recording).
Viewing ADR storage usage
Administrators can view their system’s total usage of Desktop Recording via the Admin dashboard panel. The panel is located by accessing Sharpen Admin, and making sure you’re on the “Dashboard” tab:
Scrolling all the way to the bottom of this Dashboard, you can view the number of stored recordings by Q, and see the amount of storage space being consumed by the recordings (in Bytes) that you will be billed for monthly by Sharpen. Purged desktop recordings (after 60 days by default) are not part of the panel statistics:
Resource consumption
Resource consumption will vary by interaction due to a number of variables which impact the size of the video recording. Sample tests are provided below to show various possibilities. There are no hard limits coded into desktop recording (e.g. no limit on number of monitors, or length of calls)
Configuration
1080p resolution
all agent screens up to 4 screens supported
record at 1FPS
consumes roughly .4 MB/min/screen
Test 1
OS: macOS Big Sur - Version 11.4
Build: MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)
Processor: 2.6 Ghz 6-Core Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Graphics: Radeon Pro 555X 4GB / Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB
Monitors: 3
Built-in Retina Display: 15.4-inch (2880 x 1800)
LG ULTRAWIDE Display: 34-inch (2560 x 1080)
LG Display: 21.5-inch (1920 x 1080)
Test 2
OS: Windows 10
Build: Surface Pro
Processor: Intel Core i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHZ
Memory: 8 GB
Monitors: 2
Built In Display
LG Display: 21.5-inch (1920 x 1080)
API
Sharpen provides API endpoints for various functions
Update Desktop Recording Settings - for example if a company wanted to update a large number of Q’s to turn on ADR and set the target (without doing it individually in each Q page)
Bulk Download Desktop Recordings - If an organization wishes to download/store their recordings outside of their Sharpen org. Sample code provided for downloading large numbers of recordings.