Feature Availability

Vtiger Editions:  One Pilot | One Growth | One Professional | One Enterprise | One AI

Introduction

The Phone Calls module in Vtiger lets you integrate with different service providers and lets you:

• Make and receive calls from the CRM.
• Track, manage, and log every phone call with your leads, customers, and team members—ensuring no critical conversation slips through the cracks.  
• Create records for every phone call made or received.
• Integrate services such as Live Chat, email, call logging, purchase history, feedback surveying, support tickets, and more.

The Phone Calls module lets you connect to other hosted telephony services such as Twilio, ViciDial, and Knowlarity.

Vicidial Integration with Vtiger

Vicidial is an open-source contact center solution widely used for managing inbound, outbound, and blended call campaigns. It provides features such as predictive dialing, call recording, real-time reporting, and agent scripting. 
Integrating Vicidial with Vtiger's Phone Calls module allows you to make and receive calls seamlessly within the CRM platform. With Vtiger's comprehensive CRM capabilities, you can streamline call management, automate follow-ups, and maintain detailed call logs. This integration:

• Supports simultaneous call routing to multiple agents.
• Lets you use Vtiger CRM’s Phone Call module features such as -
  • Incoming calls
  • Outgoing calls
  • Call notes
  • Customer sentiments
  • Call recordings

Requirements

To integrate Vicidial with Vtiger you need to:

• Have an active Vicidial account. If you do not have an account, you must sign up with Vicidial and create one.
• Provide your Vicidial credentials during the configuration process in Vtiger.
• Install Vtiger’s Phone Calls module. 
• Integrate your Vicidial phone number with the Phone Calls module in Vtiger.

Before configuring Vtiger you have to explain the IVR flow of your phone system to the Telephony service provider (Vicidial ) to ensure proper setup.

Other Telephony Gateways in Vtiger CRM

Vtiger’s Phone Calls module integrates with the following telephony gateways: 

• 3CX
• Asterisk 
• Duocom
• Exotel
• Knowlarity
• Ozonetel
• Plivo
• Telzio
• Twilio
• ViciDial

Benefits

The benefits of integrating Vicidial with Vtiger CRM are:

• Track all customer calls within the CRM and aid your sales and support representatives in day-to-day work.
• Increase agent productivity with integrated one-click dialing out of Vtiger CRM.
• Keep a log of all calls, so you never miss out on information.
• Generate leads from inquiry calls.
• Create deals while interacting with customers.
• Records inbound and outbound calls and hence helps you to fine-tune your sales strategies.

 In this article, you will learn about:

• Installing Phone calls module
• Prerequisites for ViciDial Configuration
• Configuring ViciDial in Vtiger CRM
• Troubleshooting common issues in ViciDial

Installing the Phone Calls Module

To use the Phone Calls module, you must first install it from the Extension Store. You can access the Extension Store if you are an Admin user. 

Follow these steps to install Phone Calls:

1. Log in to CRM.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
3. Click Settings. 
4. Look for the Extensions section.
5. Select Extension Store.  
6. Search for Phone Calls using the search bar.
7. Click Install.

After you install the module, you can see it under Main Menu > Essentials > Conversations. 

Setting up an Account in VICIdial

To use the VICIdial integration, you must first create an admin user account in VICIdial and set up VICIdial on your local servers. Click here to create an account.

Configuring VICIdial in the CRM

After creating an admin user account dedicated only to APIs in VICIdial, you can configure the details in the CRM phone configuration.

Follow these steps to configure VICIdial in Vtiger CRM:

1. Log in to CRM.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
3. Click Settings.  
4. Look for the Extensions section.
5. Select Phone Configuration.  
6. Click +Add Gateway.  
7. In the Gateway dropdown, select VICIdial.
8. Fill in all the mandatory fields (marked by an asterisk): 
   1. Gateway Status - Mentions whether the gateway is active or inactive.
   2. Default Gateway - Mentions whether the current gateway is the default gateway.
   3. Start Call URL - Auto-generated with VICIdial call fields that are sent to Vtiger when Agent answers an incoming call.
   4. Dispo Call URL - Auto-generated with VICIdial call fields that are sent to Vtiger when Agent dispositions an incoming call.
   5. VICIdial Server Time Zone - Configure the server timezone in which VICIdial is hosted.
   6. VICIdial Server IP - Public IP address where the VICIdial is installed.
   7. VICIdial Recording Path - Default VICIdial recording folder name is populated. Alter this config only if the default config of VICIdial is overwritten in /etc/astguiclient.conf file. (Contact your System Admin before modifying).
   8. API Admin User ID - Create a new user in VICIdial with Admin and API privileges, which will be used for all API requests that are initiated from Vtiger. (Make sure this user is not assigned to any agents)
   9. API Admin User Password - Password related to the User ID added earlier.
   10. Ticket/Case Title - Create merge tags or add custom strings that will be used when a case is created from the Incoming Call Popup.
   11. Opportunity Name - Create merge tags or add custom strings that will be used when a deal is created from the Incoming Call Popup.
   12. Vtiger Secret Key - Unique key auto-generated for authenticating all the requests that are received from VICIdial. This is a part of the Start Call and Dispo Call URLs that are auto-generated in the previous steps.

9. Click Save.

The VICIdial integration is now set up in Vtiger CRM. 

Adding User ID

Once you configure all VICIdial details in Vtiger, you must add the User ID for all your agents from VICIdial to Vtiger.

Follow these steps to do the same:

1. Log in to CRM.
2. Click the User Menu in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Click the My Preferences button.
4. Enter the unique ID (Copy from VICIdial Admin Panel > Users) in the VICIdial extension field.

Modifications in VICIdial

Once the configuration in Vtiger is complete, modify a few configurations in VICIdial to start the integration.

Inbound Groups

To enable incoming call logs and incoming pop-ups in Vtiger, Vtiger URLs need to be configured in Inbound groups. 

Follow these steps below to enable incoming call logs and pop-ups:

1. Log in to the VICIdial Admin panel.
2. Go to Inbound Groups.
3. Click Modify under any one active group.
4. Modify the following fields:
   1. Start Call URL - Copy Start Call URL generated in Vtiger from -> CRM Settings -> Phone Configuration.
   2. Dispo Call URL - Copy Dispo Call URL generated in Vtiger from -> CRM Settings -> Phone Configuration.  
5. Click the Submit button to save the changes.

Recording Filename

Vtiger CRM generates recording URLs for completed calls from Recording Filenames.

Therefore, all Recording Filenames should be in the format required by Vtiger CRM.

Follow the below steps:

1. Log in to the VICIdial Admin panel.
2. Go to Inbound Groups.
3. Click Modify under any one active group.
4. Modify the following fields:
   1. In-Group Recording Filename - Set the value as CALLID.  
5. Click the Submit button to save the changes.
6. Repeat the above steps for all the active groups.

Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some common issues users encounter while using VICIdial:

• Verify API keys and integration settings.
• Check for typos in the API endpoint URLs or authentication credentials.

• Ensure field mapping is correctly configured.
• Test API limits with small batches before scaling.
• Check for server connectivity or firewall restrictions.

• Assign appropriate roles and permissions in both Vicidial and Vtiger.
• Check API user roles to ensure proper access rights.

• Check if Vicidial is configured to store and share call recordings.
• Ensure that the file storage paths are accessible and properly linked.

• Review and map fields accurately during integration.
• Use custom scripts to handle mismatched data formats.

References

• Phone Calls Module Overview
• 3CX
• Duocom
• Exotel
• Knowlarity
• Ozonetel
• Plivo
• Telzio
• Twilio
• ViciDial