We knew what researchers needed to improve their data collection operations and interviewer productivity without sacrificing data quality. So, we built the PRO-T-S® predictive dialing system to seamlessly integrate your interviewers, CATI systems, and telephony operations.

PRO-T-S Increases Productivity and Quality

PRO-T-S is a modular telephony system that features seamless connectivity with numerous CATI systems. It also offers study-selectable dialing modes and is scalable to your phone room needs.

  • Protects your investment by working with the current data collection processes and legacy software applications.
  • Features multiple dialing modes that are user-variable and accessible across multiple locations, projects, CATI interfaces, and telephony configurations.
  • Call recording improves quality assurance and provides added value.
  • Audio monitoring feature enables compliance with quality control.
  • Proven uptime reliability.
  • Integrates with Survox (CfMC), Confirmit, Decipher, Sawtooth, OMNICOM/Quancept, and others.
  • Software-based dialing (VOIP/SIP) saves space, minimizes cost, and reduces the risk of hardware failure.

Get More From Your Investment

PRO-T-S pays for itself in under a year, and often in as little as six months. PRO-T-S helps you increase productivity, revenues, and profits by lowering system cost and boosting labor savings.

Dialing Hierarchy and Modes

PRO-T-S provides multiple dialing modes, ensuring the greatest flexibility and productivity for any research project. The availability of specific dialing modes is determined by the computer assisted interviewing (CATI) system in use:

  • Manual Dialing - Operates as a traditional telephone handset.
  • Power / Progressive Dialing - Dials controlled by the CATI sample manager. All non-productive numbers are automatically disposed of with a disposition back to the CATI system. There is a one to one relationship between the interviewer and phone line. This mode only connects to the interviewer with no possibility for an abandoned call.
  • Preview Dialing - Interviewer can review the respondent contact information before dialing.
  • Predictive - Maximizes interviewer talk-time and minimizes potential abandonment. Utilizes a standard line ratio of 1.5:1 that is dynamically adjusted on a study-by-study basis to deliver optimum dialing performance.
  • Mixed-mode Dialing - Sample with a call history will be preview-dialed and new sample will be dialed in predictive mode.

CATI System Interfaces

MSG interfaces with the following CATI software systems:

  • Survox(CfMC)
  • Confirmit Horizons
  • Decipher Beacon by FocusVision
  • Quancept via third party Kalonymous
  • Sawtooth WinCATI
  • UNICOM Data Collection 6
  • Multiple CATI Systems Support
  • Other CATI Interfaces: Proprietary In-house systems upon request

Architecture and Implementation

Marketing Systems Group will work with your IT staff and enterprise networking and telephony solutions provider to develop a dialer architecture to best match your infrastructure. If networking and telephony engineering resources are outsourced, MSG will work with the company of your choice.

PRO-T-S Management Features

Interviewer/Shift Management

  • Interviewer station assignments are easily and quickly made with point-and-click operation.
  • Project assignments and mid-shift reassignments can be automated through the CATI interface or by the supervisor via point-and-click operation.
  • Real time shift, project, and cumulative statistics are available on-demand for individual interviewers.

Production Management

  • Dialing Modes are assignable by project. This provides productivity gains consistent with staffing, sample availability, completion status and quota controls.
  • Hierarchy of automatic dialing modes ensures maximum productivity is attained for all staffing and project needs.
  • Seamless integration with CATI sample management system ensures precise control is maintained throughout all phases of a project.
  • Silent monitoring is available from local and/or remote stations.

Project Management

  • Research-sensitive dialing modes make certain that quality is not sacrificed.
  • Complete production histories are available by project, day, shift, interviewer, etc.
  • Control over auto-disposition parameters such as setting the number of rings for "no answer".

Interviewer and Productivity Management

  • Monitoring Module allows supervisors to establish connections for monitoring from one or more stations. It supports silent and assistant modes, remote monitoring, and conferencing--all with volume adjustment.
  • Automatic Modes (Proactive, Pacing, Research Predictive) eliminate dialing errors and provide faster dialing for greater throughput.
  • Standardized Call Rules limit the number of ring/busy signals in manual and automatic dialing mode.
  • Dialing Modes can be assigned on a study by study and/or station basis.
  • Real-Time Statistics provide supervisors with a visual display of system activity. Options allow for examining dialing results, total calls placed, call results, length of calls, dialing state, and current state for each interviewer. Graphical and tabular reporting options are also available.

Facilities Management

  • Interviewer Status allows supervisors to quickly and easily determine who is active, their current status, as well as current project assignment.
  • Project Status enables tracking of individual studies, provides call history summaries by project, by week, by shift, or even by individual interviewer. Master/secondary study feature links tracking, periodic and pre/post projects.
  • Historical Production Reporting provides detailed results by site, shift, study, interviewer, client or even down to a specific date.
  • System Status allows identification of preferred carriers, restricted calling areas, and isolation of telephone line problems -- direct dial and/or T-1.

U-DIAL - Because You Can't Afford Non-Compliance

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) gave the survey research industry a whole new set of headaches. New challenges emerged such as how to integrate manual cellular number dialing into call center environments that are set-up to primarily use autodialing. And, how do you do this without breaking the bank?

U-DIAL Solves Your TCPA Compliance Concerns

U-DIAL balances the need to dial cellular numbers manually while delivering the quality control required in a research call center. Only telephone numbers that are manually entered on the telephone keypad are dialed – ever, because the system is designed and built that way. Supervisors can monitor interviewers with full silent monitoring for quality control. Once a call is connected, U-DIAL can record the call in-progress and file the recording to the server.


U-DIAL Features

  • Multi-recording capabilities including whole interview and specific open ends.
  • Ability to play sound files through the phone to the respondent.
  • Call parking with pickup from any station.
  • Inbound calling, outbound calling or a combination of both.
  • No functionality exists for computer assisted dialing connections or capabilities, eliminating TCPA compliance concerns.

U-DIAL is designed specifically to ensure TCPA compliance. Can you afford not to have it?