SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

3338607 - Phone number format requirements when using Agent Desktop

Symptom

  • You are using Agent Desktop (add-on) - Phone Number validation with CTI
  • The customer wants to know the correct phone number format when using the Agent Desktop

    Image/Data is from SAP internal systems, sample data, or demo systems.  Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental.

Environment

  • SAP Cloud for Service
  • SAP Cloud for Sales
  • Agent Desktop (add-on)

Reproducing the Issue

  • Sometimes some phone numbers may not return any search result in the Agent Desktop Global Search
  • This happens even when the phone number is binding to an existing Business Partner (Contact, Indv. Customer, Account)
  • For example, performing a manual search for +1  1234 5678 no search results, but using +1  1 234 5678 or +1  (1)234 5678 or +1  (1)234-5678 would work (where the BP number is formatted as +1  1 234 5678 )

Cause

  • Incorrect canonical format used
  • System is working as designed

Resolution

  • When performing a search (manual or via CTI payload), there is a difference when using  +1  1234 5678  vs +1  1 234 5678 (or +1  1-234 5678; or +1  (1)234-5678)
    • In the above scenario, the +1  1234 5678 does not return values; but why is that? 
      • Per E. 164 international standard, the number placement is important. E. 164 numbers can have a maximum of fifteen digits and are usually written as follows: [+][country code][subscriber number including area code]
      • In the above case, 1234 is identified as the area code, but this is incorrect, the area code in the above example should be 1 
  • If the full number is used (no hyphens or spaces) or simply use spaces instead of hyphens, the search should return values, since AD will normalize the phone number
  • For example,
    • Using +112345678, +1 1 234 5678, +1(1)(234)(5678)or +1-1-234-5678 would work the same, and search values would return. One could even use +1/1/234/5678. The point is that there should be a distinction from what is country code, area code, and number.
  • It is recommended that when using CTI, the provider should send the payload as +112345678 (full number)

See Also

Keywords

CountryCode, phone number, format, Phone Number Parsing , KBA , LOD-CRM-SBS-AC , Agent Console Add-on , LOD-CRM-LA , Live Activity , Problem

Product

SAP Cloud for Customer core applications 2305