(The following text is an accessible version of a PowerPoint slideshow presentation. The slideshow is text-based unless otherwise specified below.)

Who is Nuance

• Nuance is the leading manufacturer of speech enabled products.
• They service a number of different market sectors:
  • Automotive Industry - in car navigation systems; e.g. BMW and FORD
  • Education - Dragon Naturally Speaking (accessibility software), Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search - available for mobile devices etc.
  • Health care - clinical dictation
  • Business - call centers
  • Personal - add on navigation systems e.g. Tom Tom

What is Nuance SpeechAttendant™

• Nuance SpeechAttendant™ is an application that allows callers to speak the name of the party they wish to contact and will get transferred to the correct party without the need for "operator" intervention.
• The Nuance SpeechAttendant™ Application is to be used by internal and external customers to navigate the University's directory to reach staff, faculty members or departments.
• This is accomplished by a series of call flows scripted and designed to allow callers to use spoken commands to reach the party they are calling without the need for an operator intervention.

Included in the SpeechAttendant™

• Speech enabled call processing for Staff, Faculty and Departments
• Internal and external calls to the University

Not included in the SpeechAttendant™

• Speech enabled call processing for Students

Sample of McMaster University - Main Menu

When you dial 905-525-9140, you will hear:

Welcome to McMaster University. Please listen carefully as our options have changed. If you know the five-digit extension number of the person you wish to reach, you may dial it at any time during this recording. To request an individual or department at the University, please press 1. To reach a student in Residence, please press 3. If you are calling for directions to McMaster University, please press 4. To listen to these options again, press 9. Thank you for calling McMaster University.

1 - Nuance SpeechAttendant™

3 - Students in Residence

4 - Directions to McMaster

8 - Emergency security call

9 - Replay Repeats the instructions

0 - Nuance SpeechAttendant™

Process Flow

(The list below represents information conveyed in a flowchart.)

• If you select Option 1: SpeechAttendant™ you will be prompted with the following:

  Please say the first and last name of the person or the name of the department you wish to reach.

• If you select Option 2, you are beginning to dial the extension of the person or department you're trying to reach (most McMaster extensions begin with the number 2).
• If you select Option 3: Students in Residence, you will be directed to an operator with the Housing and Conference services department, who can then look up and forward you to the student in residence you are looking for.
• If you select Option 4: Directions to McMaster, you will be prompted to select from three different starting locations, after which point you will be given a set of instructions to drive to McMaster University. The three different starting locations are:
  1. From Toronto/Oakville/Burlington
  2. From Hamilton Airport
  3. From Niagara Peninsula

Nuance Internal Call Flow

(The following description represents information conveyed in a flowchart.)

When you enter the Nuance SpeechAttendant™ application, you will be greeted by the Nuance prompt:

Please say the first and last name of the person or the name of the department you wish to reach.

If the application does not hear a response, it will say "Sorry, I didn't hear you." Also, if SpeechAttendant™ cannot understand your request, it will confirm a possible match by asking "Did you mean (name or department)?" If not understood, it will ask "Sorry, what was that name again?"

If either of the above occurences happen after the third time, you will automatically be played this message and transferred out for assistance:

Sorry. I am not sure what you said. Your call is being transferred out for assistance. Please hold.

If however, your request is audible and clear, and the name you requested is in the database, you will be told "Okay, transferring you to (name or department)" and automatically transferred. Otherwise if your request cannot be found in the database, you will also be transferred out of the program for assistance.

Need help? Have questions?

Email us at speechattendant@mcmaster.ca or call us at extension 21911 and leave us a message.