How to brief a VICIdial developer so the quote is right

A good VICIdial development brief fits on one page and answers five things: what triggers the work, what data moves, how much of it, where it goes, and what happens when something fails. With those written down, a developer can quote fixed-fee and two quotes can be compared line by line. Without them, every quote is a guess with padding.

What should a VICIdial development brief include?

1. The trigger

Name the VICIdial moment that starts the work. Common ones:

• A call connects to an agent (screen-pop).
• An agent saves a Disposition.
• A lead is added in your CRM and should be dialed.
• A recording finishes and should be attached somewhere.
• A caller presses a key in an IVR (interactive voice response) menu (custom AGI (Asterisk Gateway Interface) logic).

2. The data

List every field, with its name on both sides. For example: phone number, first and last name, your CRM record ID stored in the Vendor lead code, disposition, talk time, agent login and recording link. Mark which fields can be empty. If you use Custom field columns on your lists, include them.

3. The volume

Give your peak numbers, not your average: agents logged in, calls per hour and new leads per day. A 50-agent Predictive dialing floor at three lines per agent places a lot of calls, and a design that works at 100 events an hour may not at 5,000.

4. The destination

Name the system and how it accepts data: a REST API, a webhook URL, a database or a file drop. Include rate limits and who can issue API keys.

5. The failure rules

Decide what should happen when the other side is down. Queue and retry? Alert someone? Skip? This is the line that most often separates a $2,000 quote from an $8,000 one, and it is the one most briefs leave out.

sequenceDiagram
  participant A as Agent
  participant V as VICIdial
  participant I as Integration
  participant C as CRM
  A->>V: Saves disposition
  V->>I: Call event with lead fields
  I->>C: Update record
  C-->>I: Error or timeout
  I->>I: Queue and retry
  I->>C: Update record again
  C-->>I: OK

What you can leave out of the brief

You do not need to choose the technology. A developer who knows VICIdial will pick between the agent and non-agent APIs, a web form URL, a database read or an AGI script. Tell them the outcome, and ask them to explain their choice in the quote.

A one-line test for your brief

Read it to someone who has never seen your call center. If they can say what happens to one call from dial to CRM record, the brief is ready.

Next steps

Send the brief to two developers and compare the quotes line by line. To see typical prices first, read what custom VICIdial development costs. For the building blocks a developer will use, see the VICIdial API and AGI guide.

VICIfast quotes VICIdial development and customization fixed-fee after a 30 to 60 minute discovery call, and our CRM integration service covers screen-pops, lead sync and outcomes back to the CRM. Hosting is per server, not per agent; see pricing.