Skip to main content

Enhanced 911 (US Only)

Introduction​

E911 (Enhanced 911) is a service that automatically provides emergency responders with the caller’s phone number and the registered physical location when dialing 911 from your contact center system. This is crucial for ensuring timely and accurate response in emergency situations.

When enabled, contact centre agents in CX configure their current address upon login, and should update it following a physical change in location. Amazon Connect allows for testing of this 911 functionality via a test number 933.

Configuration​

the NeonNow Admin app, under Instance\Configuration\Users, toggle on the ‘Enhanced Emergency Calling’ feature.

This enables the address collection functionality for agents:

  • Agents will be able to set & update their address under 'preferences'.
  • The agent's address will be retrievable via a Lambda function that should be called via the Outbound Whisper Flow associated with the agents, as detailed below.

Overview​

To utilize Amazon Connect’s in-built E911 functionality, the user’s address must be set to the Contact Attribute ‘CivicAddress’ in a very specific format. For an overview, please see Amazon’s guide here.

In addition, the address should be formatted and verified to ensure it matches the standard PSAP address keys. This is done within CX when the agent saves their address so there is no need to check this within the Outbound Whisper flow.

Configuring the Flow​

Carry out the following steps to retrieve and set the agent address:

  1. Set Logging, if this aligns to your requirements.
  2. Add a 'Check contact attributes' block to check 'Customer endpoint address equals 911 or 933'.
  3. If there is a match, connect a Lambda function — the Lambda endpoint is specified within the NeonNow Admin app.
  4. Following the Lambda invocation, set a Contact Attribute 'CivicAddress' to the value of $.External.location. In addition, $.External.statusCode can be used to check for a valid return (200).
  5. The agent CallBack number can also be used and stored (e.g. mapped for emergency services return calls). Access it by reading the returned $.External.callbackNumber.

Sample Outbound Whisper Flow​

The diagram below shows a complete outbound whisper flow wired up for E911. Both 911 and 933 (the test number) branches invoke the Get Agent Location Lambda, set the CivicAddress contact attribute, and then proceed to the call. Any other destination ("No Match") falls straight through to the call without invoking the Lambda. Lambda or attribute errors fall back to the call so the dial is never blocked by a setup failure.

Saving the Address​

When the agent's address is not set, a prompt appears for the agent upon login.

Once the address and callback number are entered, the agent should select Continue. Enter the callback number a second time, then select Continue. Skip delays agent location entry until the next login.

Note: at any point, agents can access and set their address via Preferences > My Location.

Address Validations​

The entered address is validated against an address verification service (using an AWS Service). If the address returns"Oops, it looks like your address isn't quite right. Please update and try again" try the following:

  • Street suffix abbreviation must be used - i.e. ‘Main St’, not ‘Main Street’.
  • Often multiple addresses are used for a single location - search online, Google is a reasonable check - are you using the official suburb name etc?

Disabling E911 for Specific Agents​

Enhanced Emergency Calling is enabled for the contact centre as a whole, but it can be turned off for individual agents — for example agents who work outside the United States, or who never place voice calls.

This is only available to contact centres that provision their users through SCIM external provisioning from an identity provider. The setting is carried on the user record sent by the identity provider, so there is no equivalent control in the NeonNow Admin app and no way to set it for users created directly in CX.

Where users are provisioned by SCIM, turn E911 off for an agent by setting the SCIM attribute urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:neonnow:2.0:User:e911Disabled to the boolean value true. See Optional Extension Attributes for how to map it.

For an agent whose attribute is set to true:

  • They are never prompted for an address on login.
  • The Preferences > My Location page is hidden from them.

This is silent from the agent's point of view. Nothing indicates that E911 has been turned off — the prompt and the preference simply do not appear.

The Value Must Be a Boolean

e911Disabled accepts a boolean only. A string value — including "true" — is rejected and the attribute has no effect, so the mapping looks correct in the identity provider but the agent keeps being prompted for an address.

Identity providers do not all send extension attributes as booleans by default. For Entra ID, see Configuring SCIM External Provisioning on Entra ID.

Leaving the attribute empty maps to false, which leaves E911 enabled for that agent. Only an explicit boolean true disables it, so there is no need to map a value for most agents.

Emergency Service Call-Backs​

If an outbound call to emergency services is disconnected, you can route any return calls to the agents personal number by saving the agents 'callbackNumber' against a DNIS pool when the outbound call is made. The agent will set their call-back number as part of the e911 form.

As above, this can be accessed via $.External.callbackNumber.

Testing​

To test the E911 address configuration, once the above steps are completed, dial 933 from the configured agent’s CX dialpad. If configured correctly, Amazon Connect will readback that the number is ‘Enabled for 911’. It will also read out the address. If there are issues, check the Contact Flow log to debug.