Call Center
A Call Center in Salesforce is the Setup record that connects a telephony platform to Salesforce so agents can take and place phone calls inside the application.
Definition
A Call Center in Salesforce is the Setup record that connects a telephony platform to Salesforce so agents can take and place phone calls inside the application. Each Call Center record corresponds to one computer-telephony integration (CTI) system, such as a Service Cloud Voice deployment on Amazon Connect or a partner platform like Five9, Genesys, or Talkdesk. The record holds the connection parameters, and it controls which users see a Softphone in their console.
A Salesforce user cannot use any Call Center feature until an administrator assigns that user to a Call Center. The Softphone does not render and call routing does not reach the agent without membership. That single rule makes the Call Center record the foundation of every voice setup. You can create one by importing a CTI definition file (an XML file the telephony vendor supplies) or by cloning an existing record and editing its parameters.
How the Call Center record wires telephony into Salesforce
What lives inside a Call Center record
A Call Center record stores the parameters Salesforce needs to talk to one telephony system. The core fields include an Internal Name used in metadata and API references, a Display Name shown to administrators, and a CTI Adapter URL that points at the softphone the system serves. Older Open CTI records also carry capacity numbers and a softphone height and width, which size the call-control panel on the page. Partner platforms add their own custom parameters for authentication, dialing rules, and branding. You reach the records under Setup by entering Call Centers in the Quick Find box. From the list page you can open a record to read its details, click Edit to change parameters, or clone it to seed a new one. The shape of the parameters comes from the definition file the vendor ships, so two Call Centers from different vendors rarely look alike. What stays constant is the role of the record: it is the single object that names the telephony deployment and tells Salesforce where the softphone code lives.
Creating a Call Center from a definition file
Most partner integrations start with an XML definition file the telephony vendor provides. The file declares the adapter URL and the named parameters that the vendor needs filled in. To import it, go to Setup, Call Centers, then choose Import and select the file. Salesforce reads the structure and creates a Call Center record with the fields the vendor defined. After import you fill in any environment-specific values, such as a sandbox versus production endpoint or an organization-specific dial prefix. The second creation path is cloning. If you already run one Call Center and need a near-identical second one, open the record and clone it rather than re-importing. Cloning copies the parameter structure and the values, so you only edit what differs. Service Cloud Voice is the exception to the manual import flow. When you provision Voice, Salesforce creates the Call Center record for you and points its adapter URL at the Salesforce-hosted softphone, so there is no vendor XML file to import for that path.
Call Center membership and why the Softphone goes missing
Membership is the gate between a configured Call Center and a working Softphone. A Salesforce user sees no call-control panel until an administrator adds that user to a Call Center. You manage this from Setup, Call Centers, by opening a record and using the Manage Call Center Users action. From there you add users individually or in bulk, and you can remove them the same way by selecting the checkbox next to each name. A user belongs to one Call Center at a time, so the assignment is a per-user decision rather than a group setting. This design has a predictable failure mode. The single most common post-launch ticket is some version of why can I not take calls, and the cause is almost always a user who was trained but never added to the Call Center. Each call center user also has personal softphone settings that decide whether they log in automatically when they open Salesforce and how a matching record displays on an incoming call. Get membership right before training day and most of that noise disappears.
Softphone Layouts: what the agent sees on a call
A Softphone Layout controls the information and actions the call-control panel shows, and it works much like a page layout. You build layouts under Setup by entering Softphone Layouts in the Quick Find box, which needs the Manage Call Centers permission to view or edit. One layout covers three call states in a single definition: inbound, outbound, and internal calls. For each state you choose which call-related fields appear and in what order, and which Salesforce objects Salesforce should search to find a matching record. The screen pop behavior is the part that shapes the agent experience most. For an inbound call you set what happens when there are no matching records, exactly one match, or several matches. Each case can pop to a new record, pop to a Visualforce page, or pop to a flow, which lets you route the agent straight into a guided process. Layouts are assigned per user profile through the Layout Assignment option, so a sales profile and a support profile can see entirely different panels on the same Call Center.
Open CTI is sunsetting, and what that means for the record
For years the way most partners connected was Open CTI, a browser-based JavaScript API that lets a vendor serve a softphone through the adapter URL without installing any desktop software on the agent machine. Open CTI registers as a Call Center record and still works today, but Salesforce has placed it in maintenance mode and scheduled it for retirement in February 2028. It is already deprecated and unavailable for newly created Agentforce Service orgs. The official guidance is to move to Salesforce Voice, which carries the Open CTI capabilities forward and adds native integration with Omni-Channel and the Command Center for Service. Two more details matter for builders. There are separate Open CTI APIs for Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience, and you cannot swap one for the other in custom code because they behave differently. The Call Center record itself is not going away. It remains the object that anchors a telephony deployment, including Service Cloud Voice. What is changing is the recommended integration layer underneath it.
Running more than one Call Center in an org
Larger organizations often run several Call Centers in the same org at once. A common pattern puts sales on one platform, service on Service Cloud Voice with Amazon Connect, and a back-office team on a third vendor. Each Call Center record serves a different population, and the one-Call-Center-per-user rule keeps the populations separate: an agent in the service division only ever sees the service softphone. This works well when the divisional model is clear, and it gets confusing fast when it is not. If you stand up multiple Call Centers without a documented map of who belongs where, membership drift creeps in and agents end up on the wrong panel. A worked example helps. Imagine a company that acquires a smaller business already on Talkdesk while the parent runs Service Cloud Voice. Rather than force an immediate migration, the admin keeps both Call Centers, assigns the acquired team to Talkdesk and everyone else to Voice, and gives each group its own Softphone Layout. The two teams coexist in one org with no overlap until the eventual consolidation.
Testing the full call path before you launch
Voice integrations fail in ways that configuration review does not catch, so end-to-end testing is not optional. Before a broad rollout, place real calls through the Call Center and confirm the whole path. Check that the automatic number identification (the caller ID) is captured, that the inbound call pops the right record using your Softphone Layout rules, and that any call transcript or activity record is created and linked to the correct parent. Validate outbound calls and internal transfers too, since each is a separate state in the layout. A useful habit is to test against representative scenarios rather than ideal ones: a caller with no matching contact, a caller who matches several accounts, and a transfer between two agents. These are the cases that expose a misconfigured screen pop or a missing field. The assumption that a telephony integration works because it installed cleanly is rarely safe. Treat the first agents through the system as a pilot, watch their handle time and their complaints, and tune the layout before the rest of the floor goes live.
How to set up a Call Center
Set up a Call Center so assigned agents see a Softphone and can take calls inside Salesforce. The high-level path is the same for a partner platform and for Service Cloud Voice, though Voice creates the record for you. You need the Manage Call Centers permission.
- Create or locate the Call Center record
From Setup, enter Call Centers in the Quick Find box. For a partner platform, choose Import and upload the vendor CTI definition file (XML), or clone an existing record. For Service Cloud Voice, the record already exists from provisioning.
- Fill in the connection parameters
Open the record and set the Display Name and any environment-specific values the vendor requires, such as the adapter URL endpoint and dial prefix. Save the record once the parameters match the target telephony environment.
- Add users to the Call Center
On the record, use Manage Call Center Users to add the agents who need the Softphone. Remember each user can belong to only one Call Center at a time, so plan divisional assignments before adding people.
- Build and assign a Softphone Layout
From Setup, enter Softphone Layouts. Create a layout that sets the fields, searchable objects, and screen pop behavior for inbound, outbound, and internal calls. Use Layout Assignment to map it to the right user profiles.
- Test the full call path
Place inbound, outbound, and transfer calls. Confirm caller ID capture, that the screen pop lands on the correct record, and that any transcript or activity links to the right parent before broad rollout.
The endpoint that serves the softphone code. Set by the definition file for partner platforms; points at the Salesforce-hosted softphone for Service Cloud Voice.
The human-readable name administrators see for the Call Center in Setup. Make it specific when an org runs more than one.
The membership list that decides who sees a Softphone. A user can belong to one Call Center at a time.
The per-profile definition of fields, searchable objects, and screen pop behavior across inbound, outbound, and internal calls.
- A user who is not a member of the Call Center sees no Softphone at all. This is the most common post-launch support ticket.
- Open CTI is in maintenance mode and retires in February 2028, and it is already unavailable for newly created Agentforce Service orgs. Plan new builds on Salesforce Voice.
- The Open CTI APIs for Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience are not interchangeable in custom code; pick the one that matches your experience.
- Editing a Softphone Layout without testing the screen pop cases (no match, one match, many matches) leaves agents missing context on live calls.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to Call Center in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Call Center.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Call Center.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is a Call Center record in Salesforce Setup?
Q2. Can one Salesforce user be a member of two Call Centers at the same time?
Q3. What does the Softphone Layout assigned to a Call Center control?
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