Auto Attendants are a type of Call Distribution that gives your caller a menu of choices to decide where to go. Call flow settings like this one are typically found in the Enterprise Services section of the left hand menu:
Find the Auto Attendant you wish to edit and press the EDIT button on the right hand side:
Once expanded, you can edit the Settings at the top, set Schedules in the center, and edit the Menus at the bottom.
Settings
By pressing "Edit" next to the Settings label you can open the settings for changes.
- Enabled: This will enable the auto attendant to function when ON. When OFF, calling the extension will reach nothing.
- Name: You can rename the auto attendant here.
- Calling Line ID First/Last Name: Define the CNAM information here.
- Extension: By default, the first Auto Attendant will be 7777, but it can be changed.
- Operator Transfer Timeout: This will set the amount of time before the call is transferred to the first Transfer to Operator on the list.
- Virtual / Toll Free Number: If you have assigned any Virtual Numbers, they will display here.
- Time Zone: Select the time zone for any scheduled call routing here.
- External Transfer Caller ID: For calls transferred through, this will determine whether the inbound CLID, or the CLID of the Auto Attendant itself will be displayed.
- Name Dialing: Select which fields are searched if the Name Dialing function is selected by the caller.
Schedules
You set up rules for diverting calls to the different menus in the center section. By default, the Business Hours menu will be played every time a call is routed to this auto attendant - shown as "Every Day All Day" in the Schedule category. You can see more about setting up schedules here.
The logical path used to decide which menu to play in an auto attendant is as follows:
IF [time = Holidays] THEN “Play After Hours Menu”
IF [time = Business Hours] THEN “Play Business Hours Menu”
ELSE “Play After Hours Menu”
Menus
The menus describe the actions that the caller can perform with button presses. The menu will also have an audio file that should inform the caller as to what actions are possible.
Main Menu Section
You can use the Browse button to upload a compatible .wav file to be used as the voice prompt for the auto attendant, or you can set up your system to record the prompt through the phone.
Extension Dialing
Toggling this ON will enable the caller to dial an extension at any point during the voice prompt or with in 10 seconds after.
Menu Actions
An auto attendant can have up to 12 possible button prompts, numbers 0-9 as well as * and #. Every one of these must have one of the following actions (by default, most of them will be 'disabled'):
- Disabled: no action will be taken when this is pressed.
- Transfer with Prompt: transfer to the listed extension or number after vocalizing a prompt.
- Transfer without Prompt: transfer to the listed extension or number.
- Extension Dialing: this launches an IVR where the caller can input the extension number they wish to reach.
- Transfer to Mailbox: this will launch an IVR where the caller is prompted to input the mailbox number (extension) they wish to reach.
- Transfer to Specific Mailbox: this allows you to control which voicemail box the call is transferred to.
- Name Dialing: another IVR that allows the caller to input three letters of the name.
- Play Announcement: this will play another compatible .wav file, then return to the main menu again.
- Repeat Menu: plays the top level recording again, and restarts the 10 second timer
- Transfer to Operator: similar to Transfer with Prompt, but it will automatically trigger if the caller cannot or will not interact before the Operator Countdown timer has elapsed.
- Exit: disconnects the call.
Advanced Auto Attendants
The Advanced Auto Attendant product offers a few upgraded features to the basic model.
The logical path used to decide which menu to play in an advanced auto attendant is as follows:
IF [time = Holidays] THEN “Play Holiday Menu”
ELSE IF [time = Business Hours] THEN “Play Business Hours Menu”
ELSE “Play After Hours Menu”
- Menus: The advanced auto attendant has separate menus for after hours and holidays.
- Sub-menus: Within the menus, advanced auto attendants can have up to two levels of sub-menus. You will see the actions "Transfer to Submenu" and "Return to Previous Menu" to navigate through these levels. Each submenu acts like its own auto attendant, with its own audio file and actions separate from the parent menu.
