operators and call handlers

[fromaj]

please forgive the basic nature of this request. I have not really set up Unity's Auto-Attendant many times. I have a Unity 3.1 server that I want to do some call routing on. I have set up a CTI route point on my Callmanager to forward all calls to the pilot number of the Unity server. From there, I intend to have a rule that looks at the time of day and makes routing rules based on that. During business hours, the Unity AA will forward all calls to our WebAttendant number. The moment our business hours are over, I want the auto attendant to play an after hours message and give the end users some options. what I want to know is how to set up the call routing for during hours forwarding, and after hours message. Thank you for your help <br><br>

[#2]

You don't really need to setup routing rules to do this... I think what you want to do is fairly straight forward.

All calls that aren't subscribers checking messages from their internal extensions or users forwarding from a subscriber's phone already get routed to the default Opening Greeting call handler. Calls hitting the opening greeting go first through the transfer rules and then through the greeting rules. By default the transfer rules for the opening greeting are disabled so users hear the usual opening greeting message.

For you application I think all you need to do is associate the opening greeting with the schedule you want for standard and off hours operation and configure the transfer rules and greeting rules to do what you want.

First, setup the standard transfer rule for “Yes, ring a subscriber at this extension” and enter the ID of the web attendant… you should configure this for release transfer which will just let the call go.

For the Off Hours greeting make sure it’s set to “no, send directly to this handlers greeting).

For the Off Hours greeting rule, make sure it’s active (it is by default) and record a greeting for it that give users the options you want (map your one key rules as necessary for these options).

This way during the day the opening greeting call handler will simply fire folks off to the web attendant and after hours it’ll play a greeting and give callers the options they want. I think for what you want this is all you have to do.


Jeff Lindborg
Unity Technical Lead/Answer Monkey
Cisco Systems
lindborg@cisco.com
http://www.AnswerMonkey.net (new page for Unity support tools and scripts)

[fromaj]

I think I may have done a poor job of explaining what I intend to do, or I am not quite understanding your explanation. This is what I want to happen. I have all phone calls hitting my callmanager first. This allows me to direct DID calls to people. If it is not a DID call, they hit a CTI route point that forward them on to the first voicemail extension. If it is durring normal business hours, I want the call to immediatly be transferred to another CTI route point on the Callmanager. I don't want an opening greeting and I don't want to take a message. If the call is transferred to Unity outside of normal business hours, then I want Unity to greet them, give them options to be transferred to different departments or be transferred outside the system to an external emergency number. The part that I don't quite get is the setting up of the rules to determine if it is durring business hours or not and to transfer away from Unity if it is, and to send it to a call-flow if it is not. I hope this clairifys my delima. Thank you.

Alan

[#4]

Yeah, I got you... my plan will work fine for you. The openeing greeting call handler is associated with a schedule that determins if it's "standard" (i.e. work hours) or "off hours" (i.e. business is closed). Based on that schedule the standard or off hours transfer rules are evaluated followed by the greeting rules. With the opening greeting setup as I indicated you will get the behavior you're looking for I think.

Calls that come into Unity during the day are simply forwarded to the number of your web attendant. Folks never hear any greeting at all. After hours they hear the off hours greeting you've recorded.


Jeff Lindborg
Unity Technical Lead/Answer Monkey
Cisco Systems
lindborg@cisco.com
http://www.AnswerMonkey.net (new page for Unity support tools and scripts)

[fromaj]

that worked wonderfully. Thank you for your help. One quick follow-up question. The active schedule for the opening greeting call handler is set to weekdays. Since I will be using this call handler to transfer to webattendants during the day and an Auto Attendant at night, do I need to change the hour to all days - all hours?

[#6]

The schedule simply indicates when it's "day" and when it's "night". the all hours all days schedule is set to mean it's "day" all the time... that's not what you want. You can edit the schdule or create a new one that matches the business hours you want.


Jeff Lindborg
Unity Technical Lead/Answer Monkey
Cisco Systems
lindborg@cisco.com
http://www.AnswerMonkey.net (new page for Unity support tools and scripts)

[fromaj]

First of all, let me thank you for your prompt responses. I greatly appreciate it. I have another issue now. every time I dial the first voice mail port directly, or if I hit the messages button on a phone that does not have a voice-mail box, it gets transfered to the web-attendant. is there a way to make this work so if the call is transferred from the CTI route point, it does what it is now doing, but otherwise, it goes to the opening greeting. This will be important if somebody wants to dial in during the day and get their voice mail, or for that matter, if no webattendants are available, we can transfer in to the opening greeting.

Alan

[fromaj]

Thank you again jeff... I think I have it figured out now. I created a special call handler based on the opening greeting (I called it test) that forwards calls to the webattendants. Then I changed the default opening greeting to the way that it was before. Then I created a routing rule for forwarded calls saying the if the DNIS number is the same number as the CTI route point, then attempt to transfer the call to the "test" call handler. This works if you call in to the CTI route point. Changing the default opening greeting back to the way it was allows those phones in the break rooms and those that don't have mailboxes can hit the messages button or dial directly in to the first voicemail port and get the opening greeting. Now, it seems, I can just adjust the "test" call handler for different times of day and use that as my main call handler for routing of calls. If you forsee any problems with this, please let me know.

Alan

[#9]

sounds just fine to me...

Jeff Lindborg
Unity Technical Lead/Answer Monkey
Cisco Systems
lindborg@cisco.com
http://www.AnswerMonkey.net (new page for Unity support tools and scripts)