Auto-Attendant Group Route

Modified on Wed, 15 Jan at 12:13 PM

Group routes can be edited while an auto-attendant is live, which means you can update the Night Forwarding phone number, log users in or out of a group, and change any other settings within the route as needed. To edit any other route, see Edit an Auto-Attendant.

Group
Night Forwarding
Ring Strategy
User Log In/Out

Group

A Group route allows a call to ring to multiple users (not devices). Rather than following each user's call handling rules, the group follows its own ring strategy: Simultaneous, Sequential, or Round Robin. The first user to answer will get the call. If no one answers, the call will follow the group's failure route.

Group routes can be edited while an auto-attendant is Live or Activated; all other routes will be view-only. AA-Group-Group

Field	Description
Group Name	Enter a name to identify this group.
Custom music on hold	The caller will hear hold music until the call is answered. Click the menu and select a custom Music On Hold file from the Media Files library to apply it to this group. To be sure you’ve got the right file, click Play on the right. If a custom file is not selected, the caller will hear the Music On Hold set for the account.
Allow Call Queuing	Toggle on to allow calls to enter a call queue. Max # of Calls. How many people can wait on hold at a time. Max Time. How long can each call be on hold before the failure routing takes effect. Ring Timeout. Enter the number of seconds a call will ring a user (sequential) or group (simultaneous) before it is pushed back to the front of the queue (limit 120). Keep this setting low to ensure calls are answered quickly.
Use Group Name in Caller ID	Toggle on to allow the auto-attendant’s Group name to be included as part of the caller ID, so the user who receives the call knows where it originated from. Example: Sales Jane Smith.

Night Forwarding

Night Forwarding allows users to turn their calls off at night and forward them to a predetermined phone number by dialing a star code. Users can also turn their calls back on the following morning by dialing the same star code.

See also: Auto-Attendant Night Forwarding

User Ring Strategy

Choose if how incoming calls will ring to users in the group:

Simultaneous: Rings all devices for users in the group at the same time; the first user to answer gets it. Additional settings are required.
Sequential: Rings one device at a time, starting at the top of the list, until the call is answered. If the call reaches the end of the list unanswered, it will follow the failure route. This strategy is ideal if a specific person should be the first to receive incoming calls unless they’re unavailable.
Round Robin: Rings one device at a time, in order, starting with the next available user in the list based on who received the last call. If the call cycles through the entire list unanswered, it will follow the failure route.
Longest Idle. Rings the user who has been idle (not on a call) the longest, to evenly distribute incoming calls among users in the group.

AA User Ring Strategy

Simultaneous Ring

After selecting Simultaneous as your ring strategy, configure the following settings:

Ring Timeout: Enter the number of seconds for the call to ring before the unanswered call follows the failure route.
Ring next available line when user is busy: Toggle on or off.
- Enabled: Incoming calls will ring all users, regardless of their call status.
  - If the user has a single line with Call Waiting enabled, they will hear the Call Waiting tone for the call on the same line as the existing call.
  - If they have multiple lines for their number and are busy, the call will ring on an idle line.
- Disabled: Incoming calls to the group will not ring to users who are busy.

User Log In/Out

Enter your group users, their ring timeout settings, and specify whether they can log in or out of the group by dialing a star code.

Keep Users Logged In (or Don't)

Groups can function in two ways: keep users always logged in or allow users to log in and out as needed. Choose the option that works best for this group:

Enabled: Users will remain logged in to the group and will receive calls according to the auto-attendant's schedule. They cannot use the star code to log out.
Disabled: Users assigned to this group can log in and out by dialing the Group Log In/Out star code + group number from their device. Additionally, admin end users can open the auto-attendant editor to see who's logged in or out, and even change the user's status on their behalf.

Custom Star Code Required

Talk to your Customer Success Manager about adding the Group Log In/Out star code to your partition, so your users can take advantage of this feature.

Add Users

To add a user to the group, click the User drop-down menu and select their name from the list. To add additional users, click [+ Add User]. Add as many users as required.

Group Filter. To narrow the list of options to users in a specific User Group, select the group name in the filter above (optional).
Timeout. For each user in a sequential or round robin ring strategy, also specify the number of seconds calls will ring each user before moving on to the next.
Logged In. The checkmark indicates the user's login status. An admin end user can change a user's status manually: To log a user in, check the box. To log a user out, uncheck the box.
Delete. To remove a user from the list, click the icon on the right.

When you're finished, click [Save].