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james-huegli14705 avatar image
james-huegli14705 asked james-huegli14705 commented

Custom answering rules route to IVR?

Hi everyone,

Is there a way to have a custom answering rule route to an IVR menu? I tried user extension, but I can't select an IVR extension. For example, for all holidays I would like to have a custom answering rule that routes to simple IVR menu that allows for a greeting to the nature of "Hello. We're closed for the holiday, but if this is an emergency press 9 now and you'll be routed to our emergency response team." If there isn't an official way to do this is there some sort of workaround I could implement?

ivr
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mary-community-moderator avatar image
mary-community-moderator answered james-huegli14705 commented

The workaround is to select Play an announcement and upload or record a greeting you would like to announce. When you record or upload a greeting, leave at least 3 to 5 seconds of silence to give the caller a chance to press a number. Then, create an extension with that particular number, and configure its Call Forwarding Settings to route your calls to the emergency response team's number. You can also forward it to another extension or an external number.

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james-huegli14705 avatar image james-huegli14705 commented ·

Hi Mary. Thanks for responding. Doesn't there need to be some sort of IVR involved so the system knows what to do when a button is pressed? Are you saying if I create a number 9 extension that goes to a mobile phone and during the greeting they press "9" it will just route there without any sort of special programming?

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james-huegli14705 avatar image james-huegli14705 james-huegli14705 commented ·

I should have added that it would be nice if users could also have the option to leave a message. For example, they are prompted to press "9" to be transferred to after-hours emergency support or to leave a message after the tone.

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mary-community-moderator avatar image mary-community-moderator ♦♦ james-huegli14705 commented ·

Yes, it is possible. You may select the option Send to voicemail. Make sure to provide the correct extension number for the emergency response team. It doesn't need to be in the IVR to get it routed to the correct extension.

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tak-it1 avatar image
tak-it1 answered james-huegli14705 commented

It's because you're in Single Level mode in the Auto Receptionist. When in SL mode, you do not have the option to route to an IVR (for reasons unknown). You can either switch to Multi Level mode and go from there (being mindful of your current configuration), or if you wish to stay in SL mode, I would do this: create a call queue called IVR Connector, disable the hours of the queue save for a period of 15 minutes, and in the after hours of the queue you can connect to your desired IVR. Basically, if you stay in SL mode, create the custom rule and have it connect to that queue, the queue would then always connect to your desired IVR.


...but honestly, just change it to multi level mode and go from there.

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james-huegli14705 avatar image james-huegli14705 commented ·

So, it's nested under the conversation above with Mary, but what I decided to do was create a "free" mobile user and under call handling flipped on "forward all calls" and set that to the IVR menu I created. I looked at flipping on the multi-level IVR, but that would delete the 10+ custom rules I created already and during work hours I want phone calls to bypass any sort of IVR menu and go straight to an extension, which for now, I don't see is possible with a multi-level IVR. Don't get me wrong, it might be possible, but I just don't see it right now.

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tak-it1 avatar image tak-it1 james-huegli14705 commented ·

Yeah fair enough, if it works then it works! But just FYI - when you're in ML mode, you can simply create rules that ring live answer, it doesn't have to be a menu first.

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james-huegli14705 avatar image james-huegli14705 tak-it1 commented ·

Awesome! I was sure it was there; I knew I just wasn't seeing it. Thanks for sharing that with me. Next deployment I'll look at starting out with ML mode.

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