Auto Attendant
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Contents |
Purpose
The auto attendant can be seen as a simple receptionist that helps to connect the incoming caller with an extension. This may include searching for the name, entering the extension number, protecting certain extensions and redirecting calls to external numbers. The auto attendant also performs other less visible tasks like calling back when an extension becomes available or redirecting calls into the mailbox.
Actually, all calls to extensions go through the auto attendant. When the PBX already knows the number, it just skips the prompts and goes directly to the phase when the account number is called. The other mechanisms that are in place when going through the IVR are the same.
The auto attendant can handle more than registration per extension. That means a user may register one, two, three or more SIP devices to the same extension. These three devices will ring at the same time; there is no further differentiation between the different registrations.
The logic for handling DND and call forwarding is explained in the section about the star code handling Call Forwarding.
How the Auto Attendant works
Welcome Message
When someone calls the auto attendant, the auto attendant first plays back a welcome message. This welcome message may depend on the time of day, the day, or it may just be a standard message that is always the same. The description below shows how to set the welcome message up. By pressing the star key, the caller can skip the welcome message and go directly to the menu where the auto attendant asks for the destination.
Asking for the Destination
In this state, the auto attendant usually plays back a message that asks the caller to enter the destination. If there are direct destinations set up, the auto attendant may also play back additional messages. For this purpose, the PBX has a number of pre-recorded prompts that can be used in this phase (for example, "for sales press xxx"). If the dial by name feature is enabled, the auto attendant may also advertise this feature. And in cases when the user does not press anything and the auto attendant redirects the call to another destination, the auto attendant may also play back an announcement that advertises that feature.
Processing user input in this state is a complex task. In the simplest case, the PBX just collects the digits for an extension and then calls that extension. The number of digits can be set up. Pressing the star code generally clears the input.
But the PBX also checks if there is a direct destination associated with the input. If that is the case then the PBX calls the destination. Usually this feature is used for popular destinations like sales, support and so forth. If there is a overlap with existing extension numbers, the PBX may wait for a timeout (for example, if there are extensions starting with "1" and there is a direct destination "1").
If the caller enters the code for the dial by name directory, the auto attendant goes into a special more for searching the directory.
In this state the auto attendant may also process special codes. These codes start with "*#" and they are used for such things as resetting the PBX or reading out its IP address.
Ringing an Extension
Until one of the destinations answers with a ring back message, the auto attendant plays comfort noise to the caller. This comfort noise indicates the caller that the line is in use, instead of playing back digital silence which may leave the impression that the line is "dead". Upon arrival of the ring back message, it changes the tone to a ring back tone.
If the extension has specified a cell phone number and the time of day permits inclusion of the cell phone, the auto attendant will include the cell phone in the list of ringing devices. This step may be delayed for a few seconds; this is useful to give a person that is right next to the desktop phone the chance to pick the phone up on that phone first. The ring back tone from the cell phone is ignored; this has the benefit that the caller cannot know that the call might be picked up on a cell phone (hide the true location of the extension user).
When calling an extension, the caller has the possibility to press the star key while the extensions are ringing. In this case, it cancels all calls and prompts for another number.
Searching for a Name
If the auto attendant has the search by name feature enabled, then the PBX collects digits for the name. The digits correspondent to the printing of the phones ("2" = "ABC", 3 = "DEF" and so on). The key "0" maps only to the symbol "0", and key "1" maps all other characters.
When the auto attendant has collected enough digits and the result is not unique, it presents a menu of the available choices. That audio menu uses the names that the extension recorded. For example, the PBX may generate a IVR menu that sounds like "For 'Carl Johnson', press 1; for 'Susan McGomez', press 2; for 'Mike Smith', press 3". Then the caller can select one of the choices.
When the extension does not pick up
Unfortunately, not all calls connect to real persons in time. If the user programmed a redirection, then the auto attendant will dial the redirection number and then leave it to the outbound call what happens next.
What happens next depends on the source of the call. If the call comes from an outside user, the call is redirected into the mailbox (if the mailbox is enabled). Otherwise, if the call comes from another extension or from an associated cell phone, the PBX offers a menu where the caller can initiate a "camp on" or send the call to the mailbox. In the case of the camp on, the PBX will call the user back as soon as the selected extension becomes available.
If the user has set so, the auto attendant will also send an email about the missed call.
Blacklisted users and anonymous calls
When the call comes from a blacklisted contact or does not have a caller-ID, then the PBX may ask the user to leave a name. This is very useful to block calls from outbound call centers which cause a lot of damage to companies in terms of time and work interruptions.
If the auto attendant decides to intercept the call, then the caller is asked to leave a name and then press the pound key. After that, it calls the extension and explains that there is a call waiting for the extension. The caller will hear music on hold during this time. Only if the extension user decides to connect the call the caller is put through. Otherwise, depending on the users choice, the call is sent to the mailbox or the rules for a busy extension apply.
Identity
The identity settings are the same as the settings for the extension identity, see Extension Identity.
Behavior
When the user enters an extension number, the auto attendant has to determine when it should try to go to an extension ("Extension Input"). The following modes are available:
- "When Extension Matches" checks after every digit if the digit sequence matches an existing account. If this is the case, it will call that extension. This mechanism is useful when you use accounts with varying name length, however it might be annoying if the caller tries a non-existing number.
- "After 1/2/3/4/5 Digit Input" will count the number of digits and after the right number has been entered it will try to go to the account that has been entered. If that account does not exist, it will play an announcement.
- The "User Must Hit Pound" mode waits until the user hits the pound sign. This mode is useful in variable-length scenarios, where you explicitly tell the user to terminate the input.
If you turn the "Say Name" setting on, the PBX will play an announcement that repeats the user input, or, if the user recorded the extension name, will play back the user name.
The "Accounts that cannot be called" setting lists the accounts that are disabled for redirection. This setting is useful if you want to exclude incoming callers from using conference accounts or to dial VIP numbers. You can only literally enumerate the accounts that cannot be dialed, patterns are not allowed here. You have to separate them with a space. Ex: 40 43 47. With this setting, one can not call extension 40, 43 and 47 using auto-attendant. Note that you can directly call them.
To set up the auto attendant prompt, you have two choices. The first choice is to use the Record star code (described in the feature code section). This possibility is useful when the secretary wants to recording on her own or when that announcements may change often. In this case, you might want to list the "Accounts that may record a message" using a list of Wildcard Patterns. If you want to want to delete your recorded message and use the default announcement again, you can use the Record star code and hit star before the tone to cancel the recording.
The second choice is to may load a prerecorded WAV file into the system. Please use a standard recording tool to record the message and make sure that you are using 8 kHz sampling frequency, mono 16-bit recording format. This choice is useful when you want to a studio recording or you want to deploy a recording into several accounts.
If the auto attendant redirects calls to a trunk, it needs a dial plan to do this. You may select the dial plan with the setting "Dial Plan for outbound calls". This dial plan will only be used if there is no account that can be charged for this call (for example, in night mode); otherwise it will use this account's dial plan. You may also specify an ANI for the auto attendant that is used for outbound calls; and you may also specify that the PBX sends out a CDR email at the end of the day that includes all calls to the auto attendant.
The auto attendant supports environments with multiple languages. You may explicitly specify what language the auto attendant should choose as the primary language. This setting may differ from the default language in the domain. If you don't select a language, the auto attendant will determine if the call already has a call assigned. This can for example be the case if the call went through a previous auto attendant or an extension calls the auto attendant.
If you are operating the PBX in a dual-language environment (for example, in Canada), you may want to offer the second language to the caller. In this case, you should select the second language in the setting "Second Language" and use the direct destination below to announce the capability to select another language. If you enter a destination, then the PBX will redirect the call to the destination; that destination should then have the announced language. If you don't enter a destination, the PBX will just switch the language and continue waiting for input.
Dialog Permissions are described in Dialog Permissions.
Timeout Handling
When the user does not make a selection for a certain time, you may redirect the call to another account. In order to do this, specify the time in seconds and the account name in the settings "Redirect Number" and "Timeout (s)". The timeout starts after the welcome prompt finished, so that you may change your recording later without changing the behavior or the auto attendant. If you want to redirect immediately after the prompt changes, you may enter a time of zero seconds.
If the user does not enter anything, you also might want to terminate the call. This feature is useful when the PSTN gateway has problems detecting that the call was already hung up (some gateways have problems detecting hangup on analog ports). Then the setting "Hangup Timeout" may help to clear the call relatively quickly. This timeout value works independently from the status the attendant is in.
Night Service
As in other accounts, you may redirect calls to the auto attendant to another account depending on the time of day or other events. This service is called "night service" and is used in conjunction with the Service Flag. If you want to use the night service feature, please set up a service flag and specify where you want to redirect the service during the night.
You may also use more than one night service flag. Then the PBX will check the 1st flag and associate it with the 1st service number, the 2nd flag with the 2nd service number, the 3rd with the 3rd and so on.
Dial By Name
If you want to offer the "Dial by Name" feature in the auto attendant, you need to enter a pattern that triggers the name search. If you are using a three digit extension code, 411 is a nice example. This mechanism searches only extensions that have their name set.
The setting "Start Search" tells the PBX how many digits it should read until is starts the search. If there are several matches after a timeout or further entries will not get a unique result, the PBX will list the available matches in a menu. The caller may always cancel the search with the star key.
Direct Destinations
You can specify direct destinations in the auto attendant. When the user enters the destination, the PBX will call the provided number. The input can be one digit or it can be several digits. The destination can be an internal number such as an extension or conference room, or it can be an external number.
The PBX has some prerecorded announcements that will be read out along with the direct destination. This makes it much easier to set up an auto attendant that explains the available choices to the caller.
The PBX check immediately if there is a match with a direct destination as the user enters digits. This is a problem if there is a overlap between a direct destination and an extension number. For example if you have extensions starting with "1" and you want to have a direct destination "1", there would be no way of dialing that number. If general, the best way to avoid this situation is to choose extension numbers that do not overlap with direct destinations and mailbox prefix and outbound call prefixes. For example, the extension range 4xx-7xx does that.
If you cannot change the extension assignments (e.g. business cards with extension numbers are already circling around), you can use a timeout mechanism. If you put a pound sign behind the direct destination (for example, "1#"), then the PBX will wait for three seconds and then dial the direct destination.
If you want that the PBX redirects FAX messages to a specific destination, you can use the direct destination "F". The CNG tone that announces a fax tone is recognized by the PBX and translated into the key "F".
IVR Setup
Setting up AA messages
In order to make the announcements of the auto attendant flexible, there is a separate tab for the announcements of the auto attendant.
The first section deals with the welcome message. As the text explains, you have several possibilities to define or upload a welcome greeting. You may use up to five service-flag depending announcements and one default announcement. The web page also shows you what number to call to record the announcements directly from an extension.
The second section is used to explicitly enable or disable prompts that are automatically generated by the auto attendant. If you don't like the standard announcements, you can disable them on this web page.
2 ways to change the welcome greetings
- First method
- press *98+AA number using any phone. Ex: Dial *9870, if 70 is your AA.
- Record the greetings
- Hang up the phone
- The greeting will be automatically assigned to the AA
- The recorded file will be placed in the <pbx-working-dir>/recordings
- If you pick up the phone and dial 70, you will hear the new greetings
- Second method
- Record a file (use 8kHz mono, 16 bit file) using whatever means you have.
- Go to AA’s “IVR” tab and click on the “Browse” next to *9870.
- Select the recorded file.
- Click “Save”
