Hi all,

I've been given this task, and was hoping to get some input on the best way to program the solution.
In an after hours call routing announcement, we'd like to have an option to press 1 for the on call agent. The call would then be forwarded to whoever is the on call agent for the evening.
I have set it up so far, so that an office administrator would have to manually change the extension tied to the call routing announcement number, but then realized that the administrator won't be able to do that over the weekend, because she is not in the office, and can't be expected to remotely program this on the weekends.
Is there any way to setup a schedule of some sort so that the on call agent would change automatically from day to day?
I initally thought of using a hunt group, and listing everyone as members, then having the on call agent log in for their day, and setting the call routing announcement to ring the hunt group, which would then forward the call, but we don't think the agents will remember when their day is, or remember how to do it, etc. . .
Can anyone think of an easier way, or a way to automate it more, so that there is as little user interaction as possible?

Oh, and we are using Axxess v9.002

Thanks,
Carrie

If the on call person is the same for each day of the week, you could use a STAR. When the caller presses one, transfer the call to the STAR. On Monday, it will go to one extension. On Tuesday, another extension. And so on. If they are rotating, you can still use the STAR, you'll just have to be sure you have it programmed correctly.

Thanks, I was just looking into that, and here's what I've come across so far - just hoping I don't over complicate it.
Looks like the star app can only call applications, so I could make a call routing anncmt. for each on call agent, then assign each anncmt. to 1-7 in the STAR app., and set the day for their day. It looks like it would have to be maintained weekly because there are more than 7 people.
Then can I set the system forwarding path (which is how our night greeting works), to the STAR app?

Or is there a much easier way?

Carrie

The STAR can forward to applications and extensions. I don't know how you notify the on call people. If you have message notification on their voicemail, just route it to their extension and let the voicemail do the rest.

You could program up to 20 days of notification. But that requires programming specific dates. It would probably be easier to program the routing once a week. One note about STARs. They work like stacked memory. It starts at position one to see if it matches and moves on. If you start your programming at 1, you'll not be able to add any function that may take precedence over the condition in 1. Our whole phone system runs through a STAR. I have our closed programming at position 20. That way, if no conditions match in the positions before it (office open, holiday, early closing, so on), the office closed programming will run. It's up to you. Your situation may not apply.

Leave the first few STAR entries unused in case of a future need to override the routing such as for a holiday schedule etc.

I would use 7 star entries one for each day of the week. Therefore you can set up the on-call routing for the week ahead of time. The star entry can be configured for any application or extension number. The default star routing is in case a call date/time doesn't match any of the above. That could go to a catch-all kind of voice mailbox or a supervisor.

Don't forget you can use a phantom extensions permanently call forwarded to on-call mobile phones as a way to send calls off-site. That's been documented on this message board many times.

Well, when I go to the STAR app, and select say, number 3, the top line reads 'Application', and when I type in the number of an extension, it says 'NONE', and will not accept.
If I use the number of a call routing announcement, it works.
How can I get the STAR to just forward to an extension?

Carrie

Time out the app to an ext.

Ok, coincidentally, our phone guy stopped by this week, and helped me finish setting this up. I ended up using phantoms to forward the calls, and make it easier for the adminstrator to change weekly. While using the online-monitor to set the forwarding for each number, I came across a field called 'forward username'. Does anybody know if this information would show up on the caller ID?

Thanks,
Carrie

Uh-oh, bit of a snag here:

We want to forward the calls from 6PM to 8AM the following day - so that requires a span of 2 days. Am I correct in thinking that if I select just 'Wednesday' and then 'Night' mode, that the STAR app. will stop forwarding at midnight, because it's no longer technically Wednesday?
What would be the best way to have it run according to the schedule of 6PM start time, and end time of 8AM the following day? (with as little user administration as possible)?

Thanks,
Carrie

Point the 6pm to midnight of one night and midnight to 8am of the following day in the STAR to the same CRA/phantom device. Have a phantom device for each evening. I.E. 1810 is Monday night. 1811 is Tuesday night. The administrator then programs each phantom device forwarding for the week.

Actually, I set the time on say Monday to start at 6PM and end at 8PM, and tested it, and it worked.
Seems that the programming understands the time span.

Thanks,
Carrie