Call queues

The Smart Call company organizes a 24/7 call center
for its sales and support departments.

• When
  callers dial the call center number (12035556217), they hear the “Thank
  you for calling Smart Call!” greeting and then “For Sales, press 1; for
  Support, press 2.”
• After
  callers press 1 (or 2) on their phones, they hear “Your call is being
  transferred to Sales” (or “Your call is being transferred to Support”),
  whereupon their calls are redirected to the corresponding call queue.
• Each
  caller hears two announcements:
  • What
    is the caller number in the call queue.
  • The
    estimated wait time.
• Custom
  music plays while a caller is on hold in a call queue.
• To
  avoid a situation where, due to high call volume the wait time grows too
  long, Smart Call limits the maximum number of waiting callers to 50. When
  this number is reached, the next call is disconnected.

Before you create a
call queue, you must configure cloud PBX services according to the instructions
provided in the Cloud PBX
services handbook. We assume that you have already done
this, and that you now have two working hunt groups called “Sales Department”
and “Support Department”, and an account with ID 12035556217 that will
receive incoming calls and send them to a call queue. Turn on Auto
Attendant for this account as described in the Enable the Auto
Attendant Service for an Account section of the Configuring
Auto Attendant Functionality handbook.

Now you can create and configure the call queues named
“Sales Department” and “Support Department” as described in this handbook.

Note that the call queue language prompts depend on
the preferred IVR language for the Auto Attendant. Please refer to the
Configure the language for Auto Attendant section of the Configure
the Auto Attendant Functionality handbook for more details.

1. On
   the customer self-care interface, go to the Cloud PBX tab.
2. From
   the menu on the left side of the page, choose Call Queues.
3.  Click
    Add.

   

4. Define
   the following parameters:
   • Hunt
     group name – the arriving to this queue
     call is then transferred to the corresponding hunt group. Select
     Sales Department.
   • Hunt
     group number – the number that end users dial to access the hunt group.
     This is a read-only value that appears automatically
     after you have selected a hunt group.
   • Maximum
     incoming calls set on hold – the maximum number of calls that can
     be placed on hold within this queue. Type “50.” When this number is reached,
     the next call is disconnected.
   • Announce
     number of callers ahead of them in the queue – when
     this check box is selected, callers hear an announcement stating the number
     of callers ahead of them in the queue.
   • Announce
     estimated wait time – when this check
     box is selected, callers will hear an announcement stating the estimated
     wait time. Estimated
     wait time is calculated as (Average handle time)*(Number of callers ahead)/(Number
     of operators).
   • Average
     handle time, minutes – the expected average processing time for each
     call in minutes. This value is used for
     calculating the estimated wait time that is then announced to the callers.
     Type “5.”
   • Interval
     between announcements, minutes – this defines how often callers hear
     announcements about the number of callers
     ahead of them in the queue and the estimated wait time until someone
     attends to them. The default value is 5
     minutes.
   • Play
     music on hold – enable this option to record/upload a melody (or announcement)
     that is played for users who are waiting on hold in the call queue.
   • Music
     on hold file – record or upload an audio file to be played:
     • To
       record a melody, click  Record,
       play a melody, and when you are finished, click  Stop.
     • To
       choose a prerecorded audio file, click  Browse,
       locate and select the file you want to use, and then click Open.
       The default value for the maximum file size
       is 3 MB.
5. Click
    Save.
6. To
   create a call queue for the support department, repeat steps 3–5, but
   from the Hunt group list, select Support in step 4.

Configure the
auto attendant ROOT menu

Now you need to configure the Auto Attendant so that
it can send calls that arrive to the number 12035556217 to the call queues
created in the Create
Call Queues section.

1. On
   the customer self-care interface, go to the Cloud PBX tab.
2. From
   the menu on the left side of the page, select Phone Lines.
3. Select
   the 12035556217 phone line from the list and click  Configure.

   

4. On
   the Edit Phone Line page, go to the Cloud PBX tab.
5. From
   the menu on the left side of the page, select Auto Attendant.
6. Select
   the ROOT IVR menu from the list and click   Edit.

   

7. On
   the General tab, in the Active section, specify the time
   interval during which this menu is active. Select Always.

   

8. Go
   to the Prompts tab, and upload or record the two following prompts:
   • Intro
     – a prompt to be played when the menu is entered for the first time. Upload
     or record “Thank you for calling Smart Call!”
   • Menu
     – a prompt that informs a caller about available choices. Upload or record
     “For
     Sales, press 1; for Support, press 2.”

     

9. Go
   to the Actions tab, and create two actions – instructions for the
   Auto Attendant on how to process callers’ inputs.
   1. Click
       Add.
   2. In
      the Add New Action dialog box, specify the following parameters:
      • User
        Input – what button callers press on their phones to choose a corresponding
        action. Select 1.
      • Action
        – what Auto Attendant should do upon user input specified in User
        Input. Select Queue Sales to define that Auto Attendant
        should transfer calls to the call queue called “Sales Department”.
      • Play
        Before Action – when this check box is selected, the prompt specified
        in Play/Record Prompt is to be played before an action is performed.
        Select this check box.
      • Play/Record
        Prompt – a prompt to play before an action is performed. Upload or
        record “Your call is being transferred to Sales”.
   3. Click
      Update.
   4. Repeat
      steps a–c, but select User Input – 2, Action – Queue
      Support and for the Play/Record Prompt option upload or record
      “Your call is being transferred to Support” in step b.

      

10. Go
    to the Input Errors tab and specify the following parameters:
    • On
      Timeout – a prompt to play when a caller does not make a choice before
      timeout. Upload or record “Please make your choice.”
    • On
      Unavailable Selection – a prompt to play when a digit or a sign that
      callers press on their phones has not been configured in Auto Attendant.
      Upload or record “This option is not available.”
    • Disconnect
      the call after...input errors – specify the number of
      input errors allowed until the call is disconnected. The default value
      is 3.
11. Click
     Save.

You can always add more levels in the Auto Attendant
menu and/or configure them differently to how the ROOT menu is described
here. For more information on Auto Attendant configuration and available
options please refer to the Configuring
the Auto Attendant Functionality handbook.