Using your Holiday Call Flow

*updated 8.21.24*

With TeleVoIPs, we include an additional menu and timeframe to help with changing your call flow for special occasions or holidays. This guide will show you a few ways you can utilize these features:

Using the prompt:

In the Manager Portal, access ‘Auto Attendants’ – here you can edit your existing menus and prompts. Select the pencil icon on the auto attendant labeled Holiday Prompt.

This is to be used when your company needs a special message for an event, closure, or simply put a temporary greeting in place. When editing, you can add an intro and a menu prompt. The intro is used when you want to make sure the caller listens to the greeting without being able to enter an option. The menu prompt is the message asking the caller to enter a certain option such as ‘please press one to leave a message’

You can add/edit these greetings at any time. You can upload a voice recording, or using our new Text-to-Speech, you can type in a script and generate an automated greetings with ease!

Once your greeting is in place, you can program the desired options – for an example, say we want to prompt our callers to dial * to leave a message: We’d first need to select the * from the dial pad menu, then from the application menu we’d select ‘Voicemail’

Once your greeting is in place, you can program the desired options – for an example, say we want to prompt our callers to dial * to leave a message: We’d first need to select the * from the dial pad menu, then from the application menu we’d select ‘Voicemail’

Then, you should be able to enter a valid extension, or remove the button if made in error.

Last step – to ensure the timeout of the menu is correct, click the gear key to the right of the dial pad menu, seen above. Here you can set the timeout before a key is entered and how you’d like the calls routed if an option is not selected.  *NOTE - if you’d like to have a message play and go to a voicemail without prompting the caller to enter an option, ensure your ‘If no key is pressed’ and ‘Timeout before first key press’ are set properly.

Using the Time Frame:

In the manager portal, navigate to time frames, under your domain – you may have a few but we are interested in ‘Holiday’. Select the pencil icon to the right to edit the time frame. 

Once selected, you will see the below modal – Either Select 'Holiday' or 'Specific dates' for the when prompt.

When selecting 'Holiday', you can then select observed Holidays from a list. Setting the 'Time' range will set the times this will effect the calls...Notice below all day is specified (12AM - 11:45PM).

Next, you can set up the 'Observed Holidays' logic:  Basically - how you'd like your system to handle holidays based on the day it lands on... Click 'Save' and your time frame has been updated!  See below for 'Adding the Time Frame to your Call Flow'

When Selecting 'Specific Dates' the next modal allows you to set the beginning date/time and the ending date/time. You can then select the date from a calendar and enter the time in specified box. Click the to add any additional ranges you may need. Setting recurrence will allow you to copy this schedule monthly, yearly, etc. Click 'Save' and your time frame has been updated!

Adding the Time Frame to your Call Flow:

Now that our time frame is updated, lets make sure we put it in place by updating your number/DID: Access the ‘Inventory’ application in the manager portal – select ‘Phone Numbers’ and the number you’d like to edit. Once selected, you will open the following: If the Enable Time Frames setting is set to ‘NO’ the below settings will not be visible and thus you will be unable to assign the holiday time frame. Notice along the bottom, our timeframes are used to manipulate the calls. Our ‘Night’ timeframe sends calls to voicemail, and the default flow is to the call queue, 7001.

Let’s see how we can add our Holiday time frame…

Frist, we will need to add the new time frame to the list, simply click the drop down to select the Holiday TF. Any expired time frames will be flagged. Once the correct option is selected click the green plus. This will put the timeframe on the bottom of the list, clicking and dragging the up-and-down arrows to the left will allow you to change the priority.

Since the Holiday needs to override your standard call flow, this should be places at the top like so:   Then you can select the ‘treatment’ or application the call route uses. To send calls to your Holiday Prompt, Select ‘Auto Attendant’ from the treatment menu – then enter the Holiday Prompt extension - 9500, if you are unsure of your Holiday Auto Attendant's extension feel free to ask a support representative.  If you need to forward calls to an outside line, you’d select PSTN Number.

Once done, click save and your DID will follow that new holiday rule until its either removed or the timeframe is updated.