To design your automated attendants to make the most effective use of their capabilities, you must first determine the needs for your business. Will all callers be routed directly to the automated attendant? Will certain options of an automated attendant route callers to other automated attendants? Are there any special needs the automated attendant must address, such as accommodating hearing-impaired callers?
Automated attendant applications can include any of the following:
| Main automated attendant | The mailbox where the automated attendant telephone extension connects. The main automated attendant plays a single menu of options for selecting a final destination or presents menu options that differ depending on call types defined with Multiple Personal Greetings, business schedules, or holiday schedules. See Setting Up a Main Attendant for more information. |
| Nested automated attendant | Two or more layers of automated attendants a main automated
attendant that contains options leading to one or more secondary (nested)
automated attendants that play additional submenus of options. See Setting Up Nested Attendants for
more information.
You must create the nested attendant before you specify it in a main or higher-layer attendant. Create a diagram on paper of the menu tree that you want to use. Then administer the automated attendant system starting from the last (deepest) menu layer and work your way back to the main automated attendant. |
| TTY (Teletype-writer) | An automated attendant administered with a TDD announcement set that provides service to hearingimpaired callers. (The TDD announcement set is recommended but not required to set up TTY automated attendants.) Hearingimpaired callers need a standard, standalone, acousticallycoupled teletypewriter along with a touchtone telephone. See TTY Automated Attendants for more information. |
| Nonresident subscriber extensions | A main automated attendant that contains options leading to subscribers who have voice mailboxes and call in for messages, but do not have actual telephone extensions on the switch. See Setting Up Nonresident Subscriber Extensions for more information. |
| Shared extensions | A main automated attendant that contains options leading to the mailboxes of two or more people sharing the same telephone. See Setting Up Shared Extensions for more information. |
| 10 Options per Attendant | The automated attendant can have as many as 10 menu options, corresponding to the buttons 0 through 9 on a touchtone telephone |
| Automated Attendant Extension on the Switch | If the automated attendant extension is to be called directly, administer the switch to route calls to that extension. You (or the switch administrator) administer the switch to route all incoming calls to an automated attendant instead of to a receptionist, or perhaps to route calls to this extension only after normal business hours. (If the automated attendant is a nested automated attendant, administer the extension as a "phantom" extension.) |
| COS for Automated Attendants | If you plan to use a number of automated attendants, you might want to set up a class of service (COS) with the PERMISSIONS, Type: field already set to automated attendant. |
| * 8
Transfers |
You can administer your system to allow callers to transfer
from the automated attendant to a specific extension by entering * 8, the extension number, and the pound sign #. Generally,
it is more efficient to have callers enter extension numbers directly. * 8 is typically used when the attendant's options require use
of all the buttons or when the switch dial plan precludes use of the
button that corresponds to the first digit of internal extension numbers
that could be called directly. The Call Transfer Out feature must
be turned on before callers can use * 8.
Allowing transfers out of the messaging software increases the risk of toll fraud. If you set up you automated attendant to use this feature, be sure you restrict the allowable destination numbers as described under Controlling Call Transfers. |
| Direct Transfers | Callers can dial an extension directly from the automated
attendant without using * 8. To administer such direct dialing,
type an e in the Extension field for
the button whose number corresponds with the first digit of real switch
extensions (on page 3 of the Subscriber screen). For example, if internal
extensions begin with 5, assign button 5 as extension e. This
allows the caller to dial any extension that starts with 5.
 Note For this feature to work properly, Addressing Format must be extensionon Page 2 of the automated attendant's Subscriber screen. Pay particular attention to the switch dial plan when assigning the e option. Some extensions within the group may not exist, may not be assigned, or may be assigned to special features. Any of these situations may cause problems if a caller attempts to dial anything but a voice extension. For more information and instructions, see Step 2: Administering the Automated Attendant as a Subscriber. |
| Coverage to Messaging | The automated attendant extension must be administered to cover to the messaging extension with Call Forwarding. Calls are then sent to the automated attendant mailbox where the menu of options is heard. |
| Call Routing | The m essaging software provides a conditional routing capability.
You can use a routing table to vary automated attendant operation
based on as many as four separate business schedules and as many as
four holiday schedules. See Setting
Up a Call Routing Table for more information.
Additionally, a call can be routed to an automated attendant during an alternate time associated with a business schedule, such as lunch time. |
| Addressing Messages | If you design an automated attendant so callers have the option of leaving messages for multiple messaging subscribers, the messaging feature of addressing messages by name or extension applies. It is a good idea to include this information in the recorded greetings and prompts callers hear. |