Callswitch Call Forwarding & Voicemails
by Craig Birtles
Call Forwarding
Individual users that receive calls directly to their extension rather than through a ring group or queue will find forwarding calls to their mobile the best option over the holiday period. You can enable call forwarding from your handset or soft phone by dialling *71 followed by the number you wish all inbound calls to be forwarded to. Call forwarding can be disabled at any time by dialling *72.
The call forwarding feature can also be found on the users Online Self Care Portal accessed through their Callswitch Desktop App. Once in the Online Self Car Portal Click on the Services tab and then click on the Call Forwarding edit button.
Once you have navigated to the Call Forwarding feature, check the Unconditional tick box and the click the + button, then input the required destination and click save. The call forwarding feature is now enabled.
Note: The Timeout (sec) option is the amount of time it will call the set destination for, NOT the timer that the extension will ring for before the forwarding kicks in.
The Call Forwarding feature can also be accessed through the Callswitch Admin Portal by your nominated admin user. Navigate to Extensions and select the individual user’s extension then click on the Enhanced Services button.
Diverts
If you wish to divert all calls that are routed to your main line number or calls that are routed through your IVR to specific ring groups or queues, you will need to ask your nominated admin user to do this via the Callswitch Admin Portal.
DIDs
Diverting all calls that come into a specific number is done via the DIDs tab. Select the number you wish to divert and change the Destination to External Number and set the Value to the number you wish calls to be diverted to.
Note: please remember to make a note of the DIDs original destination so you can change it back when you are back in the office
IVRs
If you want to divert calls that are routed to specific divisions or teams through your automated attendant or IVR you will need to do this via the IVR tab.
In the example below I have changed the destination of my auto attendant’s option 3 to call an external mobile number instead of the original ring group.
Note: As with DIDs please remember to make a note of the IVR option’s original destination.
Setting Up Holiday Operation Times
“Closed Dates” can be used to setup & define date-based call routing in advance and is very useful for setting up holidays i.e Christmas. Closed Dates can be set up in the admin portal on Ring Groups and Queues which is very useful for setting specific out of office messages for teams or divisions within an IVR.
In the example below I have configure the Closed Dates on a DID by navigating to DID > Advanced Options > Operation Times where the standard business operation times should be setup already.
Click the + under “Closed Dates” to add configurable dates and configure the fields as below.
Description: Name of the date i.e Christmas
Destination: Extension number to route to during the time i.e Voicemail box, IVR or Ring group. For Holiday purposes it is best to set up a specific mailbox to route incoming calls to.
Date: Calendar date
Setting Up New Voicemail Box & Message
You can create a new Voice Mailbox in the admin portal by navigating to Voicemail > Mailboxes > Add Voicemail. Give the mailbox a number and a name, set the access pin number, notification email address and password and then save.
Recording New Voicemail Messages
You can upload an unavailable message by pressing the “Choose File” button and uploading a .wav sound file, an uploaded audio file should be 8000hz polling-rate, have mono audio and no more than 16-bit depth. We recommend the file size be no bigger than 30MB. Alternatively, you can record a new voicemail message by dialling into the system voicemail box using the *124 access code followed by the voice mailbox number e.g. *124502. Once logged in dial 0 and then 1 to record a message.
To record a new voicemail message for your personal extension dial *123 from your handset or soft phone and follow the prompts. If you want your customers to reach this voicemail immediately instead of ringing it is best to put your extension on Do Not Disturb (DND).
You can also change the message for Ring Group and/or Queue Group mailboxes by dialling *124 followed by group the mailbox number.
Note: you will be prompted to enter your Pin Number when accessing your mailboxes, by default these at set to 8989
Uploading Holiday Marketing on Hold
If you already have Marketing on Hold and wish upload a new Marketing on Hold audio file, navigate to System > Music on Hold and click on the edit button for the Marketing on Hold file you wish to change. From here you can click on the current file name to select and upload your new audio file from your PC.
