Set up the Scheduler - use schedules - How do I?

Creating a Schedule

If you would like to route callers by schedules, you must create the schedule and then add it to your Main menu or any of your sub-menus.

1. Click AutoAnswer --> scheduler

2. Under the 'Add New Schedule' heading, type a Name for your schedule

3. Type in a Description for your schedule.  Typically the schedule's Name is less specific than the description, but these two fields can be the same if you wish

4. Choose from among the following two types:

   1. Weekday - schedules where the hours of operation is the same over a period of days.  This is the most common scheduling type.  Monday - Friday work hours schedules are commonly used on the PBXtra platform.

   2. Calendar - schedules where the hours specified apply only for a specific day or number of days.  These schedules are commonly used for Holidays and infrequent events such as a Company Event.  A typical Calendar schedule looks like this:  December 23 - December 26, 5 pm to 8 am.  This schedule would apply from December 23rd at 5 pm (the end of the work day) until December 26th at 8 am (the start of the work day after Dec_Holiday).  During this period of time, many companies play a Holiday greeting and indicate that the office is closed.

5. The next section changes depending on the schedule Type. 

   1. If you choose Weekday, you will choose a Day Range.  The schedule will apply during the hours specified in the next box during each day in the range. 

   2. If you choose Calendar, you will choose a Start Time and End Time.  The schedule will apply from the hour specified on the first date in the range, and the schedule will end on the hour specified on the last date in the range.

6. If you chose Weekday, you will see Time Range per Day.  This section is fairly straight-forward.  If you want a Monday - Friday 8 am to 5 pm schedule (a typical work week), then you would choose 8 am in the first section and 5 pm in the next.

Example

Add your schedule to a menu

1. Open your Main menu or any sub-menu (AutoAnswer --> edit call menu for Main or AutoAnswer --> submenu for any other menu)

2. In the bottom left-hand corner under Add New Step, select the number of the step BEFORE where you wish to insert the schedule

3. Select Go to extension/submenu by schedule from the drop-down list of steps

4. Click Apply All Changes

5. Once the page reloads, your step is added.  From the two drop-downs listed, first select the submenu or extension where the call should be routed and then select the schedule that you just created (by name)

6. Click Apply All Changes again

Multiple schedules in one menu

Most often, businesses pre-define periods of time for the phone system to route callers in specific ways.  It's not as simple as "Open vs. Closed" schedules.  There are weekend hours to consider, Holidays, and multiple-shifts requiring different routing logic.

It's very easy to configure your PBXtra to route callers to different submenus by the time of day, day of week, date, or date range.

Let's look at a fully-configured schedules (open the full-size image if this is too small and hard to read):

Open

We have defined Holidays that the company observes, and setup rules for Business Hours, After Hours (Closed), Lunch, and Weekends.  During all of these times we may wish to route callers to different places within the system (perhaps a general voicemail box; perhaps an answering service).

We may or may not use all of these schedules within a single menu (main or submenu), but we need to define all of them ahead of time just in case we wish to use them.

Here is a fully-configured MAIN menu:

Open

Here is the logic applied using this menu - let's assume it's February 2, 2009 - a Monday):

1. Answer call

2. System asks "is it Dec_Holiday?" and checks using the system clock for a matching date / time

3. System determines it is NOT Dec_Holiday

4. System moves to step #3 - asks "is it Thanksgiving?"

5. System determines it is NOT Thanksgiving

6. System moves to step #4 - asks "is today a weekend?"

7. It's Monday - so the system determines it is NOT a weekend

8. System moves to step #5 - asks "is it Lunch time?" Let's assume it's 3 pm local time (local to the system), so the system determines it is NOT lunchtime

9. System moves to step #6 - asks "is right now during business hours?"  As mentioned in step #8, it's 3 pm local to the system, so the system determines it IS during business hours

10. The caller is routed away from the MAIN menu and into the Business_Days submenu.  Within this Business_Days submenu, we can configure additional call routing options (every option available from the MAIN menu is available within any submenu).

The logic described above is known as "if-then-else" logic and is fairly rudimentary in computer programs.  Very powerful call sequences can be configured using this fairly trivial logic process. 

"If X - do Y - else, do Z"

This process can repeat over and over and over where Z just means "go to the next step" as shown in the images above.

Always setup your call menu with the LEAST matched schedules first.  It's only Dec_Holiday once a year so we should put that at the top because it's not going to get matched all that often.

This logic contradicts Access Control List logic (familiar to Network Administrators who may be taking control of the PBXtra ).  In ACL terms, we always put the MOST often matched statements at the top.  It's opposite in your phone system.  

Here's what happens if you don't put the least matched schedules first:

1. Assume it's December 25th and you put your Dec_Holiday calendar schedule AFTER your Business Hours call sequence.

2. December 25, 2009 is a Friday

3. Caller calls in, system asks "is right now during Business Hours?"  The system finds that it's Friday, so yes, it is during business hours.

4. The caller is routed to the Business_Days submenu

5. No one is at the office because it's Dec_Holiday!

6. Caller follows a normal business day routine where the receptionist's phone is rung, then perhaps some menu options are played, caller dials an extension, their frustration mounts as they cannot get hold of anyone, and eventually they hang up swearing never to call your company for anything again.

You don't want this outcome.  Because the day of Dec_Holiday can also BE a "Business Day" as defined by Monday - Friday from 8 am to 6 pm, you need to make sure the system asks, "is it Dec_Holiday?" before it asks, "is it a Business Day?"

The performance required for this simple check is so small as to be completely irrelevant in terms of "how will all these holidays impact my phone system's resources?"  Don't worry about it - your PBXtra can handle literally hundreds of call sequences in a single menu and still execute instructions so fast the caller won't detect any delay at all.