Knowledge Base

IVRs are often called "Auto Attendants" but in truth, an auto attendant is simply the most familiar type of IVR. A caller dials in to a company and is presented with options, e.g. press digits to reach different departments, a company directory, some pre-recorded information such as business hours, and an option to speak with an operator.

In our example, Bob has decided that instead of sending every caller to a receptionist, he wants to present callers with options so that they can be directed to the proper department.

Bob has a sales department, and a returns department. He wants to ask the users to dial 1 for sales, 2 for returns, 3 for a company directory or 0 to speak with the receptionist.

The first step is to record the prompts needed for this IVR:

1) welcome - Thank you for calling Bob's shoe company. If you know the extension of the person you are trying to reach you may dial it at any time. Otherwise please choose from the following options so that we may route your call to the appropriate department.
2) 1 for sales - Press 1 for sales.
3) 2 for support - Press 2 for returns or for help with a shoe related emergency.
4) 3 for directory - Press 3 for a company directory.
5) 0 for receptionist - Press 0 to speak with an operator.



After those sounds have been recorded, the next step is to create any extensions that will be needed in the IVR:

1) the Directory  extension.
2) the sales Call Queue
3) returns Call Queue

The next step is to create the menus that make up the IVR:

1) A menu that dials the sales queue's extension.
2) A menu that dials the returns queue's extension.
3) A menu that dials the company directory.
4) A menu that dials the receptionist.

Next, create the menu that links together all of the menus you've just created: Create a new menu named Main IVR. Click on the "Modify Actions" button. Click to "Add a New Action" and select the "Play Sound" action from the drop down menu. Select the prompt that you created earlier, named, "Welcome." Continue adding "Play Sound" actions in this fashion for the rest of the prompts you recorded for this IVR.

Once all of the "Play Sound" actions are added, return to the Main IVR menu and click the Modify Options button. Then click the button to Add A New Option. Select 1 for the Option Number, and for the Menu, select the menu you created that dials your sales queue. Repeat this for options 2, 3, and 0, selecting the correct menus for each option.

Remember that callers need to be able to dial extensions when listening to the Main IVR, so be sure to select the Allow Dialing of Extensions checkbox in the Options section.

Also, because you don't want to lose any callers due to confusion, set the Options Retry Settings to 3 retries, and send them to the Send to Receptionist's menu after that.

The next step is to create a new extension. Navigate to Extensions --> Manage Extensions in the tool and click the button to "Create A New Extension." Select "IVR" for the extension type. Select an extension number, for example, 801 and then select the "Main IVR" that you created for the menu. Leave the other options their default values and click to save your new IVR extension.

The final step is to direct all incoming calls to the Main IVR. Navigate to System Setup --> Incoming Calls. Locate section 2 on this page, titled "Incoming Call Routes" and locate the existing call routes. Click the link to change the default extension and on the next page, change the "Callback Extension" to your Main IVR, extension 801.