I am new to FreePBX and telephony systems in general, so I am hoping to get some guidance from the community on an issue I have been struggling with. I am currently trying to configure call forwarding in combination with time conditions to ensure calls are routed appropriately based on our office hours.
During business hours Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM; calls to our main DID should route to a receptionist extension. Outside of business hours, the same DID should forward calls to an external number. On holidays, the DID should play a pre-recorded message informing callers of our closure and not forward the call.
So far; I have managed to set up the time conditions for regular business hours, but I am running into issues with forwarding calls to the external number after hours. The call does not seem to connect properly and either drops or results in an error. Additionally, I am unsure how to configure the system to account for holidays without manually changing settings every time.
Is there a recommended way to ensure call forwarding to an external number works reliably? How can I automate holiday based call routing without constant manual intervention? Are there any best practices I should follow to avoid potential pitfalls with this setup?
Usually when Call Forward to an External number fails it’s because you never “Answered” the call - it’s weird, but I have seen it again and again - Instead of the External Number as a Target, create a Ring Group with the external # as a target - This ensures the call is “Answered” before it tries to fork the call out again.
As to best practices with Call-Routing, you are almost already there - By default in ALL our setups we create the following:
Time Groups:
Holiday
Working Hours
Time Conditions:
Holiday
Working Hours
These two, working in concert give the best flexibility as to how the call is routed. In the Holiday time group, you can define the Holidays when you are closed. And then as time goes by, you can put in future holiday’s as needed (the ones that move).
The inbound logic should check to see if it’s a Holiday first, and if it is route accordingly. If it is not a Holiday, it should check Working Hours and route accordingly there too - in your case, to an Operator if it’s Working Hours, or an external target if it is outside of those hours.
Finally, if you have a business that sometimes is closed when it should not be (Snow-Day for Schools comes to mind) you can have a third Time Group/Time Condition that can override routing - it would come in first to check in the tree - This can also be done with a Call-Flow-Control if you need to do it “on-the-fly” but it’s fairly complex - We usually call it Emergency.
So here is how the logic would flow:
Inbound → Holiday → Yes → Closed → No → Working Hours → Yes → Receptionist → No → AfterHours Ring Group.
For the external number you are forwarding to, use Applications > Misc Destination. A ring group will work here but not really proper IMHO.
For call routing use a combination of calendars, announcements and time conditions:
Calendars:
Holiday, Weather & Special Events, Open Hours
Time Conditions:
Holiday, Weather & special Events, Open Hours
Announcements:
Holiday Closed “we are currently closed for the holiday”
Weather & Special Events: “We are currently closed due to inclement weather or a special company even”
Closed: We are currently closed, please hold while we redirect your call to our after hours answering"
In the open hours calendar, record your normal operating hours.
Arrange your time conditions to use the calendars and configured as such:
Holiday TC:
Holiday calendar entry match > Play holiday announcement
Holiday Calendar NO Match > Weather & Special Events TC
Weather & Special Events TC:
Weather Calendar match > Play weather announcement
Weather Calendar NO Match > Open Hours TC
Open Hours TC:
Open Hours Calendar Match: Ring phones
Open Hours Calendar NO Match: Play Closed announcement
Closed Announcement:
Direct call to Misc Destination
Holiday Announcement:
Direct call to voicemail
Weather/Special event Announcement:
Direct call to Misc Dest or Voicemail…
Are there any best practices I should follow to avoid potential pitfalls with this setup?