I’m working on revamping the IVR for a K-12 school. I’d like the principal to be able to call in, enter a secret IVR destination, enter a flow control passcode, and, thus, enable an announcement stating that school is closed due to inclement weather.
Is this possible through the GUI or will this require some custom code?
Edit: It seems that I can create a Misc. Destination set to *280 (the feature code for the call flow control) and then use that misc. destination in the IVR. Is this reasonable?
You’d want some protections to keep people out of this. ‘Secret’ IVR’s will not remain secret. Just off the top of my head:
Use a caller id match on the inbound route so only calls from the principal can be routed to this ‘secret’ IVR. All other calls go to the regular IVR / announcement. Don’t rely on an unpublished DID as security.
STILL required a pin code and change it regularly.
Using some custom code you could even have the principal record the message to use then enable / disable it, all via this IVR (even more dangerous).
There are also services out there that will call parents when a school is closed and play a message, you could check into those or roll your own, YMMV.
I wrote a system like this for a demo to the local Archdiocese Schools. CID was required, as were PINS.
In my implementation, there were 7 pre-recorded and 2 open messages that could be sent out in a call-tree. They were also the “default” message for the school’s call-in number. The final bit was an email interface that could be loaded with “vtext” addresses.
I lost the contract to a national provider that “supported” the Archdiocese.
