Dramatically simplifying voice and data networking. IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide

Dramatically simplifying voice and data networking IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide

2 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Table of Contents Introduction... 3 IVR...3 The edgebox IVR Editor...3 Understanding edgebox s IVR Editor..3 Triggers...4 Actions...4 The GoTo Action...5 Configuring IVR... 6 Accessing the IVR Editor...6 Edit Context...8 Add Action:...9 Remove Action...13 IVR Configuration Sample...14

3 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Introduction This document gives a step-by-step guide to using the edgebox IVR Editor. IVR In telephony, interactive voice response, or IVR, is a phone technology that allows a computer to detect voice and touch tones during a phone call. The IVR system can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to direct calls. IVR systems can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple menu choices. Once constructed, IVR systems generally scale well to handle large call volumes. It has become more common in industries that have recently entered the telecom industry to refer to an Automated Attendant as an IVR. This means that when discussing an IVR application, it is important to ensure that the person you are talking to understands the term to mean the same thing as you do. Generally-speaking, those with a traditional telecom background are more likely to refer to an Automated Attendant and IVR as separate things, whereas those from an Emerging Telephony or VoIP background are more likely to use the term IVR to define any kind of telephony menu, even the most basic Automated Attendant. For more information about IVR, you may consult: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/interactive_voice_response The edgebox IVR Editor edgebox provides a flexible IVR system, fully integrating all of the edgebox VoIP PBX functions, allowing the administrator to create response menus for a large range of applications. Callers using a touch tone phone will be able to navigate these menus by pressing the appropriate numbers. An IVR system is made of contexts. Each context can have several actions, which in turn may trigger events, such as creating conferences, queues or connecting to another context, thus resulting in a navigation flow between different contexts. You may see a context as a set of actions logically grouped. The IVR system was implemented as a tree structure, making it easy to understand the concept of navigating through the contexts. Each child node is either an action or a new context which may be expanded or minimized. Understanding edgebox s IVR Editor

4 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Triggers When editing a context, you must choose a trigger that will start a set of actions. There are four triggers: After Press - a sequence entered by the caller. On Start - this action will be automatically triggered when a context is called. On Timeout - this action will be triggered if there was no input from the caller 30 seconds after this context was called. On Invalid - this action is fired if the caller inputs a sequence with no action assigned to it in the context. Actions Check the actions that can be associated to a trigger and their descriptions: Dial - a call will be placed for the chosen extension. You may choose any extension previously configured using the phones' panel, as well as any FXS mode analogue ports or any NT mode digital ports, available in BRI cards. DialOut - Allows you to specify a particular route for a specific telephone number (e.g. to dial through a legacy PBX) DISA - Allows the user to authenticate and make calls as if they were on a phone connected to edgebox. If you do not select the option of the DISA PIN, when the action DISA is executed, the user gets authenticated automatically. If you select that option and indicate a PIN, when the DISA action is executed edgebox will first ask the user for the PIN before it authenticates them. Goto - The call will be routed to another context. For more details, check Goto Action on Configuring chapter. Hangup - this action will terminate the call. Voicemail - the call will be forwarded to the chosen extension's voicemail. You may choose any extension with an active voicemail. Queue - the call will be forwarded to a queue. You may choose any queue previously configured in the system. MeetMe - this call will join a conference. You may choose any static conference previously configured in the system.

5 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide HuntGroup - all phones associated with the selected huntgroup will ring. The call will be forwarded to the first one to answer. You may choose any huntgroup previously configured in the system. Answer - Call will be answered Background - the selected sound file will be played but this time all numbers entered by the caller will be processed whilst the message is been played and resulting actions will be performed. Playback - the selected sound file will be played and all numbers entered by the caller will be ignored until the message has completed Wait - a pause is introduced in the call. You will need to specify the number of seconds this pause will last. The GoTo Action One of the most important IVR actions is the Goto action, which allows navigation between the available contexts. After selecting this action, you need to supply the target context. This may be a previously created context or a new context. You can go to an existing context, which will appear in the "Select Context" drop down menu If you want to create a new context, select the "New Context" option, and insert the new context name. The edit context panel is divided in two main sections. On the left side it is possible to select the event that will trigger its actions. After selecting an event, its actions will be visible in the right panel. The actions are ordered by priority - with the top most being the ones executed first. The "Up" and "Down" buttons allow you to change the actions' execution order. If you've created a Goto action to a new context it is possible to select this context to edit its actions.

6 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Configuring IVR Accessing the IVR Editor To access the edgebox IVR Editor, follow the next 4 steps 1. Login to GUI with Admin s credentials: 2. When you get the Status -> About panel, choose the VoIP & IP PBX panel:

7 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide 3. After loading the VoIP & IP PBX panel, select Inbound Calls tab: 4. Be sure IVR Editor tab is selected:

8 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Edit Context If you need to add new actions to a context, select it on the IVR tree and press the "Edit Context" button or, alternatively, double-click the icon. You will get the IVR Context Editor panel that looks like the following: This panel allows you to modify a particular context. After selecting the desired trigger on the left panel, its list of actions will be visible on the right panel.

9 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Specifically, you will be able to: Add new actions by pressing the button "Add Action". A popup window will appear, requiring you to enter the action's details; Remove actions by pressing the button "Remove Action", after selecting the desired action and Modify an action's priority, selecting the desired action and using the up/down buttons on the right. Add Action: First, you will need to define which event will trigger this action (Trigger Conditions) 1. After Press: Here, you define the sequence that the caller must enter to match the trigger:

10 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide 2. On Start: this action will be automatically triggered when a context is called. 3. On Timeout: this action will be triggered if there was no input from the caller 30 seconds after this context was called. 4. On Invalid: this action is fired if the caller inputs a sequence with no action assigned to it in the context. Then, you will need to define the action that will be performed: Dial - choose any SIP extension previously configured, any FXS mode analogue ports or any NT mode digital ports (available in BRI cards). DialOut - Allows you to specify a particular route for a specific telephone number (e.g. to dial through a legacy PBX) DISA - you may select DISA PIN if you want to enforce authentication, otherwise, when the action DISA is executed, the user gets authenticated automatically. Goto you may choose to create a new context or an existing one.

11 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Hangup - choose this action to terminate the call. Voicemail select one extension with voicemail. Queue select one of the previously configured queues from the drop-down list MeetMe select one of the previously configured static conference room from the drop-down list. HuntGroup - select one of the previously configured hunt groups from the dropdown list.

12 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Answer - Call will be answered Background Select the sound file you want to play in background. To do so, press the "Select File" button. A new popup window will display, allowing you to choose the sound file either from "System Files" or from "My Sound Files" (files uploaded by the administrator). You may listen to the files, using the "Play" button. This way, you may choose the most appropriate sound file for the situation. Playback uses the same procedure as Background. Wait from the drop-down list, select the length of the pause you want to introduce in the context (values in seconds)

13 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Note that you will need to press the "OK" button to confirm your changes then apply to activate them. The IVR edition panel will then be visible again, where you can check all changes made to the context. This is valid to add and remove actions. Remove Action In case you want to remove an action, 1. select it on the right panel and 2. press Remove Action button If you want to change an action, you must remove it first and add a new action with the desired value. Don t forget to modify its priority with the Up and Down buttons to place it in the correct position.

14 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide IVR Configuration Sample Imagine you own a Company that has one Helpdesk team, a group of Sales assistants that manage the incoming calls for your Sales Managers, and an Operator that receives the remaining calls for your company. For this example you must create: Extensions for your Helpdesk team; Extensions for your Sales Assistants; One Extension for your Operator; One Huntgroup for your Helpdesk team; Agents for your Sales Assistants; One Queue for your Sales Assistants The default IVR is the following:

15 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Double-click on the ivr context or, alternatively, select it and press Edit Context. You will get the following panel. Let s configure the actions on a timeout trigger: Select On Timeout: Remove action: Playback goodbye Press Add Action button Choose the action Goto, on the dropdown list choose New context and enter the name you want for the new context (e. g. call_operator) Now, move Goto call_operator up, pressing Up button.

16 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Your IVR Context Editor should look like the following: Let s now focus on the On Start: trigger of the main IVR context. Select On Start: Note: In this example we are keeping the Welcome sound. You may choose another sound announcing your company. Add an action to pause 2 seconds ( Wait 2 ) Add Background and choose the system sound for-tech-support Add Background and choose the system sound press-1 Add a new pause for 1 seconds Add Background and choose the system sound for-sales Add Background and choose the system sound press-2

17 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide You should get the following panel: The next step is to configure the new context we had create call_operator : Press Apply button Press Ok button On the main IVR Editor panel, select call_operator and press Edit Context (or double-click on it) On the trigger On Start:, choose the action Dial and select the Operator s extension from the dropdown list Remove the Action Answer from On Start: Add an action for the trigger On Timeout to Hangup the call

18 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Press Apply button

19 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Press Ok button Now, we are going to configure the After Press triggers: Double-click on the ivr context or, alternatively, select it and press Edit Context ; Press Add Action ; On the Trigger Conditions section select After Press: and enter 1 on the text box; In the same panel, on Actions section select Huntgroup from the dropdown list and choose the previously configured huntgroup helpdesk; Now, add a new action Goto: and select call_operator from the dropdown list

20 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide Press Add Action ; On the Trigger Conditions section select After Press: and enter 2 on the text box; In the same panel, on Actions section select Queue from the dropdown list and choose the previously configured queue salesteam; Now, add a new action Goto: and select call_operator from the dropdown list. Press Apply button Press Ok button

21 edgebox How-To Guide IVR Editor HOW-TO Guide At the end, your IVR tree should have a look similar to the following one: