Net-PBX IVR/Auto Attendant How-to Guide For latest version please go to www.net-voice.net/documentation.php Please report any problems or omissions found to support@net-voice.net
Index Preface... 3 What is an auto attendant?... 3 Net-PBX Auto Attendant features... 3 Announcements... 3 Call Control... 3 Planning... 4 Announcements... 4 Uploading... 4 Recording using a telephone... 4 Scripts... 5 Time profile... 5 Announce... 6 Menu... 6 Record Call... 6 Example of an auto attendant... 7 Recording announcements... 7 Creating the scripts... 8 Finishing off... 15 Legal notice Net-Voice and the Net-Voice logo are registered trademarks of Net-Voice Limited. Only Net-Voice Limited and its authorised resellers and licensees may use the Net-Voice logo in advertising, promotional, and sales materials. This document and its contents are copyright of Net-Voice Limited. All rights reserved. Any unauthorised redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents of this document in any form is prohibited.
Preface Your Net-PBX has a powerful auto attendant facility that allows you to set up complex Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems to answer and direct calls without requiring manual intervention. This how-to guide explains the facilities available to you in the PBX and shows you an example Auto Attendant script with the step-by-step instructions used to create it. What is an auto attendant? An auto attendant, also known as IVR, is an automated answering machine that can announce prompts and messages to the caller and collect responses from the caller in the form of keypresses on their telephone keypad. An example of an auto attendant you may have already used is Net-PBX s voicemail facility. Net-PBX Auto Attendant features Announcements Announcements can be uploaded to Net-PBX via the Administration interface (Setup->Announcements menu). Files must be in Microsoft Windows WAV format. Announcements can be recorded directly from a Net-PBX telephone by dialing *65 and choosing option 4. (N.B. You will be asked for the administrator PIN). Call Control Announce: plays an announcement Time Profile: direct call based on time and day of week Menu: announce a menu of options to the caller and wait for the caller s selection Record Call: initiate call recording Hangup: disconnect the caller Voicemail: direct the call to voicemail Dial: direct the call to an extension
Planning It is important to plan your auto attendant scripts in advance. You need to plan out the flow of the script to avoid losing callers in the system and plan the announcements that need recording. It is better to have all your announcements recorded before you start creating the call flow scripts as you will need the announcements to be available to include in the scripts. It is also important to plan your numbering, because an auto attendant will have its own virtual extension number. Use the number mapping facility under User->Number Mappings to assign virtual numbers. Announcements The Setup->Announcements menu in the Admin interface shows you your available announcements and allows you to listen to and delete announcements as well as edit announcement details. The edit page allows you to create a memorable description or choose a different file for the announcement. Uploading You can record announcements on a computer or other recording device and upload them to Net-PBX. The file format must be Microsoft Windows WAV. 1. Click on the Add Announcement link. 2. Enter a suitable description, if needed. 3. You can select an existing announcement or click the browse button and find the recorded file on your computer. 4. Click Add to add the announcement. Your file will now be listed on the main Setup->Announcement page. Recording using a telephone To use a telephone attached to your Net-PBX system dial *65 (Record Greeting) and choose option 4. You will be asked to enter the administrator s PIN and can then record your announcement. Once completed, your announcement will be listed in the Setup->Announcement menu of the Admin Interface (refresh the page if you are already on it). The recorded files are listed, with the latest file showing the present date and time, a file name composed of numbers, and the Owner, i.e. the owner of your extension number. The following figure shows an example of this:
Click the Edit link and enter a memorable description. Click the Edit button to save your changes. Scripts From the Setup->Scripts menu of the Admin interface you can create, edit and delete scripts. You can create four types of scripts: Time Profile Announce Menu Record Call Each script is configurable with up to three announcements to play and actions to take depending on the outcome of the script. Scripts can also be made available to Number Mapping so they can be assigned a virtual extension number. The actions a script can take are as follows: Dial: dial an extension number Script: direct call to another script Hangup: disconnects the caller Voicemail: direct the call to voicemail Return: return to a previous script Scripts can be combined together in any order to create a comprehensive auto attendant. Time profile The time profile script allows you to define a time and a day of the week, all days or 5 days (Mon-Fri), and control the call depending on whether the time has been reached or not. If the configured time has been reached, the true branch will be taken; otherwise the false branch will be taken. The time can be set to all
0s to mean any time on the stated day. For example, a time profile can be used to automatically direct calls outside of business hours to voicemail. Announce This script simply plays announcements and then takes an action after the announcements have been played. An announcement script could be used to play an informational message prior to a call being answered for example, Don t forget to ask about our new service. Menu This plays a menu of options from which the caller can select the required option using their telephone keypad. Up to five options can be configured. If this is not sufficient, each option can be configured to direct the caller to a further menu that presents the additional options. An example of a menu could be something like Press 1 for sales, press 2 for technical support. Record Call This script is used to initiate call recording. Net-PBX will start recording the call once it is answered by an operator.
Example of an auto attendant The following pages will take you step-by-step through setting up an example auto attendant. The example we will use is to present the caller with a menu of options unless they are calling outside of office hours, in which case they will be sent to voicemail. There will be 3 options the caller can choose from: Sales, Support, and Accounts. If the caller chooses Accounts, the call will be recorded. If the caller choosers Sales, another menu will give options for Products, Services, or to return to the previous menu. The call flow looks like this: Caller-> Welcome to Ultra corp. -> Within business hours Press 1 for Sales Press 1 for Products -> Dial Product Sales extension Press 2 for Services -> Dial Service sales extension Press 3 for the previous menu Press 2 for Support -> Dial Support extension Press 3 for Accounts This call will be recorded ->Dial Account extension -> Outside business hours -> Voicemail Recording announcements The announcements must be created before creating the scripts. Using a telephone, dial *65 and choose option 4 to record the following announcements: Welcome to Ultra corp. I m sorry our offices are now closed. Please call back between 8am and 5pm or leave a voicemail at the prompt. Press 1 for sales, 2 for Support, 3 for Accounts. Press 1 for Products, 2 for services, 3 for the previous menu. Your call will be recorded for our records.
Use the Setup->Announcement menu after each recording to assign the file a memorable name. You should end up with a screen that looks something like this: Creating the scripts Now the announcements are ready we can create the scripts for the call flow. The easiest way to do this is to create the scripts that are called later in the call flow first; in other words, create the scripts in the reverse order to which they are played. For this example the scripts are created in the following order: 1. Out of office hours script 2. Call Record script for the Accounts option 3. Sales menu 4. Main menu 5. Time Profile Out of office hours script To create a new script go to Setup->Scripts. Enter the description as Out of office announce and choose Announce from the drop down menu. Click Next to continue. At the next screen: 1. Select the Out of Office hours announcement in the first Select Announcement dropdown menu. 2. Set the Action type to Voicemail. 3. Enter the extension number for the voicemail account into Number to call. 4. Set Available for Number Mapping to No. Your screen should look like the following:
Click Make Announcement to save your script. Call record script Create a new script by going to Setup->Scripts. Enter the description as Accounts Call Record and choose Record Call from the dropdown menu. Click Next to continue. From the next screen choose the announcement informing the caller that their call will be recorded from the first Select Announcement dropdown menu, then select an Action type of dial. Next, enter the Accounts extension number in Number to Call and set Available for Number Mapping to No. Your screen should look similar to the following:
Click Make Record Call to save the script. Sales menu script Create a new script as described above choosing Menu from the dropdown list. Enter the Description as Sales Menu and click Next to continue. At the next screen: 1. Select the Sales menu options announcement in the first Select Announcement dropdown menu. 2. For Option 1 set the Type to Dial and enter a number for product sales. 3. For Option 2 set the Type to Dial and enter a number for service sales. 4. For Option 3 set the Type to Return. 5. Set Available for Number Mapping to No at the bottom of the page. Your screen should look something like the one shown below:
Click Make Menu to save your script. Main menu script Create a new script as described earlier above choosing Menu from the dropdown list. Enter the Description as Main Menu and click Next. At the next screen: 1. Select the main menu options announcement in the first Select Announcement dropdown menu. 2. For Option 1 set the Type to Script and choose Sales Menu from the dropdown menu. 3. For Option 2 set the Type to Dial and enter a number for service sales. 4. For Option 3 set the Type to Script and choose Accounts Call Record from the dropdown menu. 5. Set Available for Number Mapping to No at the bottom of the page. Your screen should look similar to the following:
Click Make Menu to save your script. Time profile scripts Because we want only want to answer calls from 8am-5pm Monday-Friday, we will need to create 2 time profile scripts. The first script checks that the time is after 8am and the second checks that it is before 5pm. Again, we do this in reverse order. Before 5pm script Create a new script as described earlier above choosing Time Profile from the dropdown list. Enter the Description as Before 5pm and click Next. At the next screen:
1. Set the Start Time (hours) to 17. 2. Set Days to run to 5days. 3. For Action to take if true : a. Set Action type to Script. b. Select the Out of office announce script from the dropdown menu. 4. For Action to take if false : a. Set Action type to Script. b. Select the Main Menu Script from the dropdown menu. 6. Set Available for Number Mapping to No at the bottom of the page. Your screen should look something like this: Click Make Time Profile to save your changes. After 8am script Create a new script as described earlier above choosing Time Profile from the dropdown list. Enter the Description as After 8am and click Next.
At the next screen: 1. Set the Start Time (hours) to 8. 2. Set Days to run to 5days. 3. For Action to take if true : a. Set Action type to Script. b. Select the Before 5pm script from the drop down list. 4. For Action to take if false : a. Set Action type to Script b. Select the Out of office announce Script from the drop down list. 5. Set Available for Number Mapping to Yes at the bottom of the page. Your screen should look like the following: Click Make Time Profile to save your changes.
Finishing off Now the auto attendant is scripted it needs to be made available to callers. To do this use the User->Number Mapping menu to map a number, such as the main line number, to the After 8am script: 1. Click New Number Mapping. 2. Enter the number to map in the Number to Map field. 3. Choose the After 8am script from the Script dropdown menu. 4. Enter a Map Name, e.g. Main IVR. Your screen should look something like this: Click Add to save your settings.