# Corporate Call Flow Example - Main Auto Attendant

ACME’s Vice President of Voice Services submitted the following list of requirements for ACME’s main automated attendant application:

## ACME Main Automated Attendant Requirements

1. Anyone calling our main telephone number should be greeted with a short, professional recording telling the caller to dial an extension or to press a single key for the Sales, Shipping or Accounting departments. If the call is from a rotary phone, send them to the operator as quickly as possible.

2. If they do not know the extension number, allow the caller to spell out the person’s name to find the extension number. The President and I do not want, under any circumstances, a caller to be able to find out what our extension numbers or voice mailbox numbers are. Incidentally, anyone dialing either extension should be routed to our respective secretaries.

3. Anyone calling a Department’s main number directly should reach that department’s automated attendant. (I don’t want to have to dedicate lines in the system for this.) You should know that the Shipping department is working two shifts, including a full night shift on Sundays. Their auto-attendant should reflect this fact. Also, Accounting doesn’t take outside calls on Wednesday afternoons.

4. I want a year’s worth of holidays pre-programmed in the system at all times. Each holiday should have its own special cheery recordings.

5. If something happens, such as a major snowstorm, I want you to be able to change our main automated attendant from your home, so we can tell callers that no one will be in the office and the company is closed.

6. I want to be able to find out if a particular person is answering calls when they are supposed to be available... or if they are skipping out early every day. Give me statistics on this.

## Auto Attendant Call Flow Solution

The NuPoint Unified Messaging Administrator designed the following solution:

"Thank you for calling ACME Manufacturing.

If you know your party's 4 digit extension number, you may enter it now or at any time during this message. To use Dial-by-Name, press [8].

For Sales and Marketing, press [1];

For Shipping, press [2];

For Accounting, press [3];

If you wish to speak with the operator, press [0], or stay on the line."

A caller pressing 2 would hear the Shipping department’s automated attendant greeting:

"Thank you for calling the ACME shipping department.

To check on the status of your order, press [1];

For new orders, press [2];

To report shipping discrepancies, press [3], or stay on the line."

The Shipping department’s automated attendant greets callers through two shifts of the day. Callers dialing Shipping’s direct outside number still reach this recording.

Accounting also has a direct outside number. Callers reach the same recordings when they press 3 from the ACME main automated attendant, or when they dial Accounting directly.

"You have reached the ACME accounting department.

For Accounts Payable, press [1];

For Accounts Receivable, press [2];

For all other inquiries, press [0], or remain on the line."

All of the power, flexibility and features available at the organization’s NP-UM Agent application are also available to every department, extension or mailbox within the organization. This is because all NP-UM Agent applications are built from combinations of the same basic building block -- the call box.

Show the Main Auto-Attendant Call Flow

Explain how the Call Flow works

The example below should help you visualize a caller’s path through a call flow. The call flow handles incoming calls to ACME on Line Group 10. It includes three actions in the order in which they are executed.

Call Flow Action | Action Description
Override | (If activated.) Send all calls to my secretary. Don’t bother with the rest of this call flow.
Schedule (Main) | Holiday Schedule Check to see if today is an observed Holiday. If it is, route call through the holiday’s call flow. Otherwise, continue to next node. Weekly Schedule Between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, continue to the next node in this call flow. After 5:00 PM and on weekends go to the Off-hours call flow. Although not shown, the night and weekend mode (voice mailbox xxx) greets all callers with: "Thank you for calling ACME Manufacturing. Our normal business hours are 9 AM to 5 PM Monday through Fridays". The Menu offers callers the following choices: If you would like to leave a message for someone, enter their four-digit extension number. If you do not know the extension number, or are calling from a rotary phone, stay on the line. Callers entering an extension number will be transferred directly to that person's voice mailbox. Key [0] could be assigned to transfer to night bell extension. The recorded menu does not inform the caller of this key. However, any employee of the company can use key [0] to ring the night bell or night station.
Menu | Play the recorded Greeting and Menu: "Thank you for calling ACME Manufacturing. "If you know your party's 4 digit extension number, you may enter it now or at any time during this message. To look up a name in the company phonebook, press [8]. For Sales and Marketing, press [1]; For Shipping, press [2]; For Accounting, press [3]; If you wish to speak with the operator, press [0], or stay on the line." Key [1] does a transfer to the Sales and Marketing ACD Queue. On a Ring Busy, Ring No Answer, or invalid transfer attempt (which should never happen), the call is reconnected and routed to the Attendant. Keys [2] and [3] route calls to the Shipping and Accounting departments respectively. Callers can also enter a four-digit extension number. The Multi-key action is programmed to Blind Transfer callers to the appropriate extension number. On Ring Busy or Ring No Answer at the dialed extension, the caller is routed to the corresponding voice mailbox to leave a message. Callers wish to Dial-by-Name press [8]. If the caller does nothing, (such as, a rotary phone caller) the Auto-Exit transfers the caller to the operator. Key [0] performs the same function.