Answering Rules or Call Routing

Answering Rules / Call Routing

Answering rules or Call routing function in the PBX system allows the user to control their extension's incoming call handling behavior from the PBX portal. A user can add, change or modify call routing by selecting the "Answering Rule" button from the Portal menu.

1. From the Answering Rules page, click Add Rule.

The Add an Answering Rule page appears. From this page, you can create rules to screen callers, forward calls, and ring multiple numbers simultaneously.

2. Complete the fields in the Add an Answering Rule page (see Table 2‑3 below).

3. Click Save.

• Time Frame - Select the time frame when this answering rule will apply.
• Do Not Disturb - No phone rings, goes straight to voicemail if available.
• Call Screening - Prompts caller to say their name, lets you screen the call before accepting.
• Call Forwarding Always - Immediately forwards to the number specified. See “Call Forward Drop-down Options” below.
• Call Forward on Active - Forward calls to the number specified when you have one or more calls active. See “Call Forward Drop-down Options” below.
• Call Forward when Busy - Forwards calls to the number specified when your extension has used all available call paths. See “Call Forward Drop-down Options” below.
• Call Forwarding when Unanswered - Forwards calls to the number specified if the call is not answered after the specified ring timeout. See “Call Forward Drop-down Options” below.
• Call Forwarding when Offline - Automatically forwards if your desk phone loses communication (such as during a power outage). See “Call Forward Drop-down Options” below.
• Simultaneous Ring - Rings many phones at once. Check box options allow you to:

1. 1. Include the user's extension
   2. Ring all your user's phones.
   3. Use the option: Answer confirmation for offnet numbers" to ensure that a person - not a voicemail - answers simrings to a cell/ landline by prompting the answering party to press 1 to accept the call. An icon to the right of this option allow you specify a ring delay.
   4. NOTE: A simring rings handsets, not users. So, for example, if 111 is listed, the simring will ring handset 111. If user 111 has a call forward set to their cell, however, the simring will not occur at the cell since simring rings handsets, not users.

Call Forward Drop-down Options

When entering an extension as a call forward option, a drop-down list allows you to forward the call to specific resources associated with that extension. Table 2‑4 describes the options. Some options may not appear, depending on the features associated with the extension.

Handset - Bypasses the user answering rules and forwards to the handset associated with the specified user.

User - Forwards to the user at that extension and follows the user’s answering rules.

Voicemail - Forwards to voicemail at the specified extension.

Queue - Forwards to the queue associated with that user.

Auto Attendant - Forwards to the auto attendant associated with that user.

Conference - Forwards to a Conference bridge

Ring Timeout

At the top of the page is the ring timeout selection. This option specifies the number of seconds that your phones will ring or forwarding rule before going to voicemail (when available). For Example: 5 second = 1 ring/ 20 seconds = 4 rings, etc.