Creating an Auto Attendant

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) or Auto Attendant systems are used to play a recording and then prompt the calling party with a collection of menus/sub menus.  For instance “press 1 for support, 2 for sales, press 3 for general mailbox” etc.. IVRs can be nested where pressing an option on the main menu can route the call to another sub menu with its own collection of options. sub menus are a great way to reduce the number of main menu options as too many option might become confusing to the caller.

To create a new IVR click on the button and then click on the “add IVR” link from the right.  Existing IVRs can be edited by selecting an item from the list on the right.

IVR Options Explained

Change Name – A new IVR will be auto named as “Unnamed”.  Use this field to change its name to a more descriptive name.

Announcement – System recording to be played back to the caller prior to calling the ring group.

Timeout – time before timeout condition is reached.  t-dest below.

VM Return to IVR – Return caller to IVR after reaching a user’s voice mail.

Direct Dial Options (Default is Disabled) – Allow the caller to direct dial extensions while navigating the auto attendant.  The reachable extensions can also be limited to a specific company directory.  This is very useful for auto attendants with multiple sub menus.

Loop Before t-dest