Call Forwarding Always

[ldoodle]

Hi,

We use 5324 phones with a hosted system. When we setup and turn on call forwarding (at the phone) it does it automatically if internal extensions ring, but if an external call comes in we get a prompt on the screen asking if we want to forward it.

How can we bypass this prompt so all calls are automatically forwarded? We are definitely using 'ALWAYS' option - I tried setting them all to the same but it still prompts.

We do use an ACD group; whoever last answered the phone goes to the bottom of the list for answering the next call.

Thanks

[ZuluAlpha]

In the blue superkey menu you can select the Call Forwarding option and set it to ALWAYS to the destination you want. You can't call forward always the ACD calls, though. It would only be the agent's DID.

You can also set the forward administratively in Users and Devices > Advanced Configuration > Call Forwarding Profile.

[ldoodle]

Yes that's what we're trying: blue Superkey > Call Forwarding > Always > destination no.

I did think it was ACD 'interfering' because as I say it does work from internal extensions. I assume setting it administratively suffers the same? We can't do that anyway as we have a restricted access via the hosting providers portal.

Is there absolutely no way around this? We have a requirement for 100% phone coverage so the idea is that if somebody walks away from their desk for whatever reason, they'd put Call Forwarding on (we setup a softkey for this) so they can answer it on the mobile. At the moment if that happens somebody else has to pickup their phone if they're next in line and a call comes in. Then if and only if everyone is logged out, ACD diverts to a pre-set mobile which has to be changed manually depending on who's covering.

We don't expose DIDs to the outside people.

Yes I know it's archaic and I know MiCollab would be the answer but not an easy option due to price. I'm aiming for that in the future, and the free option above is kind of proof of concept.

[ZuluAlpha]

It sounds like ACD is doing what it should do making sure calls get answered. ACD and mobility don't really blend well. If it has to be that way without MiCollab you're probably better off setting up a Hunt Group and Personal Ring groups so users can set their presence before walking away. A Circular Hunt Group would offers similar call distribution that the ACD does in the last called, next up sense.

I'm thinking the Make Busy key should still work if someone is out sick or something like that but this is something you'd want to test first. If it does, all users except the coverage person could go on Make Busy and you could avoid having to change the ACD unavailable destination every week.

You'd lose all your metrics that ACD offers so I'm not sure if that's important or not. Also if your ACD queue is very busy I don't recommend doing it this way because it's asking for a lot of voicemails on cell phones.



 

[ldoodle]

Gotcha. So change ACD to CHG, then for those that need forward to mobile setup PRG.

I personally can't answer about metrics being important or not so will find that out as sounds like that will be the deciding factor. I'm getting pricing for MiCollab too anyway as if we have to 'break' the current setup only to bring in MiCollab may as well not break anything in the first place. Plus the guys are taking their deskphones home with them!!

Thanks for your replies.