Manage Auto Attendant with AT&T Collaborate

The AT&T Collaborate SM Auto Attendant feature greets callers with your customized greeting and gives them dialing menu options that help route incoming calls to:

• Employees within your company
• Specific groups of employees
• Outside phone numbers

You can manage 1 or multiple auto attendants for your sites and departments. With auto attendants, callers can search for users by extension or by first and last name. Callers can also listen to announcements that provide information like your business hours or directions to your site. An auto attendant set up for a specific site can route incoming callers to any user in your company. You can tailor auto attendant settings to your company’s needs. Each auto attendant you create can be linked to others through menus.

For example, you might set up an auto attendant for your main site that plays an announcement to callers and gives them options to hear your business hours, search for a user by name or extension, transfer to tech support or billing, or speak to your receptionist.

You can edit existing auto attendants or create new ones. You can manage the profile and privacy settings, call handling features, menu options, and greetings for each auto attendant.

By planning ahead, you can make sure Auto Attendant suits your business needs. We recommend that you first create a call flow diagram where you plot the Auto Attendant menu and decide which options will be available when a customer calls your main number.

You may want to plan different menus for business hours, after hours, or holiday schedules.

If you want different menus for business hours and after hours, or you need a unique holiday menu, first create the related business hours or holiday schedules. For more information about creating schedules, see Manage schedules.

Manage profile and privacy settings
Manage call handling features
Manage settings
Manage greetings

Manage profile and privacy settings

A profile includes basic information, such as the auto attendant’s phone number, name, and time zone. Privacy settings determine whether the auto attendant appears in directories and what caller ID information is sent when the call is routed or redirected to an internal user. Redirected calls can be transferred by a user or through a service like an auto attendant.

Access an auto attendant

1. On the Collaborate homepage, click Select a site or click Switch sites, and then search for or select a site to manage.
2. On the left menu, expand Call handling, and then click Auto Attendant. The Manage auto attendants page appears.
   • To turn this feature on or off, under Status, click On or Off.
   • To edit an auto attendant, click Edit. The manage page for the auto attendant appears. Follow the steps to update a profile.
   • To add an auto attendant, click Create, and then follow the steps below, starting with update a profile.
   • To delete an auto attendant, click Delete.

Update a profile

1. On the manage page for the auto attendant, click Manage profile. The Manage profile page appears.
2. Update the following profile information:
   • Auto attendant name.
   • Auto attendant phone number and extension. Do 1 of these things:
     – Enter an updated number.
     – Click the Search icon and select a phone number.
     Note: If you pick a number from the list of available numbers, the extension is automatically updated. You can also update the extension manually.
   • Department name and time zone
     – If the auto attendant is associated with a department, it will appear in the directory as part of the department.
     – The time zone is used along with schedules to control the menus that are provided to callers.
3. In the Privacy section, show or hide the auto attendant:
   • To hide the auto attendant from directories, check Exclude the auto attendant’s information from the company directory.
   • To hide the auto attendant extension from other auto attendants, check Exclude the auto attendant when a caller selects the Auto Attendant call by extension option.
   • To hide the auto attendant name from other auto attendants, check Exclude the auto attendant when a caller selects the Auto Attendant call by name option.
4. Under Call settings:
   • From the Limit extension calling to list, select an option:
     – To let callers call any extension in the company, select Company.
     – To let callers call only extensions in the site, select Site.
     – To let callers call extensions only in the associated department, select Department.
   • From the Limit directory name search to list, select an option:
     – To let callers search for any user in the company, select Company.
     – To let callers search for only users in the site, select Site.
     – To let callers search for users only in the associated department, select Department.
   • Set the format that callers will use when they search for users by name:
     – To require callers to search by last name first, select Last name First name.
     – To let users search by first or last name, select Last name First name and First name Last name.
   • Set how many seconds callers wait on hold before they’re transferred to an operator. Note that you must set up an operator in your menu for this to take effect.

Update caller ID settings and the recorded name

1. Continuing from the previous steps, on the Manage profile page, in the Caller ID settings section, select the information that appears on the caller’s phone and on the call recipient’s phone.
2. In the Auto attendant recorded name section, check Use auto attendant recorded name file, and then enter a file name.
3. Do 1 or more of these things, and then follow the prompts in the window that opens:
   • To change the audio file, click Change. The Change audio file window opens.
   • To upload a new audio file, click Upload. The Upload audio file window opens.
   • To record a new audio file, click Record. The Record audio file window opens.
4. When you’re finished updating the auto attendant profile, click Save.

For more information about audio files, see Manage messages and announcements.

To control how the auto attendant acts at different times of day, at the top of the page, click Manage settings, then update schedules and menu options. For help with schedules, see Manage schedules.

Top

Manage call handling features

You can also manage call handling features. First, assign the feature to an auto attendant, and then manage each feature.

Set call features

1. On the Collaborate homepage, click Select a site or click Switch sites, and then search for or select a site to manage.
2. On the left menu, expand Call handling, and then click Auto Attendant. The Manage auto attendant page appears.
3. Next to the auto attendant you want to manage, click Edit. The manage page for the auto attendant appears.
4. Click Set call features. The Set call features page appears.
5. Follow the steps below for each feature.

Manage features

• To turn a feature on or off, under Status, click On or Off.

For help managing features, see Manage user features and select these topics:

• Alternate Numbers
• Anonymous Call Rejection
• Call Forwarding – Busy
• Call Forwarding on a Schedule
• Site Forwarding
• Selective Call Acceptance
• Selective Call Rejection

Note: Alternate Numbers, Site Forwarding, and Selective Call Rejection are part of the Enhanced Voice Features bundle. A limited number of these features is included in the site inventory for call routing elements such as Auto Attendant and Hunt Group when you order the Enhanced Voice Features bundle for your users.

Top

Manage settings

You can set up your auto attendant to provide different greetings and menu options for business hours, after hours, and holidays. Or, you can use the 24/7 configuration to provide the same greetings and options all the time.

Set business hours

1. Follow steps 1-3 in Set call features.
2. Click Manage settings. The Manage settings page appears.
3. Select a setting:
   • You can customize Auto Attendant so you have different business and after-hours menus, or you can use the 24/7 configuration and use a single menu for business and after hours. In both cases, you can also specify an optional holiday menu. To change to a 24/7 configuration, click Switch to 24/7 configuration, click Continue, and then set up your 24/7 greeting and optional holiday and submenus. For help with schedules, see Manage schedules.
4. Expand the setting you selected:
   • To edit a schedule or menu options, click the Edit icon.
   • To add a schedule or the greeting callers hear, click Set up.
5. When you’re finished with each page, click Save.

Create a submenu

Submenus are optional and add flexibility to your Auto Attendant. If you need to offer a new set of menu options when the user selects a prompt, create a submenu. For example, users can press 1 on the main menu, which leads to the customer support submenu where they can press 1 again for billing.

1. On the Manage settings page, under Submenu, click Manage submenu. The Manage submenu page appears.
2. To create a submenu, click Create new submenu. The Create new submenu page appears.
3. Enter a name for the submenu.
4. To allow callers to bypass the main menu and dial a user’s extension after the greeting, check Enable callers to enter an extension during or after the greeting.
5. Assign each key:
   • Select a prompt and an action from each list, as applicable.
   • Enter an action description, if needed.
6. Under Announcement, choose, record, or upload an audio file. For help with audio files, see Manage messages and announcements.
7. Click Save.

Manage a submenu

1. On the Manage settings page, under Submenu, click Manage submenu. The Manage submenu page appears.
2. Next to the submenu you want to manage, click the Edit icon.
3. Update the following information:
   • The submenu name.
   • The option to allow callers to bypass the main menu after the greeting.
   • Each key assignment.
   • The announcement audio file.
4. When you’re finished, click Save.

Top

Manage greetings

You can record, upload, or change Auto Attendant greetings when you manage settings. For help with greetings, see Manage messages and announcements.

A name audio file is played when the auto attendant is chosen from another auto attendant through extension or name directory searches. You can record an audio file directly from your computer using Collaborate, or you can record greetings on your desktop phone.

Top