In the past we have covered the Q-Suite’s Visual Dialplan Builder with its ease of use and capabilities to handle any, from basic to very complex, requirements of an IVR. However, before the Q-Suite had the dialplan builder, we had the auto-attendant features, which allowed for a menu structure to provide the caller options to select and be sent within the system. One can argue the dialplan builder can do everything the auto-attendants can and I would not disagree. However, the auto-attendant configuration screens have been kept in the product due to their ease of use that allows anyone to have a multi-level menu system up and going within minutes. Let’s take a look at the options of an auto-attendant menu configuration.
- Name – a friendly name which will be used to reference it elsewhere in the system.
- Greeting Recording – the audiofile that is played when a caller reaches the auto-attendant menu
- Repeat Limit – the number of times a menu will repeat without input before going to the default option
- Response Timeout – the number of seconds a user has after the greeting recording finishes to enter an option.
- Default Option – the option that will be selected after the repeat limit and final response timeout.
- Allow Extension Dialing – when selected the user can dial any PBX Extension number at the menu as a valid option.
- Menu Options – Define the custom auto-attendant menu options available to the caller. Each has what the Caller will have to enter to select the option and what the Linked To destination. The Linked To destination can to to almost any entity within the system, just as the PBX DIDs can. There is also an optional sound file to play when the menu option is selected. The sound file is not commonly used but is helpful in situations where the linked destination will take some time or not indicate progress, as the sound file could say “Please wait while we connect you to …”.
If you understood all of that or even most you can now setup an auto-attendant. Set a menu option or two with the link to destination as another auto-attendant menu and you have a multi-level menu system configured. Just be aware of some potential issues to ensure the auto-attendant is functionally and sounding it’s best.