- Schedules Usage, Types, and Priorities
- Viewing Existing Schedules
- Creating a New Schedule
- Schedules Settings and Affected Numbers ---
- Assigning and Activating a Schedule
Schedules Usage, Types, and Priorities
Schedules are an automation tool that lets you set up times for when certain features of the phone system will be enabled or disabled.
The most obvious use for schedules is with IVRs where you can have different greetings and phone navigation available based on your business and holiday hours. Other common uses are with queues, huntgroups, mailboxes, phone numbers, or any other feature that depends on the staff's availability.
There are three types of schedules you can create:
- Weekly Schedule: You select hours for each day during the week or weekend when the schedule is active. The schedule will automatically repeat every week.
- Holiday Schedule: You build the schedule by adding events where you can select specific hours, days of the week, days of the month, months, and years for the schedule to be active.
- Custom Schedule: Work the same as a holiday schedule, except that you can also assign the schedule with a priority. If two or more custom schedules take place on the same time periods the one with the higher priority will be the one that applies. by the system.
Holiday Schedules have the highest priority (10) and Weekly Schedules have the lowest (1).
Viewing Existing Schedules
Access your list of existing schedules from Admin Center Menu>Voice Features>Schedules. If the list is empty you would want to create a new schedule.
Check one or more schedules and select 
to delete them.
Select 
on the top-right to download a CSV file of existing schedules showing ID, name, description, priority, and type.
Select 
to search for a specific schedule(s) by name, type, or description. You can also search by the ID from the CSV file.
Schedules Settings and Affected Numbers
Select any schedule or create a new one to show its settings and affected numbers screen. There are two expandable settings categories. When making changes you need to make sure to SAVE each category separately.
On the top-right you can use the arrows to select the next or previous schedule without having to go back to the schedule list.
General Settings
Name/Description: Add or change the name and description (optional) of the schedule.
Priority: Priority will only show for custom schedules. You can select a priority from 2 to 9. Priority 10 is reserved for Holiday Schedules and priority 1 is reserved for Weekly Schedules.
Set Schedule
Here you build or modify the schedule. The available choices depend on the schedule type.
For Custom/Holiday schedules you will see the option to ADD EVENT. Each event defines specific days and times when the event takes place. You can combine several events to create flexible schedules as needed.
You cannot add events to a Weekly schedule. Instead, you will see a list of the days of the week where you can select a time range for each day.
Weekly Schedule
Toggle the days of the week you want the schedule to apply, enter the Start time and End time for each day, and select SET. When entering the time you can select 
to switch to keyboard entry mode using 24HRS military time.
Select 
to go back to dial entry mode. In dial entry mode, note that you select AM hours (01-12) on the outer circle of the dial and PM hours (13-00) on the inner circle. After you select an hour the minutes dial will show. To quickly apply the same hours for other days of the week select Copy and Copy to weekdays or Copy to all days.
Custom/Holiday Schedule
Select 
to edit an existing scheduling event or select ADD EVENT to create a new one.
You can create and combine multiple events like, for example, one event to cover all the holidays of the year.
Enter the event's Name, Description (optional), Start time, End time, Days of the week, Days of the month, Months, and Years when the event will apply and select SAVE to keep the event.
Note that you have to make a selection in all the date fields. If you don't have a specific selection in mind for a field you would select all its items with Select All. For example, if you want to create an event that happens every 10th of the month you would select 10 in "Days of the month" and select Select All for the other three date fields.
Affected Numbers
Here you activate the schedule by assigning it to a phone number(s). You can also assign a schedule to a number from the Phone Numbers menu (see below).
You can assign a schedule to multiple numbers.
Select 
to edit an existing Affected Number or select ADD to define a new one.
In the System feature field select the type of number the schedule will affect – Phone Numbers (a full 10-digit number) or Extension. Select the actual extension or phone number from the Affected number drop-down list.
In the Route To field select what will happen to calls during the active time period(s) of the schedule. Numbers are commonly routed to IVRs, mailboxes, queues, extensions, or hunt groups, but there are a total of 63 routing options available.
Creating a New Schedule
To create a new schedule select ADD SCHEDULE from the Schedules List screen or from the Features Shortcut menu.
Enter the schedule Name and select the Schedule Type, and select Create. If you select a Custom Schedule you will also have to select a Priority.
You will be directed to the schedule settings screen (see above) so you can finish setting up the schedule – the periods for when it is active and to add numbers that are affected by it.
Assigning and Activating a Schedule
Schedules are applied and activated by assigning them to phone numbers.
You can do so from the schedule's setting screen's Affected Numbers tab or from the Phone Numbers menu.
To apply a schedule from the Phone Numbers menu:
- Select the number from Admin Center Menu>Phone Number.
- Expand the Routing and Forwarding category.
- Select Add Schedule Route under the Call Routing Schedule options.
- Select a schedule to assign to the number in the Schedule field.
- In the Route To field select what will happen to calls during the active time period(s) of the schedule and select SAVE. See a full list of routing options here.
- Repeat the last three steps to assign more schedules to the number.
