Channels: set up service hours, holiday, and absence profiles
Configure service hours, holiday profiles, and absence profiles for sipgate Channels – set up time filters and date filters.
In this article you will find information on how to set up the service hours (time filter), holiday and absence profiles (date filter) in the channels. During these times, channel routing is activated; outside business hours, callers receive an appropriate announcement.
This article summarizes information on configuring channels at sipgate and provides an explanation of how channel routing works.
Set up service hours (time filter)
In the first step, go to the account management on Channels and select the desired routing. In the next step, click on time filter and then on edit timesto adjust the service hours.
In the graph, you can define the service hours by clicking on the desired day and moving the blue bar for your working hours as needed. Go to the pen icon to rename your created time profiles. Then click on Save.
After you have defined the service hours for one day, you can click the copy icon beneath that day and transfer these times directly to other days. This enables quick setup of time profiles when your service hours repeat.
You also have the option, while creating time profiles, to change the view to a table view .
In the table view, you can easily create time profiles with the button add time period . To adjust the times, click the clock icon and check the boxes for the corresponding days. To finish, click on Save.
After you have added the time profiles, channel routing takes effect during the defined service hours. Outside these working hours, callers will hear an appropriate announcement.
Finally, you can edit the announcement or set up call forwarding by clicking the corresponding tile and selecting change forwarding This gives you the option to choose a standard announcement or upload your own audio file (up to 10 MB in MP3 format) or specify a phone number/contact for forwarding.
At the moment, forwarding to voicemail in Channels is not possible.
Set up holiday and absence profiles (date filter)
You can not only set specific time profiles for your channels, but also configure automatic forwarding on public holidays and/or during various absences (vacation, company holidays, training sessions). The time-based routing that has already been set remains in place and is automatically used again after the holiday/absence. With the holiday profile, you can use practical templates for holidays in your respective federal state to configure routing in advance.
For this, go to the section date filter in channel routing.
In the next step, select the type of absence.
There are already predefined templates for public holidays in various federal states. Please select your federal state. In addition, you have the option to select only certain public holidays for your channel routing by checking a box.
Finally, similar to the service hours, you can either use a standard announcement, upload a personalized announcement (an MP3 file up to 10 MB), or set up call forwarding.
At the moment, forwarding to voicemail in Channels is not possible.
At the same place in routing, you can also create an absence profile, for example for your vacation. Give the new profile a name and select a time period. You can also enter multiple periods for one absence at the same time.
Finally, here too you specify whether an announcement should be played during the period or whether the call should be forwarded to a number/contact.
The configured date profiles in channel routing look like the following screenshot, and they can be changed at any time by clicking the respective tile.
With sipgate Neo, as an admin you can specifically control the availability of individual user channels or shared channels. In this article, you will learn how to configure forwarding for absences, fixed service hours, and holiday and absence profiles.
Forwarding for absences in the user channel
If individual team members are temporarily unavailable, you can set up targeted forwarding in the respective user channel.
Log in to the account as an admin.
Navigate to the section user and select the desired user.
Open the section Routing.
In the last section of routing, you define what should happen to calls in the event of an absence.
You have the following options:
Forward to another user, a shared channel, or an external phone number
Play an announcement
Forwarding to voicemail
Note: This rule only applies if the user is marked as absent themselves.
Set up service hours (time filter) in the shared channel
In shared channels, fixed availability times can be defined. These so-called time filters regulate on which weekdays and at what times the channel is reachable.
This is how you set up the service hours:
Open the desired shared channel.
Select the section time filter.
Define the desired days and times when calls should be accepted.
Outside the defined times, you can set whether calls should be forwarded, sent to voicemail or answered with an announcement .
You can simply copy individual daily profiles to other days. In the table view, time periods can also be easily added and edited.
Holiday and absence profiles (date filter) in the shared channel
With date filters, you define special days on which the channel should respond differently -- for example on public holidays, during vacation periods, or during an internal event.
This is how it works:
Open the section date filter in the routing of the shared channel.
Choose whether you want to store public holidays or an individual absence.
For public holidays, templates are available for all federal states. You can activate or deactivate individual public holidays.
For individual absences:
Create a new profile with name
Define one or more time periods
Specify whether forwarding, an announcement, or voicemail should be used during this time
After the absence ends, the regular routing automatically applies again.
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