> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.sipgate.de/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.sipgate.de/cloud-telefonanlage/en/using-sipgate/telefonie/wie-richte-ich-eine-zentrale-rufnummer-ein-ein-anwendungsbeispiel.md).

# How do I set up a central phone number? - An application example

Set up a central phone number at sipgate – example use case for routing to teams and departments.

Many of our customers receive their incoming calls on a central phone number. This is usually exactly the one important phone number that can be found in the phone book, on the internet, or on business cards—and traditionally this number rings at reception, in the switchboard, or at the front desk.

In all sipgate plans, the central phone number can be easily set up via a group or a channel with time profiles. This keeps you flexible if requirements change—for example over the holidays, during company vacations, or simply during lunch break. The practical thing about sipgate: you do not have to reconfigure your call forwarding in routing for every case.

Suppose you have an agency and your central phone number goes directly to reception, but reception is currently unmanned. So what do you do to make sure the call is not lost? Very simple: you set up forwarding to a specific voicemail or another participant.

## **Set up time-based routing for groups**

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="sipgate classic" %}

1. As an admin, you first need to set up a [group with different participants](https://help.sipgate.de/hc/de/articles/4403546991889-So-legen-Sie-eine-Gruppe-an) that is to take calls in day-to-day work. In this example, this group is called “Reception”.
2. Go to group routing and click on “Edit routing”. In the next step, you need to select “Add forwarding”. You can now choose between forwarding to a voicemail or another phone number.

   ![sipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-4e10244d8012adad4c2172fffd456cf1ac626a39%2Fsipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten.jpg?alt=media)
3. If you have decided to forward to a voicemail, you can now choose a greeting. You have the option of creating several individual greetings in which you can, for example, mention your opening hours and/or company holidays. You can also record these individual greetings directly via your phone.
4. You have two [time profiles](https://help.sipgate.de/hc/de/articles/4420358805265-Zeitbasiertes-Routing) available. With the different profiles, you can set additional options within routing so that different forwarding rules apply at certain times. For example, you can schedule your opening hours and lunch breaks. You can also set up two different voicemails. In the first voicemail, for example, you could activate the answering machine function to take incoming calls. In the second voicemail, you can play a message that points callers to your opening hours. You can also choose whether callers can leave a message after the greeting or not.

![sipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten-1.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e1af4f1a580f2ce73d8d67d07fb3e14244a77498%2Fsipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten-1.jpg?alt=media)

In our example, calls are forwarded to a voicemail. You also have the option of disabling forwarding to voicemail to avoid an increased volume of messages while you are away. Alternatively, forwarding to another phone can also be set up. To do this, at step 2 simply select forwarding to “Contact, group or phone number” instead of forwarding to a “voicemail”, and the incoming call will be forwarded to an available phone or another phone number.

You can change your settings at any time within a few seconds and adapt them to your day-to-day work.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** If your landline devices are offline, it makes sense to set up forwarding to a mobile device. That way you remain reachable even if, for example, your internet connection fails.
{% endhint %}

## **Automatic holiday forwarding for groups**

You can not only set up specific time profiles for groups, but also automatic forwarding on public holidays. The time-based routing you have already set up is retained and automatically used again after the holiday.

With the holiday profile, you can use practical templates for the public holidays in your respective federal state to configure routing in advance. Incoming calls on these days are then forwarded immediately to the voicemail with a custom greeting.

As an administrator, you can set up the holiday profile for a group. Proceed as follows: **Group** **➔ Edit routing ➔ Holidays** ➔ **Add holiday profile**.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu1.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-4d13bd7c006cbd576715f34984ff0632ca020aad%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu1.jpg?alt=media)

Then select your federal state from a drop-down menu. The public holidays for your federal state for the coming year will be displayed there and automatically updated. If your group should still be reachable on certain public holidays, simply remove the check mark next to the respective day. Click on **Continue**, to save the settings.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu2.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-ddb142718de069d513ca9f0f67ef34f6f2e0be8d%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu2.jpg?alt=media)

In the next step, you can define a greeting for voicemail forwarding. You can either use our pre-made greeting templates or upload your own greeting. You can also set one greeting that applies to all public holidays, or upload individual greetings for specific holidays—for example, to wish a happy new year.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertagsprofil4.jpg.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-001ebd07f0fa71476dbf99a569790ad289d919ef%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertagsprofil4.jpg.jpg?alt=media)

Save the selected greeting and finish editing. You have now successfully set up a holiday profile for the group. The profile is activated automatically and applies all day, so no further settings are required.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu3.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-f39a2e631f2ddeeb876b285de22673f2037ffab7%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu3.jpg?alt=media)

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** At present, you cannot set up the holiday profile for individual users, only for groups.
{% endhint %}
{% endtab %}

{% tab title="sipgate neo" %}

1. As an admin, you first need to set up a [channel with different participants](https://help.sipgate.de/cloud-telefonanlage/accountverwaltung/channels/was-sind-sipgate-channels-und-wie-richte-ich-sie-ein) that is to take calls in day-to-day work. In this example, this channel is called “Reception”.
2. Go to channel routing. Here you can add the desired forwarding to the routing by drag and drop or by clicking on it (on the right in the sidebar).

   ![sipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-channelroutingbearbeiten.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-be21120e25548dac8c81ef8a4e73c2b769f3839f%2Fsipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-channelroutingbearbeiten.png?alt=media)
3. If you have decided to forward to a voicemail, you can now choose a greeting. You have the option of creating several individual greetings in which you can, for example, mention your opening hours and/or company holidays. You can upload these individual greetings as an MP3 file or have them generated via text-to-speech. To add opening hours in routing, drag the time filter into the routing or click to add it.
4. You have two [time profiles](https://help.sipgate.de/hc/de/articles/4420358805265-Zeitbasiertes-Routing) available. With the different profiles, you can set additional options within routing so that different forwarding rules apply at certain times. For example, you can schedule your opening hours and lunch breaks. You can also set up two different voicemails. In the first voicemail, for example, you could activate the answering machine function to take incoming calls. In the second voicemail, you can play a message that points callers to your opening hours. If you do not want callers to be able to leave a message, select forwarding to announcement instead of voicemail.

![sipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten-1.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-ab88a753504994d10fbfc3673c628e434220617a%2Fsipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten-1.png?alt=media)

In our example, calls are forwarded to a voicemail. You also have the option of changing forwarding from voicemail to call end to avoid an increased volume of messages while you are away. To do this, click on the voicemail and then on Edit forwarding, or replace the voicemail in the routing by dragging the Call end function from the sidebar above it. Alternatively, forwarding to another user or channel can also be set up.

You can change your settings at any time within a few seconds and adapt them to your day-to-day work.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** If your landline devices are offline, it makes sense to set up forwarding to a mobile device. That way you remain reachable even if, for example, your internet connection fails.
{% endhint %}

## **Automatic holiday forwarding for channels**

You can not only set up specific time profiles for channels, but also automatic forwarding on public holidays. The time-based routing you have already set up is retained and automatically used again after the holiday.

With the holiday profile, you can use practical templates for the public holidays in your respective federal state to configure routing in advance. Incoming calls on these days are then forwarded immediately to the voicemail with a custom greeting.

As an administrator, you can set up the holiday profile for a channel. To do this, add the date filter from the sidebar to the routing.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu1.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-ed0b0410467e8e97b7169bbf2ebdad3d06074d4a%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu1.png?alt=media)

Then select your federal state from a drop-down menu. The public holidays for your federal state for the coming year will be displayed there and automatically updated. If your group should still be reachable on certain public holidays, simply remove the check mark next to the respective day. Click on **Continue**, to save the settings.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu2.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-553179316072783ef1e541b44d2a14fd8a7af635%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu2.png?alt=media)

In the next step, you can define a greeting for voicemail forwarding. You can either use our pre-made greeting templates, have a greeting generated, or upload your own greeting. If you want different greetings for different holidays, deselect the desired holidays when creating the date filter and then add them as another holiday profile.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertagsprofil4.jpg.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-83353f430f55353492197859fdba3033ffbd58f8%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertagsprofil4.png?alt=media)

Save the selected greeting. You have now successfully set up a holiday profile for the channel. The profile is activated automatically and applies all day, so no further settings are required.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu3.jpg](https://4045603198-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fg0qj71PeONPljdPedXLf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e973267d275eb9a78570923bc9264af06465d2e2%2Fsipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu3.png?alt=media)

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** At present, you cannot set up the holiday profile for personal channels, only for shared ones.
{% endhint %}
{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}


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