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

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** This feature is available **available only to customers on sipgate classic** . On sipgate neo, the feature is integrated in a different form.
{% endhint %}

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

With all sipgate plans, the central phone number can be easily set up via a group with time profiles. This keeps you flexible if requirements change – for example over the holidays, during company holidays 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 run an agency and your central phone number leads directly to reception, but reception is currently unmanned. So what do you do to make sure the call is not lost? Simple: you set up forwarding to a specific voicemail or to another participant.

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

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

   ![sipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten.jpg](/files/055945e65c9376cb2edafc2d9efbf5aa0077ad87)
3. If you have opted for forwarding to a voicemail, you can now select an announcement. You have the option of creating several custom announcements in which you can, for example, point out your opening hours and/or company holidays. You can also record these custom announcements directly via your phone.
4. You have two [time profiles](https://help.sipgate.de/hc/de/articles/4420358805265-Zeitbasiertes-Routing) available. With the various profiles, you can set additional options within routing so that different forwardings 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 receive incoming calls. In the second voicemail, you can play a message that points to the opening hours. You can also choose whether a message can be recorded after the announcement or not.

![sipgate-hilfecenter-zentralerufnummereinanwendungsbeispiel-gruppenroutingbearbeiten-1.jpg](/files/361e69f9502378807408c4ceb0280bc992ba0208)

In our example, calls are forwarded to a voicemail. You also have the option of deactivating forwarding to voicemail to avoid an increased volume of messages in your absence. Alternatively, forwarding to another phone can also be set up. To do this, in step 2, instead of forwarding to a “voicemail”, simply select forwarding to “contact, group or phone number”, 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 working day.

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

## **Automatic forwarding on public holidays for groups**

You can not only set up specific time profiles for groups, but also automatic forwarding on public holidays. The already configured time-based routing 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. As a result, incoming calls on these days are forwarded immediately to voicemail with a custom announcement.

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](/files/3ce481ca4cb7217a4be07d8e2e63d95281c1c169)

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 updated automatically. If your group should still be reachable on certain public holidays, simply remove the checkmark next to the relevant day. Click **Continue**to save the settings.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertage-neu2.jpg](/files/6fe19dc655028161e12c72537ef0bf9065d5867b)

In the next step, you can define an announcement for voicemail forwarding. You can either use our ready-made announcement templates or upload your own announcement. You can also define an announcement that applies to all public holidays, or upload custom announcements for individual public holidays – for example, to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

![sipgate-Hilfecenter-Feiertagsprofil4.jpg.jpg](/files/cc03f7d3974cbd55a9587c237c0d52d37af43f23)

Save the selected announcement 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](/files/8822a4efd148e2c1df32c2f1008dbd8eeb1079ef)

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


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://help.sipgate.de/cloud-telefonanlage/en/using-sipgate/telefonie/wie-richte-ich-eine-zentrale-rufnummer-ein-ein-anwendungsbeispiel.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.