After hours on call scheduler

[ElementalWindX]

1) I have a system setup so that after hours calls go to a ring group. The RG consists of extensions that are people using the cell phone app. We're not sure if some of these employees simply aren't marking themselves green in the app, or even have the app running during their on call times. Is there a place in the logs where we can verify who was "available" during these times where calls were missed?


2) Also they are wanting to rule out the app as an issue and make the calls forward directly to the persons cell phone line. Is there an easy way to do this but still maintain the ring group? Create an extension some way that just goes to their cell phone when rang and put it in the ring group?

3) The voiptools addon, is it's after hours on call addon worth the $1,000/year just to get that one feature? Does it handle this use case way better?

This is on the newest v16, and cloud hosted debian pbx.

Thanks

 

[jcostlow]

I am not sure on the logging question and someone else may know that answer.

You could set each extension with forwarding rules to the cell phones.

 

[NickD_3CX]

Hi!

1) I have a system setup so that after hours calls go to a ring group. The RG consists of extensions that are people using the cell phone app. We're not sure if some of these employees simply aren't marking themselves green in the app, or even have the app running during their on call times. Is there a place in the logs where we can verify who was "available" during these times where calls were missed?

Reporting with Ring Groups, it's not possible to check agent availability, but if you were to switch the RGs for Queues, then you could check the Agent Login/Logout status to determine who is in and who is out, but also a bunch of other Queue Reports.

2) Also they are wanting to rule out the app as an issue and make the calls forward directly to the persons cell phone line. Is there an easy way to do this but still maintain the ring group? Create an extension some way that just goes to their cell phone when rang and put it in the ring group?

An idea of what you could do is:

1. For each one of your Ring Group/Queue members, create 2 extensions:
   - One which will be their "primary" one which will ring their 3CX App
   - One which will be their "secondary" extension and you will set to "Away" permanently and in the "Away" settings, make all calls forwarded to their actual mobile number and that the "Log out from queues" option is disabled,
2. In the existing RG/Queue, place all the "primary" extensions, and set a reasonable to you "Max Queue Wait Time", then set a "Destination if no answer" to route to a second RG/Queue.
3. In the second RG/Queue, place all the "secondary" extension numbers.

The result would be that all calls would initially hit the first Queue that would ring agents on their 3CX Mobile apps. If no one answers within the set timeout, call would go to the second Queue which would ring their GSM numbers.

I should note that this is best done with Queues instead of Ring Groups as the first Queue should keep calls for the set amount of time before forwarding them to the second Queue if all agents are busy.

 

[ElementalWindX]

Awesome advice. To check more in depth into the ring group logs, where can I find those for that agent availability?

Thanks

 

[NickD_3CX]

Awesome advice. To check more in depth into the ring group logs, where can I find those for that agent availability?

Thanks

Very sorry about the mix up, I meant to write:
"Reporting with Ring Groups, it's not possible to check agent availability..."

 

[VoIPTools]

Call me crazy, but I'm going to tell you how to do much of what our tool does using just 3CX.

Essentially you can assign to a queue both the agents 3CX extension and a dummy extension (one assigned for each agent) that forwards queue calls to their cell phone (Unfortunately, you cannot enforce who is logged into the queue).

If nobody answers the queue call within the max wait time, forward the call to a voicemail box that emails to a distribution group.

How we add value --

First, let's address the schedule of who is on call and when.

Our tool provides an easy to use web calendar to set up recurring schedules. For example, I could be on-call every 3rd week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays if you like. You can get pretty creative with the schedules. Then, based on the schedule, we ensure the right people are automatically logged into the queue at the appointed times. Further, you can have different schedules for different groups. No point notifying "everyone" if the call is for a specific group.

No more questions about who was supposed to be on call. No more updating forwarding rules or passing around the on-call cell phone. Just set up the schedule and forget about it.

For a "live answer" option, you could rely on staff to remember to keep their 3CX Phone client active and logged into the queue (forget ring groups), but you are already having problems with that...

OK, nobody answered the queue call. What do you do then?

Let me ask a question. If nobody answers the call in the queue, and the call fails over to a voicemail box, is a beep that you received a new email sufficient to wake you up at 2:00 a.m. in the morning? Our tool will call you on the phone, send an email, and send a text message and wait.... if nobody answers the voicemail in the allotted time, it will notify them again, and again, and again. If they still do not listen to the voicemail, when we can add more people to the list of people being notified (up to 30 levels of escalation with multiple people in each level).

What about logging? Can we know who was notified, and when?

We log everything -- when the call came in and from whom, who was notified, and how they were successfully notified (phone, email, SMS). You will be able to see a chronological history of everything that happened including when the voicemail was heard. You can even add notes to the log so you know the resolution.

The logging function removes any question about who was or was not notified and when. It is a great tool for monitoring your SLAs and who is actually taking the after-hours calls vs those that let it escalate to someone else because they do not want to get out of bed.

No more excuses about "I didn't get a call". You know who was called and whether the notification was successful. And you don't have to rely solely on one channel of notification. At 2:00 a.m. the more channels of notification the better.

I guess you have to weigh the cost of our tools against the cost of losing a customer because you didn't get the needed notifications.