Solved Forwarding On Demand with a Ring Group involved

[pmterp]

The client wants to be able to forward calls to a specific DID to their answering service on demand. However, when not forwarded, that DID rings to a Ring Group.
They have a second line that doesn't get forwarded to the answering service which also rings to the Ring Group (but could be assigned to a separate Ring Group if it would help).
Any creative ways that a user, from their desk phone, could forward/unforward the single DID and keep it from ringing to the rest of the Ring Group while in that forwarded state?

 

[leejor]

Whatever you do it will have to be before that call reaches the ring group, not after. So...that could mean routing the DID to a dummy (or real) extension. That would allow the destination to be changed, perhaps, based on time of day.

 

[pmterp]

Thanks @leejor the use case is that when the staff is overly busy, they can pass calls to their main line to an answering service but have a 2nd line for specific callers that need to be able to get through at all times.
Because of that, scheduling won't help since they need the ability to make the change on demand.
I have 2 ideas I'm going to try unless someone chimes in saying either will or won't work:
1) Direct the inbound rule to a single extension, say the receptionist. Add the ext number of the ring group as their "mobile number" and set the Available status to "ring my mobile" and DND forwards to the answering service.
2) Use a dummy extension. Available sends the call to the ring group, DND sends it to the answering service. Then create a CFD that they can call into and set the status for that dummy extension.

Edit:
1) tested, works
2) didn't test but CFD does have a "Get extension status" and "Set extension status" so I think it would work if necessary.

Edit2:
1) failed to account for calls to the 2nd line still needing to get through so changing the status of the user's actual extension isn't a solution.
On to test 2

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

Use a dummy extension. Available sends the call to the ring group, DND sends it to the answering service. Then create a CFD that they can call into and set the status for that dummy extension.

This should actually work just fine and I would actually recommend using this method as it would also mean a "cleaner" configuration. You would of course need at least two CFDs as you would need to switch the dummy/routing extension back and fourth from the two profile status you'll be using.

If you only want to create one CFD, you could use the Menu component and within it add an option for each profile status. The user calling the CFD would simply have to select the profile status/destination desired.

 

[pmterp]

Thanks @ChrisC_3CX I did go the CFD route.
For reference I used a single CFD that checks the current status of the dummy ext, and then used a condition to switch it to either Available or DND depending on the current status. I also used TTS to announce which mode it was being switched to.
The user ended up with a single button to toggle forwarding on/off and it only impacts the specific DID.
My only unmet desire is that there would be some visual indicator for the user but it wasn't requested...yet.
Thanks to you both for your feedback.

 

[ChrisC_3CX]

For reference I used a single CFD that checks the current status of the dummy ext, and then used a condition to switch it to either Available or DND depending on the current status. I also used TTS to announce which mode it was being switched to.

Well that's even better!

The user ended up with a single button to toggle forwarding on/off and it only impacts the specific DID.

Not sure of how you would do that to be honest but glad to see you got to sort out the main functionality.

I'll be marking this as solved since everything seems to be in order so please do let us know if anything else comes up!