HOL Auto Attendant prompt not playing

[Scot Busby]

I have setup holiday's and office closing dates in the system and during testing, the individual prompts play just fine, however, when the system finishes playing the individual prompt and routes to the HOL Auto Attendant, there is just silence. There is verified recordings for the HOL AA prompt and you can press valid options and be routed appropriately (so it appears the test calls are getting routed to the HOL AA), but the prompt for the HOL AA does not play.

I assume there is an option somewhere I am missing, however, I'm not certain what to look for here.

Thank you!

 

[leejor]

Does this happen when tested from outside callers and from an extension? Does the 3CX Activity log provide any help in what may be happening...error messages, calls routing somewhere else?

 

[Scot Busby]

Thanks @leejor - I checked the activity logs and nothing regarding any of the test calls I placed show up, however, the call log shows an entry for the inbound call to the HOL Auto Attendant.

This happens when I call from outside the system. I am unaware how I can test internally since the extension for the built-in holiday auto attendant is just "HOL".

Anything else I have missed which I can check? Thank you!

***One other note I wanted to add as I was reading some things online - I do not have listed in the extension list an HOL extension. I'm not certain if this is required or not, but I wanted to mention that the HOL extension does not show up in the extension list - only listed in the Digital Receptionist list.

***Further testing and re-trying leads me to the following conclusion - You CANNOT configure BOTH the Holiday Prompt (in the area where you add holiday entries) as well as the HOL Auto Attendant prompt. I have found if I remove the holiday prompt, the HOL Auto Attendant prompt will play. If I add back the holiday prompt, the HOL Auto Attendant will NOT play.

If this is working as expected, this is a problem since I have holiday greetings as well as certain office closures I am covering with this setup. I planned to have the holiday prompt be specific to the office closure and the HOL Auto Attendant prompt be generic to office information. Does anyone know if this is working as intended or a current bug in progress?

 

[jimbo59]

The HOL doesn't appear to work anymore. There are other posts about this. Create a new IVR and use that for holidays.

 

[CentrexJ]

I read somewhere that if you have a WAV file configured for the holiday then it won't play the WAV file for the HOL digital receptionist. Previous versions would play first the scheduled one and then the HOL one. If however your holiday doesn't have a WAV file on the schedule then it will play the WAV file on the HOL DR.

 

[Scot Busby]

@CentrexJ - I would very much like it to work the way it seems to have been designed at one time - play the holiday prompt, then the HOL prompt. This would work perfectly for my situation.

@jimbo59 - The HOL prompt will play if there is no holiday prompt. I don't think creating a new IVR will work for my situation since I need specific days and times configured for the system to take the path of holiday prompt then holiday IVR. Thanks for the thought though.

I think I am going to add a feature request to the forum asking for the holiday prompts and HOL prompts to play - seems like if it worked that way once, it should still work that way.

 

[CentrexJ]

Scot, can't you just combine the two WAV files together and put it in the holiday scheduler? Extra work but it will give you what you need.

 

[Scot Busby]

Thanks @CentrexJ - you are right, however, our organization wants to be specific regarding the purpose of the office closure. We would have to have combined recordings for all the events the office is closed for - admittedly, this is what we will have to do as a work-around, but I’d like the system to function as it seems like it was designed to function - with the two prompts playing separately, if present.

I still feel like this might be a defect, but I have raised the idea in the other forum.

Thank you!

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Hello @Scot Busby

Please note that the desired behaviour of the PBX is to play either the Holiday prompt or the HOL prompt so the behaviour you are experiencing is the default. This was changed from previous versions as it was causing confusion and miss-configurations when both prompts were playing. When the PBX has reached a holiday then calls will be routed to the HOL automatically so using a different IVR is not an option for holidays. You can use a different IVR for out of office hours or other occasions that are not specified as a system holiday.

 

[Scot Busby]

Hi @YiannisH_3CX

Thank you for confirming my suspicions - although this really hinders our ability to automate our system for holidays and special office closures.

our case, our office is closed on major holidays as well as randomly for office meetings for part of the day. My plan was to use the holiday entries for holidays and other office closures and the holiday prompt would be recorded to clarify why the office as closed. Then the caller would be routed to the HOL IVR, which would provide a more universal set of options for the caller to hear. Since I cannot use both prompts, I will be forced to change the re-record ALL the holiday prompts individually along with the IVR options and manually change this each time the office is closed. I'm not certain how other 3CX users are affected by this, however, I liked the thought of building this and only modifying the recordings once per year.

In searching for a solution to this, I did notice there were many requests for explanations or documentation on how the holiday and HOL IVR prompts functioned. Is it possible to restore this functionality in the system, but provide specific documentation for it's use? I would be happy to assist in this endeavor if it means getting back this functionality. As an FYI - I have requested this be added in the "Idea" forum.

Thank you!

 

[CentrexJ]

Scot,
I just figured out another option for you than merging the files or having the person who records the specific holiday message to say both recordings at the same time.
1. Make a new Digital Receptionist that will have the HOL greeting and options as you like it
2. Set the actual HOL Digital Receptionist for "destination for no or invalid input "if no input within seconds" to 1 and destination to the new Digital Receptionist.

 

[Scot Busby]

Hi @CentrexJ,

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, with the change 3CX made to the system, this will severely limit my ability to streamline holidays and events in the system, so I'm going to have to re-record the greetings any way you look at it - until/unless 3CX replaces this functionality in the system.

At this point, my plan is to re-record each holiday/special meeting prompts along with the HOL IVR options (so I have a year's worth pre-recorded) and then manually adjust the HOL IVR prompt prior to each event. I will leave all the already-defined holiday/meetings in the system, but I'll remove the individual prompts I have for these so the HOL IVR will work properly.

Thank you very much for your suggestion though. Everything in the system works they way I need it to with the exception of the holiday prompt OR the HOL IVR prompt playing when I need BOTH to play.