Auto Attendant Console
Overview
CPaaS Auto Attendant (AA) enables business customers to automate the management of incoming calls. Using a voice menu system, AA functions as a virtual receptionist, directing calls to the appropriate person or department within the organization. To learn more about the AA system, please read the AA General Documentation.
This document contains important information regarding the setup and management of AA using the Console user interface. To access the AA Console navigate to https://$DOMAIN/autoattendantconsole/.
To learn more about the API, check out the API documentation
Auto Attendant System
| Contact your Service Provider if you don’t see Auto Attendant, Phone Number or Extensions configured for you. |
AA System List
To navigate to the page, click on the Systems link located on the top header. There you can perform the following actions:
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View a list of all AA Systems that have been added under your Enterprise.
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Filter AA Systems by name.
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Deactivate/activate the AA System by clicking on its status.
Edit AA system
To edit an existing AA System, click on its name. This will take you to the basic details page where it is possible to edit the following:
Basic details
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Edit the name of the AA System.
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Assign Phone Numbers from the list of available Phone Numbers.
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Assign Extension numbers from the list of available Extensions.
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Set the Time Zone where the AA System is being used.
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Edit the description of the AA system.
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Click on the
Save & ContinueButton
Menu
The Menu allows Enterprise Users to associate specific actions with a corresponding key located on the telephone keypad. When the key is pressed by a caller, whichever action has been associated with that key is initiated.
To navigate to the Menu page, click on Schedule in the side navigation bar of the screen. Below the Schedule table you can view the list of Menus available for that AA System. You can change the color code of the Menu by clicking on the color box in the list.
You can delete the menu by clicking on the delete icon of that particular menu.
| A Menu can only be deleted if it is not used in a Schedule and there is no Announcement assigned to it. |
Create menu
To add a Menu click on the Add Menu button.
A popup screen will appear with the following fields and options:
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Enter the name of the Menu.
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Assign an Announcement to the Menu from the list of the Announcements.
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Assign an optional Ringback Tone. Whenever a caller is waiting for a call to get connected to an Extension or an external Phone Number, they will hear this Ringback Tone until the call gets connected. If not assigned, the System will play the default Ringback Tone that has been set up by your service provider.
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Assign actions to be performed for the keys mentioned on the screen and the respective attribute of the action (if needed) to carry out that particular action. Please see section Menu Actions to understand the list of possible actions.
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Set the timeout of the menu in seconds and set the respective action data (if needed) to be performed after the timeout. Defining the Timeout here overwrites the global Error Handling.
Menu will be created by clicking on the Done button.
Menu Actions
The table below explains each of Menu actions that can be assigned to keys.
| Menu Action | Description | Takes Parameter |
|---|---|---|
Announcement Hangup |
Play the selected Announcement and hang up the call |
Yes. Announcement to be played |
Announcement Return |
Play the selected Announcement and return to the menu. System will play the Menu Announcement again. |
Yes. Announcement to be played |
Dial By Extension |
Dial the extension number entered by caller |
Yes. Announcement to be played |
Dial By Name |
Listen to speech from the caller and dial the corresponding extension. For this to work correctly the Name must have been defined for extensions. |
Yes. Announcement to be played |
Go To Menu |
Play the selected Menu |
Yes. Announcement to be played |
Hangup |
Hang Up the call |
No |
Replay Menu |
Play the existing Menu again |
No |
Return To Previous Menu |
Play the previous Menu again |
No |
Transfer To Phone |
Transfer the call to specified Phone Number |
Yes. Phone number |
Schedule
The Schedule allows Business Users to select a Menu based on the day and time of the incoming call.
To navigate to this page, click on the Schedule link located on the side navigation bar of the screen.
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A grid will appear where you can create a weekly schedule for different Menus.
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Select a Menu checkbox, drag and create the schedule for it in the grid.
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The Grid can be changed to a 15 minutes or 30 minutes time window.
Special Days
To navigate to this page click on the Special Days link located on the side navigation bar of the screen.
Select the Menu checkbox from the list of Menus below the calendar.
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A calendar will appear where you can create a Special Days Schedule from different Menus.
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Select the Menu checkbox, then select a date on the calendar to create a Special Day schedule for.
Error Handling
To navigate to this page click on the Error Handling link located on the side navigation bar of the screen.
In each AA System that you create, you should always define the action to be taken if the menu times out, if the user presses an invalid key or if the user presses an invalid extension. For example, if the caller does not press a key within the specified time, you could repeat the menu so that the caller has another chance to review the options and select the right key, or transfer the caller to an operator.
Timeout
If the caller doesn’t press any DTMF key for the configured timeout duration, the system will perform the configured action.
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Set the Timeout seconds to wait for the caller action. If not defined, the default is 5 seconds.
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Set how many consecutive Timeout occurrences are allowed, after which the following defined action will be performed. If not defined, the default is 3. Callers will hear the same Menu Announcement until the defined number of occurrences has been met.
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Set the action as defined in Menu Actions and respective attribute of the action (if needed) to carry out that particular action. If not defined, the default is to disconnect the call.
| If the timeout is defined at the Menu Level, it will override the global timeout defined here. |
Unknown Input
If the Menu detects unknown input, for example if the caller presses a key which is not defined in the Menu, the following responses can be configured.
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Set how many times an unknown input can occur, after which the following defined action will be performed. If not defined, the default is three. Callers will hear the same Menu Announcement until the defined number of occurrences has been met.
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Set the action as defined in Menu Actions and respective attribute of the action (if needed) to carry out that particular action. If not defined, the default is to disconnect the call.
Invalid Extension
Set the action to take place if the caller presses an Invalid Extension which is not configured in the AA System.
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Set how many times that a user can press an Invalid Extension, after which the following defined action will be performed. If not defined, default is three.
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Set the action as defined in [Menu Actions and the respective attribute of the action (if needed) to carry out that particular action. If not defined, the default is to disconnect the call.
Phone Numbers
One or more Phone Numbers are set up as Auto Attendant Phone Numbers. This means that the system provides Auto Attendant Service to the caller on those numbers.
Extensions
Extension List
To navigate to the page, click on the Extensions link located on the top header.
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You can view the list of Extensions that are configured under your Enterprise.
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You (and an Enterprise Admin role also) can edit the Extension number and spoken name of the number by clicking on the pencil icon in the respective fields (Spoken name, Extension).
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If you are an Auto Attendant Admin, you can only edit the spoken name by clicking on the pencil icon.
Announcement
Announcements are associated with menus and attributes for specific actions like on press of key or error handling.
To navigate to this page click on the Announcements link located on the top header.
You can view a list of all Announcements that have been added under the Enterprise.
Create Announcement
Click on Create Announcement button.
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Enter the name of the announcement.
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Enter description of the announcement.
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Announcement can be announced via “Text-to-Speech” or “Audio File”.
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For
Audio File, user have to upload an announcement, following the steps below:-
Click on the
Recordbutton and record the announcement through the browser itself. -
Drop the wav file with 8 khz mono specification from the local files into the specified field.
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Click on the
Browsebutton and select the audio file from your local files. It must be a wav file with 8khz mono specification.
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For “Text-to-Speech” (TTS), user can:
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Specify the language of the TTS.
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Specify type of Voice (Man or Woman).
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Specify TTS body/text.
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Search
To navigate to the page, click on the Search link located on the top header.
The Search function allows you to search for Announcements, Menus, and Numbers based on filter criteria like start date and end date between which these resources are created. You can also pass names as filter criteria for Announcements and Menus, or Phone Number digits to search for phone numbers.
Usage Records
Numbers are either main Phone Numbers or Extension Phone Numbers added for a given Enterprise. Usage Records keep track of Number additions for a given month.
For example, if a number was added on the 5th day of the month and removed on 25th day of the same month, that number will still be counted under Usage Records for that particular month. However, from next month onward it will not be counted, as it was deleted. If the number was not deleted, the Usage Records count will include that number for next month and hence its monthly recurring count.
To navigate to the page, click on the Usage Records link located on the top header.
User Management
Users can have either of the roles defined below:
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Enterprise Admin (also known as BG_ADMIN) can create users with the role of Enterprise Admin and AA Admin (also known as AA_ADMIN).
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Auto Attendant Admin (also known as AA_ADMIN) The only difference between BG_ADMIN and AA_ADMIN is that AA_ADMIN cannot add any new users and cannot make changes to Extensions.
Users List
To navigate to the page, click on the User Management on the top right dropdown appears on clicking name of the user.
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You can view the list of accounts registered under the enterprise.
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Enterprise Admin (BG_ADMIN) can deactivate/activate the account by clicking on the status of any account.
Add Users
Follow the steps below to add an user:
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Click on the
Add Userbutton in the User management page. -
Enter the name of the new user.
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Enter the email id of the user.
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Enter the password for the user account.
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Set a role for the user (BG_ADMIN,AA_ADMIN).
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Set the status of the account(ACTIVE,INACTIVE)
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Mail ID must be unique. Password should meet the following criteria:
The length of the password should be greater than or equal to 8 characters. |
Understanding the Auto Attendant API
If you would like to explore the Auto Attendant API, we recommend having a look at the Getting Started with the Auto Attendant API documentation.