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Delay Announcements
Delay announcement devices play a message for callers waiting in a calling group queue, explaining the delay to the caller or asking that the caller continue to wait. Each calling group can have up to 10 primary delay announcements and one secondary delay announcement device�a maximum of 11 per group. In earlier systems, a calling group can have only one delay announcement device (no secondary device). The devices can be connected to the control unit on 016 (T/R) or 008 OPT modules, or on 016 ETR module ports that have been programmed as tip/ ring ports. A delay announcement device can also be connected to an MLX telephone through a Multi-Function Module (MFM). Each device is identified by the extension number assigned in the system numbering plan. Any number of groups can share devices. Delay announcement devices should not be assigned as calling group members.
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No delay announcement device should be assigned for the calling group that contains the single non-local extension, because this calling group member is always available. |
When no calling group members are available and calls enter the calling group queue, the announcement device, as it becomes available, answers the call that has been waiting longest and plays the recorded message.
Delay announcement devices may be monitored and logged in and out by the calling group supervisor in the same way that agents are monitored and controlled. After a system cold start or after programming of an extension as a delay announcement, any delay announcement device is automatically logged in. If an available delay announcement device does not answer a voice call within 30 seconds, it is automatically logged out. To reactivate the device, the supervisor or system manager must log in the extension.
A delay announcement device must be connected to the same system as the calling group for which it provides announcements.
The primary delay announcements function like the single announcement available in prior releases. After the primary delay announcement message plays, an inside caller hears a special ringback, a transferred inside caller hears a regular ringback, and an outside caller (including a transferred outside caller) hears a special ringback or Music-On-Hold, if programmed, until the call is answered by a calling group member. The delay announcement or primary delay announcement is played only once while the call is in queue.
The system manager can specify the extension for an optional secondary delay announcement and use system programming to set the interval (0�900 seconds) between announcements. This setting determines the time before a waiting caller hears the secondary announcement and, if it is set to repeat, the interval between replays of the secondary announcement. The secondary announcement can either repeat or play only once, after which the caller hears ringback or Music- On-Hold, according to the rules outlined above.
The primary and secondary announcement options, when used together, allow the system manager to issue an initial message to callers, followed by a repeating announcement that, for example, urges the caller to stay on the line and wait for a calling group member. Generally, the interval between delay announcements should be no shorter than the length (in seconds) of the secondary announcement. Ideally, the interval should be the product of the secondary announcement�s length and the anticipated number of calls in queue during a busy time.
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See Using Alarm Thresholds to Monitor the Effectiveness of Delay Announcements for information about how tiered alarm thresholds can help determine the effectiveness of delay announcements. |
All calls delivered to a jack programmed as a calling group delay announcement device produce a one-burst inside ring (heard by the caller). In addition, outside calls transferred to a calling group and then answered by either a delay announcement device or a calling group member show the most recent answering extension, not the transferring extension, on the Station Message Detail Recording (SMDR) call record.
If a calling group member becomes available while the caller is listening to a delay announcement, the system immediately routes the caller to the calling group member. The announcement device is then free to handle another queued call.
Each announcement device has an extension number. A calling group member or calling group supervisor, therefore, can dial this number to check or change the announcement as long as the delay announcement device allows a user to read or change messages remotely. If the device is malfunctioning and does not answer the call within 30 seconds (5 rings), the system automatically logs out the device and makes it unavailable for subsequent calls until the calling group supervisor logs in the device or until the next system restart. The only effect on incoming calls is that callers do not hear the announcement.
If a caller hangs up while listening to a delay announcement device, the extension of the delay announcement device, not that of the calling group, is recorded on the SMDR.
Activation of the Prompt-Based Overflow option requires an available touch-tone receiver (TTR) when a delay announcement device assigned to a calling group answers the call. The TTR allows the delay announcement device to receive the caller�s entry of #, which sends the call to the overflow calling group. (For details about TTRs required for voice messaging and about TTRs supplied by system line/trunk and extension modules, see Voice Messaging Systems)
In addition, when the caller is allowed to enter a # to reach an overflow calling group, the system manager must ensure that delay announcement recordings specify this option�for example, "To reach an operator [or to leave a message] rather than waiting for an available agent, press the pound key now." A brief period of silence should follow the end of the message.
