Setting up Business Hours Routing with an Advanced IVR

For clients who want their IVR to change based on the time or a specific date range, a Date/Time Routing option can be added within an advanced IVR, which will automatically route callers one way or another based on the time or day that they called.

In this article we'll discuss:

Updating the Main IVR Greeting
Creating and Adding a Date/Time Routing Option

Updating the Main IVR Greeting

All IVRs must start with a Greeting. This will be considered your "main menu" and will provide callers with subsequent options. When working with a Date/Time Routing option, you can either have the caller press a prompt from the main Greeting to navigate through the IVR, or you can configure settings which will automatically route them if nothing is pressed. In this tutorial, we'll give the caller a prompt.

Select the IVR Builder icon on the left-hand navigation menu, then select the IVR you wish to update.

On the next page, click on your Greeting block, as shown below.

In the panel that appears on the right-hand side of your screen, you'll need to update the prompt language. If you are using a Recorded audio file, you will need to re-record and re-upload the file with the new prompt language. If you are using the Text to Speech option, you can just update the text as shown below.

In our example, we'll using just 1 prompt option for all callers.

If you don't want to give callers a prompt and instead have the system automatically route them through to the Date/Time configuration, your greeting can say something like "Thank you for calling [Company Name]. We'll be with you in a moment." Then, under the Options section, have both the Wrong Button and No Action options transfer to the extension you've configured within the Logic section.

Next, under the Logic section, we'll need to add our new Logic Option. In this case, we want all calls to flow through the press 1 option so that they route through to the Date/Time configuration.

When you are finished, click Save. Your new workflow should look something like the image below.

Creating and Adding a Date/Time Routing Option

From the main IVR workflow, click the + node beneath the section you want to result in a Date/Time configuration. Then, select Time and day rules.

On the panel that appears on the right-hand side of your screen, choose your Routing Type. In this tutorial, we'll select Business Hours. However, check below for a breakdown of all options.

Business Hours - This option will use the business hours set or holiday set you've already created with your account's settings. If you choose the Business Hours option, you'll want to make sure your business hours set is selected in the Options gear within the IVR workflow.
Specific Dates: If this option is chosen, users will be able to configure specific dates they want the IVR to change how calls are handled.
Specific Times: If this option is chosen, users will be able to configure specific times they want the IVR to change how calls are handled.
Specific Days: If this option is chosen, users will be able to configure specific days they want the IVR to change how calls are handled.
Range Times: If this option is chosen, users will be able to configure specific range times they want the IVR to change how calls are handled.
Range Days and Time: If this option is chosen, users will be able to configure specific range days and times they want the IVR to change how calls are handled.

Depending on the option you choose, the configuration within the Logic section will differ. For example, if Specific Days is chosen, you'll have to set the specific days in which you want the IVR to change how calls are handled.

When you are finished, click Save. Your new workflow should look something like the image below.

Now it's time to configure your Business Hours and After Hours protocol. In our example we'll have calls that come in during buiness hours transfer to a non-SAS number, and calls that come in during after hours will transfer to an SAS agent. However, you can configure your IVR depending on your needs.

To continue configuring your IVR, click on the + node and select the next option based on your needs. For a breakdown of all IVR options, check out this article.

When you are satisfied with your IVR, click the Publish button in the top right-hand corner to publish your changes.