How a call travels through your phone system

Before you build menus or queues, it helps to know the path a call takes. Every incoming call follows the same chain of steps, and each step is controlled from a different tab in the Manager Portal.

The path of an incoming call

1. A customer dials one of your phone numbers. Every phone number lives in Inventory. Each number has a destination: a user, an auto attendant, a call queue, a conference, a voicemail box, or an outside number.

2. The system checks the time. Your Time Frames (business hours, holidays and so on) decide which answering rule applies at the next step. The same number can behave differently at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday and on Christmas Day.

3. The call reaches its first stop. Usually one of these:

   • An auto attendant greets the caller and offers a menu (“Press 1 for sales”).
   • A call queue holds the caller with music until a team member is free.
   • A user rings one person’s phones.

4. The caller makes a choice, or the system does. In an auto attendant, the key they press sends them on to a user, a queue, voicemail, or another menu. In a queue, the queue’s rules pick which agent rings first.

5. The user’s answering rules take over. When a call reaches a person, their answering rules decide whether it rings the desk phone, the ConnectUC app, a cell phone, or goes to voicemail.

6. If no one answers, the call has a fallback. Usually voicemail. Queues can also forward to another destination, and users can forward unanswered calls.

A common example

Here’s how many small offices are set up:

• The main number points to an auto attendant.
• During business hours, the auto attendant says “Press 1 for sales, 2 for service, or stay on the line.”
• Pressing 1 sends callers to the Sales call queue. Pressing 2 sends them to the Service queue.
• Pressing 0, or staying on the line, sends callers to the receptionist.
• After hours and on holidays, an answering rule on the main auto attendant sends callers to a second “we’re closed” auto attendant that offers voicemail.

Where to change each step

• Where a number goes: Inventory. See Phone numbers and devices in Inventory.
• Opening hours and holidays: Time Frames, used in answering rules. See Time frames: business hours, holidays and more.
• Phone menus: Auto Attendants. See Build your first auto attendant.
• Team call sharing: Call Queues. See Set up a call queue.
• How one person’s calls ring: Users → Answering Rules. See Answering rules.

Tip: Build from the end of the path back to the start. Create users first, then queues, then the auto attendant, and point the phone number at it last. That way callers never reach a half-built menu.

Common questions

Calls are going to the wrong place. Where do I start?

Start at the phone number in Inventory and follow its destination step by step. Check the time frame that’s active right now at each step.

Can two phone numbers go to the same auto attendant?

Yes. Point as many numbers as you like at the same destination.

Do I need an auto attendant?

No. A small office can point the main number straight at a person or a call queue.

Related articles

• Time frames: business hours, holidays and more
• Build your first auto attendant
• Set up a call queue
• Phone numbers and devices in Inventory