Need best way to answer incoming calls

[Jerry101]

Hi,
I just took over a Magix r4 here, it's in hybrid/pbx mode,
It is set up as follows, there are 2 distinct pools, to designate how incoming calls are to be answered,all the phones are 4424's,up to now it's worked fine, but now with downsizing, we need a way to answer and put 1st call on hold if another call comes in,if there is nobody else around to answer 2nd call, what would you suggest?, would pick-up buttons work?( general pick-up)since incoming calls
ring pool buttons on each phone.
Would like some input before I try anything.
thanks Jerry

 

[merlinman]

How many lines do you have? - How many extensions?

 

[Jerry101]

In one pool there's 14 lines (one company) and in the 2nd pool there's 9 (2nd company)
As for extensions, at present there's 19, and at best only 11 are manned for now.

 

[merlinman]

OK, this should be simple, especially since you have 4424's.

TAKE THE LINES out of the POOLS.

Assign the 14 Lines for Company A to all of their phones, and the 9 Lines for Company B to their phones.

You have LOTS OF BUTTONS on ALL PHONES, and when you assign thenm to the phones, they will automatically be set to ring.

Now, understand, any and all features (Other than SA) will be wiped out by assigning lines over them, so figure out what featues you have before doing this, and what buttons you want them to be on once you are done with this change.

 

[tdaugirdas]

Do you have voicemail as a backup for call handling - in case everyone is busy?

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[Jerry101]

Merlinman, Wish it was that simple, it's the same 10-11 people who answer for "both" companys, need to leave pools status quo for now, but need easy way for them to place first call on hold and answer 2nd call if needed.
And yes there is voice mail, but not using auto attendant during the day, Ivy Tower wants live answer.

 

[merlinman]

Wow, that puts a kink in the design.

OK, there are other ways to do this, but they come with a price.

You could have only 2 pools, but no one could do the "Answer and Put on hold in a CLEAN manner".

Ruling that out, let's think about this:

Most likely, not all lines for a given company would be receiving calls at once.

SO, you could break the lines up like this:

Company "A" - 14 Lines, put some number of lines on each and every phone, but not all lines. I would start with the FIRST 8 lines. (Put the last 6 of their 14 in POOL 70)

Company "B" - 9 Lines, put some number of lines on each and every phone, but not all lines. I would start with the FIRST 6 Lines. (Put the last 3 of their 9 in POOL 890)

Set up ARS to select Pool 70 first, and 890 2nd, and you should have no "GLARE" with that set up.

This way, "A" could receive 8 calls, "B" could receive 6 calls, and every one could dial 9 and go out OK!

-AND- you would have some buttons left over on each phone for features.

-OR- You could put appearences of the 2 pools on the phones,
if they wanted that.

Of course, this design may need to be adjusted to fit the customer's needs. (The numbers I came up with are just a starting point.)

 

[TouchToneTommy]

I might tweak that a little:

Use two or three pool for each company. Say, company A, use 891, 892, and 893. Put Line 1, 4, 7, and 10 in 891. 2, 5, 8, and 11 in 892. 3, 6, 9, and 12 in 893. Assign 891, 892, and 893 to the extensions, and if they need to answer multiple incoming calls for Company A, it looks like three "appearances". So if they have answered a call on the 1st appearance, another incoming call will hit the 2nd one, and so on.

Do the same for Company B with 3 more pools.

 

[merlinman]

Yes, that approach can work. But a lot of times the users like to just put a caller on hold and have someone else in the office simply pick up the call from hold.

The POOL enviornment kinda' puts a crimp in that method.

My design was taking in the fact that they are all 24 Button sets, and making an attempt at eliminating as much of the "POOL ISSUE" as possible.

 

[Jerry101]

Thanks Merlinman and Triple T-
I reprogrammed it like TTT's sugestion, I also wrote down Merlinman's if this doesn't work out, easy way would be to dynomite the Ivy Tower and call telco to cut back on both hunt groups, while leaving lines intact in case the resurection does come and they rehire what they cut!
Thanks to both you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[merlinman]

Ivy or Ivory? -

Either way, either solution should work.

Good Luck!

 

[allisland]

Here we call it the Ivy tower, seems all the green goes up there! thanks again

 

[Jerry101]

You have that right, the green goes up, and it keeps getting greener!!!!

 

[merlinman]

Interesting, I never heard it expressed that way before.