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  • Fail Safe Number:

    In the event, you lose service for any reason (ex: the internet goes out) calls will temporarily be forwarded to this number (normally a cell phone). Normal operation will resume after service has been restored.

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  • Location(s)

    Since CLOUD service allows use of telephones located anywhere in the USA the location of each User/Extension must be accurate. List every location where Users are to be located.

    IMPORTANT: 9-1-1 EMERGENCY CALLING / EMERGENCY RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS

    According to the Ray Baum's Act, if your place of business meets any of the following criteria you will need to add a Dispatchable Location Identifer for each location:

    • Multi-Story
    • Multiple Buildings
    • Remote Locations

    This will aid emergency responders to quickly locate the source of the 911 call. Take care to list EACH location accurately.

    I understand that incomplete or incorrect addresses in emergency calling services are subect to fines of $275 or greater by the US Government. I understand that these fees will be passed on to me. 

    If your business fits this description, please go to Dispatchable Location Identifier for further details and to set up your Dispatchable Location Identifier(s).

  • Location 1

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  • Location 2

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  • Location 3

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  • Location 4

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  • Location 5

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  • Location 6

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  • Location 7

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  • Location 8

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  • Location 9

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  • Users

     Unique Users/Extension are defined as:

    • can be called by other users directly using the unique number assigned to them.
    • can have outside telephone numbers directed to the extension. 
    • can have a personal email for delivery of voicemail messages and other User functions.
    • can set parameters such as call forward settings that are unique to their purposes.
    • can share their voicemail box with other users. This is typically used for afterhours messages that can be retrieved by any user. Sharing a voicemail box makes this user's voicemail public to other users.

    Location

    • When selecting Location for the phone in the table below, this is referring to the address information filled out above. 
    • This lets us configure your phones correctly should you have multiple locations. 

    Email

    • MUST be a unique email address for each extension. The same email cannot be used for multiple extensions
    • Can be set for voicemail to email 
    • Can be set for fax to email

    Cell Phone Usage 

    • Smart Phone App OR Simultaneous Ring with Desk Phone
      • Smart Phone App - Linkus App gives your cell phone Desktop functionality 
      • Simultaneous Ring - Allow your Desk & Cell Phone to ring simultaneously 
    • NOTE: Only 1 can be chosen in the table below

    Extension Ranges beyond 100 Series (201, 301, etc)

    In the table(s) below you will only be able to select from the 100 series range for extensions. If you would like to change this our support team can help set up your desired extension ranges after system installation. 

    • Support #: 913-599-2583
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  • BYOP Bring Your Own Phone

    MAC Address: this is an industry standard unique ID given to every device that can be connected to a network. When XBLUE provides phones to you this item can be skipped. If you are providing your own phones, we must know the Manufacturer, model #, Serial Number, and MAC Address for each phone. PLEASE be accurate when inputting the MAC Address as this is the key that enables your phone to obtain its configuration for use on XBLUE Cloud. Note the format can be colon-delimited or without colons... Mac Address eg.: 00:a8:59:f6:35:5a OR 00a859f6355a

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  • Groups/Queues

    Grouping Users can make your caller's experience better by making more than just one person available to answer calls based on the caller's expectation. Examples of this are calls to Sales and Support departments where callers who don't have a specific contact at your office are calling for that purpose. Users of groups are referred to as Members or Agents. Members of Queues are thought of as agents since they can be a fixed part of the group or log into the Queue on demand when necessary as a Dynamic Agent to take calls as part of the Queue.

    Ring Group are the simplest implementation of grouping Users. Users are fixed members of your defined Ring Groups. There are ring strategies and alternative routing strategies. 

    Queues add significant functions to your User groups. Among others they add the ability for agents to be fixed members of a queue as well as allowing other Users to log into the queue on demand. Many other options are possible in queues as well. Use the form to implement your Ring Groups and/or Queues as necessary if other than the XBLUE default configuration is required.

    At DEFAULT (pre-configured) settings are:

    • All calls ring to Ring Group 6200.
    • Ring Group 6200 is set to ring all members simultaneously.
    • Ring Group 6200 rings all members for 30 seconds and then forwards the caller to voicemail at extension 101.

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    Groups are Ring Groups

    Ring Groups, group users together based on the type of call (Sales/Support). Ring Groups have two methods of ringing the members (Users) of the Group referred to as ring Strategies;

    Ring Strategy - Sequentially

    Sequential ringing of members prioritizes Users such that the primary recipient gets callers before the other members of the group. Unless this User is busy with a call already, calls to this group will be directed to this User as the first choice.

    Ring Strategy - Simultaneously

    Ring Simultaneously places the emphasis on the call in general - maybe its more important to ensure this caller gets answered right away by any member of the group.

    No Answer Strategy - Ring Group

    Ring Groups (and Queues) require a strategy from Ring-to-Finish. It's important to have a plan if no one in the group answers the caller. Consider how long the group ringing attempt will be and what alternate action to take in the event no one in the group answers. When considering what to do with an unanswered call you can choose any of the following:

    • Hang up - this would be rare but the option is available
    • Extension - this sends the unanswered call to a specific extension which can be useful to direct the call to a person most responsible for calls that went to this group. Calls that are directed to a specific extension are also processed by that extension's call forward settings. For example, if the extension has set call forward to their cell phone, calls that are directed to the extension will follow that forward setting.
    • Voicemail - this is a common choice and is usually the voicemail box of the person most responsible for calls to this group.
    • IVR (Interactive Voice announcement and Response) - this is a menu where callers can select from a choice of options or dial an extension number. A greeting is played to the caller (generic greetings are included but it's best to record one).
    • Ring Group - if no one in this group is available you can route callers to this Ring Group when their call isn't answered in the allotted time for the first Ring Group. E.g. If no one in Sales is available to take the call, you may direct this call to the Support Users.
    • Queue - a Queue can also be selected as a destination for callers who have not been answered.

    Queues

    Queues are groups with a great deal of added functionality. Callers into a queue are:

    • placed in a queue whereby they are processed while members of the queue are not available for the call.
    • can be greeted by an announcement before they are processed to available members of the queue.
    • can be played queue statistics such as
      • how long they might expect to wait for an answer.
      • their place in line compared to other callers.
    • Can be played a periodic announcement such as an ad at various intervals.
    • Can dial a pre-determined digit to exit the queue and be routed to another destination.

    Members of the queue can be a fixed member of the queue or be made part of the queue on demand using a code to log into and a code to logout of a queue. Codes for these are; Dial "Queue number" + "*" (star) to log in the queue, and dial "Queue number" + "**" (star star) to log out of the queue.

    A recording can be tagged to the queue that is played to a user when they answer a queue ringing call which helps them understand what type of call they are answering. (E.g. "call from sales queue" or "call from support queue".)

    Ring Stratgy - Linear

    This is similar to Sequential in Ring Groups with the addition of a timing setting that controls the time each member will ring before moving to the next member if unanswered.

    Ring Strategy - All Ring

    Identical to Ring Group All Ring.

    Ring Strategy - Least Recent

    Typically used in support queues; this setting allows for the member who has been idle for queue calls for the longest period to get the next call.

    Ring Strategy - Fewest Calls

    Typically used in sales queues; this setting routes the next call to the member who has received the fewest queue calls.

    Ring Strategy - Random

    Self-explanatory - wack-a-mole ringing.

    Ring Strategy - Memory

    This ring strategy is similar to Linear but adds the memory of the last member to have received a call in this queue and places the next ringing call to the next member after the previous member to have received a call.

    No Answer Strategy - Queue 

    Queues have the same no answer strategies as Ring Groups but add the ability to Dial By Name. In the event no member of the queue answers the caller the caller can be routed to a prompt to input the name of the person to whom they wish to be connected by dialing the keypad digits associated to that users name.

    Other Queue Options

    Seconds to Ring members

    In Linear, Random and Memory Ring Strategies this timer determines how long each member will ring before they are skipped and the call sent to the next User in line.

    Seconds to Ring members

    In Linear, Random and Memory Ring Strategies this timer determines how long each member will ring before they are skipped and the call sent to the next User in line.

    Play Announcement Before Routing to Queue Members

    When you select this option you must load an announcement by:

    • recording an announcement using the Custom Prompt recording over the phone
    • prepare a recording with music and/or voice announcement using your PC and upload that recording for use
    • professionally record an announcement for use.

    Play Announcement Of Position In Queue

    This is a yes/no option and allows the caller to hear their position in the queue related to other callers waiting

    Play Periodic Announcement

    When you select this option you must load an announcement that will be played to waiting callers and provide the time interval for which callers waiting will hear the announcement. 

    • recording an announcement using the Custom Prompt recording over the phone
    • prepare a recording with music and/or voice announcement using your PC and upload that recording for use
    • professionally record an announcement for use

    Play Queue Waiting Time Statistics

    This is a yes/no option that plays the latest calculated statistics of callers who are waiting in queue

     

  • Ring Groups

  • Ring Group - Ring Strategy

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  • Queues

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  • Queue - Ring Strategy

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  • IVR a.k.a. Automated Attendant a.k.a. Menus

    Use IVR (Interactive Voice announcement and Response) to interact with callers and empower them to make choices and minimize the time it takes them to reach the desired resource at your office. IVR can be used as a tool to aid your callers to perform common tasks frequently requested. IVR can help you distribute calls as needed automatically.

    Use IVR to:

    • Allow the caller to dial an extension/user directly if they know the extension number.
    • Alow the caller to dial by name if they know the user's name.
    • Provide commonly requested information like directions to the office.
    • Play announcements and then disconnect or route the caller to leave a message.
    • Select resources at your office by categorizing the reason of the call, e.g. dial "1" for sales, dial "2" for support.
    • Allow the caller to select the language of their choice (from those you have available) e.g. for Spanish dial "7".

    Best practices:

    • Keep greeting prompts as short as possible.
    • Avoid looped IVR e.g. IVR, to IVR, to IVR, etc. This is frustrating for most callers.
    • Although XBLUE has provided generic greetings its best to record custom prompts to greet your callers providing them with the options unique to the resources you provide.
    • Script (write) your prompts prior to recording. This will make the process easier and ensure that all the content you want is presented to the caller.

    IVR is not voicemail - this is commonly misunderstood.

    IVR is intended to answer calls and provide options to which the caller can interact (make a selection). IVR is your attempt to help a caller connect to the desired destination or provide information and satisfy the reason that they called.

    Voicemail is a destination in your organization; usually designated as the last stop when all other attempts to reach a user or department fails. Voicemail is your attempt to gain information about a caller that did not speak to someone at the office.

  • IVR setup:

    • IVR Name - use as a reference for the purpose of this IVR (e.g. XYZ Co. Office Hours IVR)
    • Custom Prompt - this is the announcement that will be played to the caller when answered by this IVR.
      • Since this will be recorded later you should coordinate this with your script for the recording.
    • Repeat Prompt - this is the number of times to play the promt to callers before routing them to the Timeout destination.
      • Since this will be recorded later you should coordinate this with your script for the recording.
    • Wait Time - how long to wait for the caller to make a selection. If this time elapses the Repeat Prompt counter is refernced. The caller will either hear the prompt again or will be routed to the Timeout destination.
    • Dial Extensions - set to Yes if the caller is allowed to dial extensions numbers (be sure to include this in your greeting; e.g. "if you know your party's extension number, dial it now".
    • Menu Destinations... when creating an IVR Menu there are many selections for destinations:
      • Hang Up - e.g. to disconnect press "*" (star) ro simply hangup.
      • Extension - as an alternate to dialing an extension number this menu options translates a digit to an extension that you designate. E.g. dial "1" for Tom (transfers caller to Tom's extension).
      • Voicemail - transfers caller to a specific user's voicemail box.
      • IVR - route the caller to another IVR e.g. an IVR with Spanish greeting.
      • Ring Group - transfer to a Ring Group.
      • Queue - transfer to a Queue.
      • Conference - transfer to a Conference Room e.g. 6400.
      • Fax to email - enable receive fax and transmit to email.
      • Dial by Name - allow the caller to input the desired username.
      • Custom Prompt - play a prompt and then disconnect. 
      • You can define the destination and use for each digit that a caller can dial (0-9, *, #)

    Examples of entries in the Menu Destination field:

    • Input all digits that you will use in each IVR as the "menu" from which the caller can select and indicate the desired destination wanted for each digit.
      • "1" 6201,
      • "2" 6203,
      • "3" x103,
      • "9" repeat IVR Greeting
      • "#" Custom Prompt (directions to the office)

    An example of the Timeout Destination is "Ring Group 6201".

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  • General Setup

    Basic Business Settings: Here you indicate the Time Conditions to set the hours of operations and the actions to take based on the time of day and the telephone numbers that callers use to reach you. This is best done by associating the name of the business or business function, the telephone number associated to that business or function and the hours of operation for the business or business function. 

    We very often have customers that have one or more business on the same system or customers that use telephone numbers to determine what the caller to their business will experience when they call. E.g. an afterhours destination may be different for callers that dial a main number and callers that dial a number to report an urgent situation.

    Here is where you plan the Ring-to-Finish strategy starting point. List here the first point of entry for callers into your XBLUE Cloud Telephone System. 

    The first point of entry might be:

    • directly to an extension. Or,
    • group of extensions (Ring Group/Queue). Or,
    • IVR Interactive Voice Announcement with Response (auto Attendant)
    • Voicemail (often the destination after hours)

    After this first point of entry the settings you've completed in Ring Groups, Queues, and IVR will handle the caller from there.

    At DEFAULT (pre-configured) settings are:

    • There are no Time Conditions implemented... the settings below happen for all calls, all hours.
    • All calls ring to Ring Group 6200.
    • Ring Group 6200 is set to ring all members simultaneously.
    • Ring Group 6200 rings all members for 30 seconds and then forwards the caller to voicemail at extension 101.
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