This article provides guidance for NHSmail Teams Phone System Administrators on how to configure and manage Call Queues for their organisation/s.
Call Queues provide a method of routing callers to people in your organisation who can help with a particular issue or question. Calls are distributed one at a time to the people in the queue (who are known as agents). While waiting for an agent, a greeting message and music can be played to callers.
This article will outline how to complete the following actions:
Creating and Configuring Call Queues
Important Note: To create and configure a Call Queue, a Resource Account is required. The creation of a Resource Account including the process of assigning a licence and a number can take up to 24 hours.
For a comprehensive guide on Resource Accounts, please visit this article.
1. Log in to the Phone System Power App and select ‘Call Queues’ from the Home screen.
2. Select the ODS code of the organisation you wish to add a Call Queue for.
Important Note: Please be aware of the following NHSmail Teams Phone System configuration permissions for Primary and Local Phone System Administrators.
If you are a Phone System Primary Admin, you have the permissions to complete the following actions:
- View policies for your own organisation
- View policies for other organisations of which you are a Teams Phone System Admin
- Create / Add new policies for your organisation
- Assign policies created for your organisation to any other organisations of which you are a Teams Phone System Admin
- Edit policies for your organisation and any other organisations of which you are a Teams Phone System Admin
- Delete policies for your organisation and any other organisations of which you are a Teams Phone System Admin
If you are a Phone System Local Admin, you have the permissions to complete the following actions:
- View policies for your own organisation
- Create / Add new policies for your organisation
- Edit policies for your organisation
- Delete policies for your organisation
‘For more information on the Primary and Local Teams Phone System Administrator Roles, please see this article.
3. To add a new Call Queue, select the ‘+ Add’ option from the toolbar. You will be directed to the Add Cloud Call Queue landing screen.
Important Note: If this is the first time you are adding a Call Queue for your organisation, the summary box will be empty. However, if you know that Call Queues for your organisation have been added previously but are not showing please click the ‘Refresh’ button.
Each summary / drop down box displaying policies is limited to showing 500 policies, although all policies created will be searchable.
4. On the Cloud Call Queues screen, you will be able to confirm the following information and policy settings:
- Name
- Resource Account
- ODS code
- Assign calling ID
- Greeting
- Music on hold
- Call answering agents
- Routing method
- Conference mode
- Presence-based routing
- Call agents can opt out of taking calls
- Call agent alert time (Optional)
- Maximum calls in queue (Optional)
- Action of where to redirect to when maximum calls are reached (Optional)
- Maximum wait time (Optional)
- Action when call times out (Optional)
See the below steps for further guidance on how to complete all options on this screen.
5. Please provide a name for the Call Queue. There are no specific naming conventions to follow, but the name you choose will be prefixed with your organization’s ODS code. For example, if you choose “Call Queue 1,” it will be prefixed with your organization’s ODS code as “xxx-Call Queue 1,” where “xxx” represents your organization code. Please ensure that the name you select does not include any special characters, this will cause issues when attempting to view your call queue.
6. Next, you will need to add at least one resource account.
If you have permissions to manage policies for multiple organisations, you can use the ODS search functionality to find the correct Resource Account. Once you have found the Resource Account/s you wish to add, select the ‘+’ next to the selected Resource Accounts. Select ‘X’ if you need to remove any.
7. The next policy setting on the Add Cloud Call Queue screen is assigning the Calling ID. Select your ODS code and Voice App from the drop-down lists.
Important Note: The Resource Account used for the Calling ID must be licenced, assigned with a number and a Calling Plan licence. For Direct Routing organisations, the Resource Account used for the Calling ID must be assigned a number and a Voice Routing Policy. Please see this article for guidance on how to create and configure Resource Accounts.
8. Next, select whether to add a greeting message. If ‘Play an audio file’ is selected, there will be an option to upload an audio file as an attachment.
Important Note: Acceptable audio file formats are WMA, mp3, WAV and the maximum size file is 5MB.
9. Scrolling further down the options on the Add Cloud Call Queue screen, you’ll next need to configure the call answering process for the Call Queue. You can add agents, either choosing a Microsoft Team or choosing users and groups (i.e., Distribution lists/ Distribution groups).
Important Note: Pre-existing groups created via the NHSmail Portal will be immediately available for selection via the drop down. Please allow up to 8 hours for the replication of newly created groups to appear within the Phone System PowerApp.
Important Note: Private channels are not supported by Microsoft and a maximum of 200 agents can be added to a Call Queue. If a Team or Distribution List is made up of more than 200 users, only the first 200 will be selected.
Users must be assigned a Phone System licence via the NHSmail portal to be added (they will also need a Calling Plan assigned if the chosen PSTN connection strategy is Microsoft Calling Plans).
Once a channel has been added to a Call Queue, it cannot be used again for another Call Queue. Teams or Groups can be updated outside of the Power Apps interface directly via NHSmail Teams and the NHSmail Portal.
10. To check if a Teams channel is available to use, select the intended Team, click ‘Get Channels’, then select the desired channel, click ‘Check Availability’. If the Team and Channel are available, the ‘Check Availability’ button will turn green. If unavailable, it will turn red. You will be unable to proceed if this Team is a used by another Call Queue.
11. Next, configure the settings for ‘Conference Mode’, ‘Presence-based Routing’ and ‘Call agents can opt out of taking calls’ options. Select ‘Submit’ to create the Call Queue.
12. The same Add Cloud Call Queue screen will load again confirming that your Call Queue has been created. Beneath the confirmation message, you will be able to configure several optional settings. To do this, follow the steps laid out in the Configuring Additional Optional Settings section of this article.
If you do not wish to configure any additional optional settings for the Call Queue you have just created, select the ‘Call Queues’ button to be directed back to the Call Queues Home screen.
Important Note: If you do not configure any of the optional settings, then the following default global values will be applied:
- Call Agents can opt out for taking calls: On
- Call Agent Alert Time: 30 seconds
- Max call in the queue: 50
- Max wait time: 20 mins
Configuring Additional Optional Settings
1. Set the call agent alert time, the maximum number of calls which can be in the queue for your organisation (maximum of 200), what should happen when maximum calls is reached, the maximum wait time, and next steps for when the call times out, using the fields provided.
2. For the optional settings of determining what should happen when maximum calls are reached and when the call times out, you will be able to choose between ‘Disconnect’ or ‘Redirect the call to’. If a ‘Redirect this call to’ is selected, the call can be redirected to a person in the organisation, a voice app, voicemail, or a specific external number. Drop-down lists will appear to allow you to select where or who to redirect the call to.
Important Note: If you choose to set ‘Redirect this call to’ a person in your organisation when the call times out or when the maximum number of calls is reached, the user is required to have a Phone System licence assigned, as well as a Calling Plan Licence if your organisation’s chosen PSTN strategy is Calling Plans. The user will also need to have a phone number assigned. If these are unassigned from the user (or if the user leaves the organisation), the Call Queue will become corrupted and will not work.
3. Once all fields have been completed, scroll down, and click ‘Submit’.
Editing a Call Queue
1. Navigate to the Cloud Call Queues landing screen and select the ODS code of the organisation you wish to edit a Call Queue for.
2. Select the Call Queue you wish to edit from the list and select the ‘View/Edit’ option from the toolbar.
3. You will be directed to the Edit Cloud Call Queue screen, where you can review and edit all the current configurations of the Call Queue.
Important Note: You will not be able to change the name of the Call Queue.
4. Update the settings as required. If you are changing only the required settings, you will need to click on the first ‘Submit’ button to process the changes. Once this has been actioned, you will return to the screen of the Call Queue settings.
If you are changing the both the required setting and the additional optional settings or only the additional optional settings, you will need to scroll down to select the second ‘Submit’ button. Once you have submitted the updates you will see a success screen confirming that the settings have been updated.
Deleting a Call Queue
1. Navigate to the Cloud Call Queues landing screen and select the ODS code of the organisation you wish to delete a Call Queue for.
2. Select the Call Queue you wish to edit from the list and select the ‘Delete’ option from the toolbar.
3. A pop-up screen will appear asking you to confirm that you wish to ‘Delete’ this Call Queue or if you wish to ‘Cancel’. To complete the deletion, select ‘Delete’.
4. A success screen should then be displayed confirming that the Call Queue has been deleted successfully.
| Last Reviewed Date | 29/06/2023 |
