This article provides guidance for Phone System administrators to manage Call Queues for their organisations.
This article will outline:
- Pre-requisites for Call Queues
- How to create and configure Call Queues (required settings and additional optional settings)
- How to edit Call Queues
- How to delete Call Queues
Pre-requisites for Call Queues
To create and configure a Call Queue, a Resource Account is required.
The creation of a Resource Account including the process of assigning a license and a number can take up to 24 hours. For a comprehensive guide on Resource Accounts, please visit this article.
Creating and Configuring Call Queues
1. Once logged into the Phone System PowerApp, select ‘Call Queues’ from the homepage.
2. On the Call Queues landing page, you will be able to see the Call Queues that have been created for your organisation. To create a new Call Queue, select add from the toolbar.
You may need to click ‘Refresh’ to load your Call Queues.
3. To create a Call Queue, provide a name for the Call Queue in the field provided. You will also need to select a Resource Account from the list displayed. To assign them to the Call Queue, click the ‘+’ next to the selected Resource Accounts (they can be removed by clicking the ‘X’ if required).
More than one Resource Account can be applied to a single Call Queue. If you have not yet created a Resource Account, please refer to the pre-requisite section above.
4. Phone System Administrators should scroll down the page and proceed to configure the remaining Call Queue settings as per their requirements.
5. For the greeting method and music on hold settings. if ‘play an audio file’ is selected, there will be an option to upload an audio file as an attachment.
Acceptable audio file formats are WMA, mp3, WAV and the maximum size file is 5MB.
6. Next, it is required to configure the call answering process for the Call Queue. Admins are presented with an option to add agents, either choosing a Microsoft Team or choosing users and groups (i.e., Distribution lists/ Distribution groups).
To check if a Teams channel is available to use, please select the intended Team, click ‘Get Channels’, then select the desired channel, then click ‘Check Availability’. If the Team and Channel are available, the ‘Check Availability’ button will turn green. If it is not availability, it will turn red. You will be unable to proceed if this Team is already used by another Call Queue.
Private channels are not supported by Microsoft and a maximum of 200 agents can be added to a call queue. If a Team or DL is made up of more than 200 users, only the first 200 will be selected. Users must also be assigned a Phone System license 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 PowerApp interface directly via NHSmail Teams and the NHSmail Portal.
7. Continue to configure the settings for ‘Routing Method’, ‘Conference Mode’, ‘Presence-based Routing ‘Call agents can opt out of taking calls’ options. Click ‘Submit’ for the call queue to be created.
8. Clicking ‘Submit’ will create your Call Queue. Once created, there are additional optional settings that will appear below the submit button that can be configured.
These are optional settings; you do not have to configure these upon creating the Call Queue. Should you not wish to configure these optional settings, then default global values will be applied. You will be provided with the option to return to the Call Queues home page to see all your created Call Queues upon the initial submission.
Configuring Additional Optional Settings
Should you wish to configure these additional optional settings, please follow the steps below:
1. Set the call agent alert time, the maximum calls in queue for your organisation, and the next steps for when maximum calls is reached, maximum wait time, and next steps for when the call times out, using the options and fields provided.
2. For the optional settings of determining what happens when maximum calls is reached and when the call times out, choices are provided to disconnect or redirect the call. If a redirection is, the call can be redirected to a person in the organisation, a voice app, voicemail, or a specific external number.
3. Once all fields have been completed, scroll down, and click ‘Submit’. This will apply the optional configurations to your Call Queue.
Editing a Call Queue
1. To edit a Call Queue, from the Call Queue landing page, select the Call Queue you wish to edit from the list and select the edit option from the toolbar.
2. You will be presented with a screen displaying all current configurations for the specific Call Queue.
You will not be able to change the name of the Call Queue.
3. Update the settings as required and scroll down to click ‘submit’ for these settings to be saved.
4. If you are updating the additional optional settings and the second ‘submit’ button is selected, you will be shown a success screen to indicate that the settings have been successfully updated.
If you are changing 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 additional optional settings, you will need to scroll down to select the second ‘submit’ button.
Deleting a Call Queue
1. To delete a Call Queue, from the Call Queue landing page, select the Call Queue you wish to delete from the list and then select the ‘Delete’ option.
2. You will be prompted to ‘Confirm Delete’ or to ‘Cancel’ after selecting the delete option.
3. Upon confirming delete, a success screen will appear, confirming your Call Queue has been deleted successfully.
