How to Differentiate between direct and huntgroups calls`

[skone]

I am consistently getting complaints from users that are in huntgroups that they can’t distinguish between huntgroup calls and direct calls. I know the call manager and phone have visual indicators, but many times they are not in the office. Has anyone run into this issue before? If so, how did you handle it?

[cburgy]

If the phone has a sufficient display (I.e. IP230, 265 or 5x0), it shows the hunt group name while the call is coming in. The phones can also show DNIS name entries.

[skone]

That is currently how we work around it, but people say they are not always sitting at their desk.

[Forum]

That is currently how we work around it, but people say they are not always sitting at their desk.

So the question is, how did they differentiate it prior to Shoretel? (different ringtones?)

[skone]

Charles,

They never had DID's before.

[jmjstevens]

So the question is, how did they differentiate it prior to Shoretel? (different ringtones?)

Is there a way to set different ringtones for a hunt group vs a direct call?

[ceverett]

I know the call manager and phone have visual indicators, but many times they are not in the office.

Is this the big issue, that they're getting hunt group calls when they're out of the office? If so, I take it that these people are using External Assignment to send their calls to a home or cell phone.

If they want to answer the direct calls but not the hunt group calls when they're out of the office, they should use a call handling mode instead of External Assignment. For instance, they could set the Custom mode to forward all calls to their external phone. On the hunt group setup page, there's a check box labeled "Call Member When Forwarding All Calls." If you uncheck this box, the hunt group calls won't forward to their external phone...essentially, they'll be "logged out" of the hunt group.

One nice added bonus of doing it this way is that they can use Outlook's calendar to automatically switch the call handling modes at predefined times. So, for instance, they could have all non-hunt group calls forward to their cell phone from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weeknights only, just by creating a recurring appointment. After 8 p.m., the call handling mode would change to Out of Office, and the calls would go to voice mail instead. Of course, Outlook & Call Manager both have to be running for this to work.