Times and Dates — business hours, night, Shabbat and holidays

What is a time group

A time group is a named time window. Inside it there are one or more periods — hours on certain days. On its own it does nothing. It gets its meaning in two places:

• A time route of a number or of a routing code — "at this time, send the call to this destination". For example: during business hours to the queue, and the rest of the time to voicemail.
• Dialing hours of a campaign — when the campaign is allowed to dial.

The screen is in the side menu, in the Advanced group, named Times and Dates.

What you see on the screen

Each group has a card with:

• The name and ID — a number the PBX gives the group. It cannot be changed.
• The periods — up to three are shown on the card, and below them "and N more periods".
• If it says "No periods — the group will never match", the group is empty, and any route that points to it will not be used.
• The Manage Times button opens the editor.

The last card is New time group, with the Create time group button.

Creating a group

1. Click Create time group.
2. In the small window, type a name for the group, for example "Business hours", and confirm.
3. The group is created, and its editor opens right away so you can add periods.

Adding a period: hours and days

In the editor, in the Periods in the group section, there is an Add a new period form:

• From and Until. The hour chosen as "until" is not included: 17:00 means until 16:59:59.
• Which days — chips for the days of the week, from Sunday to Saturday. Click a day to select or remove it.

Click Add Period. The period appears in the list below the form.

You can add several periods to the same group. It is enough for one of them to apply for the group to match. For example, "Business hours" can include Sunday–Thursday 08:00–17:00, plus a period on Friday 08:00–13:00.

Limiting to months and dates

By default a period covers the whole year. For a window on specific dates, open Limit to specific dates:

• Which months — a chip for each month.
• Which dates of the month — a chip for each date, 1 to 31.

When all the chips are selected there is no limit ("All months of the year", "All dates of the month"). Remove chips to limit — for example, keep only the month and the dates of a holiday.

Editing and removing a period

• Edit next to a period in the list — the form switches to "Editing the period". Make the change and click Save Period, or Cancel.
• Remove — removes the period, after confirmation.

Common errors in the form: "Choose at least one day", "Fill in a start time and an end time", and "Choose at least one month, or select all the chips".

Who uses the group

In the Who uses this group section of the editor you see what the group is actually used for. Each row is one use:

• Number or code — "At this time sends to..." followed by the destination type and destination. Next to the row there are Edit Destination and Remove.
• Campaign — "Campaign dialing hours". The row is read-only; a campaign's hours are changed in the campaign itself.

The first check of who uses the group takes a few seconds. If it says "The group is not attached to any number or code", the group affects no call — you need to add a time route for it.

Adding a time route from the group

Below the list of uses there is an Add a new time route form:

1. What to apply it to — choose a number or a routing code from the list.
2. Destination type and the destination itself — where the call goes while this time applies, for example a queue, an extension or a voicemail box.
3. Click Add Route.

You can do the same from the other side: in the number editor, in the Routing by time section, or in the routing code editor, in the "Time routes" section. Each time group can be attached only once to the same number.

Name, description and priority

At the top of the editor there are three fields:

• Time group name — the name you will see when choosing the group in a time route or a campaign.
• Description — an internal note for your staff only.
• Priority (1 to 10) — when two groups match the same moment, the priority decides which one wins.

Click Save Changes. Renaming the group affects every number and code that uses it — they only point to it.

How it fits into a number's routing

A number and a routing code check the rules in a fixed order, and stop at the first one that matches:

1. By who is calling — rules by the caller's number or prefix.
2. By time — the time routes, that is, the time groups from this screen.
3. Default destination — when no rule matched.

An hour that isn't in any of the number's time groups — the call continues to the default destination. So you can define only "Business hours" (to the queue), and set voicemail as the default destination: outside those hours the call will reach voicemail.

A full explanation of the three layers is in the numbers guide, and a general explanation of time-based routing is in the Knowledge Center.

Everyday examples

• A regular office. A "Business hours" group with two periods: Sunday–Thursday 08:00–17:00 and Friday 08:00–13:00. On the main number: a "Business hours" time route to the queue, and voicemail as the default destination.
• Lunch break. A "Lunch" group Sunday–Thursday 13:00–14:00, with a route to voicemail or to a message — and "Business hours" without that window, so that two groups don't cover the same hour.
• Holiday. A "Holiday" group limited to the month and dates of the holiday, with a time route to a holiday message. Next year you update the dates.
• Campaign. A "Dialing hours" group Sunday–Thursday 10:00–20:00, chosen in the campaign under "Dialing hours" — so the campaign doesn't dial at night or on Shabbat.

Delete Group

At the bottom of the editor click Delete Group and confirm.

Permissions

Viewing the screen, creating a group, editing and deleting — each is a separate permission. Someone with view only sees the groups and periods, without the add form and without the save and delete buttons. To get a permission, contact us.