The Call Handler service answers incoming calls and gives the caller a spoken menu of choices customised to the site.
To purchase this service as an add-on to your telephony system, please contact Wavenet sales by emailing sales@adept.education.
To gain access to the Call Hander, special permissions will need to be granted to specified users. These permissions can only be granted to users who have a phone registered to their account where Voicemail is enabled.
By default the user of the "Reception" and/or "Main Office" lines will usually have permission to access the Call Handler. However, any other user of an extension where Voicemail is supported can also be given access upon request.
Recording or changing a greeting
First, you will need to access the Call Handler. This is usually done by dialing extension 650. However, some sites will have multiple Call Handlers on different numbers.
•Dial the Call Handler.
•When the call is answered press 9. This will take you to the Greetings Administrator.
•Log in using your voicemail ID and PIN. You first need to make sure your account is configured to be able to access your Call Handler.
•You will then be asked for the Call Handler number. This is your school’s seven digit DFE code followed by the extension of your Call Handler, e.g. 2036518650.
•You will have reached the settings menu for your Call Handler. Simply listen to the instructions and follow the prompts to record the Standard greeting or another greeting type if required.
•After you have recorded your greetings, dial your Call Handler again to ensure the messages you hear are the correct ones.
Greeting types
Standard
This is the main or default greeting a caller will hear during normal working hours.
Alternate
Using the Greeting Administrator you can swap between the Standard and Alternate greeting. This is useful if you wish to have a temporary greeting played to callers. You can later switch back to the Standard greeting without having to re-record it.
Closed
This message is played to callers outside normal working hours as determined by a configured schedule. By default, no schedule is set and this greeting is not used. However, a schedule can be created for a period of days, hours or minutes.
Holiday
This works in the same way as the Closed message and is played to callers according to a schedule. Unlike the closed schedule this is a series of one-off periods with start and end dates and times.
Menu choices
In order to make a change to the menu choices available to callers please raise a support case with Wavenet and request the changes you require. These cannot be made directly by the school using the Greetings Administrator.
Available configurations for number keys between 1 and 8. These are set according to the school’s specification
•Send the caller to a specified extension - this rings a single extension in the school or can be configured to call an external number such as a mobile. Call costs will be charged to the school.
•Send the caller to a specified Hunt Group - this allows the call to be sent to multiple internal extensions.
•Send the caller to a specified Voicemail box - this option is commonly used for an "Absence line".
•Send the caller to another Call Handler - this allows additional levels of menu and choices, generally used for larger installations where departmental call routing is required.
•Send the caller to OpenCheck - this plays the caller the OpenCheck message configured by the school which allows parents to find out the school's status on any given day. Unlike phoning the OpenCheck number directly, callers are not asked for a DFE code.
Set key options
These are not normally mentioned in the greeting played to the caller and are known only to regular users of the system.
Pressing the * key sends the caller to the voicemail login. This allows voicemail to be picked up remotely from outside the school.
Pressing the 9 key accesses the Greetings Administrator. Please note that this works from outside the school so it is possible to record and change to the Alternate message even when not on school premises.
Dial through
The Call Handler can be configured to allow callers to dial through to internal extensions simply by dialing the three digit extension number.
This is not configured by default, but can be added on request.
It is possible to restrict this to certain numbers by initial digit so that for example, callers can dial through to 101, but not 201, allowing office extensions to be dialed if they begin 1xx while not allowing classroom extensions on 2xx.
