Ring group call handling

What if individuals are calling a particular department in your company and there is no one around to answer the call because everyone went for lunch? Using FortiVoice, you can establish a ring group and add a call handling rule that dials a particular phone number, such as an employee’s cell phone number, after attempting to dial the ring group for a specified period of time.

This recipe guides you through the process of creating a ring group and establishing the call handling action to take for each call status.

• Creating a ring group
• Configuring call handling for each status
• Configuring advanced ring group settings

Creating a ring group

First, you need to create a ring group. A ring group is a collection of local extensions and external numbers that you can contact using one number. If you have an existing ring group, you can skip this step and proceed to Configuring call handling for each status.

To create a ring group

1. Go to Extension > Group > Ring Group.
2. Click New.
3. Make sure that Enabled is selected.
4. Enter a Name for this ring group.
5. Enter a Number for this ring group. Phone users will dial this number to ring all selected extensions and external numbers (is applicable) in the ring group.
6. In Ring mode, select how FortiVoice will call local extensions and external numbers.
   • All: After the caller dials the ring group number, all extensions and external numbers (is applicable) in the ring group will ring.
   • Sequential: Each extension in the group is called one at a time in the order in which you added them to the group.
7. In Department, you can select or edit an existing department or create a new one.
8. In Members, click in the field and select the extensions and user groups, as applicable.
9. In External numbers, enter an external phone number to the ring group. For example, you can add the phone number of a remote employee to a ring group. To add another number, click +.
10. Click Create.

Configuring call handling for each status

With a ring group created, you can now configure the call handling to establish the call process for every available call status:

• No answer

• Busy

• Phone not connected

To configure call handling where there is no answer

1. Go to Extension > Group > Ring Group.
2. Select an existing ring group to edit.
3. Click Edit.
4. Click Normal Call Handling.
5. In the No answer tab, enable User defined.
6. Click New.
7. Select a desired Schedule.
8. In Action, select Forward.
9. In Number, enter the phone number that you want to forward the call to.
10. Click Create and then click OK.

To configure call handling when the phone is busy

1. Go to Extension > Group > Ring Group.
2. Select an existing ring group to edit.
3. Click Edit.
4. Click Normal Call Handling.
5. In the Busy tab, enable User defined.
6. Click New.
7. Select a desired Schedule.
8. In Action, select Forward.
9. In Number, enter the phone number that you want to forward the call to.
10. Click Create and then click OK.

To configure call handling when the phone is not connected

1. Go to Extension > Group > Ring Group.
2. Select an existing ring group to edit.
3. Click Edit.
4. Click Normal Call Handling.
5. In the Phone not connected tab, enable User defined.
6. Click New.
7. Select a desired Schedule.
8. In Action, select Forward.
9. In Number, enter the phone number that you want to forward the call to.
10. Click Create and then click OK.

Configuring advanced ring group settings

Specify the time period for the ring duration.

1. Go to Extension > Group > Ring Group.
2. Select an existing ring group to edit.
3. Click Edit.
4. Expand Advanced Setting.
5. In Ring duration, enter the amount of time in seconds to allow extensions to ring before FortiVoice forwards the call to the specified phone number.
6. Click OK.