Working with Groups |
Groups determine the call forwarding that is possible within your organization. Call forwarding for a group occurs only when a call is directed to a group, not to one of its members.
A combination of options lets you handle almost any forwarding scenario your organization requires, including chains that pass a call from one group to another until some individual is available to answer it.
For example, suppose a call—either an internal call from a badge, or an external call, when telephony is enabled—is directed to the Radiology group in a hospital. When you create or modify the Radiology group, the forwarding options you select let you handle this situation in any of the following ways:
For example, if no one in the Radiology group is available, you may want to forward the call to the Imaging group. Similarly, if no one in Imaging is available, you may want to forward the call to a desk extension or address book entry that is always available.
For example, you may want to route calls to the Radiology group directly to a desk extension. Individuals in the group can then be contacted only by name.
Do not confuse the call forwarding options you can specify for a group with the call forwarding options a group member can specify. Call forwarding for a group determines the call flow through an entire organization; call forwarding for an individual member is more of a courtesy or convenience.
Call forwarding for a group occurs only when a call is directed to a group (“Call Radiology”), not to one of its members (“Call Roberta Verdi”). If Roberta Verdi is a member of Radiology, calls that are placed directly to Roberta are forwarded according to the options she specifies through voice commands or the User Console. Similarly, when a call is placed to Radiology, the group properties determine where the call is forwarded, and the forwarding options specified by individual members are ignored.