Creating and managing Call Queues. Additional Tabs

Description: The main purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive user guide on creating and configuring Call Queues in Microsoft Teams.  

A call queue is a business phone system feature that directs inbound callers into a virtual line (queue) based on pre-established criteria, placing them on hold until the ideal agent to assist them becomes available.

Creation of a Call Queue

When configuring a call queue, you have the option to set up six parameter tabs.

These tabs are:

• General Info tab.
• Greeting and music.
• Call answering.
• Agent selection.
• Exception handling.
• Authorized users.

While only one tab, called "General Info tab," is required, completing the remaining tabs is entirely optional. In this article, we will discuss the details of these tabs.

To learn more about the General Info tab, read the "Creating and managing Call Queues. General Info tab" article accessible through this link.

Greeting and music tab

In this section, you can configure the greetings and music parameters.

It is important to note that you are responsible for independently clearing and securing all necessary rights and permissions to use any music or audio file with your Microsoft Teams service. This includes intellectual property and other rights in any music, sound effects, audio, brands, names, and other content in the audio file from all relevant rights holders, including artists, actors, performers, musicians, songwriters, composers, record labels, music publishers, unions, guilds, rights societies, collective management organizations, and any other parties who own, control, or license the music copyrights, sound effects, audio, and other intellectual property rights.

• Greeting: within this section, you have the ability to choose the option that dictates how a caller will be greeted upon connecting with the configured call queue.

• No greeting: by choosing this option, the caller will not receive any greeting upon connecting with the configured call queue.
• Play an audio file: when you opt for this choice, you can set up a custom audio file to be played as the greeting. After selecting this option, the "Upload file" button will appear, enabling you to upload your desired audio file from your computer into the configured call queue.

• Add a greeting message: upon choosing this option, you can manually type a greeting message ranging from 10 to 1000 characters. This typed message will then be converted to voice and used as the greeting.

• Music on hold: in this section, you have the option to select music that the caller will listen to while waiting on hold.

• Play default music: by selecting this option, you allow the caller to listen a default audio file saved in the system.
• Play an audio file: by selecting this option, you will be able to upload a custom audio file that will be played to the caller who is put on hold. After selecting this option, the "Upload file" button will appear, enabling you to upload your desired audio file from your computer into the configured call queue.

Call answering tab

In this section, you can assign responders who will handle incoming calls for the configured call queue. 

MS 365 Channels, Teams, and Groups can also be designated as responders here. For detailed information on creating these entities, please refer to these articles: 
- How to create and configure a Resource Account in MS Teams?
- "How to Configure a MS Teams shared Voicemail" (here, you will discover comprehensive information on how to create MS 365 Groups)

• Call answering: here, you can select the call responder.

• Choose a team: by selecting this option and pressing the "Add a channel" button, a new form will appear in the right-hand side of the app.

Use the search field within this tab to locate the desired MS 365 Channel or Team for assignment to this call queue by its name. Once you have found and selected the entity you desire, it will be displayed on the primary form beneath the "choose a team" option.

• Choose users and groups: by selecting this option and pressing one of the "Add users" or  "Add groups" buttons, a new form will appear in the right-hand side of the app.

Use the search field within this tab to locate the desired user or group for assignment to this call queue by its name. 

Once you have found and selected the user or group you desire, it will be displayed in the table named "Distribution lists and groups" located on the primary form beneath the "choose users and groups" option.

• Conference mode: enabling this feature grants the selected teams, users, or groups above the capability to respond to incoming calls in conference mode.

It's important to note that not all Microsoft licenses permit the users assigned to them to use this conference mode.

Agent selection tab

In this section, you have the ability to manage how incoming calls are distributed among agents.

• Routing method: hare, you can select a method used to determine how incoming calls are distributed or assigned to individual agents within the group.

• Attendant routing: when you select this option, the first call in the queue will ring all of the call agents at the same time. The first call agent to pick up the call gets the call.
• Serial routing: when you select this option, incoming calls will ring call agents one by one, starting from the beginning of the call agent list.
• Round routing: when you select this option, each call agent will get the same number of calls from the queue.

The "round robin" method of organizing call center agents is a system where incoming calls are distributed among agents in a sequential and cyclical manner. Instead of assigning calls to the first available agent every time, the round robin method cycles through a list of available agents, ensuring that each agent has an equal opportunity to receive incoming calls.

• Longest idle: when you select this option, the next call in the queue will ring the opted-in call agent that has been in presence state "Available"  the longest.

• Presence-based routing: by enabling this feature, you allow the system to take into account the real-time availability status of agents to determine how incoming calls are routed
• Call agents can opt out of taking calls: by enabling this feature, you allow the agents to reject calls they receive based on their selected routing method.
• Call agent alert time (seconds): here, you can set the time that an incoming call alert or notification will ring or alert an agent before it is either routed to another agent or handled in a specific way depending on the selected routing method.

Exception handling

This section serves as the control center for managing call overflow, call timeout, and handling situations when no agents are available. At the top of the page, you'll find an informative summary tile that displays the exception handling details, including the parameters configured in the sections below. 

You can configure settings in three distinct parameter sections:

• Call overflow: in this section, you are able to set the maximum number of calls that can wait in the queue at a time and how you want to manage new incoming calls after the limit is reached.

There are two parameters that need to be configured in this section:

• Maximum calls in the queue: here, you can set the maximum number of incoming calls the call queue can handle without doing some actions that you will configure below.
• When the maximum number of calls is reached: here, you can set the configured call queue’s behavior when reaching the maximum number of incoming calls.  

• Disconnect: by choosing this option, a caller will be disconnected after listening to the greeting message (if it has been set up).
• Redirect this call to: when you enable this option, you can set up the redirection process for incoming calls after they have listened to the greeting message (if it has been set up). 

Upon selecting this option, a new field will appear, allowing you to access a drop-down list of redirecting options.

• Person in organization: by selecting this option, you can assign a person from your organization to whom an incoming call will be redirected. Once you choose this option, a new field will appear, functioning as a search bar.

• Voice app: by selecting this option, you can redirect an incoming call to a Voice App of your choice. Once you choose this option, a new field will appear, functioning as a search bar. In this search bar, you can look for a specific Voice App registered in the system.

• External phone number: by selecting this option, you can redirect an incoming call to an external phone number of your choice. After selecting this option, two new fields will appear sequentially. The first field will prompt you to enter the country calling code.

The second field will require you to input the phone number associated with the selected region.

• Voicemail (personal): by selecting this option, you can redirect an incoming call to a personal Voicemail of your choice. Once you choose this option, several new fields will appear. The first one will be functioning as a search bar. In this search bar, you can look for a specific Voicemail registered in the system.

• Voicemail (shared): by selecting this option, you can redirect an incoming call to a shared Voicemail of your choice. Once you choose this option, several new fields will appear. The first one will be functioning as a search bar. In this search bar, you can look for a specific Voicemail registered in the system.

After selecting this option, four additional fields will appear:

• Transcription: by enabling the first toggle switch, the message left by a caller in the selected Voicemail will be transcribed.
• Skip voicemail system message: turning this option on will skip the voicemail message “Please leave a message after the tone. When you have finished please hang up or press the hash key for more options.” Callers will only hear the beep and can start recording their message.
• Play an audio file: when you opt for this choice, you can set up a custom audio file to be played as the greeting. After selecting this option, the "Upload file" button will appear, enabling you to upload your desired audio file from your computer into the configured call queue to be used as a greeting message the caller will hear before before redirected to the selected voicemail.
• Add a greeting message: upon choosing this option, you can manually type a greeting message ranging from 10 to 1000 characters. This typed message will then be converted to voice and used as the greeting the caller will hear before before redirected to the selected voicemail.

• Call timeout: in this section, you can set the maximum amount of time that calls can wait in the queue and how you want to manage calls that exceed the maximum waiting time you select.

There are two parameters that need to be configured in this section:

• Maximum wait time: here, you can set the duration at which a waiting call will be considered as having timed out.
• When call times out: here, you can set the system's response to calls that have exceeded their designated timeout period. There are two options to choose from:

• Disconnect: by selecting this option, the calls will be disconnected when they reach the timeout duration.
• Redirect this call to: by selecting this option, the calls will be redirected to someone when they reach the timeout duration. Configuring this option follows the same procedure as setting the "Redirect this call to" option within the Call Overflow section on this tab. There's no need to duplicate the information, you can simply scroll up to that section for reference.

• No agents opted or signed in: in this section, you can set how to manage incoming calls when all agents are signed-out or have opted-out of the queue.

There are two parameters that need to be configured in this section:

• Apply settings only to new incoming calls: when you enable this parameter, call routing options will only be applied to new incoming calls when no agent is available. When this parameter is disabled, the settings will be applied to all incoming calls, including calls that are already waiting in the queue.
• When no agents are available: here, you can set the system's response to calls when no agents are available. There are three options to choose from:

• Queue call: by selecting this option, when no agents are available, the calls will progress through the call queue based on the Routing Method chosen in the Agent Selection tab.
• Disconnect: by selecting this option, the calls will be disconnected when no agents are available.
• Redirect call to: by selecting this option, the calls will be redirected to someone when no agents are available. Configuring this option follows the same procedure as setting the "Redirect this call to" option within the Call Overflow section on this tab. There's no need to duplicate the information, you can simply scroll up to that section for reference.

Authorized users tab

Within this section, you are able to manage users who are authorized to make changes to the configured call queue. The capabilities that the users have are based on the Teams voice applications policy that is assigned to the user.

Within this tab, you will find the table of authorized users. When you initially access this call queue configuration tab, the table will be blank.

 To include an authorized user, simply click the "Add" button.

Following that, a new form will appear in the right-hand side of the app. Use the search field within this tab to locate the desired user for assignment to this call queue by its name.

Once you have found and selected the user you desire, press the "Apply" button. The user you have selected will be displayed in the table of authorized users.

Once you have set all the desired parameters on any of the provided call queue configuration tabs, remember to click the "Submit" button to ensure that all your changes are saved.