Adjusting Time Frames v2

Adjusting Time Frames

Setting a time frame creates a parameter for the phone system to follow.  The time frame itself does not tell the system how to direct the call, but it does tell it when to direct calls in a certain way.  A time frame needs to be paired with an answering rule.  One does not work without the other.  If no time frame is created or selected, the system goes to a default time frame which functions as an "Always" time frame.  

There are two scopes to time frames, Organizational and personal.  In order to set an Organizational level time frame, you need to have Office Manager Access.  An Office Manager can set time frames for both the organization and any individual who is not also an Office Manager.

For purposes of this article, we will look at the role from an Office Manager.  If you are not an Office Manager, you may or may not have permission to access personal time frames.  If you do have permission, the steps are the same, but the location of the Time Frames tab is slightly different.  

Getting to the Menu

The Time Frames tab is located on the main Menu bar.  

Once you have selected Time Frames, you will see the Domain option, and if any users have personal time frames set, you will see a list of those users as well. 

Adding your First Time Frame

From this screen, click the Add Time Frame button in the right corner. 

This will bring up the following menu:

Days of the Week

To create a time frame where you want an answering rule to ring on certain days at certain times, you will want to select the Days of the Week option when creating a time frame.  For illustration purposes, we will call this Business Hours.

Once you click next after naming the Time Frame and selecting the type, the following screen will pop up.  

This is where you choose which days you want active and the times on each day.  When you click on a drop down, it will show a list in 15 minute increments.  This is the default setting.  You can type in your own time if you want something different.  You could input a time such as 8:50 am if that is what is needed for your business.  If you need to put a break in a day, typically used for lunch breaks, there is a green plus button in line.  That will add a second start and stop drop down list for that day.  You can only have one break per day.  

If you want to use the same settings for everyday, instead of entering those options on each day, you can click the Copy to all link and the system will automatically apply the settings from that line to the rest of the selected days.  

You can also select how this repeats.  The default is to repeat every week.  You can also choose to have the selected times repeat at different intervals in terms of once every multiple weeks or months.  This would apply if you have staggered work weeks or alternating extended weeks.  For this, you would need to create additional Days of the Week time frames to complete your desired scheduling.  

Once you have the desired days of the week, times, and recurrence patter set, click the save button.

Specific Dates

The next type of Time Frame is a Specific Date.  This is used for individual days or a range of dates that you want to set. This can be useful for instances such as all office meetings, inclement weather days, vacations, early closings, or extended holiday schedules.  

First thing is to select Add Time Frame as before.  This time, we will select Specific Dates and type in the name, then click next.  

Now, you can enter your Starting date and time and and Ending date and time.  If you want to select a range of dates, put the first date and time in the first set of field.  The end date should be in the second set of fields after the "to".  Once you have the selected dates and times, press the blue box with the + in is.  This will move that selection to the line below.  If you do not hit the blue box, that entry will not be added.

You can add more days and change the recurrence pattern for this as well.  The system defaults to Does not recur.  

Holidays

Holidays have traditionally been the hardest to program because you had to go in and set it for every year.  Now, the Holidays Time Frame pulls in from a data base which automatically refreshes itself with the dates for moveable Holidays for each year.  To add this, click on Add Time Frame and select Holidays from the menu and name it Holidays and click Next.

In the search field, start typing in the Holiday you wish to observe.  It can be civil or religious, most are listed here.  If you cannot find one listed, feel free to use the Specific Dates Time Frame covered above.  You can select any and all days that you want.  When you select it from the search field, it will automatically be added to the list of observed holidays. 

The recurrence here is set to Does not recur by default. I would recommend changing this to Yearly on selected Holiday.  This way you do not have to update it again.  

The Holiday Time Frame has one more step that is not present in the other options.  The system lets you chose what happens when a Holiday falls on a day that you are not normally open. It gives you the option to move the observance to either the previous or next business day.  On the workweek, the system does require that you have at least one day unselected, otherwise it will not let you save.  

Once you have set your observance schedule, click the save button.  

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