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Calendars

From the main menu bar, click Routing > Calendars. This allows administrators to add or modify calendars in the system on the Manage Calendars page (Figure 1).

Purpose

Calendars control the system’s open and closed hours, as well as holiday hours.

When the portal receives an incoming call, an initial CheckTime node checks the current time against the selected calendar (typically the business hours for the entire portal). If the portal is closed, callers can hear a customizable message stating the business is either closed or on holiday. If the portal is open, callers can continue to navigate through the IVR.

Calendars can also be associated with a particular queue if that queue has different hours than the portal. For instance, the Benefits queue may only take calls from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. due to low call volume. The check time process works the same way as checking the hours for the entire portal. A CheckTime node checks the current time against the selected calendar (in this example, the Benefits calendar), and then routes the caller to either the queue (if it’s open) or to a Message node (if it’s closed).

In the event of an emergency, the entire portal can be closed by using the Force Close button. The Resume Normal Hours button reverses this to reopen the portal.

Holidays and special hours exceptions can also be configured.

Actions

Miscellaneous

Search for existing calendars by name using the search field.

Click the Copy as New icon to open the Add New Calendar page and duplicate the selected calendar’s settings. This can be saved as a new calendar.

Click the Details icon (ellipses) to show a read-only view of settings for the selected calendar.

Figure 1 Manage Calendars page

Force Close Clarity Connect

Clicking Force Close will immediately close the contact center for emergencies or special instances. This will stop incoming calls from being routed to queues and place Clarity Connect into an out-of-hours state.

If the Force Close functionality is used, clicking Resume Normal Hours will resume the normal configured business hours.

Create New Calendar

Click New Custom Calendar to create a new calendar. This will display the Manage Calendars: Add New Calendar page (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Manage Calendars: Add New Calendar page

Edit the following fields to create a new calendar:

Name

Enter a name to identify the new calendar throughout the system.

Time Zone

Select the desired calendar time zone from the drop-down menu. This affects when calls are accepted through the portal.

Business Unit

Select a business unit to associate with the calendar. See Business Units for additional information on configuring business units.

Days (Monday - Sunday)

Click the orange arrow next to each day of the week to set custom business hours for that day. Select open and close times from the drop-down menu (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Manage Calendars: Add New Calendar

Click the Delete icon to delete the selected open and close times.

Click Add Hours to add additional open and close times throughout the selected day.

Click Open 24 Hours to open the calendar all day.

Click Close for Day to close the calendar all day.

Click Copy to copy the configured hours to other days of the week. Select which days to copy the schedule to and then click OK (Figure 4).

Figure 4 Copy hours

Holidays

To create a holiday, select dates the business will be closed and enter a name for the holiday. Click Add Holiday. The system will remain closed for the day on configured holidays.

Click Save to save the new calendar.

Edit Existing Calendar

From the Manage Calendars page, click the Edit icon to modify the selected calendar. This will display the Manage Calendars: Edit Calendar Template page (Figure 5). The same fields described above on the Manage Calendars: Add New Calendar page will be available to edit.

Figure 5 Manage Calendars: Edit Calendar Template page

Click Save to save any modification to the existing calendar.

Override Hours For Date

From the Manage Calendars page, click Override to open the selected calendar and override the open and close times for a specific date. The Set Hours For Days page will appear (Figure 6).

The Override feature is useful for altering a calendar’s regular hours for special one-off events, such as closing early on a certain date due to a company-wide meeting.
Modified times or holidays will display as italicized text.

Figure 6 Override Hours page

Click a date to open the Set Custom Hours page and then click Edit Hours to override or change business hours for that specific date (Figure 7).

Figure 7 Set Custom Hours page

Click Save to save the override hours for that date.