Teams Admin: Build an Auto Attendant

Teams Admin: Build an Auto Attendant

If not already - Navigate to the Teams Admin Center:




Like most everything else in Teams, a resource account is needed before we can build the auto-attendant itself.

Step 1:  Build a Resource Account

Voice > Resource accounts
      +Add
      Give the resource account a display and user name.

Best practice is to use a common format for all resource accounts. Something like "NameType" and "name_type@company.com"

        

      Be sure to select "Auto attendant" for the resource account type. Click Save at the bottom.

Step 2: Apply Resource Account License


      Now that our resource account is created, we need to apply a resource account license to it.
      Head over to the 365 Admin Center: https://admin.microsoft.com
      You should be able to locate your resource account under "Users > Active Users"
      Select the user in question and apply the "Microsoft Teams Resource Account" license to it:


      

      Save changes at the bottom. Usually instantaneous but may take some time for the license to be applied.

Step 3: Build the Auto Attendant

      Now that our license is applied, jump back into the Teams Admin Center and navigate to:
            "Voice > Auto attendants > +Add"

      3a. General Info

            Give the new Auto Attendant a name, designate the operator (optional), specify time-zone and language.

            
     
Voice inputs: When enabled, the name of every menu option becomes a speech-recognition keyword. For example, callers can say "One" to select the menu option mapped to key 1, or they can say "Sales" to select the menu option named "Sales."

      3b. Call flow

            Greeting options

                  Use this to play an initial greeting before allowing the caller to hear or select from the menu options. You can choose to upload an existing audio file or generate a new one using 
                  text-to-speech.
                  
            

            Call routing options

                  This section is where we actually configure the menu options and the actions they perform when pressed. You can use an existing audio file or text-to-speech.

                  

                  Configure the menu options as desired. For each menu option, specify the Dial key, Voice command (if "Voice inputs" is enabled), and Redirect to.
                        Dial key: The key or button used to access the option.
                        Voice command: The voice command that the caller will use/say to access the option.
                        Redirect to: The destination in which the caller will be routed to when the option is followed.

                  Choose an option for the directory search function:
                        Dial by name: Callers can reach any online user by speaking or typing their name on the telephone keypad.
                        Dial by extension: Callers can connect with users in the organization by dialing their extension number.

Dial keys are matched before directory searches are performed. If a caller starts to enter a name or extension using dial keys that are assigned to specific destinations, they'll be routed to that destination before they finish entering the name or extension. We recommend that you create a separate auto attendant for directory search and have your main auto attendant link to it with a dial key.

            Call flow for after hours

                  Here we will configure our business hours. This will make it so that calls received outside of these hours can be routed to a different destination or play a different greeting.
                  Configure the table according to your business' needs, break times can also be configured by selecting "Add new time".

If no business hours are selected, the auto attendant will operate as if business hours are 24/7


                  

            Set up after hours call flow

                  Similar to the Call Flow we configured earlier, we can select or generate an initial greeting. We also have the same general options for call routing. Here we are simply sending the caller to
                  the voicemail box for the Service Team.


                  

            Holiday call flow

                  Here we configure call routing for any observed holidays.

You can add up to 20 holiday sets, and each holiday set can contain up to 10 unique dates. Holiday dates must be unique across all holiday sets being added to the auto-attendant.


                  

                  To add a new holiday set, click the "+Add" button:
                  You can select from a list of preconfigured holiday sets, or you can create a new holiday set:


                  

                  

            Dial Scope

                  The Dial Scope is where we can define which users will be reachable via the dial-by-name or dial-by-extension feature within this auto attendant.
                  You can choose to allow all users, or only specific user groups (365 Group, Distribution List, or Security Group are all acceptable groups)

When adding a new user, it may take up to 36 hours for their name to be populated in the directory.


                  

            Resource Accounts

                  As explained at the start of this article, all auto-attendants must be associated with a resource account. At this step we must select the resource account(s) that are to be associated with 
                  this auto-attendant.
                  Click "Add" and select the desired resource account(s). Multiple resource accounts may be associated with an auto-attendant. This will allow you to have multiple incoming numbers that
                  route to the same auto-attendant

                  

                  After you've added all of the necessary resource accounts, click "Submit" at the bottom.

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