Create Ring Groups

A ring group is a collection of devices, which ring in a predefined manner allowing a user to answer a call. A ring group depending on the required context can be related to other organisational concepts such as departments or teams when they contain multiple users' devices. Ring groups can also contain single devices, such as a receptionist handset, or an external telephone number such as a mobile for use as an Out of Hours destination, or even simply to act as a short code for regularly dialled outbound numbers.

Ring groups can contain two different types of devices:

1. Internal Devices i.e. deskphones, softphones, browser phones etc. are related to a User via an Identity and it is the Identity added to the Ring Group

Or

2. External Devices i.e. Mobile telephone numbers or Landline telephone numbers that are not already a part of the Byphone system.

See Identities for more information.

Ultimately a phone number is directed towards a Ring Group when you would like a user to answer a call. If you are working a receptionist based model then the receptionist would be the only person in that ring group. If the receptionist fails to answer the phone in a set time frame you could have a secondary group that calls would fail over to. Alternatively, you could direct the unanswered calls to voicemail or some other application instead.

There are two ways within the system to create a ring group, each method is outlined below.

Method 1

1. Select the Configuration tab in the navigation bar on the left-hand side.
2. Select the Ring Groups section.
3. Click on the Add New Ring Group button.
4. Give the Ring Group a label, ideally a unique name indicating what this group will be used for.
5. Some default settings are already set for ease of use. You can alter these if you choose. See the table at the bottom of this page for some help on what each option means. Ring Group Settings
6. You can also add devices here before saving using the Add Device button, we will cover this in more depth in a later section. Add Devices
7. Click the Save button.

Method 2

1. Select the Call Flow tab in the navigation bar on the left-hand side.
2. Click the Edit button in the top right-hand corner of the Call Flow window.
3. Drag a Ring Group node into the centre of the call flow window.
4. By default the Ring Group will be named “Ring Group”, however it is a good idea to change this for future reference.
5. Click on your new Ring Group node.
6. You should now see 3 new symbols on that Ring Group node. From left to right, these represent: Additional Options, Edit  and Delete 
7. Click on the middle option to edit this Ring Group.
8. Alter your new Ring Group's label. (You can change other settings if you see fit).
9. Click on the Done button.
10. You will be taken back to the Call Flow window, now click the Save button to write the changes you have made. See Call Flow Strategies for more info on the Call Flow, it is a very useful part of the system.

Well done, you have just created a Ring Group. Now would be a good time to add some devices to that group. If you have not already created any users or devices, you should do so now before proceeding with the next steps.

A Ring Group isn't very useful without any members and you may have noticed while creating your group, the option to Add Devices. It’s worth noting that it is a user’s Identity (which is registered via a Device) that gets added to the ring group. Not a user. This means that a user’s desk phone might be added to the ring group but not their mobile or soft-phone. You can of course add all three to the ring group. You just need to add each Identity or Device. We while cover that now, again there are 2 potential methods.

Method 1

1. Within the Configuration tab, select the Ring Groups section.
2. Click on the Ring Group tile you would like to edit.
3. Click on the Add Device button.
4. Search for the name of the Identity you would like to add and choose from the list of matching names.
5. If you'd like to add an external phone number, toggle the External option and input your label and phone number.
6. Click on the Add button and repeat for any additional members.
7. Remember to Save your changes before moving on.

Method 2

1. Within the Call Flow tab, click on the Edit button.
2. Find your Ring Group in the Call Flow window, click on it and click the  option.
3. Click on the Add Device Button.
4. Search for the name of the Identity you would like to add and choose from the list of matching names.
5. If you'd like to add an external phone number, toggle the External option and input your label and phone number.
6. Click on the Add button and repeat for any additional members.
7. Click Done when you are happy with your group membership.
8. You will be taken back to the Call Flow window.
9. Remember to Save your changes before moving on.

As you can see there are a number of potential combinations of Ring Group settings.

The table below outlines a definition of each option and possible values, the most important of which will be Ring Strategy and Total Ring Time. If you are unsure which is best for you, a good starting point would be to use the Ring All strategy for 20 seconds which is a reasonable time to answer in. You can experiment from there with whatever works for you.