Call Flow Basics

On your Byphone system, this is where all the magic happens. That's because we've tried to make it so simple that anyone can use it! Here we'll look at the fundamentals of how a Call Flow is put together and managed.

Applications on the Call Flow use the concept of success route and failure route to link to each other, as well as unique numerical options for an IVR. Success routes are denoted by an  symbol, while failure routes are denoted by an symbol. IVRs also use numbers 0-9 to denote key presses on the telephone keypad. These routes can be accessed by clicking on the application node (covered below) and selecting the  symbol.

Each application that you can see in your Call Flow is represented by a node. These are small coloured oblong shapes you can see in the images below. Each one does a specific job and we'll cover that quickly now.

1. DDI/Telephone Number - Phone numbers are represented by green nodes on the Call Flow. These are the only nodes that you cannot create yourself. Each one represents a telephone number that you own on your Byphone system can be routed and dialled accordingly. See DDIs for more info
2. Voicemail - These are represented by purple nodes on the Call Flow. A Voicemail node is used as the last destination when a call could not be answered elsewhere. A Voicemail node cannot have a success or failure route, it can only be the destination for another application as it answers the call to allow a message to be left. See Group Voicemail for more info
3. Ring Group - These are represented by orange nodes on the Call Flow. A Ring Group node is used when you would like some phones to ring. One of your users can then answer a call and actually speak to the caller. A Ring Group can only have a failure route linked from it, this occurs when the call is not answered by a Ring Group member. If the call is answered by a user, it is considered a success and does not proceed any further through the Call Flow. See Create Ring Groups for more info
4. Auto Attendant (IVR) - These are represented by pink nodes on the Call Flow. An Auto Attendant is a special node in that it can have up to 11 routes coming from it. One route for each digit from 0-9, and one failure route. An Auto Attendant plays a sound file prompting the user to press one of the digits to access their desired destination, however not all Auto Attendants will use all options. Therefore a user get 3 chances to press a valid digit, otherwise the call will then take the failure route. See Setting Up an IVR for more info
5. Announcement - These are represented by teal nodes on the Call Flow. An Announcement is used when you would like to play a message to the caller, quite often to let them know that their calls may be recorded, or to state your opening hours before going to Voicemail. An Announcement can only have a success route. The only scenario considered a failure during an Announcement is if the caller were to hang up, in which case the call cannot progress any further through the Call Flow anyway. See Announcements for more info
6. Day/Night Toggle - These are represented by red nodes on the Call Flow. A Day/Night Toggle is used when a user would like to manually override where a call routes to. This can often be the case when you do not have set opening hours and tend to close when everyone has left for the day or as an override for your main call flow during holidays that do not occur at the same time every year which you would then revert when back in the office. A Day/Night can have both a success and failure route. The success route is considered to be Day mode and is the default setting, and the failure route considered to be Night mode. See Day/Night Toggle for more info
7. Time Condition - These are represented by brown nodes on the Call Flow. A Time Condition, as it states, routes to either of its destinations based on the time of day the call comes in at based on a series of conditions you can configure. Most use it to set their normal opening hours to have calls routed into the office, while outside of these hours going to a Voicemail node or on-call Ring Group/mobile. The success route is used when the time matches the parameters you have set and uses the failure route when it does not match those time parameters. See Time Conditions for more info

Each node/application can be edited from the Call Flow. While editing the Call Flow itself, and clicking on the application you are interested in, the  symbol allows you to edit the application settings. All applications have some attributes in common that can be changed such as their labels, and other attributes that are specific to each application type listed in the previous section. All changes to application settings must be saved, but all changes are not applied until the Call Flow itself is saved in it's entirety.

All but one application can be deleted from the Call Flow by clicking on the application you would like to remove and then clicking on the  symbol. The only applications that cannot be deleted are DDIs/Telephone Numbers as these are far less ephemeral than any other application created within the Byphone system. The main reason a DDI would be removed from the system would be if it were migrated away to another supplier.