Hunt Group Configuration

Hunt Configuration Steps

Now to setup our hunt configuration, we’ve got some steps to look at. We’re going to add our Line Groups and associate the Directory Numbers, setup the Hunt List and add our Line Groups, setup the Pilot Numbers and then we’ll define our forward hunt settings and then if we need to, we’ll go out into our device Service Parameters and set the Login/Logout feature capability.

Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Add line groups and associate directory numbers.
  2. Configure hunt lists and add line groups.
  3. Set a hunt pilot and define Forward Hunt settings.
  4. Define service parameters and set the Login/Logout feature.

Route Hunt Menu

Step 1: Add Line Group Groups

To setup the Line Group we already have to have the Directory Numbers defined because we’re going to select them from our Line Group configuration. So we go out, we’re going to look for the Directory Numbers, we’re going to set our Hunt Options and those hunt options are going to include “Try next member, then try next group in Hunt List”, that’s the default. We can say “Try next member, but don’t Hunt to the next group”, “Skip the remaining members and go directly to the next group” or “Stop hunting”.

We also have an algorithm to rotate through the different Directory Numbers within the group, “Top Down”, “Circular”, “Longest Idle Time” and then “Broadcast”. Broadcast is a great one to use if you have a situation where you have maybe multiple people behind a counter that might be servicing walk-in customers and then you also might have the phone ringing. So if you have that long counter and you have several phones on it and now all the phones are ringing at once, whoever’s available can walk up to the nearest phone, grab that incoming call and now that call is satisfied. Just some different options that you have in your environment to set all this up.

Step 2: Configure Hunt Lists

Configuring our Hunt List we go into our Call Routing > Route/Hunt > Hunt List option and then we can select the Line Groups. First of all we will set the Unified Communications Manager group then we’ll go in and we’ll add a Line Group. Once we do that, we’ll see all of the different Line Groups that have been created. We can select them and then we can put them in order. Remember this is Top Down to start off with, so we may want to go ahead and use our arrows to adjust who is at the top and who is at the bottom. Once we have done that we can go ahead and save that configuration. And we might need to reset this parameter, so we click the reset button to reset the Hunt List so that we can make sure that the new configuration is seen.

Step 3a: Set Hunt Pilot

Now we need to specify what our Hunt Pilot Number is. We’ll set the Directory Number in a Route Partition, then we’ll go in and associate this with the Hunt List we have created. Then we can add any Alerting Name for the calls that are coming in. And of course we can setup a PSTN number that is that Hunt Pilot Number so we can choose our Hunt List to determine where that Hunt Pilot should route those incoming calls and then finally we can define an Alerting Name again for those incoming calls.

Step 3b: Set Hunt Forwarding

What do we want to do or what do we want to have happen if nobody is available to answer the calls. So if we can’t answer it or all our members are busy, we can select to use the personal preferences checkbox which allows you to use your Call Forward No Coverage feature in the Directory Number. So this might be an option where we might set it to forward back to a voicemail solution, maybe we have another area of the building where people might be able to take some of our calls. So when we do this we can add a destination and a calling search space on that Hunt Pilot Number that we can send the calls to that area or even to that voicemail solution.

Step 4: Service Parameters and Login and Logout Feature

Now we know people have to take breaks, eat lunch, maybe eat dinner, so we have to have a feature that allows us to login and logout of this environment. We can go into some service parameters and we select the server that is managing this and we can say Use Pickup Group of Line Group Member Directory Number. This allows us to use the call pickup group that is configured on that Directory Number of the Line Group member. So let’s say we have a Broadcast algorithm as a Line Group algorithm. Only the call pickup group of the Hunt Pilot Number will be used. We also may want to go out and say, “Okay, here’s the phone button template”, and we can go ahead and add the Login/Logout features to that template, save it and of course apply it to the devices. Now with that phone button template they can login and logout as well. And remember a lot of times you are going to need to reset the devices to take their configurations just as a side note. Just like we’ve been talking about setting up all these Hunt Group parameters, if we make a modification to a phone button template, any parameters for that phone, we always need to do a reset so that the phone can now go out and grab those new configurations that we’ve stored on the TFTP server and put them into effect. So if you ever setup any feature on a phone and it’s not functioning yet or it’s not working, always double check to make sure you reset the phone, a lot of times that’s all it is. It’s that, “oh, we forget to reset it”, once we reset it, boom, the feature now appears.

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