Configure hunt groups

This article allows company administrators to configure hunt groups of company members or attendants in a Cloud PBX.

Hunt group overview

A hunt group allows to call a group of company members using a single directory number.

Hunting groups can be used as destinations in welcome services and Automated Attendants, and these services can be combined to reach a hunt group. 

At creation, hunting groups are automatically associated to a bubble allowing their members to access services such as conferencing, shared files, call log, voice mail and statistics. 

Each hunt group is defined by a name, an internal extension number, and optionally, a public number.

Company members cannot be mixed with attendants in a hunt group. A hunt group can only include a user type: company members or attendants.

Types of hunt group

There are two types of hunt group which differ for call handing on busy and on no answer:

• Hunt group: On busy and on no answer, incoming calls overflow to the destination configured for the hunt group: a company member, another hunt group, an internal or public number, a voice prompt, an Automated Attendant or a voice mail.
• Hunt group with waiting queue: On busy and on no answer, incoming calls are placed in a waiting queue. A voice prompt is played while waiting. When the timeout expires, calls on hold overflow to the destination configured for the hunt group.

Call distribution on hunt group

Hunt group calls are distributed to the company members of the hunt group according to the type of search selected for the hunt group:

• Parallel search: all free members in the hunt group are called at the same time.
• Serial search: the search starts with the first member in the hunt group, and continues with other members in the order in which they are listed in the hunt group.
• Circular search: the search starts with the member immediately after the one that just took the last hunt group call, and continues with other members in the order in which they are listed in the hunt group.

Call distribution on attendant hunt group is based on parallel search: all free attendants in the hunt group are called a the same time.

Hunt group configuration overview

Hunt group configuration for company members and attendants is very similar. In the following sections, all mentions to company members apply to attendants, unless specified otherwise.

Configuration of hunt groups is performed from the hunt group management window: see: Accessing the hunt group management window.

From the hunt group management window, you can:

• Create hunt groups without waiting queue: see: Creating a hunt group (without waiting queue)
• Create hunt groups with waiting queue: see: Creating a hunt group with a waiting queue
• Manage hunt group setting (see: Managing a hunt group), with following operations:
  • Define the member role in hunt group:
    • Agent: member answers phone calls
    • Administrator: member manages hunt group settings (destination of call overflow and public number of hunt group), but does not answer phone calls
    • Administrator & Agent: member manages hunt group settings and answers phone calls
  • Manage the destination of call overflow on busy and on no answer. The destination can be a company member, another hunt group, an internal or public number, a voice prompt, an Automated Attendant or a voice mail
  • Authorize/forbid the last member to withdraw from the hunt group. When forbidden, the last member is warned he/she cannot withdraw from the hunt group
  • Authorize/forbid members with administrator role to manage the public number of the hunt group
  • Configure call recording for the hunt group (not available for hunt groups with waiting queue)
  • Customize voice prompts when the destination of call overflow on busy or no answer is a voice mail
    
    Warning: The default voice prompts cannot be downloaded for archive. After customization, it is no more possible to switch back to the default voice prompts.
  • Analyze hunt group activity (number of incoming, answered and missed calls) of the last 28 days and download a hunt group activity report in csv file: see article: Analyze hunt group activity as company administrator
  • Block some incoming calls to the hunt group by managing a black list (blocked phone numbers)
    Blocked incoming calls overflow to the destination configured for the hunt group.

Accessing the hunt group management window

1. From the Rainbow administration interface, click on Manage your company at the bottom of the left panel.
2. In the MY COMPANY panel, click on My company.
3. In the left panel, click on Communication.
4. In the right part of the window, click on the Groups tab.

Creating a hunt group (without waiting queue)

1. From the hunt group management window, click on Create.
2. In the Name field, enter the name of the hunt group.
3. In the Type field, select Hunt group.
4. In the Subtype field, select:
   • Regular: to create a hunt group of company members
   • Attendant: to create a hunt group of attendants
5. If Regular is selected, in the Distribution field, select the type of search to apply to the hunt group for call distribution (Parallel, Serial, or Circular).
6. If the selected type of search is Serial or Circular, you can configure the timer for overflow to another member of the group (10 seconds by default).
7. In the Internal number field, select the internal extension number of the hunt group among listed available numbers.
8. In the Public number field, select the public number of the hunt group among listed available public numbers.
9. Optionally, select the Lock the last member (no empty group) check box to forbid the last member to withdraw from the hunt group.
10. Optionally, unselect the Allow the group manager to modify the DDI check box (enabled by default).
11. Click on Next.
12. To add members, enter the first letters of their name or email address. A list of matching entries appears allowing you to select the member of your choice.
    
13. In Roles column, select the role of members in hunt group: Agent, Administrator or Administrator & Agent.
14. Click on Apply.
    The hunt group is created and displayed in the group list.
    

Note: The icon identifies an emergency group. After this hunt group has been activated in the Emergency numbers tab (see article: Configure the emergency call feature), it can handle emergency calls only.

Creating a hunt group with a waiting queue

1. From the hunt group management window, click on Create.
2. In the Name field, enter the name of the hunt group.
3. In the Type field, select Hunt group with waiting queue.
   The Subtype field is automatically set to Regular.
4. In the Distribution field, select the type of search to apply to the hunt group for call distribution (Parallel, Serial, or Circular).
5. If the selected type of search is Serial or Circular, you can configure the timer for overflow to another member of the group (10 seconds by default).
6. In the Internal number field, select the internal extension number of the hunt group among listed available numbers.
7. In the Public number field, select the public number of the hunt group among listed available public numbers.
8. Optionally, select the Lock the last member (no empty group) check box to forbid the last member to withdraw from the hunt group.
9. Optionally, unselect the Allow the group manager to modify the DDI check box (enabled by default).
10. Click on Next.
11. To add members, enter the first letters of their name or email address. A list of matching entries appears allowing you to select the member of your choice.
    
12. In Roles column, select the role of members in hunt group: Agent, Administrator or Administrator & Agent.
13. Click on Apply.
    The hunt group with waiting queue is created and displayed in the group list.

After creating the hunt group, manage the destination of call overflow when no member is available to handle queued calls: see: Managing a hunt group.

Note: The icon identifies an emergency group. After this hunt group has been activated in the Emergency numbers tab (see article: Configure the emergency call feature), it can handle emergency calls only.

Managing a hunt group

This procedure applies to hunt groups with or without waiting queue:

1. From the hunt group management window, search the target hunt group using any of the following:
   • From the list of hunt groups: click on Groups tab and select the target hunt group.
   • From the list of members of hunt groups: click on Members tab, click on the right arrow in front of the member of the target hunt group, and select the target hunt group.
2. Select the Members tab.
3. Perform any of the following:
   • To change the member role: in Roles column, click on the down arrow in front of the target member and select the role: Agent, Administrator or Administrator & Agent.
   • To remove a member: click on in front of the target member.
   • To add a member: enter the first letters of the member name or email address and select the member of your choice in the list of matching entries.
4. Select the Information tab.
5. Select/unselect Lock the last member (no empty group).
6. Select/unselect the Allow the group manager to modify the DDI.
7. In the call recording field (not available for hunt groups with waiting queue), select the calls that will be recorded: All calls, External calls only, or Internal calls only, or select None to disable call recording for the hunt group.
8. In the Call overflow field, configure the Destination type of call overflow on busy and no answer:
   • If Member is selected, enter the first letters of the name or email address of target company member. A list of matching entries appears allowing you to select the member of your choice.
     Note: Only company members configured with an extension number can be selected as destination of the call overflow.
   • If Voice prompt is selected, select either the voice prompt configured by default, or a customized voice prompt if available: see article: Customize voice prompts.
   • If Voicemail is selected, customize the voice prompt to be played when accessing voice mail: see: Customizing voice prompts for call overflow on voice mail.
9. In the Overflow Timeout (s) field, enter the ringing time before call overflows to its destination (60 seconds by default).
10. Optionally, to block some incoming calls to the hunt group, select the Blacklist tab, enter the phone number to be blocked in the desired format and click on + Add.
11. Click on Apply.

Customizing voice prompts for call overflow on voice mail

1. From the hunt group management window, click on the target hunt group and select the Voicemail prompts tab.
2. From the voice prompt configuration panel, click on Browse and select the wav file to upload.
3. In the Voice prompt field, select the voice prompt type.
4. Click on Upload.
   The customized voice prompt is displayed in the list with Customized type and active status ().

Deleting a hunt group

This procedure applies to hunt groups with or without waiting queue:

1. From the hunt group management window, move your mouse over the target hunt group, click on , and select Remove group.
2. Click on Remove.
   The hunt group is deleted from the group list.