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Create a Call Group Schedule

Schedules are used to determine what happens to calls when a business is closed. Horizon operates by always being open meaning it’s always possible to receive calls. When a schedule is applied this will signal to the system that the business is closed and calls need to be routed to an alternative destination.  

Schedules can be created for Hunt Groups and Call Queue Groups and we recommend creating the schedules at the individual group level allowing you to set specific schedules for each group. For help managing Auto Attendants please refer to Configuring Schedules for Auto Attendants using a Hunt Group. 

Note: Once you create a schedule it will be available to select from the dropdown when configuring schedules in other places. Therefore, if you have multiple groups on the same schedule this can be easily applied.  

Enable the scheduling option  #

First we need to enable scheduling on a group. This is only possible if the Group Advanced Settings bolt-on has been provisioned.  

  1. Log into the Horizon Portal  
  2. Navigate to the relevant Call Group 
  3. Select the Advanced Settings tab 
  4. Enable the toggle next to Enable Virtual Package 
  5. Click Edit next to Schedule 
  6. Enter (or look up and select) the forwarding destination 
  7. Select Use the following schedule 
  8. Click the + plus icon 
    • You can also select an existing schedule from the dropdown list 

This will open the scheduling editor so we can start to create a schedule.  

Configure the schedule  #

In this example the business hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5:30pm. They have an hour lunch break and are closed on weekends. To build this we will need to add the following events to the schedule: 

  • AM Closed (00:00 – 09:00) 
  • Lunch Closed (12:00 – 13:00) 
  • PM Closed (17:30 – 23:59) 
  • Weekend Closed (All Day Event) 
  1. In the schedule editor enter a schedule name 
    • Optional – customise the colour 
  2. Click Create + 
  3. Enter the event name (AM Closed) 
  4. Disable the checkbox next to All Day Event 
  5. Set the Start Date (enter the date you want the schedule to start) and Time (00:00) 
  6. Set the End Date (set this as the same date as the start date) and Time (09:00) 
  7. Set the recurs option to Weekly and apply the following options 
    • Tick the checkboxes next to Monday through Friday 
    • For Stops Recurring select Never 
  8. Click Create 
  9. Click + Add 
  10. Repeat the steps for Lunch Closed with the following settings: 
    • All Day Event – Disabled 
    • Start Date (same as AM Closed) Time (12:00) 
    • End Date (same as AM Closed) Time (13:00) 
    • Recurs – Weekly Monday through Friday
    • Stops Recurring – Never 
  11. Click + Create 
  12. Click + Add 
  13. Repeat the steps for PM Closed with the following settings: 
    • All Day Event – Disabled 
    • Start Date (same as AM Closed) Time (17:30)
    • End Date (same as AM Closed) Time (23:59)
    • Recurs – Weekly Monday through Friday
    • Stops Recurring – Never
  14. Click + Create 
  15. Click + Add 
  16. Repeat the steps for Weekend Closed with the following settings: 
    • All Day Event – Enabled 
    • Start date (the Saturday after the schedule start date) 
    • End date (same as Weekend Closed Start Date) 
    • Recurs – Weekly on Saturday and Sunday 
    • Stops Recurring – Never
  17. Click + Create 

The events will all have been added to the schedule.

Preview a Schedule #

You can check how the schedule looks by clicking the eye icon.  

Activate the Schedule #

Once you have configured the schedule and are happy with how it’s been set up the final thing you need to do is activate it. If the schedule is created but not active the system will act as if the group is open at all time and able to accept calls.

Activate the schedule by clicking Activate in the Advanced Features Schedule row.

Advanced scheduling  #

So far we have set up the system to accept incoming calls into the group during opening hours. During closed hours the calls will be forwarded to the destination has been set in Forward to.  

It’s only possible to add one option in Forward to however in some instances you might want calls to forward to a different destination during lunch vs at the weekend. In this scenario we will need to configure multiple levels of groups that the calls will be routed through in order to direct calls to the relevant destination.  

What about one off events?  #

In order to manage one-off events such as Christmas we need to apply an additional routing schedule. This will override the schedule hours and forward calls to the destination that has been set. For help configuring additional routing please refer to Configuring additional routing for Christmas Schedules.