Setup
Queues and ring groups
How a queue differs from a ring group, how to choose a strategy, add employees, and what to do if nobody answers.
For PBX version 0.3 (alpha)
Both a queue and a ring group spread a call among several employees.
- Ring group — the phones of several employees ring, and the first one to answer takes the call. Good for small departments.
- Queue — the caller waits with music until an agent is free. Good for handling a flow of calls: you see how many people are waiting and for how long.
Ring group
“Routing” → “Ring groups”:
- Create a group, set its name and number.
- “How to ring”: “Ring all” or “In turn” — down the list, from top to bottom.
- “Ring time” — how many seconds to ring (20 by default).
- On the members tab, add extensions.
- On the “If no answer” tab, choose where to send the call.
- “Save”, then “Apply”.
Queue
“Routing” → “Queues”. Strategies decide how an agent is chosen:
| Strategy | Who gets the call |
|---|---|
| “Ring all” | all free agents’ phones ring |
| “In order” | down the list, from top to bottom |
| “Longest idle” | an even load |
| “Fewest calls” | the one who took the fewest calls |
| “Round robin” | in turn, remembering the last one |
| “Random” | any free agent |
Main settings:
- “Ring agent for” — how many seconds the agent’s phone rings (15 by default);
- “Wrap-up time” — the agent’s pause after a call;
- “Max. in queue” — how many callers can wait; 0 means no limit;
- “SLA target, s” — within how many seconds a call should be answered (20 by default);
- “Wait music”, “Announce position in queue”, “Announce wait time”;
- “Record every call of the queue”.
Agents are added with the “Add agent” button — they are employees’ extensions.
If nobody answers
On the “If no answer” tab:
- “Caller waits longer than” — after how many seconds of waiting to send the call on (300 by default);
- “No agents online” — wait in the queue or send the call on;
- “Queue is full” — where to send the call if there is no room left in the queue.
How the queues are doing is shown on the “Overview” page, on the “Queues” card: how many agents are online, how many callers are waiting, and the average wait.