Click here to watch a complete video of how to configure business hours and holidays using both the Easy Attendant and Premium Attendant.

If your organization uses a full-time auto attendant, and calls are answered by the automated system around the clock, you only need to complete the steps in Part A below.

However, if your organization answers calls live during business hours and only uses an auto attendant when you are closed and as an overflow to a live operator, you need to complete steps in both parts A and B below.  

These instructions are for the EASY ATTENDANT. This is the standard auto attendant included with PHONEWARE Cloud-Based Telecom service and is used by most of our customers. If your organization uses a PREMIUM ATTENDANT, these instructions do not apply. Please contact PHONEWARE support for assistance with your PREMIUM ATTENDANT. 

Part A – schedule the holidays on the auto attendant.

This schedule will determine whether callers hear your business hours (open) main company greeting, or your non-business hours (closed) main company greeting when they call your main telephone number.

  1. Open an internet browser and visit https://phoneware.us.
  2. Hover over the LOGIN option and select ADMIN PORTAL LOGIN. Admin portal login screen is displayed.
  3. Enter the direct telephone number of a user with administrator priveleges. Enter the number without formatting characters such as ()-.
  4. Enter the commportal password for the account. The default password was included in your original user training documentation, but it can be changed. If you don’t know the admin portal password, contact PHONEWARE support.  Admin portal is displayed after password is successfully entered.
  5. Click on the ATTENDANTS link on the menu on the left side of the screen.
  6. Find your easy attendant, click on ACTIONS and then VIEW ATTENDANT SETTINGS. East Attendant window will open.
  7. Click on OPEN ATTENDANT SETTINGS.
  8. Click on the SCHEDULE tab. Your current daily business hours are shown in a grid. To set your holidays, click on the calendar image to the right under SPECIAL DAYS. Calendar is then displayed.
  9. Special days / holidays are shown as shaded days. You can either manually set holidays by navigating to the desired date and clicking on the day to shade it and designate it as a holiday. Or, you can click on the Add Public Holidays button and select the appropriate list of holidays, such as US Holidays 2018. Keep in mind that this will add all federal holidays including days like MLK Day, President’s Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran’s Day. You may have to deselect some of these days if your business is open on these days. .
  10. Once the desired days have been set, click on the OK button to return to the previous screen, then click on the APPLY button when you are returned to the schedule screen.
  11. This completes the process and you can close out the admin portal tab or window.

Part B – schedule the holidays on the main telephone number.

Since you will not want your main telephone number to ring on holidays and you will want callers to go directly to the auto attendant, you must also schedule the holidays on your main telephone number call manager schedule. If your organization uses a full-time auto attendant, you DO NOT NEED to complete this process.

  1. Back at the admin portal, click on the ALL LINES link on the menu at the left.
  2. Find your main telephone number, then click on ACTIONS, then VIEW INDIVIDUAL SETTINGS. Main line will open in a new window.
  3. Click on GO TO CALL MANAGER button.
  4. Click on the SPECIAL DAYS tab. Calendar is displayed.
  5. Special days / holidays are shown as shaded days. You can either manually set holidays by navigating to the desired date and clicking on the day to shade it and designate it as a holiday. Or, you can click on the Add Public Holidays button at the bottom of the window and select the appropriate list of holidays, such as US Holidays 2014. Keep in mind that this will add all federal holidays including days like MLK Day, President’s Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran’s Day. You may have to deselect some of these days if your organization does not observe them.
  6. Once the desired days have been set, click on the OK button to return to the previous screen, then click on the APPLY button when you are returned to the schedule screen.