Christmas time of day routing (TODR)
Public Holidays UK 2024/25 holiday period
How to setup TODR when your office is closed on all public holidays
How to setup TODR when your office is closed from Friday 20th December onwards
How to set TODR and finish at a specific time on a particular date
How to backup a dial plan, add a seasonal audio file and route unanswered calls to voicemail
How to restore a dial plan from your backup in January
Public Holidays UK 2024/25 holiday period
The following dates are public holidays in the United Kingdom during the 2024/2025 holiday period. Three apply to England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, and one applies to Scotland.
Wednesday, 25th December 2024 (All United Kingdom countries)
Thursday, 26th December 2024 (All United Kingdom countries)
Wednesday, 1st January 2025 (All United Kingdom countries)
Thursday, 2nd January 2025 (Scotland only)
How do you set TODR when your office is closed on all public holidays?
In this example, the customer already has a time of day routing working hours. Their opening days and hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM. You can use this guide to see how to create that rule here.
This example will create two rules for the December and January holidays.
One rule covers December, and the other covers January.
For the December rule, select Incoming calls > TODR > Active Tab. Then select the Add to option.
Next, you can select the following options.
Start/End Time: Any Time
Days of the Week: N/A
Days of the Month: 25,26
Months of the Year: Dec
Order Position: 1
Calls In Time Range Go To: Out of Office Hours
Submit this, and you will see this confirmation message.
Next, click 'Add Another Rule', and we will add the January 2025 rule to cover the 1st and/or 2nd.
Select the following options if your business is in England, Northern Ireland or Wales, and submit.
Start/End Time: Any Time
Days of the Week: N/A
Days of the Month: 1
Months of the Year: Jan
Order Position: 1
Calls In Time Range Go To: Out of Office Hours
Select the following options if your business is in Scotland, and submit.
Start/End Time: Any Time
Days of the Week: N/A
Days of the Month: 1, 2
Months of the Year: Jan
Order Position: 1
Calls In Time Range Go To: Out of Office Hours
The following confirmation screen will be shown.
Select the View Time of Day routing rules to review all your rules.
How to setup TODR when your office is closed from Friday, 20th December 2024, to either January 2nd or 3rd, 2025
In this example, the customer already has a time of day routing working hours. Their opening days and hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM. You can use this guide to see how to create that rule here.
This example will create two rules for the December and January closed days.
One rule covers December, and the other covers January.
For the December rule, select Incoming calls > TODR > Active Tab. Then select the Add to option.
Start/End Time: Any Time
Days of the Week: N/A
Days of the Month: 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Months of the Year: Dec
Order Position: 1
Calls In Time Range Go To: Out of Office Hours
On Submit, the following message will be displayed.
Select Add another routing rule to add the January rule, and submit.
Select submit, and a confirmation screen will be displayed. Select close.
Select the View Time of Day routing rules to review all your rules.
How to set TODR and finish at a specific time on a particular date
In this example, the customer already has a time of day routing working hours. Their opening days and hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM. You can use this guide to see how to create that rule here.
In this example, we already have the rules for closure on December 25th, December 26th, and January 1st.
We will add a rule that will route calls to out-of-hours on Dec 24th from midday onwards (12 PM)
Start/End Time: Specific Time
Start Time: 12:00
End Time: 17:00
Days of the Week: N/A
Days of the Month: 24
Months of the Year: Dec
Order Position: 1
Calls In Time Range Go To: Out of Office Hours
Once completed, submit the rule. You can check your new rule and all others by selecting the View time of day routing rules option.
Not using TODR
How to backup a dial plan, add a seasonal audio file and route unanswered calls to voicemail
This guide assumes you already have a seasonal audio file recorded and uploaded to your account and a voicemail box. For more information on how to add audio files and voicemail boxes, read the help articles:
If you do not use TODR and you're closing for the holidays, you can easily back up your existing dial plan and replace it with a seasonal audio file and voicemail. When you return to the office, please restore the dial plan using the backup.
- Go to Incoming Calls and select 'Backup/Restore'
- Select Backup, give your dial plan backup an identifiable name, and submit
- Click 'Add To' and complete the form as follows:
- Add To - Main Dial Plan
- Priority Order - 4
- Feature - Background
- Sound File - Your seasonal greeting
- Submit
- Complete the 'Add To' form again, this time to add the Voicemail step
- Add To - Main Dial Plan
- Priority Order - 5
- Feature - Voicemail
- Sound File - Your voicemail box
- Play Unanswered Message - No
- Suppress Default Message - Yes
- Submit
Callers will now hear the seasonal greeting and can leave a voicemail before the call ends.
When you are back in the office, restore your dial plan using the backup you took in step one:
- Go to Incoming Calls and select 'Backup/Restore'
- Select Restore, select your backup and submit
How to restore a dial plan from your backup in January
Click Incoming Calls
Find the dial plan and click Backup / Restore
Select Restore
Using the drop-down menu, select the dial plan you wish to restore
Check the Dial Plan Details, ensure it is the correct backup, and click submit.