Holiday closures and modified business hours can affect how incoming calls move through your organization. Before a scheduled closure, review your Sync call flow in the Settings Portal to make sure callers receive clear information and are routed appropriately while your team is unavailable.

A well-planned holiday call flow should answer three questions for callers:

• Is the business currently open or closed?
• When will regular service resume?
• What options are available while the business is closed?

Rather than rebuilding your regular call flow, we recommend configuring a holiday call path that reflects who will—or will not—be available during the closure.

Plan your holiday call flow

Before configuring holiday routing, identify how calls currently move through your organization and which destinations should remain available during the closure.

Review your existing call flow

A typical Sync call flow may include:

• An assigned company phone number, also called a Direct Inward Dialling (DID) number.
• Schedules for regular business hours, after-hours, and closures.
• A configured Welcome Menu with appropriate routing options.
• One or more Departments or Call Queues.
• An existing Ring Group assigned to the company phone number.
• Individual Team Members.
• Shared and personal Voicemail Inboxes.

Reviewing your existing call flow will help you determine where to introduce holiday routing and which destinations should remain available.

Choose your holiday routing destinations

Confirm which destinations will be available during the closure before configuring your holiday Welcome Menu. Your selections will determine which keypad options to include and what callers should hear in the holiday greeting.

(Optional) Departments or Call Queues

Determine which Departments or Call Queues will be staffed during the holiday period. If a destination will be unavailable, avoid routing calls to it unless its existing configuration directs callers to an appropriate Voicemail Inbox or alternate destination.

If only certain teams remain available, direct callers specifically to those destinations.

Ring Groups

Ring Groups distribute calls based on the configured ringing behaviour. Identify which existing Ring Group receives calls to the affected company phone number.

You will add the Holiday Schedule to this Ring Group so that calls follow the holiday path during the scheduled closure.

If live holiday coverage will be available, confirm which Departments, Call Queues, Ring Groups, or Team Members will receive calls from the holiday Welcome Menu.

Voicemail

Voicemail is often the most appropriate destination during a full office closure. Before the holiday begins, confirm that:

• Calls reach the correct Voicemail Inbox.
• The voicemail greeting reflects the closure and reopening date.
• Callers know when they can expect a response.
• Someone is responsible for reviewing messages if the Voicemail Inbox will be monitored during the closure.

If messages will not be reviewed until the office reopens, avoid suggesting that callers will receive an immediate response.

Step 1: Create a Holiday Schedule

Create a company-wide Schedule to define the dates and times when the holiday call flow should apply.

After creating the holiday Welcome Menu, you will add this Schedule to the closed routing configuration of an existing Ring Group.

Access Schedule settings

Schedules allow Sync to apply different call-routing behaviour during specific dates and times.

1. Log in to the net2phone desktop or browser app using an administrator account.
2. Click your profile icon in the upper-right corner.

3. Click Admin Settings.
   A new browser tab will open to the Admin settings in the Sync Settings Portal. By default, the portal opens to the Schedules page.

Create a Holiday Schedule

As an administrator, you can create company-wide Schedules that you can reuse across your organization.

1. Click Add Schedule.
2. Enter an identifiable name, such as Holiday Hours or Office Holiday Schedule.
3. Confirm the time zone.
4. Select Calendar.
5. Use the calendar selection tool to enter the date range for the closure.
6. Select a specific time of day or choose All day.
7. If required, add additional closure intervals for the holiday period.
8. Click Add to save the Schedule.

Sync displays a success message when the new Schedule has been saved.

Step 2: Create a holiday Welcome Menu

Create a dedicated Welcome Menu for callers who reach your organization during the scheduled holiday closure.

The holiday Welcome Menu should provide a holiday greeting and direct callers to an appropriate destination, such as a Voicemail Inbox, an available Department, a Call Queue, another Ring Group, or an individual Team Member.

Creating the holiday Welcome Menu before updating a Ring Group allows you to select it when configuring the Ring Group’s holiday routing.

Access Welcome Menus

From the Sync Settings Portal:

1. Click the building icon to navigate to Company Settings.
2. Select the Welcome Menus subpage.
3. Click Add Welcome Menu.

Configure the holiday Welcome Menu

After opening the Welcome Menu pop-up configuration window: 

1. Enter an identifiable holiday name.
2. Review the automatically assigned extension number. If required, select a different extension.
3. Leave the Phone Number field unassigned. Keep your main company phone number assigned to the existing Ring Group; do not reassign it to the holiday Welcome Menu.
4. If applicable, configure where SMS messages associated with the Welcome Menu should be delivered. Available destinations may include the entire company, specific Departments or Ring Groups, or individual Team Members.

5. If required, configure additional Welcome Menu options:
   • Allow Extension Dialling: Allows callers to enter a Team Member’s extension directly from the Welcome Menu.
   • Play “Please wait while we connect your call”: Set to play a confirmation message before transferring the caller to their selected destination.
   • Allow Barging Through: Allows callers to select a keypad option or enter an extension before the Welcome Menu greeting finishes playing.
   • Caller language: Determines the language used for system-generated prompts and messages.
6. Configure the keypad options callers can use during the closure:
   1. Set a valid No Selection destination for callers who do not choose an option.
   2. Use the key and option drop-down menus to route callers to appropriate holiday destinations, such as:
      • A shared Voicemail Inbox.
      • An available Department.
      • An available Call Queue.
      • A separate Ring Group with holiday coverage.
      • An available Team Member.

7. Create the holiday greeting using one of the available methods:
   • Record the greeting from a phone.
   • Upload a custom audio file.
   • Use text-to-speech.
8. Review the options configured for the holiday Welcome Menu.
9. Click Save.

Step 3: Add the Holiday Schedule and Welcome Menu to a Ring Group Time Block

After creating the Holiday Schedule and holiday Welcome Menu, add both to an existing Ring Group by creating a new Time Block.

During the scheduled closure, the Ring Group’s holiday Time Block will route callers to the holiday Welcome Menu. Outside the holiday period, calls will continue to follow the Ring Group’s regular routing configuration.

Identify the existing Ring Group to update

Confirm which Ring Group currently receives calls to the company phone number before changing its routing configuration.

1. In the Settings Portal, navigate to Company > Ring Groups.
2. Locate the Ring Group associated with the affected company phone number.
3. Click the pencil icon to edit the Ring Group.
4. From the Ring Group’s Settings subpage, confirm that the correct company phone number appears under Assigned Numbers.
5. Review the Ring Group’s name, extension, and SMS settings.

Configure the holiday routing

Add a new custom Time Block to apply the Holiday Schedule and route callers to the holiday Welcome Menu.

1. Open the Ring Group’s Call Routing subpage.
2. Select Custom rather than a 24/7 time block.
3. Click Add New Time Block.

4. Configure the new Time Block as Closed.
5. Under Schedules, select Existing.
6. Select the previously created Holiday Schedule.
7. Set the If Call Not Answered destination to the holiday Welcome Menu.
8. Click Save to apply the Time Block and destination to the Ring Group.

Review the regular business hours and after-hours Schedules to confirm that the existing routing remains unchanged.

Holiday call flow checklist

Use the following checklist to confirm that your holiday call flow is configured correctly before the scheduled closure begins.

• Review each affected company phone number and its existing call flow.
• Identify the existing Ring Group assigned to each company phone number.
• Confirm which Departments, Call Queues, Ring Groups, and Team Members will be available.
• Create a Holiday Schedule for the closure dates and times.
• Create a separate holiday Welcome Menu.
• Configure a holiday greeting that explains the closure and reopening date.
• Match each keypad option to an available holiday destination.
• Set a valid No Selection destination.
• Add the Holiday Schedule to a closed Time Block in the existing Ring Group.
• Set the holiday Welcome Menu as the If Call Not Answered destination.
• Route callers to a Voicemail Inbox when no live destination is available.
• Avoid routing callers from the holiday Welcome Menu back to the same Ring Group.
• Test each affected company phone number and every available caller path.
• Confirm that regular routing resumes when the Holiday Schedule ends.

A clear holiday call flow sets expectations, prevents calls from reaching unavailable destinations, and gives callers a reliable way to connect with your organization during a closure.