Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Topic Last Modified: 2012-07-23

You can configure business hours for a Unified Messaging (UM) auto attendant in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. When you configure business hours on a UM auto attendant, you define the hours of the day that your organization is open and the business hours greetings and menu prompts callers will hear when they call an extension number that's configured on the auto attendant. If a caller reaches the auto attendant during hours that are outside the business hours you defined, the caller will hear the non-business hours prompts and greetings.

Several default schedule options are available in the EMC. For example, most businesses are open from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday. Sometimes the default options won't fit your needs and you'll want to customize the schedule. If your business hours vary from one of the schedules defined by the system, you can define a customized schedule for the auto attendant.

By default, the Always Run setting is selected. If you leave the Always Run setting selected, the UM auto attendant will play the business hours prompts and greetings regardless of the time of day callers dial in to the auto attendant.

Note:
When you set the schedule for business and non-business hours on a UM auto attendant, make sure the time zone is configured correctly.

Looking for other management tasks related to UM auto attendants? Check out Managing UM Auto Attendants.

Prerequisites

Use the EMC to specify business hours for a UM auto attendant

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "UM auto attendants" entry in the Unified Messaging Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Organization Configuration > Unified Messaging.

  2. In the work pane, click the UM Auto Attendants tab.

  3. Select the auto attendant you want to modify, and then, in the action pane, click Properties.

  4. On the Times tab, under Schedule Times, under Business hours, select from the available options or select Use Custom Schedule.

  5. If you select Use Custom Schedule, click Customize.

  6. On the Schedule page, select the hours you want to use as your business hours for each day of the week, and then click OK.

  7. Click OK again to save your changes.

Use the Shell to specify business hours for a UM auto attendant

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "UM auto attendants" entry in the Unified Messaging Permissions topic.

This example sets the business hours for a UM auto attendant named MyUMAutoAttendant.

Copy Code 
Set-UMAutoAttendant -Identity MyUMAutoAttendant -BusinessHoursSchedule 0.10:45-0.13:15,1.09:00-1.17:00,6.09:00-6.16:30

For more information about syntax and parameters, see Set-UMAutoAttendant.

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