Time conditions overview

Time conditions can filter incoming calls based on the time and date. Using this concept, Accolades can inform the caller that did not call during work hours (and thus avoiding the situation where a caller keeps on ringing, without any feedback).

The time conditions are defined at an account level and can be attached to any instance that can receive external calls (users, waiting queues, IVR etc) by using the Telephony tab.

The following criteria can be used for filtering incoming calls:

• Hour and minute;
• Weekday;
• Day and month;
• An exact date.

Basic concepts

The time condition module uses the following concepts:

• set of days;
• daily schedule;
• rule;
• process.

Set of days

A set of days consists of a list of recurring days (weekly, yearly, unique).

For example, a "Working days" set can be defined, for each week, that contains the weekdays between Monday and Tuesday.

Another example can be a set of legal holidays: 1st of January, 2nd of January, 25th of December etc.

Also, a set containing unique days can be defined (for example legal holidays with variable dates: 8th of April 2018, 28th of April 2019, 19th of April 2020).

Daily schedule

A daily schedule consists of one or more intervals. Depending of these settings calls can be allowed or rejected.

For example, a schedule named "Regular schedule" can be defined, having the following structure:

• 00:00 - 08:00 no incoming calls allowed;
• 08:00 - 16:00 incoming calls are allowed;
• 16:00 - 00:00 no incoming calls allowed.

Rules

A rule consists of a pair between a set of days and a schedule. The rule will check the date of the call and will compare it to the selected set of days. If the date is defined inside the set of days, then Accolades will check the time of the call and, based on the defined schedule, will decide if the call is allowed of rejected.

According to the previous examples, a rule can be defined by linking the "Working days" set with the "Regular schedule" timetable.

When an incoming call is received, Accolades will check the current day of the week and, if it is between Monday and Friday then Accolades will apply the "Regular schedule" timetable.

Process

A process has one or more rules that Accolades will process, one by one, based on their priority, to determine the status of the call.

The process is the final object that is selected by the Accolades administrator and applied to an IVR, waiting queue or user.