ContactNow: Create an IVR Menu

To create an IVR menu, hover over the Configuration icon from the Navigation bar and click the IVR Creator.

The IVR Queues panel on the left lists all the IVR queues you have built so far. This is where you start the creation of a new queue by clicking New Queue. Save the work you have done by clicking Save or select an existing IVR to begin work on editing it.

The area in the middle of the page displays the flow chart that represents the IVR. This is where you can move IVR components around and join them together to guide the call flow. When you connect components together an IVR connection path will beocme visible.

• Green - Normal path taken and all conditions are satisfied.
• Red - Failure path there has been an error or no results.
• Blue - Timeout path for when the user does not provide a valid response within 5 seconds. 
• Dark Green - Retry path when there are no results for the search (select block) and you want to ask the user to retry with a different value. When making a connection it will ask for the number of retries allowed. After the set number of retries have been used the red failure path is taken. 
• Grey (with numbers) - Paths from a Menu component.  The number on the path is the one a caller chooses to initiate that path in the flow.

The Component panel on the right contains the objects that are available for use in the IVR panel. To add an object onto the flowchart, you simply click it and drag it to the chart and drop it where you want it. The properties section at the bottom of the component panel displays what configuration items are available for each object on the Chart when you click the object in section B to select it.

To start to build your IVR, you need to first create a new queue into which the IVR process will be placed. Click New Queue to start this off.

A popup window shown below will ask you to supply a Queue Name which you will then be listed in your queues list on Panel A for future selection.

Once you click Create Queue the system will create an IVR environment for you.

The green phone icon in the top left represents the start of the call flow. You now need to add a component to your flow chart. To do this click on the component you want to add from the components panel and drag it onto the chart. Each component performs different functions and can be used at different parts of a call flow. Each component will have connectors. Green connectors on the sides are used to link components together to build the call flow. Red connectors on the bottom of an icon are used should the call fail to connect or if there is an error. A simple IVR example is shown below.

To connect two components click on connector of the source component and drag the path to the connector on the destination component.  If the source is a Menu component you will also be prompted to provide the number a caller would press to follow that path.

Most likely, an IVR won’t have a simple straight path and will offer the caller different options. For example, you could have a menu that plays an audio message to prompt an input to direct the call.

You can use all of the different components to build a sophisticated IVR that directs calls to different queues or captures information.