Configure business hours and incoming call routing

Map the phone system schedule to a safe incoming action for each time period.

Incoming routing combines two settings: the current time period comes from the phone system’s schedule, and the action configured for that period decides where the call goes. Build the schedule first, then give every period an action on every number that should take calls.

How the schedule picks a time period

When a call arrives, the phone system reads the clock in its own time zone and works down this order:

1. Date overrides for today. An override that covers the whole day applies immediately. A partial-day override applies only inside its own start and end times; outside that window the remaining overrides for the day are still checked.
2. The weekly schedule. The window covering the current day and time selects its time period.
3. The default time period. Any moment no override and no weekly window covers falls here.

A window’s end time is the moment it stops applying, so back-to-back windows — 08 to 12 and 12 to 13 — hand over at 12 with no gap and no overlap.

Prerequisites

• Select the intended phone system in the dashboard header.
• Confirm its time zone under Settings > System Details. Every schedule comparison uses that time zone, not the reader’s browser time.
• Have write access to the Schedule and Phone Numbers settings you plan to change.
• Create any destination extension, call group, call menu, Call Assistant, or voicemail box before selecting it as a route.

Create time periods

Time periods are the labels your schedule and your routing both refer to, such as Open Hours, Lunch, and Closed.

1. Open Settings > Schedule.
2. If no periods exist yet, select Set Up Default Schedule. It creates Open Hours, Lunch Break, and Closed (marked as the default), plus a Monday-to-Friday schedule of 08–12 Open Hours, 12–13 Lunch Break, and 13–17 Open Hours. The button is only offered on an empty schedule; once any period exists the shortcut reports that a schedule has already been set up.
3. Otherwise select Add Time Period, enter a name, and pick a color. The color is what identifies the period in the weekly grid and in the routing rows.
4. Use the up and down arrows to order the list. That order is the order the periods appear in every routing picker, so putting your busiest period first keeps the routing screens readable.

One period carries the Default badge. It is the fallback for uncovered time, so it cannot be deleted; make a different period the default first if you need to remove it. Any period that a schedule rule, date override, or routing action still refers to also cannot be deleted — repoint those first.

Name the period that represents your open time so it contains Open or Business. Features that summarize your hours read the schedule that way — a Call Assistant telling a caller when you are open builds its answer from the windows mapped to periods named like that, and treats every other period as closed.

Build the weekly schedule

1. Under Weekly Schedule, use + Add on a day to create a window. The first window starts at 09–17; each additional one starts where the previous window ended.
2. Set the start time, the end time, and the time period for each window.
3. Use Copy from to replace a day’s windows with another day’s.
4. Select Save changes. The button appears only when there are unsaved edits, alongside Discard.

The editor blocks a save until every window is valid:

• An end time must be later than its start time.
• Two windows on the same day cannot overlap.
• A window whose time period was deleted must be pointed at a period that still exists.

A day with no windows shows “No schedule (defaults to the default time period)” — that day runs entirely on the default period.

Add date overrides

Use overrides for holidays, half days, and one-off closures. Add Override stays disabled until at least one time period exists.

1. Under Date Overrides, select Add Override.
2. Enter a Name and a Date, and choose the Time Period the day should use.
3. Leave All day on for a full-day change, or turn it off and enter a start and end time for a partial-day change.
4. Turn on Repeat annually for a fixed-date holiday. A repeating override matches the same month and day every year and is listed with an Annual badge; the year is dropped from its date.

Overrides take priority over the weekly schedule, so a Christmas Day override sends calls to your Closed period even though Thursday is normally an open day.

Route an incoming number

1. Open Settings > Phone Numbers > All Numbers.
2. Select Configure for a voice-enabled number.
3. Under Incoming Call Routing, choose an action for every time period. Each period gets its own row, labeled with the period’s name and color.
4. Select the required destination for that action.
5. Select Save.

Send to Remote Phone System appears only when the phone system belongs to a group of related systems. Routing Rules appears only when your role can manage phone numbers.

A period whose saved action this dashboard does not offer is shown as Configured by your administrator with no picker. Leave it alone and ask an administrator to review it rather than replacing it with something you can select.

Expected result

At any moment, the phone system resolves the applicable date override, weekly window, or default period, then runs the action saved for that number and that period. A test call placed inside a given window reaches the destination that window’s row names.

Troubleshooting

• The call follows the wrong time period: Check the phone system time zone first, then today’s date overrides, then the weekly window around the call time, then the default period.
• No routing rows appear: The number has no schedule to route against. Create at least one time period on the Schedule page.
• Save changes stays disabled on the weekly grid: A window is invalid. Look for the red row — the message names the overlap, the reversed times, or the missing time period.
• A holiday override did not apply: Confirm the date, and check whether the override is partial-day. A partial-day override only covers its own start-to-end window; the rest of the day still follows the weekly schedule.
• A period says “Configured by your administrator”: The saved action is not editable from this dashboard. Do not replace it indirectly; ask an administrator to review that period.
• A time period cannot be deleted: It is the default period, or a schedule rule, date override, or routing action still refers to it.
• A Call Assistant tells callers the wrong hours: Check that your open-time period is named so it contains Open or Business, and that the weekly windows for it are correct.

Related guidance

• How an incoming call is routed.
• Route calls with conditional rules.
• Create call groups and call menus.
• Route calls between related phone systems.
• Review and configure phone numbers.
• Configure system details.
• Troubleshoot an incoming call.