How to Configure a Holiday Schedule for a Unified Messaging Auto Attendant

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell to specify business hours for a UM auto attendant in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging (UM).

You can define the dates and times that your organization will be closed for holidays and other occasions. Between the start dates and the end dates that you specify, callers who reach the UM auto attendant will hear a holiday greeting that you specify when you configure the holiday schedule. After the caller hears the holiday greeting that you have specified, the non-business hours greeting and menu prompts will be played for the caller.

You can also create a holiday schedule within an existing holiday schedule. When you are creating multiple holiday schedules, Unified Messaging lets you overlap your scheduled holiday times. For example, you can define a holiday schedule from December 15th through December 31st when your organization will be closed for construction, and you can define another holiday schedule from December 24th through December 26th. When callers call in to the auto attendant from December 15th through December 23rd and from December 27th through December 31st, they will be presented with the holiday greeting that you have specified for this given schedule. For example, "We are currently closed for construction." When callers call in to the auto attendant from December 24th through December 26th, they will be presented with another holiday greeting, such as "We are currently closed for business so that our employees can enjoy the holidays with their families."

For more information about how greetings and prompts are used in Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging, see Understanding Unified Messaging Audio Prompts.

Before You Begin

To perform the following procedures, the account you use must be delegated the Exchange Organization Administrator role.

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange Server 2007, see Permission Considerations.

Also, before you perform these procedures, confirm the following:

  • A UM dial plan has been created.

  • A UM mailbox policy has been created.

  • A UM auto attendant has been created.

Procedure

To use the Exchange Management Console to specify a holiday schedule for a UM auto attendant

  1. In the console tree of the Exchange Management Console, expand the Organization Configuration node.

  2. Click Unified Messaging.

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

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

  5. On the Times tab, under Holiday Schedule, click Add.

  6. On the Select Holiday page, configure the following:

    • Holiday name   Enter a name for your holiday schedule.

    • Holiday greeting file   Browse to the .wav file that you want to use as your greeting. This is a required field.

    • Holiday start date   Use this list to select the date that you want the holiday to start. The holiday schedule will start at midnight on the date that is specified in this list.

    • Holiday end date   Use this list to select the date that you want the holiday to end. The holiday schedule will end at 11:59 P.M. on the date that is specified in this list.

  7. After you have configured your holiday schedule, click OK two times to save your changes.

To use the Exchange Management Shell to specify a holiday schedule for a UM auto attendant

  • Run the following command:

    Set-UMAutoAttendant -Identity MyUMAutoAttendant HolidaySchedule "New Year,newyrgrt.wav,1/2/2006","Building Closed for Holiday,construction.wav,4/24/2006,4/28/2006"

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

For More Information

For more information about UM auto attendants, see the following topics: