Create a Cloud call queue

• 5/5/2020
• 13 minutes to read
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• Applies to:

  Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams

Cloud call queues can provide:

• A greeting message.
• Music while people are waiting on hold.
• Redirecting calls to call agents in mail-enabled distribution lists and security groups.
• Setting different parameters such as queue maximum size, timeout, and call handling options.
• Shared voicemail for callers to leave a message for an organization.

You don't directly associate a phone number to a call queue, instead the phone number is associated to a resource account. A call queue can be dialed directly or accessed by a selection on an auto attendant.

The caller hears music while they are on hold, and the call connects to the call agents in First In, First Out (FIFO) order.

All calls in the queue are sent to agents by one of the following methods:

• With attendant routing, the first call in the queue rings all agents at the same time.
• With serial routing, the first call in the queue rings all call agents one by one.
• With round robin, routing of incoming calls is balanced so that each call agent gets the same number of calls from the queue.

You can set call handling options, such as agent opt-in/opt-out, presence-based routing, call wait time, and call time-out options with any of the above methods.

Only one incoming call notification (for the call at the head of the queue) at a time goes to the call agents. After a call agent accepts the call, the next incoming call in the queue will start ringing call agents.

Step 1 — Get started

To get started using call queues, it's important to remember a few things:

• A call queue is required to have an associated resource account. See Manage resource accounts in Teams for details on resource accounts.
• When you assign a phone number to a resource account, you can now use the cost-free Phone System Virtual User license. Phone System allows phone numbers at the organizational level for use with low-cost auto attendant and call queue services.

• To learn more about Office 365 Calling Plans, see Phone System and Calling Plans and Calling Plans for Office 365.

• You can only assign Cloud call queues toll and toll-free service phone numbers that you got in the Microsoft Teams admin center or transferred from another service provider. Communications Credits are required for toll-free service numbers.

  Note

  User (subscriber) phone numbers can't be assigned to call queues - only service toll or toll-free phone numbers can be used.

• The following clients are supported for call agents associated to a Cloud call queue:

  • Skype for Business desktop client 2016 (32-bit and 64-bit versions)

  • Lync desktop client 2013 (32-bit and 64-bit versions)

  • All IP phone models supported for Microsoft Teams. See Getting phones for Skype for Business Online.

  • Mac Skype for Business Client (version 16.8.196 and later)

  • Android Skype for Business Client (version 6.16.0.9 and later)

  • iPhone Skype for Business Client (version 6.16.0 and later)

  • iPad Skype for Business Client (version 6.16.0 and later)

  • Microsoft Teams Windows client (32-bit and 64-bit versions)

  • Microsoft Teams Mac client

  • Microsoft Teams iPhone app

  • Microsoft Teams Android app

    Note

    Call queues that are assigned a direct routing number will not support Skype for Business clients, Lync clients, or Skype for Business IP Phones as agents.

Step 2 — Get or transfer toll or toll-free service phone numbers

Before you can create and set up your call queues, you need to get or transfer your existing toll or toll-free service numbers. To get your service numbers, see Getting service phone numbers or if you want to transfer an existing service number, see Transfer phone numbers to Office 365. After you get the toll or toll-free service phone numbers, they will show up in Microsoft Teams admin center > Voice > Phone numbers. Toll free numbers will be listed with a Number type of Service — Toll-Free.

When you set up multiple auto attendants, you would usually assign a phone number to the main auto attendant's resource account. Resource accounts associated to nested auto attendants or call queues often don't need phone numbers. That auto attendant can direct callers to your call queues or nested auto attendants even if they don't have a phone number. In those situations, you can create all auto attendants and call queues in your system without assigning dialpad options, and then edit the settings later. A call queue or auto attendant must exist to set it as a menu option.

Step 3 — Create a call queue

We are frequently updating how you can manage features, so the steps here might be a little different from what you see.

Use the Microsoft Teams admin center

In the Microsoft Teams admin center, Voice > Call queues, then click + Add new:

Set the display name and resource account

Name Enter a descriptive display name for the call queue. This name is required and can contain up to 64 characters, including spaces.

This name is displayed in the notification for the incoming call.

Add Accounts Select a resource account. All call queues are required to have a resource account. Resource accounts aren't required to have a service toll or toll-free phone number.

If there aren't any listed, get service numbers and assign them to a Resource account before you create the call queue, as described earlier. To get your service numbers, see Getting service phone numbers. See Manage resource accounts in Teams for specifics on how to assign a phone number.

Set the greeting and music played while on hold

Greeting the optional greeting played for people who call the call queue number.

You can upload an audio file (.wav, .mp3, or .wma formats).

Music on hold You can use the default Music on Hold provided with the call queue. You can also upload an audio file in .wav, mp3, or .wma formats to use as your custom Music on hold.

Select the call answering options

Call agents and groups To add individual agents directly, without adding them to a group, click Add users. Put individual agents in the order in which you want them to receive the call. You can add up to 20 individual agents (to add more than 20, put them in a group).

Calls are routed first to individual agents, then to the agents in groups.

You can select up to 200 call agents who belong to any of the following mailing lists or groups:

• Office 365 group
• Security group
• Distribution list

Call agents selected must be one of the following:

• Online users with a Phone System license and Enterprise Voice enabled

• Online users with a Calling Plan

• On-premises Skype for Business Server users

  Note

  This also applies if you want to redirect calls to people in your organization who are online. These individuals must have a Phone System license and Enterprise Voice enabled or have a Calling Plan. For more information, see Assign Skype for Business licenses, Assign Microsoft Teams licenses, or Which Calling Plan is right for you?

To enable an agent for Enterprise Voice, you can use Windows PowerShell. For example, run: Set-CsUser -identity "Amos Marble" -EnterpriseVoiceEnabled $true

• Users with a Phone System license or a Calling Plan that are added to either an Office 365 Group; a mail-enabled Distribution List; or a Security Group. When you add an agent in a distribution list or a security group as a call queue agent, it can take up to three hours for the first call to arrive. A newly created distribution list or security group might take up to 48 hours to become available to be used with call queues. Newly created Microsoft 365 Groups are available almost immediately.

• If your agents are using the Microsoft Teams app for call queue calls, they need to be in TeamsOnly mode.

Routing method You can choose either Attendant, Serial, or Round Robin as the distribution method. All new and existing call queues have attendant routing selected by default. When attendant routing is used, the first call in the queue rings all call agents at the same time. The first call agent to pick up the call gets the call.

• Attendant routing causes the first call in the queue to ring all call agents at the same time. The first call agent to pick up the call gets the call.
• Serial routing incoming calls ring all call agents one by one, from the beginning of the call agent list. Agents can't be ordered within the call agent list. If an agent dismisses or does not pick up a call, the call will ring the next agent and will try all agents until it is picked up or times out.
• Round robin balances routing of incoming calls so that each call agent gets the same number of calls from the queue. This may be desirable in an inbound sales environment to assure equal opportunity among all the call agents.

Presence-based routing Presence-based routing uses the availability status of call agents to determine whether an agent should be included in the call routing list for the selected routing method. Call agents whose availability status is set to Available are included in the call routing list and can receive calls. Agents whose availability status is set to any other status are excluded from the call routing list and won't receive calls until their availability status changes back to Available.

You can enable presence-based call routing with any of the routing methods.

If an agent opts out of getting calls, they won't be included in the call routing list regardless of what their availability status is set to.

Select an agent opt-out option

Agent can opt out of getting calls You can choose to allow call queue agents to opt-out of taking calls from a particular queue by enabling this option.

Enabling this option allows all agents in this queue to start or stop receiving calls from this call queue at will. You can revoke the agent opt-out privilege at any time by clearing the check box, causing agents to become automatically opted in for this queue again (the default setting for all agents).

To access the opt-out option, agents can:

1. Open Options in their desktop Skype for Business client.

2. On the Call Forwarding tab, click the Edit settings online link.

3. On the user settings page, click Call Queues, and then clear the check boxes to opt-out of queues.

   Note

   Agents using apps or endpoints other than Skype for Business Desktop can access the opt-out option from the user settings portal https://aka.ms/cqsettings.

   If the agents are in Microsoft Teams desktop clients, then they can opt-out by using the Call Settings.

Agent Alert setting

This defines the duration of an agent being notified of a call before the Serial or Round Robin routing methods move to the next agent.

The default setting is 30 seconds, but it can be set for up to 3 minutes.

Set the call overflow and timeout handling options

Maximum calls in the queue Use this to set the maximum calls that can wait in the queue at the same time. The default is 50, but it can range from 0 to 200. When this limit is reached, the call is handled in the way you set on the When the maximum number of calls is reached setting below.

When the maximum number of calls is reached When the call queue reaches its maximum size (set using the Maximum calls in the queue setting), you can choose what happens to new incoming calls.

• Disconnect The call is disconnected.

• Redirect to When you choose this, select one of the following:

  • Person in your company An Online user with a Phone System license and be enabled for Enterprise Voice or have a Calling Plan. You can set it up so the caller can be sent to voicemail. To do this, select a Person in your company and set this person to have their calls forwarded directly to voicemail.

  To learn about licenses required for voicemail, see Set up Cloud Voicemail.

  • Voice application Select the name of a resource account associated to either a call queue or auto attendant that has already been created.

Call Timeout: maximum wait time You can also decide how much time a call can be on hold in the queue before it times out and needs to be redirected or disconnected. Where it is redirected is based on how you set the When a call times out setting. You can set a time from 0 to 45 minutes.

The timeout value can be set in seconds, at 15-second intervals. This allows you to manipulate the call flow with finer granularity. For example, you could specify that any calls that are not answered by an agent within 30 seconds go to a Directory Search auto attendant.

When call times out When the call reaches the limit you set on the How long a call can wait in the queue setting, you can choose what happens to the call:

• Disconnect The call is disconnected.

• Redirect this call to When you choose this, you have these options:

  • Person in your company An Online user with a Phone System license and be enabled for Enterprise Voice or have Calling Plans. To set it up so the person calling in can be sent to voicemail, select a Person in your company and set this person to have their calls forwarded directly to voicemail.

  To learn about licenses required for voicemail, see Set up Cloud Voicemail.

  • Voice app Select the name of a resource account associated with either a call queue or auto attendant that you already created.

Change Caller ID for outbound calls

To protect a call agent's identity, change their caller ID for outbound calls to a call queue, auto attendant, or any service number with the New-CsCallingLineIdentity cmdlet as in the following example:

New-CsCallingLineIdentity -Identity "UKSalesQueue" -CallingIdSubstitute "Service" -ServiceNumber 14258828080 -EnableUserOverride $False -Verbose

Then apply the policy to the user with the Grant-CallingLineIdentity cmdlet as in the following example:

Grant-CsCallingLineIdentity -PolicyName UKSalesQueue -Identity "AmosMarble@contoso.com"

For more information, see How can caller ID be used in your organization.

Call queue cmdlets

You can also use Windows PowerShell to create and set up call queues. Here are the cmdlets that you use to manage a call queue.

• New-CsCallQueue

• Set-CsCallQueue

• Get-CsCallQueue

• Remove-CsCallQueue

More about Windows PowerShell

• Windows PowerShell is all about managing users and what users are allowed or not allowed to do. With Windows PowerShell, you can manage Office 365 and Microsoft Teams with a single point of administration. It can simplify your daily work, when you have multiple tasks to do. To get started with Windows PowerShell, see these topics:

  • An introduction to Windows PowerShell and Skype for Business Online

  • Why you need to use Office 365 PowerShell

• Windows PowerShell has many advantages in speed, simplicity, and productivity over the Microsoft Teams admin center when you make changes for many users at once. Learn about these advantages in the following topics:

  • Manage Office 365 with Windows PowerShell

  • Set up your computer for Windows PowerShell

Related topics

Here's what you get with Phone System in Office 365

Getting service phone numbers

Country and region availability for Audio Conferencing and Calling Plans

New-CsOnlineApplicationInstance