Delayed Auto Attendant on IP Office

Auto Attendants on IP Office are very capable with either Voicemail Pro or Embedded VM.  Both are a very good solution, but can be cumbersome in setting up a delayed Auto Attendant.  While there are several ways to accomplish this, this article describes the most reliable and versatile way of accomplishing the task.  Basically, HG -> User -> SC -> AA is the method.

1.  The first step is to creat the AA in voicemail (pro or embedded) and create a shortcode that calls the Auto Attendant.  For Embedded Voicemail the code would be:

500 | AA:Name | Auto Attendant | 0
( format: Shortcode | Telephone Number | Feature | LGID)

where Name is the name of the Auto Attendant.

For Voicemail Pro the code is a bit different:
500 | "Name" | Voicemail Collect | 0
where Name is the name of  a module in Voicemail Pro.

Or  alternatively:
500 | "VM:Name" | Voicemail Node | 0
where Name is the name of a ShortCode (in Voicemail).

2.  Create a new user, 501 for this example, give it a meaningful name and do not associate an extension (respond no to the ‘Create a VoIP extn?’ question).  Under the User |Voicemail tab for 501 turn off voicemail.  Under the User | Forwarding tab for 501 set Forward Unconditional to forward to 500 (our shortcode above) with Forward Internal and Forward Hunt Group Calls both selected.

3.  Now create a Sequential hunt group and add the newly created  user (501) to the group.  At this point you should be able to call the Shortcode, the User or the Hunt Group and get the Auto Attendant immediately.  If not review the steps.

To put the call flow to work, simply add the new group as the fallback or overflow of the origional target extension or Hunt Group.