How do I start making phone calls?
For making and receiving phone calls you only need the extension credentials which are usually provided by your PBX Administrator. Once you have the credentials, you simply need to configure your hard or soft phones.
Note that for outbound calls you should dial with international dialing format. For example, to dial to UK you need to put 0044 or +44 in front of the number. For internal calls, (another extension), you simply dial the extension number, e.g. “1001”.
ImpactPBX Portal
ImpactPBX portal is a multi-tenant cloud application that allows users to manage their cloud PBX. Users have different permissions based on their role. The supported user roles are: admin, manager, agent, user. When logged in the portal you will see your dashboard with your call and extension statistics. Please find below a few details of different areas in the portal.
Extensions:
In Users & Extensions > Extensions you can manage the extensions of your PBX (view, edit, delete, create). When editing an extension, you can also add the name of the user in the field "Effective Caller ID Name" found in the “Caller ID” tab so that its visible to other users when someone is calling them. For a better overview also add the name in the field "Description" found in the “General“ tab.
Ring Groups:
If you want to divert incoming calls to several extensions at the same time (a call comes in and several extensions should ring), you can add a Ring Group by going to Call Centers > Ring Groups. Provide a name and extension number (e.g. 9100) for the Ring Group, select the ringing strategy and add extensions to this group (Destinations, e.g. 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004). You can also select a time-out destination, if none in the group picks up the call, e.g. extension 1000 Reception. There are many more parameters that can be configured.
IVR Menus:
You can add IVR Menus to your system. Many companies use IVRs for the main inbound call number. When a call comes in a greeting can be played like: "Welcome to our company. Please dial 0 for reception, 1 for sales and 2 for support”. For this purpose, you can add recordings from the section Tools > Recordings to the IVR Menu. To create an IVR Menu just click on "+" in Dialplan & Routing > IVR Menus, enter a name and extension number, e.g. 9001 for the Menu, add a long and short greeting and define the options of the Menu. Destinations can be Extensions, Ring Groups, Call Queues and more. You can even create another IVR Menu and use this as destination if you want to have several levels of menus, e.g. Welcome...., press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish -> Another IVR (1, English), press 1 for sales and 2 for support. There are more options that can be configured. With IVR you are able to create call flows within the company according to your business logic. Ring Groups, Extensions etc. to connect to must be created first. To connect an external phone number in the PBX to an IVR, you need to go to Dialplan & Routing > Destinations, create a new destination (click on "+"), put the external phone number in the “Destination“ field and select the IVR in the field "Actions". Set “Enabled” to "true" and provide a description. Now, incoming calls get picked up by the IVR.
Operator Panel:
The Operator Panel can be accessed from the main menu. The panel provides functionality for monitoring your extensions (which are registered, which are making calls, etc.). Also, it provides functionality for eavesdropping (listen into an active call, whisper to agent or caller, adhoc conference) and hang-up calls. This is the perfect panel for your receptionist and managers.
In order to use eavesdropping please follow the instructions below:
Assign an extension to the user (Users & Extensions > Extensions > edit an extension > General tab > set the User field)
Register the extension using a soft-phone, desk-phone or a web-phone
Click on the headphone's icon of the calling extension. At that point the extension’s phone will ring and if the call is answered the extension will be able to eavesdrop the call. The following options are available:
Speak to callee only (press number 1)
Speak to caller only (press number 2)
Ad hoc conference (press number 3)
For restore listen only (press number 0)
Integrations:
To integrate ImpactPBX with any external system (e.g. CRM) there are two different methods that can be utilized:
Web-hooks (for originate, ring, answer and hang-up events). To manage web-hooks please navigate to Integrations > Webhooks. Additional information can be found here: https://support.impactechs.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407736961297-ImpactPBX-Web-hooks
REST API. To view all available endpoints please navigate to Integrations > Impact API.
Some more features include:
Listen to call recordings and view call history: Reports > Call History
View extension summary (call statistics per extension): Reports > Extension Summary
View connected extensions/devices: Connections > Registrations
View active calls: Activity > Active Calls
Please note that there are many more features in your PBX like Call Queues, Conferencing, Voicemail, Time Conditions (Business Hours), music on hold, call transfer (blind, attended), SMS, FAX, etc.