A function from PBXs that’s not available to the same degree in Teams is a “night mode” button. This button would be on a receptionist’s or supervisor’s phone, and would trigger the PBX to use the “night mode” or “after hours” greeting and configuration instead of the business hours greeting and configuration. While Teams does have scheduling available that can do this automatically, this function is handy when there’s a one-time special event. That may be planned, such as a company BBQ, or it may not be in the event of a building evacuation or being closed due to inclement weather.

Teams now offers “Authorized Users” who can be delegated certain permissions to an auto attendant. That allows a non-admin user the ability to adjust greetings but not the schedule. Honestly this isn’t a bad thing, scheduling setup isn’t something that should be open assigned to non-admins.

If changing the greeting isn’t sufficient, that leaves us back with IT needing to take action. Rather than adjusting schedules and greetings, I recommend use (or is it maybe abuse?) of the Holiday settings.

The holiday schedule for an auto attendant is the first thing that’s checked when it receives a call. If the current time falls within an active holiday, the appropriate holiday call flow takes place. If not, the current time is checked against the after-hours schedule, and then finally the default call flow is used.

We can take advantage of this by setting up a “Special Event” holiday, with a custom greeting and schedule. Calls during the company BBQ will follow this schedule. We could also create another holiday called “Inclement Weather” with an appropriate greeting. When the organization will be closed because of the inclement weather, the schedule for that holiday can be updated, and it will be the call flow that is used.

Here’s an example inclement weather greeting.

In your auto attendant, select Call flows during holidays, then click the +Add button:

Now in the Holiday drop down, select “Add”

Give your “holiday” a name, then set the start and end dates and times. Note here that I’ve picked a date in the past. You must have at least one date/time for your holiday, however since this is for future use at an unknown time, I can’t put the actual event time here. If this was a company special event like that BBQ, I could put the actual date and time here.

Enter a name for your holiday call setting (I’ve also called it Inclement Weather), and what call flow you want. In this case, I want to play a greeting and disconnect the caller. You may want to offer other options for the caller, after all Teams allows you to work from any location and staff may be able to work from home.

Now should a decision be made to close the organization due to inclement weather, IT can edit the holiday schedule to be in effect, and the inclement weather call flow will be selected.