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Call Delegation in Office Communicator

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

New call forwarding options allow a manager or executive to select one or more assistants (delegates) to receive her phone calls. Delegates are contacts who can answer the manager's calls, and can make and transfer calls on the manager's behalf.

Note

Delegates must use Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant instead of Office Communicator so that they can access all of the call delegation features.

Using Call Delegation

The manager specifies delegates in Office Communicator, in the Call-Forwarding Settings dialog box.

The manager can configure the call-forwarding settings to do the following:

  • Simultaneously send all incoming phone calls to the manager and the delegate.

  • Send all incoming phone calls to a set list of delegates.

  • Add more than one contact to the list of delegates.

When set up as a manager's delegate, the assistant can make phone calls on behalf of the manager.

When using call delegation, it is important for all parties involved to know how a call is being handled. The following features are designed to help callers, assistants, and managers understand who will receive the call:

  • When a caller uses Office Communicator to attempt to contact the manager, the status region reflects that the call is ringing the manager and her delegates. This informs the caller that an assistant might answer the call.

  • If a delegate answers the phone call, the caller’s roster shows the name of the delegate who has answered the call, and on behalf of whom.

  • When a delegate answers the phone call, the manager and other delegates see who answered the call.

After the delegates are set up, the transfer menu in the Conversation window shows the list of manager’s delegates, for quick transfer of phone calls to assistants for follow-up.