Skip to main content

External (inbound) Numbers

Identifying, assigning and un-assigning your inbound surgery numbers

What are my inbound numbers and how do I use them?

Through the Service Delivery Console you can manage all of your numbers. Each external (inbound) number will need an associated call flow. Inbound numbers are used for your main lines in to the Surgery, Direct Dial numbers or group numbers

This guide will show you how to identify your numbers, identify spare numbers (numbers not currently being used), how to assign a number to a call flow and how to un-assign a number so it can be used again

For information on internal (Short Dial) numbers, see our Short Dial Numbers guide

For CLI Management please see our Users and Groups Guide here and

our CLI Settings for Phonebar Users Guide here.

Step by step guide

Accessing Numbers

Log in to Surgery Connect - sso.x-onweb.com - with your NHS email address and Surgery Connect password

Select the Service Delivery Console

Click on the Numbers tab

When you access the list of Numbers you will see this table

For a brief introduction, see our Numbers Overview guide


Identifying numbers

There are several ways you can identify your numbers. Each number will be listed in the table you can sort the numbers, filter by number type or search for the number by name

Sort Numbers - ascending or descending

This can be useful if you are trying to find the highest short dial number used, so you can add the next number to a new user

Filter by number Type

Once you have filtered by number type you can again sort the numbers ascending or descending

Search by name, this can be the name of a user, group name or inbound number name

Once you have found the correct number you can edit it through Options


Identifying Unassigned Numbers

Services sometimes have spare or unassigned inbound numbers

These can be kept in the list and not used or they can be assigned to a user as a DDI or a group of users, you can even create a new group and have a direct line to the group such as an Emergency Bypass Team or Management Team

If you want to add more Inbound numbers to your service you will need to make a request to [email protected]

Click on the Unassigned Number filter

Your unassigned number will now display in the table - you can edit them through Options


Assigning a number

To assign a spare number click the edit icon

An Add a New Call Flow window will open

The number will be automatically populated

Name the telephone number descriptively, so it is easy to identify in your Numbers List and in your Call Flows

Choose call flow from the drop down list of templates

Once chosen your template will display

Select which calendar you want the number and the call flow to use from the drop down

Select which department or group you want the number to go to from the drop down

Save Call Flow, this will now associate the number to a call flow, which you can edit via X-flow

If your call flow was saved successfully you will see this notification in the top right hand corner of your screen

If there was a problem with your call flow you will be notified and it will not save

For full information on how to edit your call flow see our X-flow guides


Editing an Assigned number

Find the number you want to edit and click on the Edit button in the Options column

This will open up the call flow assigned to that number, in X-flow

For full information on how to edit your call flow see our X-flow guides


Un-assigning a number

You can un-assign both External (inbound) and internal (short Dial) numbers

Find the number you want to edit and click on the Edit button in the Options column

This will open up the call flow assigned to that number, in X-flow

Double click on the start block in the X-flow workspace

The Start Properties window will open

Click on the remove button for the number you wish to un-assign

The Start Properties window will change with the following warning

You can cancel this change or Save to un-associate the number

Deploy the call flow

Once the changes to the call flow are deployed, the required number will show as Unassigned in the Numbers list in the Service Delivery Console, and can then be re-assigned


Did this answer your question?