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Building a call flow from empty
Building a call flow from empty

For this guide we will take you through, step by step, building an Emergency Bypass Call Flow from the Empty Call Flow template.

Updated over a year ago

How do I build a call flow?

With Surgery Connect you can create and change call flows to fit your needs exactly

You are able to change the audio prompts and options given to callers without the need to contact the Service Desk

For this guide we will take you through building a call flow from the Empty Call Flow template

We will use building an emergency bypass number as the example:

Step by step guide

Adding a new call flow

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

  2. Select the Service Delivery Console

  3. Navigate to the bottom of the screen and click on the Manage Numbers button

    Or, navigate to the Numbers tab of the Service Delivery Console

  4. The Numbers table will open

  5. Select the + Add New Call Flow button

  6. You will be asked to choose the number you want to use for the call flow, the name of your call flow, and if you want to use a template

  7. To create an empty/completely editable call flow, complete the Name field and choose the Empty Call Flow Template

  8. Save the call flow

    You will see a green Success message at the top of your screen when your new call flow has been created

    A red Failed message will show if there is something that has not been entered correctly

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Load your call flow

  1. Load your call flow through the Service Delivery Console, by navigating to Numbers

    and editing it through Options

    Or, via the X-flow Console

  2. Once your call flow is loaded you will see an empty (gridded) workspace with your Start block

  3. You can drag and drop each icon from the left onto the workspace to add a block to the call flow

  4. When you double click on the block this will enable you to customise the settings

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Start - Adding your live number

  1. Double click on your Start block to open the properties. Here you can allocate and manage your call flow number(s)

  2. The Start Properties window will open. Here you will see any test number assigned to the call flow, and the live number

    The call flow can be created without a live number, and you can add a spare unassigned number

  3. Click on Add Live Number

    You will then be given a list of unassigned numbers, which will be the same list available to you when you were creating the new call flow through the Service Delivery Console

  4. Select a number from this list and Confirm Add

  5. Save your changes

  6. When you deploy the call flow, that number will be assigned to this call flow

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Create your Welcome Message

The Welcome Message is the first contact with your caller

  1. Drag and drop a new Prompt icon onto your workspace to create a Prompt block

  2. Double click on the prompt block to open the Prompt Properties

  3. Set the prompt name, description and whether the caller can interrupt the greeting by pressing a button on their phone to play a tone

  4. Click on the Audio tab to upload your recorded prompt or set Text To Speech

    For a full description see our guide on Text to Speech

  5. Preview the message

  6. Make any required changes and click Save

    Your prompt block should now display its new name

  7. Select the Hang Up block (it will be surrounded by a dotted blue line when selected), and use ‘Delete’ to remove it

  8. Use the dots to join the blocks together to create the call flow

    The arrow will show you the direction the call follows

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Controlling your call flow - Adding a calendar

Your call flow needs to look at a Calendar so it can decide what to do with the incoming call. To do this you add a Mode Switch block

You can add a ew calendar through the Service Delivery Console, see our guide on Adding New Calendars

  1. Drag and drop the Mode Switch icon onto your workspace

  2. Before the Mode Switch block drops onto the workspace you will be asked to choose which calendar you want it to look at

  3. Choose your calendar and Add

  4. You will see the name of the calendar in the Mode Switch block

  5. Double click on the Mode Switch block to open the settings

    Note: If you have added the wrong calendar, you can edit the calendar it looks at on the Properties Tab

  6. Go to the Visible Outputs tab

    Here you can choose which modes in your calendar that you want your call flow to look at

    This will enable you to create supporting call flow actions for each mode

    For this Emergency Bypass number the modes it will look at are; Open, Closed, Holiday and Emergency

  7. Make any required changes and click Save

  8. Your Mode Switch block will now display each calendar mode chosen and a default - which will play if any other Modes are found on the calendar

  9. Connect your Welcome Prompt to your Mode Switch

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Create your prompts

Each calendar mode will require a prompt, so that the caller is told the message appropriate for that mode, before the call either progresses (if open) or stops

  1. Drag and drop a prompt icon for each closed output to create the Prompt blocks

  2. Double click on each Prompt block and name the prompt in the Properties Tab and set the audio in the Audio tab as before

  3. Connect the appropriate mode to each prompt

  4. Create the action to be taken if the line is open

    This could be a Prompt, a Menu or a Group. For the Emergency Bypass Call Flow we will be adding a Prompt and then a Group

    Remember: to advise callers, using a Prompt, that calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes (unless call recording has been deactivated for the practice)

  5. Drag and drop your Prompt for the call recording, change the name and set audio as before

  6. Delete the hang up

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Add your Group

Your group will be the group of users who will be targeted to answer the call, when the line (Mode) is open

  1. Drag the Group icon onto your workspace

  2. As you drag the Group icon onto the workspace you will be asked to select your Group

    Don’t forget, you can only select a Group that you have already created via the Service Delivery Console

    If you need to create a new group, see our guides on the Service Delivery Console, Adding Groups

  3. To customise or change the Playlist (the audio heard whilst a caller waits to be answered) and Patient Callback options, double click on the Group block to open the

    Group Properties

    See our guides on Playlists and Patient Callback

  4. Save any changes

  5. Name your Whisper and set the Audio, so that the group members answering the call know what type of call it is, and your Timeout/Fail output as before

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Connect the dots!

Connect your Open output to your Call Recording Prompt

Then your Call Recording Prompt to your Emergency Bypass Group

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Auto arrange

Use the Auto Arrange function to tidy up the layout of your call flow

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Check the call flow - Testing

  1. Double click on the Start block to bring up the properties

  2. You will see the test number here

  3. Select Test Overrides from the functions at the top of the X-flow workspace

  4. Select the required Calendar to change the Mode selection

    Select the Mode to be tested

  5. The Mode Switch block will show the selected Mode, and Test Overrides will show as Active

  6. Call the Test Number to check the routing and audio prompts for the selected Mode

  7. Select Auto in the calendar to stop the Test Override

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Deploy

Once you have tested your call flow and are happy it is working how you want, you can make your call flow live

  1. Deploy the Call Flow to the Live number

  2. When deploying add a description so you can keep track of any changes and revert back to previously deployed versions if necessary

  3. You will receive a success message, once you have deployed your call flow

  4. The Undeployed Version warning will have disappeared

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#xflow #callflow #emergencybypass

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