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Group Telephony & Routing

Navigation: Admin → Directory → Groups → [select group] → Calls tab Prerequisite: A General Group must exist before telephony can be configured on it.

What Is Group Telephony?

Group Telephony allows a General Group to have its own phone number or internal extension. When that number is called, Genesys routes the interaction to group members using one of three call route methods.

ℹ️ Group Telephony applies to General Groups (Official or Social) only. Work Teams and Skill Expression Groups do not support direct telephony configuration.

Enabling Calls on a Group

  1. Admin → Directory → Groups
  2. Open the target group
  3. Toggle Enable Calls to On (found on the left panel or top of the group profile)
  4. Click Edit next to the phone settings
  5. Configure the fields below
  6. Click Save

Phone Configuration Fields

Field Description
Phone Number / Extension Assign a DID (external) or internal extension to the group
Call Route Type How incoming calls are distributed to members — see below
Backup Group A secondary group that receives calls if no member in the primary group answers

Call Route Types

This is the most important setting in Group Telephony. Choose one of three methods:

Broadcast

  • Rings all group members simultaneously (up to 1,000 members)
  • First member to answer gets the call
  • Best for: urgent notifications, on-call teams, small groups where speed matters

Sequential

  • Rings members one by one in a defined list order
  • Moves to the next member only if the current member does not answer
  • Best for: tiered support escalation, defined coverage order

Rotary (Round-Robin)

  • Rings the next person in the list based on who took the last call
  • Distributes load evenly across the group over time
  • Best for: shared coverage teams where equal distribution matters

Backup Group

If no member in the primary group answers, calls can overflow to a Backup Group.

  • The backup group must already exist before it can be assigned
  • The backup group uses its own Call Route Type independently
  • Useful for: after-hours coverage, overflow to a supervisor group, redundancy

Group Voicemail (Optional)

If no one answers — including the backup group — calls can fall to a group voicemail box.

To configure:

  1. Toggle Voicemail to On on the group profile
  2. Configure the following:
Setting Description
Greeting Click the red record button to record live, or upload a .wav file
Email Notifications Sends an alert to group members when a new voicemail arrives
Transcription Includes a text version of the voicemail in the email notification (if available for your org)

Call Routing Flow (Summary)

Incoming call to group number/extension
        │
        ▼
Call Route Type applies
(Broadcast / Sequential / Rotary)
        │
        ├── Member answers → Interaction connected
        │
        └── No answer
              │
              ▼
        Backup Group (if configured)
              │
              ├── Member answers → Interaction connected
              │
              └── No answer
                    │
                    ▼
              Group Voicemail (if enabled)

Key Differences: Group Telephony vs. ACD Queues

Feature Group Telephony ACD Queue
Routing engine Simple list-based (broadcast/sequential/rotary) Full ACD (skills, priority, utilization)
Agent availability check No — rings regardless of status Yes — only routes to available agents
Reporting Basic Full performance views
Architect flow integration No Yes
Best for Internal teams, small groups, direct extensions Contact center interactions

Permissions Required

Action Permission
Configure group telephony Directory > Group > Edit
Assign phone numbers to groups Telephony admin access may be required for DID assignment

See Also

  • Groups (People & Permissions) — creating and managing the group itself
  • Queue & Routing Management — full ACD routing for contact center interactions
  • Work Teams — supervisor-managed agent groups (no telephony)
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