What is Location Routing?
Location routing picks the right endpoint for a caller based on where they need service. During the call, the Routing | Service Location tool asks the caller for their state and suburb (or postcode), confirms the locality with them, and then looks up which of your endpoints covers it. A following Handoff step transfers the caller to that endpoint. How the lookup chooses endpoints is set for the whole team in Routing settings, and for each endpoint in its Coverage cell. Both are on the Endpoints tab of Numbers & Routing.Routing Settings
Click Routing settings in the Endpoints toolbar. The dialog — “How the location tool picks endpoints for a confirmed locality.” — has one main choice, Coverage:
A team that has never changed these settings uses Explicit rules only.
Postcode and locality rules — which suburbs or postcodes a particular endpoint serves — are configured by the Voxworks team. Speak to the Voxworks team for further custom configuration.
Distance settings
With Nearest location by distance selected, three numbers control what the caller is offered:
For example, with the defaults: a caller 3 km from one location and 4 km from another is offered both, because both are within 5 km. A caller whose nearest location is 40 km away is offered just that one — the nearest is always offered. A caller more than 250 km from every location gets the tool’s fallback instead.
If a number is out of range, the dialog shows “Check the numbers: distance 1–5000 km, radius 0–1000 km, choices 1–10.” and Save stays disabled. Only people who can manage routing can save; you’ll see Routing settings saved.
Which locations are placed
Distance routing measures from the caller to each location’s address, so a location takes part only once its address is placed on the map. The dialog shows how many of your active locations are placed, and lists up to five that aren’t: “Not placed, so excluded from distance routing: … Add or fix their addresses on the Locations tab.” Only Australian addresses can be placed. See Locations → Placement for how to fix an address that isn’t.Coverage on Each Endpoint
The Coverage column on the Endpoints tab shows how far each endpoint reaches in distance routing:
Click the chip to change it:
- Distance routing — Included or Excluded. New endpoints are included.
- Service radius (km) — optional, shown when included. “Callers farther than this are not offered this endpoint. Leave blank to use the team maximum.” The placeholder shows the team value, for example Team default 250.
Try a Lookup
The bottom of the Routing settings dialog has a Try a lookup box for checking your setup without placing a call. Type a place the way a caller might say it — “Try a locality, e.g. Castle Hill NSW” — and click Look up (or press Enter). The result shows:- the locality it matched, for example Castle Hill, NSW (or No locality matched), with how it matched;
- a numbered list of the endpoints that would be offered, each with its distance (or rule when a rule matched) and whether it’s open right now;
- or, when nothing covers that place, “No endpoint would be offered. The call goes to the script’s fallback.”
Setting It Up
- On the Locations tab, give each location an Australian address picked from the address lookup, and check none shows Not placed.
- On the Endpoints tab, make sure each location has an endpoint for the department callers should reach, and set each endpoint’s fallback.
- Open Routing settings, choose Nearest location by distance, adjust the distance numbers, and Save.
- Use Try a lookup with a few suburbs to confirm the right endpoints come back.
- In your script, add the Routing | Service Location tool followed by a Handoff step. See Transferring Calls.
Next Steps
- Routing | Service Location — the tool that asks the caller where they are and finds the endpoint
- Endpoints — fallback and coverage for each transfer destination
- Locations — addresses and map placement