Set Up Primary and Backup Agents in a Call Queue
Use Level rules to offer queued calls to a primary team and then make backup agents eligible. Coordinate ring times, tier waits and the final fallback.
Give the primary team priority without losing the caller
Use one queue with different agent levels when reception should take calls first and another team should help if the call remains unanswered. Levels define priority groups; they are not separate queues. The distribution strategy and Level rules work together.
1. Prepare the agents and the queue
Open Settings → Phone Numbers → Call Flow → Call Centers for the correct location. Create or edit the agents in Agents and confirm their extensions can answer direct calls. Save the queue before assigning agents, then reopen it and use Add Agent.
2. Assign primary and backup levels
| Role | Example extension | Level | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary reception | 102 | 1 | 1 |
| Primary reception | 101 | 1 | 2 |
| Backup team | 103 | 2 | 1 |
This is an example, not a required extension scheme. Use your actual agents. Lower levels have priority; Position orders agents within a level for strategies that use it. Position can restart at 1 in each level.
With Top down, do not use Position 0. Use positive Positions starting at 1. For a team with no backup tiers, keep agents on the same Level rather than inventing extra levels.
3. Choose how each eligible team receives calls
Use Top down for a fixed offer order, Round Robin for rotating offers or Ring everyone to ring eligible agents together. A strategy alone does not create a timed primary-to-backup plan: review the queue's Level rules.
4. Configure the level rules deliberately
- Level rules: enable the tier rules when the primary and backup levels should be used for escalation. If disabled, the configured level-based waiting rules are not enforced.
- Wait before the next level: controls the waiting threshold used before another level can become eligible. It is not how long one agent rings.
- Multiply the wait by the level: changes how the threshold is calculated for higher levels. With it enabled, higher levels require more waiting. Do not assume every level gets the same extra interval.
- Skip levels with nobody logged in: controls whether the queue can move past a level with no logged-in agents without its usual wait. Check the agents' actual login status; a logged-in but unreachable phone is a different case.
A level becoming eligible does not guarantee that its phone rings at that exact second. Availability, ongoing offers, agent retry/wrap-up timers and the selected strategy still apply. Do not assume the primary team is removed from consideration when backup becomes eligible.
5. Coordinate the three different timers
- Agent Ring for: length of one offer to that agent. A 15–30 second value can be useful for a controlled test.
- Level waiting rules: when additional levels can become eligible.
- Maximum wait: the caller's overall queue limit. Also review Maximum wait with no agents.
Make the overall wait long enough to allow the planned primary attempts, tier wait and a useful backup attempt. Set If nobody answers to a tested voicemail or another suitable destination. Leaving it empty can disconnect the caller at the waiting limit; pointing it to the same queue can create a loop.
6. Test all paths before changing live routing
- With both teams available, confirm the primary team receives the initial offer.
- Let the primary offers go unanswered and observe when backup is offered the call.
- Repeat with primary agents logged out, then with them busy or in wrap-up; these are different tests.
- Test with nobody answering until the waiting limit and verify the fallback.
- Check the actual IVR and open/closed-hours routes, and confirm two-way audio.
Save and reopen the queue to verify its settings. If the timing is not as intended, share the queue name/extension, agent assignments, rule values and a dated call sample with support. We can help review a flow you want to reproduce from another phone system.
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