Well, here's what I set up - any input appreciated.
The business is open 8 to 6, Mon-Sat, and 10-5 on Sun.
The business office answers the calls live, using the auto attendant as a backup during opening hours, and the auto attendant immediatly after hours. However, the business office goes home at 5, and is not in at all on Sunday, so the sales floor need to answer incoming calls from 5 to 6 on weekdays and Saturdays, and all day Sunday.
So, I have made the Operator ring immediatly, and added a Pool-70 button with immediate ring to the other phones in the business office. The Operator extension is the Principal User of the lines, has voice mail coverage after 7 rings, and the Operator's mailbox is pointed to the Auto Attendant.
The auto attendant is controlled by the Businesss Schedule, to switch the message from "We're open, but all operators are busy" to "We're closed, dial an extension number to leave a message, or 0 for the General mailbox".
The Magix is set for Night Service with Time Control, to send the incoming calls to the auto attendant immediatly during closing hours.
So the conumdrum comes in for that hour each day and Sunday, when the salesmen have to answer the incoming calls. They wanted the phones on the sales floor to simply ring. I thought about having the Night Service switch to Night when the business office leaves, and all day Sunday, putting the sales floor extensions in the Night Service group, and a DND button on the Operator to send the calls immediatly when they are truely closed. However, the business office is locked up, so no one can get to the phone to press DND, and they want everything to happen automatically.
So I have added a loud bell on the sales floor, connected to a Tip/Ring port. Have the Operator forward the extension to the bell when they leave the business office. Now incoming calls ring at the bell, as well as in the office. The Salesmen need to do a "pickup-100" (the bell) or a "pickup-0" (the Operator) to get the calls.
Seems to work, didn't think a "loop-around" would work well, as you only get one call at a time on the loop. Are there any other tricks I am missing here? Anyone have a slicker solution?