Phone numbers

Each phone number belongs to exactly one community and runs one playbook version at a time. A number can also follow a schedule that runs other playbooks during the day, in the evenings, at weekends, on holidays or while the community is closed, and its call flow can ring your team first and let the AI agent answer when nobody does.

flowchart LR
  n[Number dialled] --> g[Its community]
  g --> s{Its schedule<br/>at this moment}
  s -- a holiday or time slot matches --> pb2[That part's playbook]
  s -- all other times --> pb[The playbook you assigned<br/>to that number]
  pb2 --> v
  pb --> v
  v{Assignment mode}
  v -- always the latest --> latest[The newest published version]
  v -- pinned --> fixed[One version you chose]
  latest --> eff[Plus the community's<br/>customizations and profile]
  fixed --> eff
  eff --> call([The call])

Where numbers come from#

Your AnswerStack account manager buys numbers and assigns each one to a community. You cannot buy or release numbers yourself. What you control is which playbook each number runs.

If Phone numbers is empty, ask for a number for each community you want to go live.

Point a number at a playbook#

Only owners and admins can change what a number runs.

1. Open Phone numbers

   Each row shows the number, its label, the community it belongs to, and a line saying what it runs right now.

   

2. Choose the playbook

   Pick one from the Playbook dropdown. Only playbooks that are not archived are offered.

3. Choose the version

   Choice	What it means
   Always the latest	The number moves to each newly published version of that playbook automatically.
   Stay on version N	The number is pinned to that version and does not move when you publish.
   The draft (for testing)	Only on a test number. Runs whatever the draft currently says.

   Most numbers should be Always the latest, so a publish reaches every community at once. Pin a number when you want to compare two versions side by side, or to hold one community steady while you change another.

4. Save

   Press Save. The row confirms in words, for example Saved. Runs the latest published version of "Senior living inquiries" (version 3 now).

5. Call it

   Each row tells you to call that number to hear what callers hear. Calls to a real number are billed and are logged in your CRM, so use the test number while you are still experimenting.

Run other playbooks at set times#

A schedule lets one number run a different conversation at different times: a sales playbook during the day, a message-taking playbook in the evenings, and a holiday greeting on Christmas Day. Only owners and admins can change a schedule.

1. Open the schedule

   Press the calendar icon at the end of the number's row. The number needs a playbook first.

2. Add holidays and closures

   Press Add a holiday or closure, name it (for example Christmas Day), and choose the dates. Tick Every year for a holiday on the same date each year, and Only part of the day for a day you close early (for example from 2 PM, Until midnight).

3. Add weekly time slots

   Press Add a weekly time slot, name it (for example Daytime), and choose the days and times. Tick Until midnight for a slot that runs to the end of the day. A number's weekly schedule is its own: it is not the community's staffed hours, which decide transfers.

4. Follow the community's closures

   Press Add a part for while the community is closed to run another playbook during the community's own holidays and closures, set under its Hours and closures. It answers after this number's own holidays and closures and before the weekly schedule. Without it, a closed community still offers no tours and takes callbacks instead of transfers.

5. Choose a playbook for each part

   Each part runs its own playbook, Always the latest or pinned to a version. All other times is what the number runs whenever nothing else matches. Drafts only run on the test number, and only at all other times.

6. Check and save

   

   The box at the bottom says which part answers right now. Press Save schedule. The row then lists each part in words, for example Weekday evenings (Monday to Friday, from 6 PM): the latest version of "Senior living inquiries".

Which part answers. This number's holidays and closures are checked first, then its part for while the community is closed, then the weekly schedule, each from the top; the first that matches answers. Use the arrows to change the order. Times are in the community's time zone, set under its Details. The switch from one part to the next happens on the minute, with no delay.

Good to know.

• Changing the number's playbook in its row keeps the schedule. Only All other times changes.
• Moving the number to another community takes the schedule with it.
• A number with an experiment running shows Split test running with the versions it splits between (for example v2 / v3): those versions answer, not the one the version picker shows. Changing its playbook or version stops the experiment, and the row warns you before you save.
• Saving a schedule stops any experiment running on that number. To test two versions during the day only, start the experiment on the Daytime part.
• A playbook a schedule uses cannot be archived until no schedule uses it.
• Every call records which part answered it, and the history shows each schedule a number had.

If a part cannot run yet, for example because its community has no human backup plan for that playbook, saving says so, and All other times answers during that part until it is fixed.

The test number#

An account can have a test number, marked with a Test number chip. It is the only number that can run a draft, so you can dial a draft from any phone before it exists as a published version.

Use it when browser calling is not available to you, or when you want to hear the assistant over a real phone line, which is the only fair way to judge a voice.

What good looks like#

• Every community that should be live has at least one number.
• Every live number names a playbook and a version, not "No playbook".
• The line under each dropdown describes what you intended.

If something goes wrong#

Seeing what a number ran, and when#

The history icon at the end of each row opens a timeline of every assignment that number has had, with dates and who made the change. Old assignments are kept, so you can always answer "what was this number running on the 14th?".

Moving a number to another community#

Numbers are moved by your account manager, not in the app. The old assignment is closed and kept for history, and no change is needed at the phone company, because routing is looked up by the number dialled at the moment of the call.