Call Routing, Destinations, and Call Permissions

This guide covers how phone numbers are pointed at something inside your system (Destinations), how outbound calls choose a path off your system (Outbound Routes), the matching list of raw inbound routing rules (Inbound Routes), and how to restrict who can call which numbers (Outbound Call Permission groups).

Overview#

• Destinations (menu: Services > Destinations) is where you manage each phone number (DID) you own and decide what it's pointed at — an extension, a Ring Group, an IVR Menu, a Time Condition, voicemail, and so on. For most day-to-day changes ("make this number ring the sales team instead"), this is the screen you want.
• Inbound Routes and Outbound Routes (menu: Services) are the underlying, rule-based dialplan entries that Destinations and Outbound dialing patterns are built from. These are generally set up once by your service provider when your system (and your trunks/carrier connections) are provisioned, and may not appear in every account's own menu — most customers never need to touch them directly, but they're covered below for completeness.
• Outbound Call Permission groups (menu: Call Ops > Call Artifacts > Outbound Call Permission tab) let you restrict which extensions, supervisors, queues, or ring groups are allowed to dial which outbound numbers.

Destinations#

A Destination ties a real phone number (or an internal alias) to whatever should happen when a call to it arrives.

The Destinations list

Screenshot needed · destinations-list

How to Create a Destination#

1. Go to Services > Destinations and choose the Inbound tab, then click Add.
2. Choose the Type — almost always Inbound for a real DID; Local is used for internal-only aliases.
3. Enter the Destination number itself (the DID), along with any Country Code, Trunk Prefix, or Area Code fields your provider requires for that number to match correctly.
4. Set the Context — normally your own domain, left at its default.
5. Under Actions, choose what the call does. You can chain more than one action — the same categories available on an IVR Menu's option list apply here (Extensions, Ring Groups, Call Center queues, Voicemail, IVR Menus, Time Conditions, Conferences, Fax, or one of the quick shortcuts like Check Voicemail/Company Directory/Hang Up/Record). Typically the first/only action is "transfer to" whatever should answer this number.
6. Optionally set a Caller ID Name/Caller ID Number override, a CID Name Prefix tag, Record (to always record calls to this number), Hold Music, Distinctive Ring, Ring Back, and Account Code.
7. Set Order, make sure Enabled is checked, add a Description, and save.

How to Edit a Destination#

1. Go to Services > Destinations, pick the Inbound/Outbound/Local tab the number lives under, and click its number.
2. Change the Actions (what it's pointed at) or any other field, then Save.

How to Delete a Destination#

1. Go to Services > Destinations, select the tab the number is on.
2. Check the box next to the number(s) to remove, click Delete, and confirm.

Destination Field Reference#

Inbound Routes#

Inbound Routes are the raw, condition-based dialplan rules that inbound calls are matched against (the same mechanism Destinations builds on top of). Each rule matches on the call's Context, Destination Number, and/or Caller ID Number, and runs one or two Actions when it matches.

Most customers manage inbound call handling from Destinations instead, since it's the simpler, number-focused view of the same underlying routing. Inbound Routes are typically set up by your provider and may be hidden from your own menu.

Inbound Route Field Reference#

Outbound Routes#

Outbound Routes decide which gateway/trunk an outgoing call uses, based on the number being dialed, and can add or strip digits before the call leaves your system.

The Outbound Routes list

Screenshot needed · outbound-routes-list

How to Create an Outbound Route#

1. Go to Services > Outbound Routes and click Add.
2. Choose the Gateway this route should use (your carrier trunk), and optionally Alternate 1 / Alternate 2 gateways to try if the first one fails.
3. Choose a Dial Pattern — a ready-made pattern such as 7-digit, 10-digit, 11-digit, North America, North America International, Toll-Free (800), 911/933, 988, or International, or select Dial custom prefix, then Digits to build your own.
4. Set a Prefix if a number needs digits added to the front before it's sent to the gateway (for example, adding a "1" for North American long distance).
5. Optionally set a Limit on concurrent calls through this route, an Account Code, and a Toll Allow value (ties this route to the toll-allow settings on extensions permitted to use it).
6. Optionally require a PIN Number (a fixed PIN) or a PIN looked up from the database before the route can be used.
7. Set the Order (routes are tried in order until one matches), make sure Enabled is checked, add a Description, and save.

Outbound Routes are typically configured by your provider when trunks are set up, and may not be visible in every account.

Outbound Route Field Reference#

Number Translations is a related, provider-level tool for rewriting dialed/caller numbers with pattern-matching rules before they're routed. It's generally managed by your service provider rather than by individual customers, so it isn't covered in detail here.

Outbound Call Permission Groups#

Outbound Call Permission lets you control, per domain, which extensions (or supervisors, queues, and ring groups) are allowed to place outbound calls, and to which numbers.

The key rule: if you have zero enabled groups, outbound calling is completely unrestricted — every extension can call anywhere, exactly as if this feature didn't exist. As soon as one or more groups are enabled, your domain switches to "deny by default" — only what an enabled group explicitly allows is let through. Any extension that isn't a member of at least one enabled group is automatically denied once any group is turned on.

How to Create an Outbound Call Permission Group#

1. Go to Call Ops > Call Artifacts, open the Outbound Call Permission tab, and click Add Group.
2. Enter a Group Name.
3. Set Enabled to True when you're ready for this group to actually start restricting calls (see the key rule above — leave it False while you're still building it out).
4. Set the Base Policy for the group: Allow All (members can call anywhere unless a Destination Rule below says otherwise) or Deny All (members can't call anywhere unless a Destination Rule explicitly allows it).
5. Under Members, add each extension, supervisor, call queue, or ring group this policy should apply to. Queue and ring group membership is live — whoever is currently an agent in that queue, or currently a member of that ring group, is automatically covered, with no need to list individual people.
6. Under Destination Rules, optionally add specific number prefixes or full numbers with their own Allow or Deny policy that overrides the group's Base Policy for just those numbers (for example, a Base Policy of Allow All with a Destination Rule that Denies international prefixes). The most specific (longest) matching rule wins; any number with no matching rule simply uses the Base Policy.
7. Click Save.

How to Edit an Outbound Call Permission Group#

1. Go to Call Ops > Call Artifacts > Outbound Call Permission.
2. Click the group's name.
3. Adjust the Base Policy, Members, or Destination Rules, then Save.

How to Delete an Outbound Call Permission Group#

1. Go to Call Ops > Call Artifacts > Outbound Call Permission.
2. Click the delete icon next to the group and confirm.
3. A system default group (marked "system default") cannot be deleted — disable it instead if you don't want it active.

How Multiple Groups Interact#

If an extension belongs to more than one enabled group, each matching group is checked, starting from that group's own Base Policy and then applying its own Destination Rules for the number being dialed. If any of the extension's matching groups ends up allowing that number, the call goes through — a deny in one group does not override an allow in another.

Outbound Call Permission Field Reference#

Tips & Common Issues#

• Changes to Destinations take effect for new calls right away — no separate "apply" step is needed.
• If a number isn't routing where you expect, check its Actions on the Destinations screen first; if it looks correct there, the issue is more likely in whatever it's pointed at (an IVR Menu, Ring Group, or Time Condition) rather than the Destination itself.
• When setting up Outbound Call Permission, build and review a group fully with Enabled set to False first, then flip it on — remember that turning on your very first group immediately switches every extension in the domain to deny-by-default, including any extension you haven't added to a group yet.
• Use Destination Rules sparingly and specifically (e.g. block a particular country code or premium-rate prefix) rather than trying to list every allowed number individually — let the Base Policy handle the general case.
• If an agent or supervisor says they suddenly can't make outbound calls, check whether a new Outbound Call Permission group was just enabled and whether that person's extension (or their queue/ring group) is a member of any enabled group.