Outbound schemes and the primary number

Which number an employee calls from is decided in three steps: their primary outbound scheme, the company's shared number, and a manual pick before the call. Here is how to set the primary number for one employee or for many at once, how to turn number choice on and off, and why a call sometimes does not go out at all.

Three steps of number choice

When an employee calls a customer, AISAR picks the number in order, top to bottom.

The employee's primary scheme. An outbound scheme decides which numbers they call from and in what order. If the scheme has fallbacks (a number rotation or a "failed, try the next one" chain), they work inside that scheme.
The company's shared number. It is for people who are in no outbound scheme. Set it under Telephony → Settings → Outbound schemes.
Picking a number before the call. The employee chooses another number in the dialpad or on the contact card. You can turn this step off for the whole company.

A company that has configured nothing notices nothing: there are no schemes, no shared number is set, number choice is on, and a call goes out exactly as before.

Several schemes per employee

An employee and a team may belong to several outbound schemes at once. A scheme's members are edited under Telephony → Settings → Outbound schemes: adding someone to a new scheme takes nothing away from the others, and the employee stays in their previous schemes. Before, binding to a new scheme silently removed the employee from the old one; that no longer happens.

Of several schemes, one becomes the primary one, and the default call goes through it. If nobody picked a primary one, AISAR chooses it by the previous rule: a personal scheme before a team one. In that case the employee shows a "chosen automatically" note in the list until you click a number yourself.

The primary number in the Employees section

Open Telephony → Settings → Employees. In the outbound-calls column each employee shows their schemes; the chosen primary one is marked with a star. To change it, click another scheme in the employee's row. The choice applies immediately, and if something goes wrong the row reverts to the previous value and shows the reason.

If an employee has a single scheme, it is the primary one and there is nothing to switch.
If there are no schemes, the row shows the company's shared number, or "any available number" when no shared number is set.
Only a scheme the employee already belongs to can be made primary. You cannot add them to a scheme from this section: membership is edited under "Outbound schemes".

The primary number for everyone at once

Tick employees in the same section (or select everyone), then in the "N selected" bar open the "Primary number for everyone" menu and pick an outbound scheme. That scheme becomes the primary one for everybody ticked. Employees who are not in it are skipped, and AISAR shows how many were updated and how many skipped, with a reason for each. This action never adds anyone to a scheme.

The shared number and picking before a call

Under Telephony → Settings → Outbound schemes there is a card named "How the number for an outbound call is chosen". It has two company-wide settings.

The company's shared number. Employees who are in no scheme call from it. If it is not set, they call as before: from any available number.
Picking before a call. On by default. When you turn it off, the employee no longer sees the list of numbers, and the call leaves from their primary number.

The switch restricts nothing for people with no schemes and no shared number, nor for those whose primary scheme calls from "any available number": there is nothing to restrict. The switch applies to every way of calling, API integrations included.

For integrators: with number choice turned off, a call with a channel_id outside the employee's primary scheme is refused with 422 manual_pick_disabled. A channel_id that matches a number of the primary scheme goes through. Before turning choice off, check your integrations: either omit channel_id (the server picks the number) or take it from the GET /v1/telephony/outbound-line response. Details are in the API reference, the "Calls and telephony" group.

If the primary number is busy or unavailable

If the primary number is busy or unavailable, the call does not go out: AISAR does not switch to another scheme and does not use the shared number instead. This is intentional, so that a customer never sees an unexpected number. Fallbacks you drew inside the scheme (the next number in the chain, a rotation) work as usual. If they run out, the call does not happen.

Why a call did not go out

What the employee sees	Cause and what to do
"Choosing the number before a call is turned off"	An administrator turned choice off for the whole company (code `manual_pick_disabled`). The employee must call from the primary number. If choice is needed, turn it back on in the "How the number for an outbound call is chosen" card.
"The company's shared number is unavailable right now"	The employee has no schemes, and the shared number is disabled, deleted or cannot place calls (code `company_default_unavailable`). Pick another shared number in the card, or add the employee to an outbound scheme.
"This line is not part of your outbound scheme"	The employee picked a number that is in none of their schemes (code `line_not_in_scheme`). Pick a number from the list or add the number to the scheme.
The primary number is busy or not connected	The call does not go out, and there is no switch to another scheme (see above). Check that the channel is connected: Channel reconnecting, or add a fallback inside the scheme itself.