Routing node - IVR Menu

Introduction

The IVR Interactive Voice Response, or IVR, is a telephone application to take orders via telephone keypad or voice through a computer. By choosing menu options the caller receives information, without the intervention of a human operator, or will be forwarded to the appropriate Agent. Menu node provides a flexible Interactive Voice Response Interactive Voice Response, or IVR, is a telephone application to take orders via telephone keypad or voice through a computer. By choosing menu options the caller receives information, without the intervention of a human operator, or will be forwarded to the appropriate Agent. menu. It plays a welcome prompt, listens for a single DTMF keypress (0–9, * or #), and then either executes a configured action or routes the session to a dedicated output port. Invalid keypresses and timeouts are automatically retried up to a configurable limit.

How it works

When a message arrives the node follows this sequence:

1. The welcome / introduction prompt plays once.
2. Each option's question prompt plays in list order.
3. The node opens a DTMF listener and waits up to the configured Timeout seconds.
4. When a valid key is pressed, an optional answer / confirmation prompt plays, then the configured action is executed.
5. If the key is unrecognised or the timeout elapses, the node retries by re-playing the option prompts (the welcome prompt is skipped on retries). After reaching Max retries, the session is handled by the Timeout / Max retries action.

Configuration

Setting	Description
Welcome / Introduction	An optional prompt played once when the menu is first entered. Choose the delivery method: None — No welcome prompt is played. Say — Text-to-speech. Enter the text and select the speech method: Text (plain text), SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language), or Custom (use a configured Voice node). The text field supports message properties, flow/global context, and JSONata expressions. Play — Plays an audio file. Provide the file as a URL or a SharePoint path.
Timeout (sec)	How many seconds to wait for DTMF input after the option prompts have finished playing. Defaults to 10 seconds.
Max retries	Maximum number of failed attempts (invalid keypresses plus timeouts combined) before the session exits via the Timeout / Max retries action. Set to 0 to disable the limit. Defaults to 3.
Timeout / Max retries action	The action taken when the retry limit is reached. Supports the same set of actions as individual options (see Option actions below). Defaults to Route (output), creating a dedicated timeout output port.
Options	The list of DTMF key options. Each option has three parts: Key — The DTMF digit (0–9, * or #) that triggers this option. Each key must be unique; duplicate keys are highlighted in the editor. Option prompt / question — An optional Say or Play prompt describing this choice to the caller (e.g. "Press 1 for Sales"). Played in list order before the DTMF wait begins. Answer / confirmation — An optional Say or Play prompt played after the caller presses the key (e.g. "You have chosen Sales"), before the action executes. Action — What to do when this key is pressed (see below). Options can be reordered with the drag handles. The order affects both the sequence in which question prompts are played and the numbering of Route output ports.

Option actions

Each option (and the Timeout / Max retries handler) can be configured with one of the following actions:

Action	Description
None	No action is taken. The Node-RED message lifecycle completes without sending the session anywhere.
Route (output)	Creates a dedicated output port on the node. The incoming message is forwarded unchanged to that port, allowing downstream nodes to handle the session.
Disconnect	Ends the call immediately.
Enqueue	Places the caller in the queue for a configured skill.
Callback CallBack, an IVR menu feature for voice, enables the customer to confirm or leave an alternative phone number to be called back by an available agent during business hours.	Offers the caller a callback for a configured skill.
Forward	Forwards the session to a SIP The Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, is a protocol for multimedia communication (audio, video and data communication). SIP is also used for Voice over IP (VoIP). SIP has interactions with other Internet protocols such as HTTP and SMTP. URI.
Preferred hunt	Routes the session to a preferred agent using a comma-separated list of SIP addresses and a fallback skill.
Queued callback	Places the caller in a queued callback for a configured skill.
IVR question	Connects the session to a named IVR question within the same UCC A Unified Contact Center, or UCC, is a queue of interactions (voice, email, IM, etc.) that are handled by Agents. Each UCC has its own settings, IVR menus and Agents. Agents can belong to one or several UCCs and can have multiple skills (competencies). A UCC can be visualized as a contact center “micro service”. Customers can utilize one UCC (e.g. a global helpdesk), a few UCC’s (e.g. for each department or regional office) or hundreds of UCC’s (e.g. for each bed at a hospital). They are interconnected and can all be managed from one central location..
Voicemail	Directs the session to voicemail for a configured skill.
Merge conversations	Merges the current session with another session that is waiting in queue, identified by session ID.

Output

The node creates one output port per option configured with action type Route (output), plus one additional port for the Timeout / Max retries action when that is also set to Route. Ports are ordered to match the top-to-bottom order of the Route options in the list, with the timeout port last.