Situs kickoff: phone routing talk track

One page for Gera to talk from on Friday: how calls reach Clara, why we pick the safe way, what is done, and what to ask. Internal.

Oct 14, 2026 · kickoff Fri Oct 16, 11:00 MT · send Situs the setup steps · full detail in the research page

The pitch in one line

Situs's own phone system decides the hours. At night and on weekends, Crexendo sends calls to Clara's number. In the day, nothing changes and we are never in the path.

Two ways to get calls to Clara

	Crexendo sends after-hours calls (our pick)	Forward everything to us
Who decides the hours	Crexendo	We do
Daytime calls	Untouched, no delay	Pass through us, extra delay
If we go down	Only after-hours calls affected	Situs's whole line goes down
Loop risk	None by design	High

Delay: one forward, a few seconds. Eileen asked for none; we accept up to about 5 seconds for reliability. Swapping Crexendo's "your call is being forwarded" message for ringing removes most of it.

The death loop, in three sentences

At Western Slope the whole main line forwarded to Clara, and Clara's "talk to a person" pointed back at that same main line. So a caller went main line, Clara, main line, Clara, until the call dropped; three real calls died that way in September. Fede liked forwarding everything for the control it gives us, but this loop is exactly what he was afraid of.

Next step: Clara first for every call

Being built, not live Turning it on is Fede's call. After Phase 1 (Sat Oct 17), every call comes to Clara's number first. Staff still pick up in the day; everything is recorded on our side.

How it stays safe, the objection, and two questions

Gera decided on Oct 14: nights Saturday, build this now, dark. This is the "forward everything to us" column in the table above, built with the guards that make it safe:

Every call comes to Clara's number first. In the day we ring a staff number straight away; the caller hears only ringing. At night Clara answers.
Everything is recorded on our side, Clara's calls and staff calls, so we finally see the whole picture.
If we go down, Twilio rings staff directly. That covers our server failing, not a Twilio outage.
No loop. The daytime number must be one that does not forward back to Clara. The loop guard refuses any number that does.

Why: Gera on Oct 13: "if we get to the point where every single call is forwarded to us first and we can record everything, then we will have the whole picture of what the human said on the transfer, what Clara said." Hugo (speaker inferred): "working towards it being on full-time as the first answerer for everything." Eileen, on the staff lines Situs pays for: "I'll let you in, you can train your model on all of my raw data."

The objection you will hear: Eileen does not want "a 3-second delay to like basically patch you back in." The answer: it is one extra hop in the day, likely 1 to 3 seconds, with ringing instead of a message, and we measure it on a test call before anyone switches it on. If it is still too slow, the "direct plugin to our Crescendo system" she asked for is option C on the research page.

Still to check: whether the caller's real number shows on staff phones, and whether Situs wants staff told their calls are recorded. Colorado only needs one side's consent, but that is Situs's call.

Questions for the room:

In the day, which number should Clara ring for staff? It cannot be the main line, (303) 789-3030. A direct ring-group number or the staff lines Eileen already pays for would work.
Do you want staff told that their calls are recorded?

What we've already done

In progress Clara's Situs number, (720) 740-4240, is ours. It is not connected to Clara yet; that is being wired now.
In progress Situs's main line, (303) 789-3030, is being registered so Clara can never transfer a caller back to it.
Tested Emergency on-call list: Gera, then Fede, as stand-ins until Situs sends its rotation. A live test proved both phones ring and get the texts.
Off Situs's emergency switch. Fede turns it on.

What Situs needs to click (about 15 minutes)

Note where after-hours calls go today. That is the undo.
Create Time Frames for office hours and holidays.
On the main number, turn Time Frames on. After hours and weekends go to (720) 740-4240, only once we say go.
Through Dani at Crexendo: ringing instead of the forward message, call recording with download access for us, and an answer on whether the caller's real number comes through.

Every click is on the setup steps page, with Crexendo's own help-article numbers. That page names no other customer, so it can go to Eileen and Dani.

Phase plan

Sat Oct 17: nights and weekends. Crexendo's after-hours rule sends calls to Clara. She takes maintenance, emergencies and leads.
Next: Clara first for every call. Every call reaches Clara's number; daytime calls ring staff at once. Being built now, not live; Fede switches it on. See the section above.
Later: missed daytime calls. Crexendo has a "nobody picked up" option. If the team doesn't answer in time, the call goes to Clara. Fede flagged it as a later step; it needs its own loop check, because Clara's "talk to a person" must never ring that same group.
Off switch, any time. Point the after-hours slot back where it was. Night Mode is a desk-phone button that sends calls to Clara right now, for a snow day or an early close.

Questions to ask in the room

What are your office hours, holidays, and when does the weekend start? These become the Crexendo time frames, to the minute.
Who has admin rights in Crexendo, or does Dani make every change?
What are the two other numbers that ring through to the main line? Should Clara cover them too?
After hours, if a caller insists on a person, whose direct number does Clara send them to? It must be a direct line, never the main number.