How to Set Up Business Hours in Alivo
One schedule that powers your call flows, agents, notifications, and booking rules.
Business hours are simply when your company is open and when it is closed. Alivo uses that one schedule in several places: phone routing, agent behavior, team alerts, and booking rules. This guide shows you where to set your hours, how to edit them, and what each connected feature actually does with them.
Where to Find Business Hours
Go to Settings, then Company, then Business hours. You will see a table with each day of the week, the open and close times, and whether that day is open or closed.
Times are shown in your company's time zone, which is listed at the top of the edit screen. If the time zone looks wrong, reach out to support before you change your hours. Open and closed are calculated from that time zone, not from each team member's personal clock.
Good to know: New accounts start with Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM open, and Saturday and Sunday closed. You can change any day from there.
How to Edit Your Business Hours
Click Edit Hours to open the schedule editor.
Set Each Day Open or Closed
Each day has a toggle. Turn it on to mark the day open, or off to mark it closed. A closed day shows "Closed" and does not accept open-hour routing or counts.
Set Open and Close Times
For open days, pick a start time and end time from the dropdowns. Times are available in 15-minute steps (for example, 9:00am, 9:15am, 9:30am).
Add Multiple Time Slots on One Day
If you close for lunch or run a split shift, click the plus icon to add another open window on the same day. For example, you might set 8:00am to 12:00pm and 1:00pm to 5:00pm. The gap between slots counts as closed.
Copy Hours to Other Days
Use the copy icon next to a day's first time slot to copy that day's schedule to other days. This saves time when several weekdays share the same hours.
Click Save when you are done. Changes apply right away anywhere Alivo checks business hours.
What Business Hours Control
Your company hours are a shared reference. Individual features still need to be turned on or configured, but they all read from this same schedule.
| Feature | Where You Turn It On | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Phone call routing | Settings → Phone System → Call Flows → Business Hours step | During open hours, callers follow your "Open Hours" path (often your team or ring group). After hours, they follow your "Closed Hours" path (often an AI agent or voicemail). |
| Agent call forwarding | Agent editor → Actions → forwarding schedule | If set to "Business hours only," the agent can transfer live calls to your team only while you are open. After hours, it keeps the call instead of forwarding. |
| Pause texting during business hours | Agent editor → Advanced | When on, new leads that arrive during business hours are not assigned to that agent, so no initial text goes out. Leads that arrive after hours are handled normally. |
| Team notifications | Settings → Team → edit a user → notification settings | When "Business hours only" is checked for a notification type, alerts wait until your next open window (after the normal delay). |
| Scheduling lead time | Settings → Scheduling → Event Types → Count business hours only | Minimum notice before a booking (for example, "4 hours ahead") counts only open hours. Nights, weekends, and closed days do not count toward that wait. |
Phone Call Flows and After-Hours Routing
The most common use of business hours is in your phone system. In Settings → Phone System → Call Flows, add a Business Hours step to any call flow. That step has two routes:
- Open Hours. Where callers go while you are open (for example, a ring group that dials your team).
- Closed Hours. Where callers go when you are closed (for example, an AI agent that qualifies and books, or a voicemail).
Alivo includes a ready-made "Business Hours" call flow template: ring your team when open, send callers to an AI agent when closed. This is a natural fit if you want the phone answered 24/7 without paying staff to sit on every after-hours call.
Rule of thumb: Set your company business hours first, then build or update your call flow. The Business Hours step reads from the schedule on the Company settings page. You do not enter hours again inside the call flow.
Agent Settings That Use Business Hours
Pause Texting During Business Hours
Some contractors want their AI agent handling digital leads after hours and on weekends, but not stepping on the office team during the day. In the agent editor, open Advanced and turn on Pause texting during business hours.
When a new lead comes in during open hours, that agent will not send the first message. The contact record is still created. You will see a note in the conversation timeline explaining that texting was paused because of this setting. After hours, the agent works as usual.
Call Forwarding: Business Hours Only
In the agent editor, open Actions and turn on call forwarding. Under the forwarding schedule, choose Business hours only instead of Always available.
During open hours, the agent can warm-transfer or cold-transfer to your team when appropriate. After hours, forwarding is blocked and the agent keeps working the call.
Team Notifications and Scheduling
Business-Hours-Only Alerts
Each team member can choose, per notification type, whether alerts should respect business hours. In Settings → Team, edit a user and look at their notification rows. The business-hours checkbox means: wait to send this alert until the company is open again.
This is useful for non-urgent pings like new lead notices when you do not want phones buzzing at 10 PM on a Tuesday.
Booking Lead Time in Business Hours
On an event type under Settings → Scheduling, you can set a minimum lead time (how far in advance someone must book). Check Count business hours only and that wait follows your company open hours.
Example: a 4-hour lead time set to business hours only on a Friday at 4:00 PM might not open booking until Monday morning, because Friday after 5:00 PM and the weekend do not count.
What Business Hours Are Not
Business hours are not the same as a few other scheduling concepts in Alivo. Keeping them straight avoids confusion:
- Team availability is per person (when each rep can take appointments). That lives under Scheduling → Team availability.
- Company holidays are specific dates when you are closed. Those are set separately from your weekly hours.
- Event type availability is when a particular appointment type can be booked (for example, inspections only on weekday mornings).
Business hours are the company-wide open and closed clock. The other settings layer on top of that for booking and staffing.
Common Questions
Can I have different hours on different days?
Yes. Each day is edited separately. Use the copy tool if most weekdays match and only one or two days differ.
Can I take a lunch break without marking the whole day closed?
Yes. Add two time slots on the same day with a gap between them. The gap is treated as closed.
What happens if I change my hours after setting up call flows and agents?
The connected features pick up the new schedule immediately. You do not need to rebuild call flows. It is still worth testing a call and a test lead after a big schedule change.
Why did a lead not get a text during the day?
Check whether the agent has "Pause texting during business hours" turned on in Advanced settings. If it is on and the lead arrived during open hours, no initial message is sent by design.
Still have a question this didn't answer? Reach out to our support team support@alivo.ai and we'll be glad to help.