It was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a create was stirring, except the technical support team!  It does not matter what holiday it is, the result is always the same.  At 4:45PM the day before the Holiday our Call Center breaks new records for inbound calls from the client base.   The question is always the same: “we are closing for a ½ day and how do we set the Holiday Greeting”.  Ugh!   Not like we did not have any warning about this holiday!  Christmas seems to fall on the same date every year!  Still it happens, a last minute rush to get the schedules modified and the recordings made! ShoreTel does a great job of allowing you to plan your entire Holiday greeting schedule well in advance!   You can create a “2011 Holidays” list and in one short session set up your schedule for the entire year. The only task level event that needs to be undertaken at the appointed time, is to record the actual greeting callers will hear on that scheduled day.  For this reason, I recommend a “Generic” holiday greeting.  I don’t want to sound like a Grinch here, but I have all but given up on Custom Holiday Greetings!    The old generic  “ You have reached our Office during a time in which we are closed for the Holiday” is very workable.   If you cant use the generic greeting, even though your schedules are already programmed for a year in advance, you will need change out the recoding for each Holiday! Remember, if you are closing early on any day, you need to create a “CUSTOM” schedule list like “2011 Half-days”!  In the Shoreware Director under the Automated  Attendant, Workgroup, Hunt group or Route Point assign the Schedule with the CUSTOM button down.  Likewise, assign the Holiday Schedule with the Holiday button down.  Remember, the company might be closed and the AA might play the Holiday message, but how about those Workgroups?  Are they on the same schedule or does that group work different hours during the holiday? Whatever you do, do it now!