# Webex Contact Center holiday and emergency routing overrides

Canonical: https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-cc-holiday-emergency-routing

Last verified: 2026-09-05

Business hours configurations in Webex Contact Center allow administrators to define recurring schedules and operational exceptions[^14][^11]. In contrast to related calling features, WarmTransfer's reading of the sources is that Webex Contact Center handles schedule deviations using general overrides rather than a dedicated emergency routing feature[^11][^8].

## Business hours components and overrides

Business hours in Webex Contact Center consist of three components: working hours, holiday lists, and overrides[^14] [Webex Contact Center business hours overrides and holiday lists](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-cc-business-hours-holidays). Each of these three elements can recur on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly pattern[^12]. 

An override acts as an exception to regular shifts or working hours[^11]. Cisco gives closing early, extending hours during a busy season, and an emergency schedule change as examples of overrides[^11]. WarmTransfer's reading of the sources is that Webex Contact Center has no feature named for emergencies, as the word "emergency" appears strictly within descriptive prose about overrides rather than as a distinct named mode or state[^8]. Furthermore, the term "Global Routing Overrides" does not appear in any of the reviewed business hours or scheduling documents[^7].

## Clash resolution and activation timing

When scheduling entries overlap within the same category, Cisco documents a drag-and-drop priority ranking[^13]. This drag-and-drop mechanism resolves clashes between two holiday lists, and separately resolves clashes between two overrides[^13]. However, Cisco does not state what happens when a holiday list and an override apply to the same day, as the published priority ranking addresses clashes within one single type only[^5].

Regarding runtime changes, Cisco publishes no time within which activating or deactivating an override takes effect on live routing[^10]. Additionally, the documentation that would explain how business hours reach a routing flow is no longer served and returns the help centre's generic shell[^6].

## Distinctions from Webex Calling routing mechanisms

Webex Contact Center business hours should not be confused with scheduling mechanisms native to Webex Calling[^4][^9]. Control Hub documentation covering schedule creation specifies Webex Calling location and user schedules feeding auto attendants rather than contact center business hours[^4]. Similarly, call routing based on operating modes is a Webex Calling mechanism and is not the contact center business hours feature, despite sharing overlapping vocabulary[^9].

Distinct emergency and precedence rules exist within [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-calling-customer-assist)[^2][^3]. Webex Calling Customer Assist names forced forwarding as an emergency mode, representing the only place in the analyzed documentation where Cisco treats emergency as a named state[^3]. For routing execution, Webex Calling Customer Assist publishes an explicit precedence chain where holiday service takes precedence over night service, which precedes forced forwarding, which in turn precedes stranded call handling[^2]. However, sources disagree regarding this order: the order and membership of the queue policy values in the Customer Assist call detail record (CDR) field do not match the precedence order stated in the prose of the same article[^1].

## Applicability

Applies to: Cisco Webex Contact Center and Webex Calling Customer Assist. Sources checked 2026-09-05.

## What remains uncertain

The following operational details and gaps are not covered by the sources below:
- How a business hours configuration reaches a routing flow is not covered by the sources below[^6].
- What time zone business hours use and whether it is configured per site is not covered by the sources below.
- Which entry takes precedence when a holiday list and an override cover the same day is not covered by the sources below[^5].
- How long an override takes to affect live routing is not covered by the sources below[^10].
- Whether business hours can be configured through an API is not covered by the sources below.
- What Webex Calling Customer Assist is as a product beyond its cited queue policies is not covered by the sources below.
- Whether Contact Center Enterprise has an equivalent override mechanism is not covered by the sources below.
- Whether an override can be triggered by an entity other than an administrator is not covered by the sources below.

## Sources

[^1]: The order and membership of the queue policy values in the Customer Assist call detail record field do not match the precedence order the same article states in prose (disputed). Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Policy applied to call field compared with the stated precedence chain. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^2]: Webex Calling Customer Assist publishes an explicit precedence chain in which holiday service takes precedence over night service which takes precedence over forced forwarding which takes precedence over stranded call handling. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), queue policy precedence. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^3]: Webex Calling Customer Assist names forced forwarding as an emergency mode, which is the only place in this document set where Cisco uses emergency as a named state. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Forced Forwarding. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^4]: The Control Hub article on creating schedules documents Webex Calling location and user schedules feeding auto attendants rather than contact centre business hours. Source: [Create schedules in Control Hub](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/n6wyx8t/Create-and-Configure-a-Schedule-in-Cisco-Webex-Control-Hub-), whole article. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^5]: Cisco does not state what happens when a holiday list and an override apply to the same day; the published priority ranking covers clashes within 1 type only. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), Same Day Priority Interactions. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^6]: The article that would document how business hours reach a routing flow is no longer served and returns the help centre's generic shell. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), retrieval attempted at the indexed address on 2026-09-05. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^7]: The term Global Routing Overrides appears in none of the business hours or scheduling documents read in this tranche. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), whole document set. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^8]: Webex Contact Center has no feature named for emergencies; the word emergency appears in descriptive prose about overrides rather than as a named mode or state (inferred). Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), Overrides. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^9]: Call routing based on operating modes is a Webex Calling mechanism and is not the contact centre business hours feature despite the overlapping vocabulary. Source: [Call routing based on operating modes in Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/fozeml/Call-routing-based-on-operating-modes-in-Webex-Calling), whole article. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^10]: Cisco publishes no time within which activating or deactivating an override takes effect on live routing. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), Overrides. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^11]: An override defines an exception to regular shifts or working hours and Cisco gives closing early extending hours during a busy season and an emergency schedule change as examples. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), Overrides. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^12]: Working hours holiday lists and overrides can each recur on a daily weekly monthly or yearly pattern. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), recurrence sections. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^13]: Cisco documents a drag and drop priority ranking that resolves a clash between 2 holiday lists, and separately the same ranking for a clash between 2 overrides. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), Same Day Priority Interactions. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^14]: Business hours in Webex Contact Center comprise working hours holiday lists and overrides. Source: [Set up business hours for Webex Contact Center](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/dqekw4/Set-up-business-hours-for-Webex-Contact-Center), Business hours overview. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^15]: Neither Customer Assist's documentation nor the Webex Contact Center business hours documentation publishes a capability limit, a scale figure or a price for the other product, so the corpus cannot support a buyer's comparison between them (inferred). Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), whole document set. Checked 2026-09-05.