ADVANCED Call Handling: Absence text: Users can set absence text on their phone to inform other internal users of their current status and likely availability. Absence text is also available for users of standard analog phones, but it can only be displayed on selected display phones, Phone Manager and SoftConsole. Most supported feature phones give the option of adding text. When a user has an absence text message set, call processing is not affected to the user and they still have the choice of using features like do not disturb and forwarding. Telephones that support the interactive setting of absence text, also display it on the users own phone for the benefit of people who come to their desk. There are 10 predefined strings and 1 custom string for absence text:
- • On vacation until
- • Will be back
- • At lunch until
- • Meeting until
- • Please call
- • Don’t disturb until
- • With visitors until
- • With customer until
- • Back soon
- • Back tomorrow
- • Custom
All message text include the option to add a time, for example, message 4 plus 10:00 displays Meeting until 10:00. Text strings are localized to the system language. This feature is available across both multisite and small community networks.
Call recording (REQUIURES Preferred Edition/Voicemail PRO): Users can record a call and save the recording to the a voicemail mailbox, a group mailbox or the voice recording library. When a caller provides detailed information like an address or phone number, the caller hears a warning message or tone that the call is being recorded in some countries. Where call recording is required for quality assurance, administrators can configure IP Office to automatically record a percentage of calls for later review. Any call on any phone type can be recorded. Where notification of recording needs to be played, the system ignores voicemail port licensing if an insufficient number of voicemail channels have been licensed. Note: On IP phones, a VCM channel is used for the duration of the recording.
Call tagging: Call tagging displays a text message to provide additional information about the call on a user’s phone or Phone Manager when a call is presented to it. Users tag calls when transferring calls from Phone Manager or Soft Console to provide caller information they are not able to announce the call. Users can add a tag to a call automatically using CTI and Voicemail Pro based on the incoming call route. Note: On some phones, displaying the tag may mean that it is not possible to display the usual call source and target information.
Call waiting: Users may not want callers to receive busy tone if they are on another call. Instead, callers hear a normal ring tone. Users hear an alert that there is a call waiting. Users can decide to finish or hold the current call and answer the one that is waiting. The amount of information that is available about the call that is waiting depends on the type of phone the user has, or if they are using Avaya one-X® Portal for IP Office or Phone Manager. Because the call waiting tone can be disruptive, for example during conference calls. Users can turn the feature on or off and even suspend it for a single call.
Coaching intrusion: Designated users can join an existing conversation on internal or external calls. This features also allows a user to interrupt a call to without the caller hearing the conversation. Administrators and supervisors designate users with the Can Intrude setting. Users can join calls on any extension on the system, however, administrators can also designate users with the Cannot be Intruded setting, which prevents others from intruding on their calls. On Essential and Preferred Edition systems, Silent Intrusion or Whisper Page can be effective in a scenario where a user intrudes into a call to whisper that a very important customer is waiting. The user hears the whisper while talking to the caller but the caller will not be able to hear the whisper. Used in call center scenarios and with other applications between employees. Supports the interruption or inclusion of a supervisor on a live call to talk to an agent without the far-end caller listening to the conversation. This is useful when the agent needs coaching support/training or when the supervisor needs to intrude to give instructions to an agent. The caller may still talk to the agent, but the caller will not hear what the supervisor is saying. The agent will be able to hear both the caller and the supervisor. The feature enables users on a call to “intrude” and listen depending on the configuration of the end users if Coaching Intrusion or Whisper Page is used. Coaching Intrusion and Whisper Page cannot be done on and idle user. It may be done for internal calls or with external calls. This feature is enable through the IP Office Manager for each user. Only authorized users can use the coach/whisper feature. The default setting is off.
Conferencing: Users can place calls on hold and a create a conference using either the telephone or desktop applications. Additional conference members may be added, however a single conference may not have more than 64 members (with IP500 V2 only and more on Server Edition). For ad-hoc conferencing, the system requires as many digital trunks/VoIP channels as external participants (as well as Preferred Edition for Meet-Me conferences). The system supports 128 conferencing channels on the IP500 V2, allowing multiple conferences of any size from 3 to 64 parties. The system support 42 3-party conferences, 2 64-party conferences or any combination in between. Meet-Me capabilities require Preferred Edition for direct dial into a conference bridge with PIN code security. In an SCN network, only one centralized Preferred Edition license is required to host Meet-Me conferences at any of the sites. Conference IDs are also shared across the SCN sites. To initiate a meet-me conference, users dial the direct number allocated to the conference bridge, type in the PIN (require Preferred Edition and Voicemail Pro) if required. For ad-hoc conferences with a few participants, users can easily set up immediate conferences by calling all parties and bringing them to the conference bridge. With Avaya one-X® Portal for IP Office, the originator of the conference can keep control: the Caller ID number (and the associated name if recognized) of each participant is displayed. If required, they can selectively hang-up a specific participant. The system plays a single beep on entry and a double beep on exit. The owner of the conference may use their extension number as the conference ID. The owner of the conference has control of the conference with the ability to mute and drop calls of participants. All participants will hear the system Music on Hold (MOH) until the owner joins, and will hear MOH when the owner drops. Note that any internal party has the option to view and drop participants (not just the conference originator). Users can record a personalized greeting for a conference (requires Preferred Edition and Voicemail Pro). Users can record the conference using Avaya one-X Portal for IP Office, digital or IP display phone or a short code (requires Preferred Edition and Voicemail Pro). To prevent unauthorized access to the conference bridge, PIN codes, Caller ID number screening as well as time and date profiles can be set-up using Voicemail Pro. One user can manage the conferencing bridge facility from any location.
Conferencing has the following restrictions:
- • Only two calls connecting through analog trunks are permitted in any single conference.
- • Each external caller requires a digital trunk/VoIP channel (for example 1 T1 allows 23/24 external parties, 1 E1 allows 30 parties and a fully licensed VCM-64 allows 64 parties).
- • There are no limits on the mix of internal and external calls in conference, but if all internal participants disconnect from the conference bridge, the external participants can be disconnected automatically by the system for added security (configurable system setting).
- • System features such as call intrusion, call recording and silent monitoring all use conference resources, as does automatic recording if enabled. When any of these features are active the number of slots available for conference parties is reduced. For example, a conference call between 3 parties and being recorded will use 4 conference slots.
Dial On Pickup: By taking the phone off hook, users can automatically dial a specified extension. Use this feature in unmanned reception areas or for door entry systems to allow visitors to easily gain assistance. This feature is also known as “Hotline”.
Do Not Disturb: Users can temporarily stop incoming calls ringing at a their phones. This feature prevents users from receiving hunt group calls and gives direct callers either voicemail, if enabled, or a busy signal. Users can enable and disable Do Not Disturb (DND) from their phone, Avaya one-X® Portal for IP Office or Phone Manager. Users can allow some calls to bypass the DND setting and ring the phone. For example a manager can add their assistant’s extension number to the DND exceptions list. Users can manage the exceptions list with Avaya one-X® Portal for IP Office and Phone Manager. Both internal and external numbers can be on the exception list.
Emergency 911 call: (North America only) When an emergency call is connected, the system provides calling party information to an external line interface unit. The external unit carries out a number to text translation and forwards this to the emergency services bureau so that the originating location of the call is clearly identified.
Hunt Group Enable/Disable: User can temporarily join or leave individual hunt groups, for example, to assist during call peaks. Supervisors or administrators don’t usually take calls but at times of high call traffic they can join a group to take calls and when the peak is over, leave the group to resume their regular tasks. Administrators configure users as members of hunt groups. A user can not arbitrarily join a hunt group that they have not been identified as a member of.
Inclusion: Selected users can intrude on calls that are already in progress. When the intruding user joins a call, all parties hear a tone. The speech path is enabled between the intruding party and the called user; the other party is forced onto hold and will not hear the conversation. On completion of the intrusion, the called party speech path is reconnected to the original connected party. Administrators enable or disable Inclusion on a per user basis through the Manager.
Off Hook Station: Off-Hook Station is designed for users who want their analog phone to operate like digital or IP feature phone, to isolate the user’s phone idle state from the Hook state. This is a useful feature when using Avaya one-X® Mobile, Phone Manager or SoftConsole to control the phone state when using a headset on an analog phone and with call control and dialing from Avaya one-X® Mobile, or SoftConsole.
Pickup: Users can answer a call presented to another extension.
Call pickup scenarios include:
- • Pick up any call ringing on another extension.
- • Pick up a hunt group call ringing on another extension, where the user must be a member of that hunt group.
- • Pick up a ringing call at a specified extension.
- • Pick up any call ringing on another extension that is a member of the hunt group specified.
This feature is available across both multisite and small community networks.
Reclaim Call: Users can recover, or reclaim, the last call at their phone that is ringing or is connected elsewhere. If users miss a call that goes to voicemail or call coverage, they can get the call back while it is still being presented or connected through the system. This is a version of the Acquire Call feature that only applies to the last call at an extension.
Relay On/Off/Pulse: The system has 2 independent switch outputs for controlling external equipment such as door entry systems. Control switches using allocated handsets to open, close or pulse switches as required. Users can also control switches with Receptionist, SoftConsole and Voicemail Pro.
Coverage to Operator: Administrators can configure an operator or a group of operators to provide coverage for external calls that would otherwise go to voicemail. Unanswered calls are routed to an operator or a group of operators. For example, local government offices prefer to provide a personal service rather than voicemail.
Dial Emergency: Dial Emergency is a short code and permits specific numbers to be dialed regardless of call barring or a logged out phone.
Dial plan: IP Office has a very flexible numbering scheme for extensions, hunt groups and feature commands. While the system has default numbering for feature codes and extensions, they can all be redefined. Default extensions and hunt groups have 3 digit numbers starting at 200 but these can be changed from 2 to 9 digits through the IP Office Manager. There is a default set of feature access short codes, but these can be changed to whatever the end user requires, within limits. This is useful for example if IP Office is replacing a system where DND was accessed by dialing *21, it is possible to change the short code to mimic the code of the replaced system. In certain countries IP Office can support a secondary dial tone when an access digit is dialed, though this limits some functionality like Alternate Route Selection (ARS). IP Office can also be configured to work without line access digits, by analyzing digits as they are dialed and determining if they are for an internal number or should be sent out on a line – this is valuable in SOHO installations where users will not necessarily be used to dialing an access digit for an outside line.
Direct Inward Dialing: Direct Inward Dialing (DID/DDI) relies on the local phone exchange passing all or part of the dialed number to IP Office. Call routing software routes the call to an individual phone or a group of phones. Use this feature to reduce the workload on a receptionist by giving staff members or departments individual numbers for direct calls. Typically, the extension or group number is the same as the digits supplied from the network, but IP Office can convert the number to another number as needed within limits. In North America, T1 circuits or SIP trunks are required for DID.
Paging: Supervisors and administrators can broadcast audio messages to digital and IP phones with loudspeakers without having to install a separate paging system. Paging can be to individual phones or groups of phones. Implementation engineers can configure analog extension ports to an external overhead paging system, usually through an adapter, so that a port can be included in a paging group to permit mixed phone and overhead paging. Some digital and IP phones can answer a page by pressing a key while the page is going on, this terminates the page and turns it into a normal call.
Transferable dial out privilege: Administrators and supervisors can grant outside line access to restricted phones, for example phones in public areas or conference rooms, to control external calls. A privileged user, such as a supervisor, can transfer an outside line (secondary dial tone) to a user that does not have external dial out privileges.
ECS is an Avaya authorized business partner located in Seattle, WA & Portland, OR.
ECS provides local technicians for on-site work installing and servicing a variety of voice/data equipment, ie; Avaya Aura Servers, Gateways, Messaging, Telephones, Firewalls, Ethernet Switches, Low Voltage Cabling, WiFi, CCTV, POS, Paging, etc.
ECS provides services in the states of Washington & Oregon, primarily in the greater Seattle & Portland areas.