aa.aef -- Need help with "Dial by Name" issues.

[dolah]

I have some issues with aa.aef. The biggest one (and the show stopper for implementation) is when using the AA, dialing by name feature, the AA is using the Internal Directory in CallManager. We have Global Speed Dials set up as Translation patterns and they are listed in the Global Directory in CallManager. Example… Tanner, Greg - Cell and Tanner, Greg - Home. Obviously I don't want callers to have access to call Greg at home, but we do want employees to have the ability to call Greg at home.

Also, when using dial by name, the AA spells the name when there is more than one user. Example… Tanner, Greg - Cell and Tanner, Greg - Home, and Tanner, Greg… comes across as G R E G C E L L T A N N E R, G R E G H O M E T A N N E R, G R E G T A N N E R.

Is there a way to signal AA to use Unity's List of users? I think this would solve both issues.

[jasyoung]

Debbie,

You mentioned that you have a Unity system. Is there a particular reason you're using the aa.aef script instead of the auto-attendant features of Unity?

The aa.aef script is so limited as to be nearly unusable if you can't edit the script, which you can't do if you're using the CallManager Extended Services package instead of the full install of IPCC Express. Even if you can edit the script, the name spelling calculation method cannot be modified, and you cannot hide users from the 'Name to User' step without hiding them from the Corporate Directory on your phones.

Unity provides a more richly featured auto-attendant. It will allow you to selectively hide users from the directory and easily program in single-button actions (press 1 for this, press 2 for that, etc). If you are trying to use Extended Services, which I believe is limited to four ports, Unity will also provide a lot more capacity. You really want to use Unity if at all possible. If you're using aa.aef because you need to integrate or frequently transfer between other applications on an IPCC Express server, be aware that it's not hard to get Unity to transfer calls back and forth as necessary.

If you look at the 'Opening Greeting' call handler on your Unity system, you should be able to see how to configure simple auto-attendant options. For advanced work, you may want to consult the excellent 'Audiotext Applications in Unity' document, which can be found here:

http://www.ciscounitytools.com/Documents.htm

[dolah]

I am using IPCC. Yes, you are right the aa.aef is awfully limited and I have edited it to our satisfaction.

What I ended up doing is point the script to Unity's Directory handler via an Route Point.

This works very well.