Opening Greeting

[admin_2]

We are working on a call management plan.<br>Is it okay to assign an extension to the Opening <br>Greeting call handler? There is a main number that<br>will normally be answered but at night or in the<br>case that the line is busy, we want it to go to<br>the opening greeting.<br><br>

[#2]

there's nothing wrong with assigning an extension to the opening greeting, but it is kinda unusual. You shouldn't need to do that since when a call forwards to Unity and there's now extension number found in the directory for it the call will end up at the opening greeting regardless. That's the default destination when we don't know what else to do with the call...


Jeff Lindborg
Unity Product Architect/Answer Monkey
Cisco Systems
lindborg@cisco.com
http://www.AnswerMonkey.net (new page for Unity support tools and scripts)

[#3]

Okay, Thanks. Since it's unusual, I'll run the
circumstance by you that is prompting the question. We have a main number that outside callers and staff call. Outside callers, no problem, get the opening greeting. But when staff call this number/extension from their office phones, they get the subscriber sign-in.

Is there a better way to solve this? I just wanted to make
sure that we didn't change the way the opening greeting works if we added an extension to it.

[#4]

Adding an extension to the opening box is permitted, but it may not change the behavior you're getting.

When staffers use their office phones, the telephone system will present the calling party ID ... if Unity finds a matching subscriber, it will try to sign them in.

If you want this particular main number to go to the main greeting even if the calling party is a subscriber, you can create a custom routing rule. You can use the "Call Viewer" application in the Unity folder to make some test calls and gather information for crafting the rule.

There will probably be some kind of consistent identifier, for example the Dialed Number (DNIS) might always show 18005551234. Set up a rule to fire when the DNIS matches this number, and point it to the Opening box. Now if a desk phone calls the main published number, the call will go to the main greeting, but if they dial the internal pilot number for Unity, it should ask them to sign in.

Scott

[#5]

Hi,
That sounds way complex if just adding an extension will
solve the problem. I tested it and seems to work how I expect it too. Unless there is a definite gotcha, I think I'll just add an extension.

But I'm always interested in hearing the pros & cons, so THANKS!!

[#6]

Well, what you've done will work because the first routing rule we process is the "attempt forward to greeting" rule. Since folks are forwarding into Unity from an extension that corresponds to a call handler's ID (the opening greeting in this case) it happens to work.

If you're running Unity 2.4.6 build 135 or later you should be safe with this method. If you're at 102, you can get burned if the routing rules order is shifted (which can happen if you add/edit any of the direct/forwarding routing rules).




Jeff Lindborg
Unity Product Architect/Answer Monkey
Cisco Systems
lindborg@cisco.com
http://www.AnswerMonkey.net (new page for Unity support tools and scripts)

[#7]

Well, we are at 102. At this time, we aren't doing anything special with the direct/forwarding routing rules.
Assuming this is accessed in the admin page by Call Management, then Call Routing.

Where do I get the upgrade? And keeping in mind your warning, can I safely use this solution until I can upgrade?

[#8]

As long as you don't add any custom routing rules and the like you should be OK. You can download the latest Unity 2.4.6 build (135 I believe) off CC0 at:

http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/unity


Jeff Lindborg
Unity Product Architect/Answer Monkey
Cisco Systems
lindborg@cisco.com
http://www.AnswerMonkey.net (new page for Unity support tools and scripts)