penelope

When the CEO's assistant is out of the office the President's assistant needs to cover for her. They do not want a bridged appearance of the CEO's ext to appear on the President's assistant's phone. How can I get the CEOs calls to go to the 2nd assist in a way that she can answer and then get the call to him if needed?

I was off-site at Avaya yesterday and what they did was FORWARD the CEO's line to the 2nd Assist. So, when she answered HIS ext, found out who it was, then tried to call him on HIS ext. of course it went to cover (voicemail) after the one alerting ring since HIS line was busy.

I've tried a few things but hasn't worked yet and there are so many ways to do the same thing on Definity that I'm not sure what is best.

CEO x6150
1st Assist x6151
2nd Assist x6160

x6150 is bridged on 6151. Does not work to have 6151 forwarded to 6160, 6150 still just rings on 6151.

A secondary coverage path that they could invoke? If I have x6150 cover to x6160 how can x6160 then call x6150 to let him know who is calling AND be able to transfer the call back to him? Maybe just 2 rings on the secondary coverage path? x6150 would ring twice, then go to x6160, she can answer, call him.... but then, his phone is only going to ring twice again so that he would have to answer that call (while ignoring the first calll).... See what I mean? I keep going round-and-round! Set DND on x6150 to go to x6160 and give x6160 the ability to override that?

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Penelope

A-Train

There is the old secondary coverage path using SAC technique. However I have never tried that when you need to transfer the call back to the original extension. Plus the CEO may like to use SAC for it's normal purpose. My impression is that the best way would be to have the President's secretary inform you when the CEO's secretary will be out and you can add the bridged appearance to the Pres's sec's phone (but only for the CEO's sec's vacation time). I know it isn't the preferred way, but it would be best considering the whole "transfer back" issue. Some execs at my company actually have unpublished dummy extensions that we use so they know the incoming call is someone they want to speak to. You might be able to do something with coverage to a unassigned extension that has a bridged appearance to the Pres's sec. It couldn't be an X-port station though because that would skip the coverage point.

PBXtech.info

 

penelope

We do have exec's that have an unpublished number that they only give to people they want to have it. But, that could work... If I give him an unpublished number, he forwards his main number to Assist #2, she answers it then calls him on his unpublished number (put two appearances of it on his phone, line 1 & 2). She can then transfer the call to his unpublished number and it won't follow the forwarding of his main number. It doesn't even need to be a DID unless he wants it to be.

Hokey though, isn't it? Better than them having to tell me whenever she is out and, like yesterday, I was off-site and unavailable. It could be without notice if she is out sick.

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Penelope

peter65

Penelope,
Make 2 coverage paths for extension X6150, coverage path 1 to X6151 and coverage path 2 to X6160.
You can switch the coverage path with the Feature Access Code [*XX] "change coverage access code". Set up this FEA.
Administer a COR for extension X6150 that allows the user to change the coverage path, option: can change coverage = Y
Administer a COS with the options call forwarding all calls and console permissions.
To switch between the 2 coverage path, press the FAC followed by extension X6150 and the coverage path 1 or 2, example: [FACX61501] or [FACX61502]. You can to that remote.
You can also created 2 buttons on the station X6150 with an abbreviated dial list, dial code is then [FACX6150~p1] and [FACX6150~p2]
With the command status station X6150 you can see the active coverage option.

The assist can transfers the call back with the FAC "Priority Calling Access Code", this feature code provides a special type of call alerting intercept tone.
Create a COS for assist 1 and assist 2 with the option "priority calling" that allows to use Priority calling.

martinyoung

I am sure you probably know this Penelope but just as a reminder any station you add console permissions to has extra steps for some feature codes now.

For example, without console permissions, to call forward your phone you enter the FAC then enter the destination.

With console permissions, to call forward your phone you enter the FAC, then enter your number, then enter the destination. Make sure whoever you give that COS to is aware their phone will be different.

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Marty
Retired Avaya DSIC tech

colt45

Have you given consideration to an Intercom group? This works best when the admins have bridged appearances. "Boss, you have a call on line 3". Another method we use is when the Exec's admin is out another admin sits at his/her desk where the bridged setup is located.

PBXtech.info

 

colt45

I had another thought.
Let me see if I have this straight.
CEO has Admin1 with bridge appearances and Pres has Admin2 with bridged appearances. When Admin1 is out, you want CEOs calls to ring to Admin2.

Since Admin1 has bridged appearances of CEO there is no need nor function for a coverage path from CEO to Admin1. If you want to tweak ringing use per button ring control.

To have CEO's calls ring to Admin2 set CEO's coverage path Pt-1 to Admin2's ext. CEO's Pt-2 is probably Audix. State of Send Calls of course, determines when Admin2 gets the alert. Admin2 can transfer back to CEO or (preferred) use an Intercom group.

Another handy (unrelated) feature is "Group Page". We have a dozen or so admins and they back each other up on a regular basis. They may have to find a wandering Exec at times. With all of them in a "Group Page" they just page the admin group and ask if anyone has seen him/her.

scottiet9

Just a thought and I might be wrong. Why don't you create a COVERAGE ANSWER GROUP for the second admin with the CEO. If you need help setting it up I would be glad to help. I use the hear and works greats. Have a wonderful day.

Thanks,

Scottie

colt45

Cov Ans Gp works when you need two or more members as a point in a path. Since coverage is ignored when bridged appearances are used, who would be the 2nd point in the Cov Ans Gp?

penelope

Thanks for the ideas all. As I said, there are a dozen ways to accomplish the same thing. I went with a non-DID number on the CEOs phone. CEOs main number is forwarded to Admin2 (when Admin1 is out). She can answer his line, put it on hold, and then call him on his non-DID number to see if he wants to take the call.

After considering all of the different ways to do this I decided this was the easiest for the users. No extra digits to dial, no special coverage paths or features to use and if anything goes wrong and I'm not there then I don't know that my backup would be able to figure it out, or even know exactly how it was set up, in a timely manner. I didn't want to give the CEO ANYTHING extra to do. The day that I was out and they forwarded his extension and then couldn't call him, he was getting pissed that Admin2 was coming to his office and telling him someone was on the phone. They've used it and they are happy with it.

The CEO and Admin1 use an intercom group so I guess I could have used that instead of a non-DID number.

We use Group Page too but I don't think he would want her to suddenly be announcing something on his speaker phone and he wouldn't be able to reply without calling her back.

As for coverage not working on bridged appearances I found that out but I also found that there is a setting for Cover to bridged appearances = yes.

Yes, Martin, I found out that things work differently with console permissions when I was testing something for someone on my phone that has console permissions and, of course, it didn't work the same way on the user's phone. I now know to take it off my phone to make sure I'm telling the user the right procedure. :-)

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Penelope