David Compton

Hi,

We're planning an upgrade to our phone system (from Voicemail Lite to Voicemail Pro).
The plan is to use an Auto-Attendant to route calls through to the relevant department.

I'm currently working out our maximum call concurrency over the last year by analysing the SMDR logs in SQL to figure out how many voicemail ports to purchase.

My question is, if I buy 8 ports, and 8 calls are using voicemail, what happens when the ninth call connects ? (which would normally be answered by the auto attendant)
Will they :
a) Hear an engaged tone
b) Hear the phone ringing until a port is free then be answered
c) Hear music on hold
d) Be transferred to a fallback group

Is perhaps the above behaviour configurable ?

I've been told that it should be possible to add extra ports within 24 hours - is this realistic ? (sounds reasonable - after all, it's just a license key).

Thanks for your advice.

Dave.

bwilch

To add extra ports, it's just an addition of a license file to the IP Office, so as soon as your vendor gets the file, they load it, reboot the IP Office and you have the extra ports. I'm not positive on if all the ports are busy what type of a response you'll get though. I believe it will attempt the fallback group first.

PBXtech.info

 

David Compton

Hi bwilch,

Thanks for the response and reassurance that voicemail ports are quick and easy to upgrade.

I've now spoken to three different people about this and got three different answers as to what happens to 'Auto Attendant' calls when all VM ports are in use.

I know I could wait and find out but I'd rather be sure because it's my neck on the line if/when we start missing calls !

I've checked the documents on Avaya's website and can't find anything relating to it, although there were a lot to get through and I may have skipped it. I presume that the behaviour is not decided by VMPro, but rather by the phone system - I'm not sure at what point the call is xfered to VMPro ? Is it simply a mailbox on an extension set to answer immediately or is there tighter integration than that ?

Sometimes I get the feeling there's only one or two people at Avaya that know the way things really work, and they're locked away in a cellar somewhere and fed through a slot in the door...?

Thanks for any further help y'all can offer...

Dave.

XseSiV

Hey Dave,
When all voicemail ports are in use and an additional call attempts to access VM they will receive an engaged tone. However, having said that, if VMPRO is programmed correctly this should never happen, E.g. I installed a call centre with a total of around 70+ seats and 8 ports of voicemail Pro and 120 lines where every inbound line was directed at an automated attendant with queueing turned on for all groups and not once has a caller received the busy signal that I am aware of (and beleive me, this customer had the sort of client base that would definitely let you know if they could not get through). The idea is to steer away from assisted transfers and anything else that will tie down a VM port for an extended period of time and it is possible to program your phone system and IPO in such a fashion that should VM become engaged then the call will get through anyway to a backup group. So, at the end of the day if you have programmed your scripts and IPO properly you should never encounter a problem, even with only 4 ports of voicemail pro if on a single PRI or T1 service

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Cephas

In the incoming call route, it's possible to setup a Fallback destination should the primary destination (AA) be unavailable.

Set this to your receptionist, or one of your queues, and all should be well.

This setting is also handy when you have to reboot the VMPro during the day.

Peter

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David Compton

Hi XseSiV/Cephas,

Thank you very much for the response.
Sorry I didn't reply earlier - had a few days off.

The info you supplied was exactly what I had hoped to hear, and it's very reassuring.

Catch you later.

Dave.

PBXtech.info