BCM50 switch from analog to PRI

[dukane123]

Our building has 2 businesses sharing one BCM50. Currently, we have POTS lines but we are considering switching to PRI. If we do switch, I would like to maintain as much as the same procedures for staff as possible (I foresee some difficulty with retraining them). I have some questions about different solutions I have considered.

Since we have 2 businesses, I would like to know how to set up the outgoing lines with regards to Caller ID. Can I pick and choose specific channels in the PRI and assign them to 2 different line pools (BlocA and BlocB) with routes/dest. codes for each business, or do I have to keep all PRI channels in one line pool and rely on the OLI programmed into each set? Currently, staff in both businesses have POTS lines assigned to appear & ring and telco takes care of Caller ID.

The staff like the ability to "see" the calls on keys, but if I understand correctly, with PRI you cannot have line keys assigned for outgoing calls. To deal with this, I am thinking of assigning target lines as ring only to the reception areas of both businesses, and allotting some SWCA keys to each business with invoke by hold and auto-associate for life of call enabled. This way, calls will ring in on Intercom and then be immediately associated to a SWCA when they are picked up. My question is, if I do this, I am assuming that any given set can only associate a call to a SWCA key that has already been programmed to that set, or will a call possibly end up associated to a SWCA key not visible on the set?

Are there any tricks/other methods I don't know about, or does this plan make sense?

Thank you all for your time.

Matteo

 

[curlycord]

Are you full AA or not?
How many users?

Line Assignment
I have only programmed SWCA a couple times and years apart so it's not fresh in my memory but others will chime in on that.
I think they can be handy for when a business has a backup reception set or a division like sales etc and lines are busy with inbound.
It also depends how the call is to be handled.
For instance if AA answers or reception is to transfer the call and let the user or their mailbox answer then not sure there is a need for SWCA.
If the call is to be on hold until a person can take the call then use SWCA.

Otherwise reception set can have 3 options:
-the target line Appear & Ring with multiple appearances, it will appear as if it's analog lines but you need to transfer or park the call, "hold" will not work.
-assign target line as Ring Only and assign a bunch of intercom keys....match appearances of the target line with amount of intercom keys.
-SWCA & Ring Only as you have mentioned

CLID
OLI on all sets is probably your best route
As for Business Name, unlike Norstar where you have 1 name only you have a choice of 5 names to choose from using both Global/FeatureSettings & Set/Preferences.

Lines
I don't think you can split a circuit into 2 Blocs, not needed anyway as it would not serve a purpose that I can think of.
Or for billing purposes get 2 circuits (requires an additional cabinet, you can order them as fractional (so many channels)

If 12 lines would do for both companies then SIP Trunks is another option.

Training
-SWCA if used
-Park & Page (train reception or all)
Usage:
Answer call, press Park (F74)
Look at display and note the parking slot i.e. 101
Press Page and announce Joe Blow 101
Joe intercoms 101 from any phone

As for outbound if company A used 9 and B used 8 then delete the pool codes and recreate them as Dest codes
Have Dest codes 9 and 8 both point to the same Route that uses BlocA
This way no having to train anyone on how they dial out.

So a typical install is:
-Reception: Main Target Line is Ring Only with multiple appearances and Intercom's
-Use Park & Page
-Add more features in place of analog trunks that were removed





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[dukane123]

Thank you for your insight. In response to your questions, we are not full AA (reception answers live during the day and at night users are directed to an info-only mailbox). We have usually around 10 users on the system every day, but they use external lines often.

I was leaning toward SWCA because all calls are answered by reception and then placed on hold until staff are free, and calls go back and forth between employees and reception.

Matteo

 

[curlycord]

What is your software release version?

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[dukane123]

BCM50 Release 2

 

[curlycord]

You should have it upgraded to the latest R6 and patches too.
Take advantage of SIP Trunks too.


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[dukane123]

Okay. I will look at having it upgraded.

 

[twlcolorado]

You will have a lot of problems with this.

You would need a license for both the upgrade and for enabling for PRI. Avaya hasn't sold those licenses for years, and even if you can find someone who has them on their shelf, Avaya has shut down KRS for everything but CS1000, so you couldn't generate the licenses. From what I understand, Avaya will generate licenses for you, but only if you are replacing a system that died and need to move the keycodes. Also, they will usually only do that if you have support on the system.

 

[curlycord]

We can still do BCM and Norstar licenses.

FYI
PRI does not require a keycode as it uses an Expansion Cabinet.
Expansion Cabinet's require Expansion keycodes....then you can install any MBM you want inside of it.







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[dukane123]

After a long time considering different quotes and services, the owners of the business were able to negotiate down the price on POTS lines with their current service provider to a point where they were content to stick with POTS and add the number of lines needed.

I am still wanting to upgrade the BCM to R6. However, in a conversation I had a while ago with the tech who last worked on our system, he said that R2 (the system's current release) is a very "flaky" release and that trying to backup and then upgrade to R6 would likely damage the BCM to the point that it would not run anymore.

Have any of you had trouble with damage to a BCM50 in the past when upgrading from R2 to R6? Is it worth not upgrading and sticking with R2?

Thanks for your input,
Matteo

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

I have done many upgrades over the years on BCM systems. I found that upgrading a BCM 50 at release 2 to release 6 was much easier than when doing a release 3 to 6 one.

I rarely run into upgrade problems and often do this for customers over the internet. The main thing is to have a full backup done first and and be patient for the upgrade to complete.

As Curly has mentioned above, a few of us don't have issues in getting these BCM systems updated as release 6.0 will give your system a new lease of life with more features such as SIP trunking etc.


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[curlycord]

and yes it's well worth it as I stated up top.



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