Changing dial Plan 4

[phoneaddict]

Hi,

Im out of station numbers for my new phones. Our current set-up was using 3 digit ext and Im planning to change it to 4 inorder to have more available numbers. What are the great steps to be followed?? Do I need to change only the dial plan and the stations?

Thanks a lot.

 

[lopes1211]

Post your "disp dial" or "list dial ana" depending on your version. We'll need to know how deep of a corner you've pinned yourself into first.

-CL

 

[4merAvaya]

You may want to consider using Avaya or one of their business partners. There are so many hooks associated with changing a dial plan. It's not for the faint of heart.

Kevin

 

[DAVIDPAYNE]

I would agree with 4merAvaya, I have changed dial plans once, and it was a lot of work. And a good bet of down time. Avaya or a good business partner could do this for you with a much smaller outage window. they have tools we don't have access to.

 

[dufus2506]

I went from 4 to 5 digits last summer. I was glad to have a business partner do the work. There are a LOT of things that need to be addressed when you do a big dial plan change like that.

Consider your voicemail system alone. The integration right now sends instructions to the PBX to turn on mwi for extension 321... now you want it to to be 4321. Do you know how to modify the voicemail system integration?

Your trunk groups accept a certain DNIS for DID numbers and VDNS. Those will likely have to change too. (Or need digit modifications.)

Then there's the feature access codes which can't conflict with your new dial plan.

Vectors, automated attendants, coverage paths, Holiday tables in your voicemail system, system extensions for data modules, all of them use extensions.... those need to be addressed too.

I think you should call in the pro's. Just an opinion, but one based on experience.

Carpe dialem! (Seize the line!)

 

[phoneaddict]

This will go back in scratch? Im I correct?

 

[4merAvaya]

No. They can export all of your data, massage the extension numbers, and push it back into the switch.

Kevin

 

[phoneaddict]

Thanks 4merAvaya. Was that what the tool from the business partner does? Do you have idea whats that tool?

Thanks

 

[dufus2506]

I've forgotten the name of the software (it has a clever name, like PBX-pert or something like that).

You wouldn't buy it. It's EXTREMELY expensive software (I recall it was around $3500 per license) so it's something only business partners would own. It's not that expensive to hire a company to do the work for you.

Carpe dialem! (Seize the line!)

 

[AVAYAPro]

it's called provision, $3000 for 3 month license

 

[dufus2506]

That's it... couldn't remember it before. As you can see, it's really pricey, and most people wouldn't own it. It's really a tool for the business partners.

I've seen it work. It's extremely powerful. You used to be able to download it in demo mode, and see everything in your PBX. But it was crippled software so you couldn't use it to make modifications or send the changes back to the PBX. Have a look at it here:

http://provision.avaya.com

Carpe dialem! (Seize the line!)

 

[wildcard100001]

I concur...completely - have a business partner do the work. I went from a mixed 4 and 5 digit dial plan to a 6 digit dial plan. It's likely that you'll have a "freeze" date... the date that the business partner receives your PBX translations. Either make no changes after that date... or record each change you do so that you can do them again once the new translations (with the new dial plan) are put back. Depending on the complexity of the existing dial plan it could take the business partner 2 or 3 weeks to be ready.

On a side note don't forget about MWI's... and how the change will affect users on day 1.

Thanks,

Wildcard

 

[Mitch672]

Yes, ProVision is the tool we (Business Partners) use, but it's still manual work. It will download all of the forms from a switch, into an "excell" like spreadsheet, which can then be modified. The entire switch can be "virtually programmed" offline, then at some point, the transaltions from the real switch cleared (actually it's easier to jsut reload it from scratch, most of the time), then ProVision can "push" out these translations that have been modified offline at a tremendous rate of speed (as fast as the communications link is, if it is a WAN connection, it's very fast)

That is the process, but you do need an experienced ProVision "operator" to do the work, and you would probably also have someone local who would reload the switch so that it was like a "new" switch, it's much easier than trying to remove everything by hand. It's a nice weekend project (if yo have no life)

Mitch


Mitch

AVAYA Certified Expert

 

[phoneaddict]

Thanks a lot! Great..