Creating an Extension for Operator

[jasonjthomas]

I have had an interesting request made, and I wanted to get some ideas on how to accomplish this.

I have a user who would like our Main Receptionist to be rung when anyone dials "0" from an office phone. Now, the most expedient way I can see to do this would be to create a Hunt Group for the Main Receptionist. This extension would be "0" and the member would be the receptionist.

Now, of course, this seems to be a way to obviate the need to know the user's extension. The impression I get is that it is easier to dial 0 then to know the user's extension (which is available via multiple means, by the way). To me, it seems to be an ineffective way to do something that can be done in a potentially more efficient way. The idea I have is:
-- Adding a button for the user to display on those Avaya 5410 phones via the Digital Telephony tab in Manager.

Thoughts on this one? If I go ahead with this, is doing it via a Hunt Group the most efficient way to do so?

Thanks!

Jason J. Thomas
Director, Technology Risk Management
SB & Company, LLC

 

[1043]

user shortcode

SC 0
Telephone number "Ext number"
feature dial

 

[PHins711]

Same as above but for the feature, make it dialextn.

 

[1043]

miss type my bad

 

[jasonjthomas]

PHins711: I discovered that it should be DialExtn when I was combing through the Help file. As I was dialing internally, I discovered that would address what I want to do.

1043: Thanks for pointing me in this direction. Now, I need to find out if they want me to deploy this to everyone or to the specific user in question.

Thanks to both of you for this!


Jason J. Thomas

 

[jml2665]

I use a hunt group named "operator" or "attendant" and add the user there, that way they know from the display it's a call to "0" You program it the same just put the hunt group extension in the SC instead

 

[jasonjthomas]

I am waiting to find out whether they want it going to our Hunt Group for all of our administrative types or the Hunt Group for our Main Admin. I am thinking strongly about the Hunt Group, though, given what this is planned to be used for.

Good idea, though, jml2665.


Jason J. Thomas

 

[1043]

You could also create user "0" with an unconditional forward to any extension you want.

 

[kristiandg]

Guys, I've been told in the past that creating a HG or a USER of "0" is a bad thing, and the Shortcode method is preferred.

Just what I've heard.

Kris G.

 

[jasonjthomas]

In the end, here is what I did.

1.) I first created a Hunt Group called Front Desk, and this hunt group has an extension of 203.
2.) I created a Short Code at the "system" level--within the Short Code group in Manager--that performs a DialExtn function. It dials the 203 extension created with the Hunt Group above.

Based on my testing of the user short code, this should work as anticipated. I was unable to test it remotely--as I did this modification last night after getting some guidance on how this was to be seen by users on my way out of the office for the day. I expect feedback from someone on this later this morning.

Thanks for the input, guys. To be honest, I think this is unnecessary, but the squeakiest wheel gets the most oil, as the expression goes. ;-)

Jaspm



Jason J. Thomas

 

[kristiandg]

Oh, I don't know about unnecessary. Don't get me wrong, I don't know your enviroment, but as a "purist" ...

I still shudder when customers blindly suggest we change "9" because one stupid user keeps dialing 911.

Its one of those universal things. People have been trained since Alex Bell's days that 0 is the operator. Since the PBX, 9 has (almost) always been OUT (and 8 usually either Long Distance, or an ON-NET call).

So, we typically program a 0 just out of practice.

Glad you got it working. I'm sure your whiney user is too.

Kris G.

 

[aarenot]

If you have different departments that want their zero to reach a different ext. Create a short code for each user in the user short code. same set up as per the system zero short code, it just goes in the user short codes instead of system short codes. I get this request frequently as well.
What I do is at implementation, I create a user called templatexyz dept., template abc dept, etc., etc. Then put the short code in the template user short codes, and copy and paste as many as I need. Then edit the other specifics as for user name ext #, etc. Works great for creating multiple users with the same button programming template as well.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[kristiandg]

I actually create a user restriction template and do it that way, especially if you have multiple sets that might need the same operator, but not the same system-wide.

Hope this helps...

Kris G.