Feature 968

[Mountainbear]

I have a customer who lost their call tracking (lawyer firm). Apparently this was programed on their phones as Feature 968 NOT 986 (transfer to v.mail). If I understand correctly when they push this button it logs the call time and possibly other info (number, out going phone set) for billing and is somehow connected to a computer. When they push the button they get "inactive feature" which tells me it is connected to Voice mail not the phone system. I can not find F968 anywhere. Is this a real feature or possibly they are confused with service provider enabled features.
They have an old 8X24 which I have not done any work on other than restart it for them once. I would like to have some info before I show up to avoid looking like too much of an idiot.
Can anyone tell me what Fetaure 968 is? or could they be confused with something else? (ie. "feature 96", "9 then feature 68" etc.)

 

[curlycord]

"inactive feature" which tells me it is connected to Voice mail not the phone system"

Not true, it means simply that....its inactive.
i.e. the device used for that feature such as a CTA is not attached to the KSU or the feature code was removed.

Look at hardware and or F**XFTEST to see if the code is missing or changed to another code.
F9*1 will list only vmail codes so you can eliminate them.





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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[mikeDTMF]

If they are entering F986 and are getting "Inactive Feature" you may find the VM (Flash or what ever it might be) could be INOP for any number of reasons. If you do a F9*1 or even a F983 and get 'Inactive Feature' you will know where to look.

 

[curlycord]

No its F968 they are entering....billing software.

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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[Mountainbear]

Curlycord is correct.They are dialing F968. I instructed them to unplug the phone system after hours (they did no want me to do it when I was there at noon), then call me if it did not correct the problem. I haven't heard back from them. Since it is an old 8X24 I am not surprised that it would correct itself. Would "F968" be a fixed feature code or something they have programed? I couldn't find a discription anywhere and have never heard of being able to create your own codes.

 

[curlycord]

What software are they running? some are designed to take a certain code.
If the code is taken it might take on another code.

I recall way back some accounting software needed a feature code activated but since its been CTA or SMDR to a PC that logs it all automatically.



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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[mikeDTMF]

Sounds like they are useing an SMDR and a serial printer for a Call Log. If this is the case, F9*2 is SMDR ADMIN.
Feature 900 enter account # (can be 1 to 12 digits) so its possable this memory button was set up for
968 (9 and 68 as the account #) If the SMDR is INOP you will get "inactive feature" just like an INOP Flash or CP.
On some of the old 8x24s you will need to place a pause between the 9 and access code, but I can't remember which DR version it was necessary.

They can also use "Call Log" without the SMDR by entering Feature77 but they will have to manually write down the info from the log. If you power-down the KSU, you will loose all "Logged" info in the buffer.

 

[Mountainbear]

Thank you all for your input. Unfortunately after a week of silence I received a call, they are still having issues. I believe MikeDTMF is correct, there is a computer connected to the phone system via a serial cable. I will be going there tommorow to try to figure out exactly what it is that they press on their phones and what is "suposed" to happen. I will also be documenting any programing I find that may be relevent.
I have also just learned that after entering F986 they enter a password, however since they cannot get passed the F968 I assume this is irrelevent.

 

[Mountainbear]

The features are inactive. I tried F9*2 and F900 they were inacive as well. There was an option to remove F968 but I did not see any way to activate the feature. When I went into maintenance port 126 which is connected to the computer showed iddle. I tried callig that extention but got "not in service". The computer CAN see the KSU and can scan the phone sets but does not contain any telephone logs.
Would I program the features into the computer? or the KSU? (assuming I can fingure out how and what to program)
Both the phone system and computer are very old. The computer is running DOS.

 

[curlycord]

Features are added when you reboot the KSU and it detects the devices.
Once you do that then go to F**XFTEST and see what the feature codes are on a system.

If F9*2 is inactive then the SMDR is not connected, broken or there is a CTA device instead of SMDR perhaps, look at the part number and report back.





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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[Mountainbear]

Still no closer to a solution. I did find the software is a "Trisoft call accounting system" Nortalk ver 1.72 with DMA and B2 support.
Not sure if this means anything to anyone.

 

[curlycord]

Did you find out what device from PC to KSU? SMDR or CTA etc?



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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[Mountainbear]

This is a large learning curve for me. Is a SMDR and CTA the same thing? There is a simple single pair line cord going from a port on the KSU to what appears to be an internal fax modem card installed in a very old computer. I checked with a butt set and there is system dial tone (data stream) entering the computer.
The computer program looks fairly basic.