Internal Office Help Required Alert 4

[phoneguy97]

Hi Everyone,

I have multiple IP Office 500V2 systems running 8.1.(85). I need to setup a button on the phones display that will alert a select group in the office that the person who pressed the button requires immediate assistance. I would like a recording to play when the button is pressed that automatically comes over the speaker of the group members and does not require the members to pickup the call. The announcement needs to be able to intrude on calls and then play or at the least automatically play for group members that aren't on the phone. Thank you in advance for the help.

 

[mforrence]

I created this exact setup. Used a telephone button to close one of the relays on IPO. Relay triggered an Altronix timer that stayed open for 20 seconds. Timer caused analog station port to go off hook. Using ?D shortcode, analog station creates a call to hunt with queueing and VMPro post dial page - that pages whatever stations you want. Won't interrupt calls in progress. The advantage of using IPO relay is that a button can be pressed fairly innocuously with very little telephone "feedback". It works like a champ. We have this button only at the reception desk. It would be more complex if you wanted this function at various locations thru your network.

 

[phoneguy97]

Thanks mforrence for the reply. I need the button to be available to everyone in the building. We would set this up at each of our offices separately. In your setup when a user pushes the button to page do the phones display which user pressed the button. It would need to display this information so the receiving group knows who needs help.

 

[mforrence]

If you need a "come quick" button on each phone, my solution will not work. Must be a rough neighborhood.

 

[mforrence]

You may want to use a third party software. Chronicall has a add-in that allows a popup window on many PCs when someone dials 911. You may be able to use this as a work-around - see if Chronciall can monitor some other digits. This WOULD show who dunnit and would pop on PCs, regardless of their off-hook status.

 

[tlpeter]

Chronicall is able to have multiple alarm numbers and you can configure them yourself.


BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[Gunnaro]

Phoneguy, do you have VMPro on these systems?

If so, you can make a module with Post Dial-action for each extn, playing a message on the speaker on all members of a Hunt Group:

- Record an alarm message for each user "An alarm has been triggered by <NAME>"
- Make Hunt group: "Alarm", number 5555. Add users to the group, select Collective Call Waiting mode.
- Make Short code: #5555 / Dial Paging / 5555
- Make a button on each user that triggers the user-specific VM module.

Module uniquealarmname> Start point> Post Dial> Empty Menu
In Specific-tab: Post a wave file> play out a looped wave file.
Put in the location of the wave file
Send to: #5555

To avoid the alarming phone to hang up after it's done:
In Start point> Specific: check "Complete Sequence"
In Empty menu, sett timeout to 180 sec (or more).

When time out is reached, the user has positioned him/her away from the phone, the hang-up tone might creates a distraction->
Knock the bastard out cold / run for it / look surprised / whatever.

The phone will play a wave file when triggering the alarm, "Forwarded", find that file in `WAVS directory and record over with silence for a sec.

Kind regards

Gunnar
__________________________________________________________________
Hippos have bad eyesight, but considering their weight, it’s hardly their problem

 

[driven0]

Gunnaro

Star for you. Good idea and well written/explained

I have no need for this but I am going to try it just for the heck of it,as it may help me for other future (similar) endeavors.

 

[phoneguy97]

Thank you guys for the great info. I am definitely going to try Gunnaro's suggestion and see what happens. Its going to be a pain to setup recordings for each person but that's what they want. I think for added warning I will still use chonicall. I've contacted them and its $1600 for 1 to 100 users and $3000 for 1 to 250 users. The only concern I have with the software is that you only get one server license per purchase. That forces the setup to be centralized and does not allow for redundancies unless you purchase separate licenses for each location. I will be testing both solutions today and will let you all know how they work.

 

[Gunnaro]

Thanks for the stars

Make sure you check "Post Wave File", or else the recipients will have to push # to hear the audio file.

You have a demo kit, Phoneguy? Use that to create the Wave files with Text-to-Speech, it should be licensed for that.
(time to find that TTS DVD nobody knows where is....)

250 recordings shouldn't take more than 1 hour.

In case you haven't done it before:

VMPro client

1. Make a Generic action box
2. General tab> Description text field> Type in the text you want to record
3. Entry Prompts tab> Click the green "plus" sign to add a new recording
4. In the drop down select Text-to-Speech. A language selector will appear to the right
5. Select destination for the playback
6. Give the file a name in the text field, something like "alarm<extn-number>.wav"
7. Click on the recording button
8. Play the wave file
9. Return to step 1 for next recording

If the recording volume is too low, use a wave editor to amplify after you're done with the recordings.

I'd stick to extn number on filename, makes it easier to re-record later.
Put the files in a separate folder, so you don't delete them by mistake.

...and by the way, Xima is a great product

Kind regards

Gunnar
__________________________________________________________________
Hippos have bad eyesight, but considering their weight, it’s hardly their problem

 

[phoneguy97]

Thanks again Gunnaro for some more great info. I don't have a demo system but I'll check the licensing and see if I have the text to speech. If not it will probably be worth getting it.

I did get chronicall setup and connected to the phone systems. I haven't setup the alerts yet but that first thing for Monday morning. I also setup vmpro with the instructions from Gunnaro and just have one final step before I can test. So far I think this setup is going to be a prefect solution for the request. I'll let you all know what I find when I have it finally setup.

 

[Gunnaro]

Phoneguy, talk to your BP or Distri, they should be able to provide you with a 60 day trial license for TTS. If you like it, buy it. If not, you got the recordings you needed for free.

Kind regards

Gunnar
__________________________________________________________________
Hippos have bad eyesight, but considering their weight, it’s hardly their problem

 

[amriddle01]

There a few very good text to speech engines online that will play sample sentences, loop back your headphone to Mic and record away....sorted

 

[phoneguy97]

Hey Guys,

So I've been testing chronicall a bit and found that there alert function only works on externally dialed numbers. So an internal number will not set off the alert email,text, or desktop app. I did confirm this with chronicall tech support. By text i mean putting in the phonenumber@vtext.com or whoever the provider is. Its an easy fix to program the button to dial an external number that can loop back through to the huntgroup. The problem now is that as far as I know, there is no way for the system to tell what user dialed the number and then play a recorded message. At this point I think we are ok with that as I would prefer not to have to keep all of those recordings up to date.

Now for another issue. When the user presses the button the phone goes to speaker and the dialing can be heard and the ringing. Is there anyway to make it a silent call? Where there is no dial tone or ringing. I need something that is similar to a page where there is very little sound made.Any suggestions or ideas about this issue or the other are greatly appreciated.

 

[Gunnaro]

Phoneguy, I added a few things to the VMPro part.

When you push the button, it calls out on all other phones as before, but it also setts an Alarm text in the phone displays.
You need to add a set of actions for each phone you want to change the display on.
(I made this one for three phones, but you could do it for many more)

NB: The Display Text is now only "Alarm" (because the following can't be exported): In "Set Absent Text 1, 2 , 3"..etc,
put this-> "ALARM FROM $NAM" , in the Specific-tab, text fields.
This will add in the name of the one that triggered the alarm.

There is also a reset module, to remove the text in the display. Each user must push it to remove.

Here is the VMPRo Modules
and here you have a sample Config

Kind regards

Gunnar
__________________________________________________________________
Hippos have bad eyesight, but considering their weight, it’s hardly their problem

 

[phoneguy97]

Hey Gunnaro,

Thanks again for the great info. I'm not as familiar with VMPro as I would like. What short code can I use to dial the VM module? I've tried voice mail collect and that doesn't work.

 

[mforrence]

You could still use Chronicall - have button that dials a fictitious external number that Chronciall can montior - such as 9999 if you're in North America. The call likely doesn't need to complete, but rather just be presented to the carrier, who will likely reject it anyway.

 

[Gunnaro]

Look in the config file> User> Button programming

If you want to make a SC:

#345/VM Collect/"outcalling"/0
#456/VM Collect/"reset"/0

Anyone who deals with VM Pro should take the time to go through the free tutorials.
All it takes is a wifeless evening, a six pack and an IPO, after that you will be up to speed on most things.


Kind regards

Gunnar
__________________________________________________________________
Hippos have bad eyesight, but considering their weight, it’s hardly their problem

 

[phoneguy97]

Gunnaro, I did a little more googling and it seems liek voicemail collect is the correct way of accessing a vm module. The system does page the hunt group but the phones display VM:INVITE and has an accept button in the bottom left of the phones. Any ideas as to what i missed?

 

[Gunnaro]

You probably missed one important thing: The screaming wave file

That you need to record yourself, and put it in the Post Dial action as described before.

Kind regards

Gunnar
__________________________________________________________________
Hippos have bad eyesight, but considering their weight, it’s hardly their problem