Receptionist Left - What to do..Please help

[TrentGreenawalt]

We have a Nortel Norstar phone system, with a branch office (connected). All calls to our main number went through one person (no choose 1 for this, 2 for that until night mode kicks in). So we have a larger concole phone up front where the receptionist sat, but no one to man (woman) the phones.

We basically need to get a group of phones to ring in it's place. We would rather not move the console phone right now, but if so I would like instructions on how to do that. Right now the ladies up front can hear her phone ring and use pickup + ext to get the call, except for the main replacement, she is in the back of the office. I have moved a phone with a call appearance screen on it back by her, but the phone doesn't ring.

Also, the phone answering duties are being spread across multiple receptionists at different times during the day, so is their a way to handle that as well. (Though the girls aren't always here all the time (PTO, lunch, etc), so not sure if that will work anyways).

My background: I am an avaya guy with over 6 years experience working with a definity system (networked, visual screen on my pc though). I don't have much experience with this Norstar. I have the admin log in and can get in and change the names on the phones and a few feature codes, but other then that nothing. We have no hunt groups for our customer service, though I would like to set them up. Pretty much everything is fairly basic.

Can someone walk me through what to do and how to figure out this system and how it is programmed so I can map it out and make it work better.

Thanks in advance for the help.
Trent

 

[curlycord]

Give me her name and number?

Ok well first you need config login and no admin login.
If you have config login then you could put answer DN's via Line Access under sets, add an answer DN key for 221 (reception DN).
You would need to make sure that Call Forward No Answer is set to vmail at 3 rings and the rest of the sets at 4 rings so that the general mailbox answers before any given user mailbox.

Admin might be able to assign sets into pickup groups under Capabilities, when they hear reception set ring then can eneter a feature code to pickup that call.

Otherwise get a tech to site to solve your issue in minutes.


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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[fireeater]

what curly said would be the better way to go .

but an other way would be to forward the calls to the person who is to answer at the given time .

example
on ext 221 (reception)press feature 4 then the ext number of the next person to answer,say 222

when she goes to lunch she goes to ext 221 and press feature#4 to cancel the forward then feature 4 again and the next ext to answer say 223

a little time consuming but may get you going till you can set up the answer dns or hunt groups

HALLOWED ARE THE ORI

mike

http://www.ics-on.ca

 

[TrentGreenawalt]

Thanks for your advice. I think in the short term the call forwarding may work for the "remote" user. However, I have to ask what exactly is a Answer DNs? Currently the receptionists phone rings x amount of times and then a audible chirp (bell) is heard throughout the office. I don't believe there is a vmail box during the day, but I am not sure. So how would that work for the call forward rings?

then how would I go about having all of the coverage girls phones ring in tandem with the receptionist phone? That would seem like a more logical coverall solution, then the specific girl that hour would need to pick up the calls with others as backup.

Also, what is the best way to move the console phone and is their a trick to moving it? For some reason, I believe their are two phone lines into that thing.

Lastly, is the admin login the same as the config login. What is the difference, would be my question. The login that I have allows me to go to pretty much everything, so I just assumed it was the admin log in.

Thanks again for your continued help.
Trent

 

[oldestgeek]

You should set up a hunt group with all the phones you want to ring, plus 221, as members and all your incomming lines as assigned lines. If you want the phones to ring all at the same time, leave it as a broadcast group, if you want them to ring in a sequence, make it rotary or sequential. If you want the hunt group to have a button appearance, make it ring and appear for each member, otherwise make it ring only and hunt group calls will be sent to the intercom key.

 

[TrentGreenawalt]

That is exactly what I would like to do; however, I am not familiar with this Norstar system. Can someone walk me through the steps to set up a "cover answer group". I would like all phones to ring at the same time, and have a line appearance.

So will this setup work for multiple lines? We have a PRI in here and at any given time we can have 4-5 calls come in sequentially. I really don't want to hose up the system today during working hours, but I need to get something working.

Call forwarding to the remote receptionist risks having the call go into VM and we don't want that.

 

[curlycord]

You could try to read the manual if you have never done any programming, or not intrested in getting a technician.
Hunt groups are clearly laid out in the System Coordinator Guide.
They have step by step, when stuck post back your issue.


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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[TrentGreenawalt]

Do you have a link to the guide, I should be able to figure it out since I know all of the terminolgy you guys are talking about, but just don't understand the interface on the phones. I am in the screens of the receptionist extention and looking at the line assignments screen.

She has:
L146 - Ring
L188 - App
L191 - Ring
L227 - App & Ring

Now when I dial any of those "extensions" none do anything, so why would those extensions be assigned to her phone? Unless those are incoming lines that we have setup?

Other information that I found: Her line is set to autoforward to Ext 258 (Audible Chirp) after 4 rings. Then anyone can pick up the call by hitting Pickup 258. However, I don't see 258 as a pickup group?

I just added Ext 201 as an answer DN for the remote receptionist's phone Ext 215, testing now. Any more help or that system admin link would be great.

Thanks,
Trent

 

[fireeater]

ok lets clear up some things
the line assignment are for trunk lines not extensions
L146-ring (it only rings on the set)
L188 - App (only has button appearing on the set)
L191 - Ring (it only rings on the set)
L227 - App & Ring( rings and has button appearing on the set)


her set being fwded to 258 (258 must be your vmail ext)this is normal to fwd to vmail to verify the ext press feature 985 on any set it should show 258

if your reception is 215 you would need to put an answer dn of 215 on the other sets
answer dn's match extension numbers of the sets

pickup groups are numbers 1,2,3,4ect
if all the sets that can hear the main set are in the same pickup group (1 for instance) then the only need to press feature 75 (group pickup) if the want to answer the call within the four rings and are not in the same pickup group they can press feature 76 and the extension number they want to get (215)

HALLOWED ARE THE ORI

mike

http://www.ics-on.ca

 

[curlycord]

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=System+Coordinator+Guide&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[schoebo]

better yet do you have a rad so someone with exp. can dial into system and fix it?

 

[TrentGreenawalt]

Thanks for the clarification Fireeater..

So a few follow up questions now:
NOTE: VM is ext 350 actually, 258 is an audible chirp in overhead speakers in the building. Main concole phone is 201, and Remote receptionist is 215.

With the change that I made, it worked, but not as I thought. 215 now rings when 201 rings, but....

Scenerio:
1) One call comes in, it rings at 215 now (Remote receptionist), and all is well. For some reason the call appreance took over the call park button, but that isn't a huge deal. (Result Good)

2) One call comes in and remote Recpt isn't at desk, the chirp kicks in after 4 rings, and then goes to VM (We don't want this, no VM, should just Chirp) (Result bad)

3) Remote Recpt on a call, second call comes in, now we get her VM (Not the general VM) right away, this is very bad. We need it to still ring the main phone (For coverage) or chirp, so do I forward calls that are busy to 258 (Chirp) then? (Result, very bad)

Desired Ringing Pattern:
1) Call comes in, call answered, transfer to a broadcast hunt group (Customer service, engineering, etc).

2) Call comes in Remote recep doesn't answer, should go to chirp after 4 rings. Someone will then pick up the call

3) Caller on line with remote recpt, second call comes in it should still ring the main concole phone (210), and then go to chirp.

So how do I set up this hunt group, and more importantly how do I know which trunk line is associated with which extension or is their no way to tell besides physically looking? I found ringing group, is that what I am looking for? I really could use the link to the manual.

Thanks everyone for your help,
Trent

 

[TrentGreenawalt]

No unfortunately we don't have any remote access to this system. I would love to have an interface to work with here. Trying to learn what all the button combinations are is a chore with everyone in my office wondering why the phones aren't working as desired.

After this problem is resolved, I would be greatly interested in discovering if I can get remote access into our phone system. It would be 100x easier to fix this.

 

[TrentGreenawalt]

Thanks for the manual link Curly, give me a bit to read through it. I just found the hunt group setup and hopefully will be able to do this using it. I just need to make sure those second calls aren't going right to VM.

 

[curlycord]

You must remove all lines from a set that is in a hunt group or you will get issues.


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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com

 

[fireeater]

remove the forward on busy setting from the main set this will make the set ring even if they are on it (for the 4 rings)

HALLOWED ARE THE ORI

mike

http://www.ics-on.ca

 

[TrentGreenawalt]

Curly, I setup a hunt group 686, and added in the members; however, when the phones ring it now took over the call park button is it possible to move the call appearance elsewhere? I found out how to move the call park button, but I would like the sets to be standardized. Also, I wasn't able just to ring the phones, it only gave me Ring with appearance or appearance as an option.

When you say remove all "lines" were you referring to other Answer DN, or something else? There are at least 2 "Lines" assigned (Trunk lines) to each phone.

I really want to thank all of you for the help today. I think it is finally working for right now. I will play around with it a bit and see what else I can figure out. I know that creating Hunt groups is going to help out our organization a lot more.

QUote: " oldestgeek (TechnicalUser) 17 Aug 09 0:52
You should set up a hunt group with all the phones you want to ring, plus 221, as members and all your incomming lines as assigned lines. If you want the phones to ring all at the same time, leave it as a broadcast group, if you want them to ring in a sequence, make it rotary or sequential. If you want the hunt group to have a button appearance, make it ring and appear for each member, otherwise make it ring only and hunt group calls will be sent to the intercom key. "

This setup sounds ideal and I tried it, but the ladies up front don't want their phones ringing, they can clearly hear the Receptionists phone and would rather not have the other 5 phones around them ring. I might just have to override them at some point.

Thanks again,
Trent

 

[curlycord]

You assigned the HG to Appear and Ring, make it Ring Only or re-program park key.

Line that have something to do with the HG should be the only ones removed.





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curlycord

http://www.curlycord.com