SWCA and lines

[Lawick]

Hoping someone can help,

I have a Nortel BCM50 system. We have 2 different numbers coming in on 8 channels (4 each). It's in a medical centre setting so we have a team of receptionists who answer incoming calls (directly- we don't have a menu set up at present). These calls often need to be put through to doctors so we want the calls to show up on their handsets but we don't want their phones to ring. We do want to be able to call the doctor and say "please pick up the call on line..." so the assigned button needs to be the same system wide.

Currently all calls coming through on one number (1) are directed to a hunt group which has "appear & ring" set to reception handsets and "ring only". The second number is a bypass line used by health professionals and other non-patients. This has a similar setup to 1 during office hours but Call Pilot Manager has been used to route calls differently after office hours- all phones will ring.

We have had the system in place for some years now but due to a recent software upgrade and increase in lines, we are having to tweak it a bit now and its been suggested we use SWCA.

I understand the premise of SWCA but the hunt group allocation is confusing things. Presumably, as auto attendant needs to point to a hunt group, handsets need to be added as hunt group members?? The problem is by adding a phone as a hunt group member, it seems to be overwriting the 1st allocated SWCA button on the handset, even if there are other blank buttons. Am I doing this wrong?

Many thanks for your help

L

 

[Lawick]

Sorry the second paragraph should have said "ring only" set to doctors handsets.

 

[Lawick]

Me again....

If I set a reception phone to "ring only" in the hunt group, this doesn't take up a button on the phone. Will it still show on the SWCA buttons when it is answered (I have it set to auto-associate SWCA to call automatically for the life of the call). If it does, will this automatically then show on the doctors handsets as well?

If this is the case, then presumably I need to set up all handsets as ring only for our bypass line during out of hours to ensure all phones in the building ring if someone calls this number.

Please let me know if I've got this right. If it doesn't work properly it could have huge implications.

Many thanks. L

 

[snowman50]

The only issue with setting SWCA as Automatic life of call is you cant transfer to voicemail.
If you set to Manual life of call then you have the choice of transfering to voicemail and selecting which button you want to assign the call to.
It may be easier for your receptionist to keep track of the call,because they are selecting the button themselves.

Set up is fine as the call will come in on the Intercom Button,
Then you can select which SWCA button to use.
This will appear on all phones assigned with the same SWCA button

This feature will allow calls to be parked under a programmed button and picked up from other handsets that also have programmed SWCA buttons.
There are 16 SWCA codes that can be assigned to buttons when the telephone is being programmed.