Ring Differently depending on Number Dialed (Incoming)

[Gymratz]

We have a couple receptionists that need to answer calls for multiple companies. They need to be able to answer the phone with that companies name. Answering incorrectly could cause some serious problems.

I need to find some way to make it so that it rings differently by ringtone, which button it lights up, etc. In all other phone systems I’ve used before there have been call rules that could be set up by the administrator or even by each user. For instance “If a call comes from this number, auto forward to this extension.” Or “If a call comes in to this number, ring on line 2.” Is there a way to accomplish this with ShoreTel 7.5 and if not is it coming in 8.0? Is there any other way I can set this up?

Currently I do have it tag the call with the company name; however, this has not been sufficient due to issues I’ll describe in a moment.
To set this up I created DNIS Digit Map for the received digits for the company number, and for the “Dialed Number” the company name.
Now when anyone calls this number it shows up on the phone with the company entered on it.

Problem is, the moment the phone is picked up this goes away. Also when the PCM is in docked mode it doesn’t show this part of the call information.

Thanks for the help,

[pagnmickie]

Did you ever get a reply on this issue?

[cburgy]

You can do this with Shoretel 9.0. Personalized Call Handling will allow you to create rules based on DNIS entries (among many other things) and perform a number of actions based upon the criteria. One of those actions is play a different ring tone.


You could also do this on the PC before Shoretel 9.0. In the Shoretel SDK, there was a sample application created a number of years back that accomplished much of the same thing.

Personalized Call Handling requires Professional Call Manager.

[Palitto Consulting]

As a side note, we have done various types of notification for this situation. For example, one solution we used was that when you answer the call, it plays a company name in your ear before connecting the caller.

[Gymratz]

How did you manage to configure playing the company name in the ear?

[Palitto Consulting]

We have written a small custom which performs this. When an agent picks up the phone, the external call is taken to a route point and left ringing there while the message is played, then the external call is transferred back to the agent and connected.

[Phill44]

How do you handle the outbound Caller ID for the multiple company. Can you setup a second Shoretel T1 switch and then use Access codes to use a designated T1? All from a single phone on employee desk. Will this work or a simpler way?

[Palitto Consulting]

We have written a caller ID changer, which when run just shows a box for typing a caller ID or selecting from a recently used caller ID. This communicates with a component on the VM server that changes the user's caller ID field in Director.

[Phill44]

Palitto-
With the custom app you wrote to announce the company dialed, does that work for workgroups as well?

[Palitto Consulting]

Yes, it works with both workgroups and hunt groups.

[southeasternMI]

Palitto, can you send me the pricing on that?

[Palitto Consulting]

Pricing

Greetings,

The custom application Daniel is referring too, which plays a message into the ear prior to connecting the call, is in operation and works well. It is a custom application and may need some development to make it function in your specific environment and precisely as you wish. We will remotely install it, test it, train you on it's use and document it for you. The cost is $2000. This application has not been tested with a large number of hunt groups or work groups.

The custom application which changes CID is also available. In the basic form, it runs next to Call Manager and allow the user to change their CID on the fly... and it keeps a list so changing back and forth is pretty quick. This can be customized in many ways to fit specific needs... The cost, in the base form, is $500. This is a license for a ShoreTel deployment... unlimited sites and unlimited users.

Feel free to contact me at any time via the forum or 330-335-7271.

Sincerely,
Bryon Palitto

[Phill44]

Will your script/app work after an auto attendant? For example, after hours/night mode a call will get routed to an AA (press 1 for Tech Support...). Since the extension for the Tech Support Workgroup would be the same (I am assuming this) for both companies, when the Tech Support Agent picks up the call out of the queue; will the call announce the source/company called?

[Palitto Consulting]

We base the message played off of the immediate source of the call, so if you have just one workgroup, you can only have one message. We certainly can customize this for you, but I would recommend multiple workgroups instead, as this also allows you to do more with reporting also. with this setup, you would have one workgroup for each company and they would all have the same agents as members.

We could also do the detection based on DNIS if this works better for you.

[Phill44]

Bryon Palitto-
Thanks for discussing some options for our needs on the phone yesterday. Your suggestion of tiered workgroups looks like it will work as needed and is a much easier way to handle our multiple company situation much better.

Now to get the ring tones different for each workgroup...

Is the best way to handle that thru the Personalized Call Handling options?