Monitoring a Route Point

[blanning]

I am normally a huge fan of the way ShoreTel has chosen to implement route points, they are an almost perfect solution to many problems and do not burn a license in the process.

Recently though I became aware of a very annoying fault that they have, namely that you cannot monitor one. I was in a situation where a number rang in and it was desirable to have it ring on multiple phones at the same time, on a separate button, and where every one would see every call. The easiest solution would have been to send the calls to a route point and then put monitor buttons on each persons phone for that route point...the only problem is that you cannot monitor a route point.

Hunt groups ring in on the users own extension, and while you can monitor a HG, then you have the number ringing in two places. Work groups seemed a little excessive for the application at hand. Bridged call appearances are a pain because of the way they handle call stacks. Any given person can only be seeing one position of the call stack on any given button!! (I think that is a dumb setup in case you were wondering). So, the end result is that I used a hunt group and could not put the line on a separate button as was requested. The customer has gotten over it, but to me it just seems dumb. You can monitor other applications, so why not a route point?

[JMozee]

Ben,

I agree with you I love how shoretel does many things however the Route Point primary use is for passing call control to a 3rd party and with that being said you can see how feature can become limited in the IPBX. You will also notice you can not process call reports on route points. I bring this up because it sound like you are building a ACD group well a poor man's ACD I will say that is not a pun it is a ole telephony term and if the customer want to audibly monitor the group then they most likely want historical stats. Well let me just say that has always been my experience. So I think the hunt groups is the right way to go im not sure why the ringing on there prime line is a issue but I can tell from what you have written you know what your are looking for.

As far BCA's if you’re familiar with key systems and the term squaring a system that is where BCA come in. Basically giving you the ability to place LSA’s or 1MB’s however they term it from Telco these days directly on the phone mostly seen in SOHO environments that want to answer a incoming call press hold and hell out through the office call holding on line one then from any phone you press line one and pick the call up. Even though in the typical key system the trunk would be directly on the phone shoretel uses BCA to accomplish this. Of corse this is only one solution of many that BCA can help comply with.

I know where your heart is saving the customer money is always a great thing shows you care about more then just there business. But when at the cross roads of finances and functionality the Pro’s are always visible the Con’s not so much. The cheap way is not always the right way.

[blanning]

I appreciate your points, but I think there are two things to clarify about this.

1). I am very familiar with key systems (that is all I did before ShoreTel became my domain two years ago) and a BCA does not replicate key system behavior for any key system that I am familiar with by any stretch of the imagination. I can see where ShoreTel is trying to get there, but a BCA is like a blind mans depiction of the moon, it leaves a lot to be desired. The fact that any given button can only monitor one stack position is a dumb piece of functionality that has more resemblance to an ACD stack than a key system line appearance. This means that if you want a BCA to have a stack of 4, each and every person who needs to be able to pick up from it needs 4 buttons or they will miss calls!! (Sorry but BCAs are one of the few things that I think ShoreTel has screwed up on)

2). They are not looking for any ACD or reporting, they just want a line to ring in and appear on a separate button on 4 peoples phones at the same time so that any one of the four of them can pick it up when it rings.

[Palitto Consulting]

ShoreTel 9.1, but may work on other versions. In util_toolbar_progBtn.asp in the ShoreWare Director folder, modify this line:

var XMONParams = "1,6,7,9,22,24";

to this:

var XMONParams = "1,6,7,9,13,22,24";

Save the file. Route points will now be available in the button programming and they are monitor-able.

[JMozee]

Great info palitto that is nice never would have though the fix would have been in an ASP script really cool stuff.

The reason I associated BCA's to key system is shoretel doesn’t allow direct trunk appearances on phones they really don't have the buttons to support them anyways it is a old school way of doing things "key system" way once again. But what you can do is direct LSA's to BCA's and do a 1 for 1 simulating this action giving the customer a very similar result. I myself have only configured with this method in one case but since you mentioned earlier you thought the feature was not so useful or “dumb” so I thought I may entertain the remark. Call stacks and CAP keys are great things but this particular customer I’m referring to bought new technologies and wants the same ole key system.
I believe there is a bright individual on this forum that has a sign off that says from 1a key to IP. I don’t go that far back but I have some history. Sorry all I know this wasn’t useful info just wanted to explain my comment.