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Amanda Work Group Administrations 7 Xx Instructions Manual

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    							Chapter 1:
    Introducing Amanda
    What Amanda Does
    [email protected]/DOS is an automated attendant and voice processing 
    system designed especially for ease of use and flexibility. As a PC-based 
    product, Amanda takes advantage of the technical innovations in the 
    personal computer market. In addition, Amanda’s standard hardware 
    components can be repaired or replaced by any PC service company. The 
    computer on which Amanda is installed must be used only for Amanda.
    Depending on what lines from your PBX are connected to Amanda and 
    when calls are sent to Amanda to be processed, Amanda can serve you or 
    your customer in a variety of ways.
    Configured as a primary attendant: Amanda answers all your incoming 
    calls on the lines you designate and allows the callers to direct their calls to a 
    specific person or department without being placed on indefinite hold. If a 
    specific person is unavailable, Amanda can take a private message for that 
    person without missing any details. 
    In this case, the telephone switching system sends all incoming calls to 
    Amanda. 
    						
    							2 Administering [email protected]/DOS
    Configured as a secondary attendant: Amanda assists your regular 
    operator when call volume is heavy, allowing callers to direct their own calls 
    or hold for the operator. Some companies provide specific incoming lines for 
    Amanda as a backdoor attendant for calls from vendors, family members, 
    friends, and special clients who prefer to have Amanda process their calls.
    In this case, the telephone switching system sends incoming calls to Amanda 
    only when the regular operator’s extension is busy or not answered.
    Configured as an off-duty attendant: Amanda provides 24-hour access to 
    your company and its employees when an operator is unavailable.
    In this case, the telephone switching system sends all incoming calls to 
    Amanda while the office is closed.
    Configured as a voice messaging center: Amanda takes messages and 
    allows users to send, store, and forward messages, increasing productivity 
    and enhancing inter-office communication.
    In this case, the telephone switching system transfers any incoming call to 
    Amanda if the extension being called is busy or not answering.
    Configured as an information system: Amanda provides answers to your 
    callers’ most frequently asked questions (so you can avoid costly 
    interruptions and provide a higher level of customer service 24 hours a day). 
    Information such as your address, available hours, directions to your offices, 
    and so forth, might be better handled by Amanda. Amanda’s serial ports can 
    access databases and other information stored in other computers, allowing 
    Amanda to give callers information on account balances, train schedules, and 
    so forth.
    In this case, the telephone switching system or even an operator can send 
    incoming calls to Amanda. Then automatically, or if selected, Amanda plays 
    out the requested information. 
    						
    							Chapter 1: Introducing Amanda 3
    How to Use Amanda
    [email protected]/DOS can be run as either a voice server or as a 
    standalone system, switching back and forth if necessary. In either case, the 
    computer on which Amanda is installed must have a DOS operating system 
    and be dedicated solely to running Amanda. 
    The advantage of running Amanda as a voice server is that you can monitor 
    it and adjust how it processes users’ calls from your own workstation rather 
    than from the computer on which Amanda is running. When you use 
    Amanda as a standalone system, you use DOS applications to control 
    everything from the computer on which Amanda is installed.
    [email protected]/DOS comes with one license for the client software, 
    the applications that allow you to access Amanda from your workstation. To 
    allow other users to access Amanda via their workstations (in addition to 
    their telephones), you must purchase a license for each user. Besides the 
    usual user options (such as listening to messages and changing the setting for 
    Do Not Disturb), the client software allows users to dial telephone numbers 
    listed in Windows applications. 
    Voice ServerThe computer running Amanda as a Voice Server must 
    have a LAN adapter. During the installation, software 
    was provided that allows you to access a Microsoft 
    Workgroup network. 
    In addition to installing the Voice Server, you can install 
    client software which allows you to interact with Amanda 
    from your workstation. One copy of the client software is 
    supplied with this product. It contains five Windows 3.11 
    applications. Two of them assist you in your role as 
    Amanda system administrator:
    Amanda Administrator Allows you to control how 
    Amanda processes calls and to 
    create reports.
    Amanda Monitor Allows you to observe what 
    ports are active and so on.  
    						
    							4 Administering [email protected]/DOS
    NOTE:To set the configuration options client_activation_key and 
    n_clients, see Installing [email protected]/DOS. When 
    n_clients is 0, you have only one client. This allows you to run 
    Amanda Administrator to control Amanda Voice Server.
    How Amanda Operates
    To users and callers, Amanda is a voice on the telephone guiding them to 
    people, services, and messages. However, Amanda’s entire design revolves 
    around the mailboxes defined by you, the system administrator. This chapter 
    explains what a mailbox is, how Amanda uses mailboxes to process calls, 
    and how Amanda processes each mailbox based on the contents of fields 
    associated with it.
    The others allow you to process messages, place calls, 
    and manage your personal mailbox:
    Amanda Messenger Allows users to access their 
    messages from their worksta-
    tions as well as by telephone. 
    Amanda Dialer Dials telephone numbers that 
    appear in Microsoft Word for 
    Windows, Microsoft Excel, 
    and other Windows applica-
    tions.
    Amanda  Fax Allows you to fax anything that 
    you can print from a Windows 
    application. It also allows you 
    to convert the printable item 
    (document, spread sheet, and 
    so forth) into a fax file or a fax 
    message.
    Standalone 
    SystemIn this mode, you control Amanda from the computer 
    on which it has been installed using DOS applications.
    All users access their messages by telephone. 
    						
    							Chapter 1: Introducing Amanda 5
    A Mailbox for Each User
    Each user of the Amanda system has a mailbox. The Amanda Company 
    recommends using the same number as the extension number, but you don’t 
    have to—unless you are using digital integration (such as SMDI). Amanda 
    dials the extension number to reach a user who has a call. The mailbox 
    identifies a record in Amanda’s database. The record contains fields that 
    define how Amanda processes each user’s calls. The system administrator 
    initially (and ultimately) controls the contents of these fields, but the user 
    can change many of them. For example, the user can turn Do Not Disturb on 
    and off during a hectic day. 
    The user changes the contents of these fields using a telephone and a series 
    of menus. He can also use Amanda Messenger. The administrator changes 
    them from Amanda’s Users screen (if using Amanda as a standalone) or 
    from Amanda Administrator (if using Amanda as a voice server). The 
    administrator can view all the fields associated with the mailbox at the same 
    time and move easily from the fields for one mailbox to the fields for 
    another. 
    In addition to these fields, each mailbox has one or more recorded greetings. 
    For example, when a user does not answer a call, the caller hears a greeting, 
    such as “Hi. This is Ralph at extension 123. Please leave a message….”
    A typical mailbox is configured to ring a telephone extension and record 
    messages from callers. Users periodically check their mailboxes for 
    messages, or they can be notified that a message exists in a variety of ways. 
    Typically, there is one user for each mailbox, even though several mailboxes 
    might share a single telephone extension.
    Mailboxes that Control Call Processing
    There are more mailboxes than there are users. This is because mailboxes 
    also control the flow of a call. For example, the company greeting and all the 
    menus are played as greetings for mailboxes. One mailbox directs the call to 
    another mailbox for further processing.  
    						
    							6 Administering [email protected]/DOS
    By default, Amanda starts with mailbox 990, known as the Company 
    Greeting mailbox. Amanda plays a very short greeting for that mailbox, 
    which is something similar to “Thank you for calling The Amanda 
    Company.” 
    The Done Chain field, one of the fields associated with mailbox 990, causes 
    Amanda to route the call to mailbox 991, known as the Caller Instructions 
    mailbox—unless the caller enters the DTMF (touch tone) digits for another 
    mailbox, such as Ralph’s 123. The greeting Amanda plays for mailbox 991 is 
    a menu of choices (for example, “For sales, press 1. For customer support, 
    press 2….”). If the caller presses a number from the menu, Amanda routes 
    the call to the mailbox associated with that menu number. 
    The Caller Instructions mailbox (by default mailbox 991) is very important 
    because the caller returns to it if all else fails. It is what keeps the caller from 
    becoming lost in the system.
    You don’t have to use mailboxes 990 and 991, but it is very important that 
    you use two mailboxes. The first should always provide a very short general 
    greeting. The second should be a very specific set of instructions or a menu 
    that allows the caller to reroute himself. The caller can hear it under a variety 
    of circumstances. The second mailbox must be the value stored in the first 
    mailbox’s Done Chain field.
    You can use these two mailboxes for all calls coming into Amanda, or you 
    can use two different mailboxes per port. This allows you to have a separate 
    general greeting and set of instructions for each port.
    Mailboxes that Provide Information
    An information mailbox (such as 990 or 991) does not accept messages from 
    callers; instead, its greeting is played to callers to provide them with various 
    pieces of information, such as the company’s hours of operation, location, 
    and so forth. No real user or telephone extension corresponds to this kind of 
    mailbox. 
    						
    							Chapter 1: Introducing Amanda 7
    The Power of Mailboxes
    Amanda makes a distinction between the mailbox and the user’s extension, 
    although they are usually the same number. The mailbox is the number for a 
    record in Amanda’s database. The extension is what Amanda must dial to 
    transfer a call. By making this distinction, Amanda can provide powerful 
    features through her Token Programming Language.
    All of Amanda’s mailboxes are stored in a single database, so no two users 
    can have the same number. For example, you can have only one mailbox 0 
    (usually the company operator). To use 0 more that once, Amanda provides 
    single-digit menus. When you define a single-digit menu, you provide a 
    mailbox to be processed for each number on the menu (1–9 and 0). Amanda 
    processes that mailbox when the user or caller selects the corresponding 
    menu number. For example, if a caller is in mailbox 100 and mailbox 100 
    maps the menu number 0 to mailbox 222, then Amanda sends callers who 
    press 0 to mailbox 222 rather than to the company operator designated as 
    mailbox 0.
    When a digit is not mapped as a menu number, Amanda treats the digit as a 
    mailbox. For example, if 0 is not mapped, the caller who enters it reaches 
    mailbox 0, which is usually the operator. Similarly, if a caller enters more 
    than one digit, such as 123, the caller reaches mailbox 123 (if it exists).
    Processing Calls and Mailboxes
    To learn the basics of Amanda’s call processing capabilities, you must 
    understand the following concepts.
     How Amanda processes a call by going from one mailbox to another
     How Amanda processes an individual mailbox based on the contents 
    of its fields 
    						
    							8 Administering [email protected]/DOS
    Processing a Call
    Amanda waits for incoming calls directed to her by your telephone switching 
    system. When a call comes to an Amanda telephone port, Amanda goes from 
    one mailbox to another as she processes that call. How does she know what 
    mailboxes to use?
     As Amanda answers a call, she starts with the mailbox defined for 
    use with the port that handles the call. This is usually mailbox 990, 
    the Company Greeting mailbox. See “Recording the Company 
    Greeting” on page 44 for more information about setting up this 
    mailbox.
     She proceeds with the mailbox she finds in the Done Chain field for 
    the current mailbox unless the caller enters an extension.
     Amanda translates the digits that the caller enters (whether an exten-
    sion or a number from a menu) to a mailbox and continues process-
    ing at that mailbox. 
     Depending on the fields associated with a particular mailbox, Aman-
    da uses the contents of that mailbox’s Extension field, Done Chain 
    field, Busy Chain field, or RNA (Ring No Answer) Chain field to de-
    termine what to do next.
     Tokens from Amanda’s Token Programming Language are used in 
    the Extension field. The Done Chain, Busy Chain, and RNA fields 
    contain only mailboxes. See Installing [email protected]/DOS 
    for more information about the Token Programming Language.
     Eventually, the caller talks to someone, leaves a message, and/or 
    hangs up.
    The following diagram helps to illustrate this concept. 
    						
    							Chapter 1: Introducing Amanda 9
    Call Processing Diagram 
    						
    							10 Administering [email protected]/DOS
    NOTE:If a Done Chain field is not defined, Amanda uses the Done 
    Chain field of the Company Greeting mailbox as a default. 
    While this default Done Chain can vary from port to port, it usu-
    ally is the Done Chain field for mailbox 990 and is initially set 
    to mailbox 991 (referred to as the Caller Instructions mailbox). 
    Because of this feature, callers who make invalid choices return 
    to the Caller Instruction mailbox and hear a menu of choices. 
    This keeps them from getting lost in the system.
    Processing a Mailbox
    Every time Amanda processes a mailbox during a supervised transfer, she 
    follows the path shown in the following diagram. The settings for the fields 
    associated with the mailbox, such as the Do Not Disturb, determine what 
    actions Amanda does or does not take. 
    While Amanda processes every mailbox the same way, the dotted rectangle 
    around the left column of the diagram’s first page shows a typical call—
    starting with Amanda dialing a user’s extension and ending with the call 
    being answered, busy, or not answered after a number of rings. 
    The right column of the first page (outside the dotted rectangle), shows the 
    processing for additional (in some cases, special) features. For example, it 
    shows how Amanda:
     Routes the call if Do Not Disturb is on
     Identifies the caller, the called party, or both
     Allows the called party to screen calls
     Knows when to go to another mailbox or process tokens from the 
    Token Programming Language
    The second page of the diagram shows in detail what Amanda does when she 
    supervises the transfer of a call and finds that the extension is answered, 
    busy, or not answered. The third page shows when messages are recorded 
    and where they are stored.
    N
    OTE:At any time, the caller can enter a number from the menu or 
    the number for another mailbox. If the caller enters a single 
    digit and there are menu fields, Amanda checks for values 
    in those menu fields first. If the menu field for that digit is 
    empty or if the caller enters more than one digit, Amanda 
    assumes that the caller entered a mailbox. 
    						
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