Amanda Work Group Norstar Work Place Instructions Manual
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Appendix B: Glossary Telephony terms, such as station side, CO, single-line, hunt group, pilot number, pickup group, coverage path, hookflash, call forward ring-no-answer, call forward busy, DTMF, and tone patterns. RJ-XXRegistered Jacks. Telephone and data plugs that are registered with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). RJ-11Telephone jack (or plug) commonly used to connect telephones, mo- dems, and fax machines. The red and green pair carry the conversation for one line. The black and white pair might light buttons, send sig- nals, or go unused. RJ-14Telephone jack (or plug) commonly used to connect telephones, mo- dems, and fax machines. The red and green pair carry the conversation for one line. The black and yellow pair carry the conversation for the second line. class of serviceA grouping of privileges and features assigned to a telephone in a sys- tem. Each mailbox in an Amanda system can be given all or any subset of the available privileges and features. There are no classes of ser- vice. alphanumeric characterA letter from the alphabet (A–Z, a–z), a space, or a digit (0–9). analog telephoneSingle line telephone or 2500 set (as opposed to digital), the type of telephone most often seen in residential units. In a commercial setting, analog phones must be connected to analog (single line) ports (jacks) which can be limited or unavailable. All telephone ports must be con- nected to analog (single line) ports off the telephone switching system. ANIAutomatic Number Identification T1 line ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange—a standard used by the computer industry to encode all characters (alphabetic, nu- meric, etc.) as integers. This code represents 256 characters as integers 0 through 255. For example, A is encoded as 65 and a is encoded as 97. audiotextThe ability to play information (instructions) to the caller such as di- rections to the office or the instructions recorded in mailbox 991. In Amanda, this is done by having the Do Not Disturb field set to ON. automated attendantA computer loaded with software (such as Amanda) capable of an- swering incoming lines and transferring calls to extensions based on DTMF entered by the caller. back-door attendantAn automated attendant answering specific incoming CO lines dedi- cated to calls from those callers who do not wish to go through the live attendant (receptionist or operator).
104 Administering [email protected] blind transfer (unsupervised transfer)The execution of an H token (to accomplish a hangup) after dialing an extension. This, in effect, releases the call to the extension and is usu- ally done to make the telephone port available for the next call more quickly. (Also, see supervised call transfer.) Do not use Call Screening with an unsupervised transfer. If you do, the caller is screened, but the user never hears that recording. cadenceA repeating cycle of ON and OFF tones such as ring, busy, fast busy. call accountingAlso called SMDR. A system used to record information about tele- phone calls, organize that information, and create reports. The infor- mation gathered usually includes what extension the call is coming from, what circuit is used for the call, when the call started, how long it lasted, and the purpose of the call (usually what client or project should be billed). Requires a computer, a disk for storing data, and some software set up to monitor the telephone calls made. A serial port must be dedicated to it. Caller IDAutomatically identifies the caller Trunk line. case-sensitiveThe act of differentiating between lowercase (a–z) and uppercase (A– Z) characters. Amanda uses case-sensitive passwords. AMANDA, Amanda, AMandA, or amanda are all different passwords. On the oth- er hand, if you type these words at the DOS prompt, DOS treats them as the same command. Channel (port)Amanda software supports systems as small as 2 channels and as large as 24 channels. characterA single symbol including letters from the alphabet, digits 0–9, or spe- cial ones. For example: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) - + < > [ ] { } \ / ? : | ~ ` _ , c-like escape sequenceAny sequence of characters within a string which starts with a \. This refers to the C programming language developed at Bell Labs. CO Telephone Company Central Office componentEvery message contains one or more components. Components “de- fine” a message. For example, if a message is forwarded from another mailbox with a Message Prefix attached, that message contains two components. Similarly, if that message is then forwarded to another mailbox with another Message Prefix attached, that message contains three components. composeTo build a message that consists of components. data corruptionWhen the contents of some memory location or portions of a file re- siding on a disk or diskette is damaged and lost. This can occur due to power fluctuations, faulty hardware such as motherboard or memory chips, or software bugs. dB levelDecibel level. Used to measure the volume of sound or noise. DBF fileA file which is in dBase format. Amanda tokens can work with dBase format as well as ASCII files. A dBase format file must have a DBF extension if used with Amanda tokens. dead/phantom callThe situation where the outside caller hangs up before the extension is answered by the user. This might result in the user hearing a fast busy (reorder tone) or just silence, depending on the telephone switching system and the CO.
Appendix B: Glossary105 dedicated notificationWhen the first port of Amanda is set aside for notification only. It is displayed as 1/N (as opposed to 1/A) on the Main Screen. The extension connected to port 1 of Amanda must have outside ac- cess so that pager notification can be successful. You must make sure that no incoming calls are routed to port 1 and instead port 2 is desig- nated as the first answer port. This is useful in eliminating notify col- lisions (glare condition). To achieve a dedicated notify, set the n_ochan parameter in the System Configuration Options file to 1 in- stead of 0. default valuesThe values of parameters, variables, and user settings in Amanda when the system is first installed. The installer, the system administra- tor, or the user can change the default values using the keyboard (or DTMF from the telephone). defaults boxMailbox 997 is set up with reasonable default values for each Mailbox field. When creating a new mailbox, Amanda accesses the defaults box for basic mailbox settings. If you want to change the defaults, modify mailbox 997 and Save. dial codesA set of codes that enable Amanda and the telephone switching system to communicate. These are set using Setup option 1 or by editing the ASCII file C:\AMANDA\PBX.DB\1001.PBX. direct callDialing Amanda internally by calling one of her ports from an exten- sion within the telephone switching system. direct message codeA mailbox (usually mailbox 998) which functions as a code to skip the transfer to a user extension and go directly to the current greeting for that user. For example, entering 998#185# causes the caller to hear the current greeting for mailbox 185. The caller can then press # twice to skip the greeting and go directly to the recording mode. Additionally, if you set the short_direct_send parameter in the System Configura- tion Options to true (its default is false) then using the direct message code mailbox causes the caller to hear the Name/Extension recording instead of the current greeting. direct message mailboxA mailbox that allows you to record a message for another mailbox without having to execute the Extension field and/or hear the mail- box’s greeting. This is particularly useful for an operator transferring callers directly to a user’s voice mail. disconnect (hangup) super- visionThe ability of the telephone switching system to inform Amanda that a hangup has occurred on the line. This is normally accomplished by the voice board driver monitoring the loop current and informing Amanda of loop current OFF or loop current DROP events. This is be- cause the default value for the hangup_supervision parameter in the System Configuration Options is true. If this parameter is set to false, Amanda ignores these events. disk notificationA type of notification used to warn the system administrator (mailbox 999) that the hard disk space has fallen below a predefined threshold. This is set in Setup, Option 4, set diskwarn xx. The default is 20, mean- ing the Disk notify activates when free disk space is less than 20 per- cent of total disk space.
106 Administering [email protected] Done ChainAfter Amanda is finished processing a mailbox, she continues pro- cessing the call by going to the mailbox specified in the Done Chain. If this field is blank, Amanda uses the Done Chain of the Company Greeting, or starting greeting mailbox (generally 990). Usually, the Done Chain of 990 is set to 991. Therefore, the default Done Chain is usually mailbox 991 (The Caller Instructions). DTMFDual Tone Multi Frequency (Touch Tone) tones generated by most phones when you dial a telephone number. However, the fact that a telephone has a dial pad with 12 keys (0–9,*,#), does not guarantee that it can generate DTMF. edit blockA solid colored, or reversed video block seen on the screen (selecting the field or the line you are editing) within Amanda or the Setup util- ity. employee directory mailboxIf you designate a mailbox using the box_idx configuration option, Amanda builds an employee directory which lists all the users based on the contents of the Directory Name 1 and Directory Name 2 fields. This allows callers to use their telephones to spell the names of the us- ers they want to reach. Digits 7 and 9 should be used for letters Q and Z respectively. empty stringA string containing no characters at all. To represent an empty string you can use when using tokens. execution errorA fault which can cause a program to crash and shutdown or produce an incorrect result. The error might be due to a logical error in the soft- ware, faulty hardware, or corruption of memory location caused by other programs. exit code or errorlevelBefore the completion of a program (e.g., RAMANDA.EXE), an in- teger code can be generated (default is 0) by that program. This code can be used by another program or the batch file (e.g., AMAN- DA.BAT) which started that program in order to determine what to do next. This is used by the Auto Shutdown mechanism of Amanda. When an Auto Shutdown occurs (by default every Tuesday at 1:30 AM), RAMANDA.EXE exits (completes execution) with errorlevel 3 which when passed on to AMANDA.BAT, causes control to be trans- ferred to the section labeled: AUTO flash timeThe amount of time Amanda must remain on-hook while performing a hookflash usually set to 55 (0.55 seconds). flash-hookSee hookflash. floppy disk driveA storage device, typically referred to as the A or B drive, capable of reading and writing information to diskettes (3.5-inch or 5.25-inch). Amanda and its associated utilities are distributed on 3.5-inch 1.44 MB diskettes only. Therefore, the PC designated for Amanda must have at least one 3.5-inch 1.44 MB floppy disk drive (A or B). general protection faultA fault that can cause a program to crash or produce an incorrect re- sult. The error might be due to a logical error in the software, faulty hardware, or corruption of memory location caused by other pro- grams. glareThe collisions between incoming calls and notifications. For example, a port might try to execute a notification record and accept an incom- ing call simultaneously.
Appendix B: Glossary107 hard drive/hard diskA long-term storage device, typically referred to as the C drive, on which Amanda is installed. The Amanda Company recommends us- ing IDE hard drives with a 12ms access time or faster to insure optimal processing of calls. Consider large capacity hard disks if a high vol- ume of outgoing and incoming messages is expected. A 540 MB hard disk is estimated to provide 33 hours of messages. hookflashA momentary on-hook condition which lasts anywhere from 0.25 sec- onds to 0.85 seconds (usually set to 0.55 seconds.) which is normally required to put a caller on hold before Amanda can transfer to an ex- tension. This is also used when Amanda determines a Ring No An- swer or Busy extension. A second hookflash (or hook-flash) makes Amanda able to get the caller back and play the current greeting or Busy message for that user. inband signalingThe telephone switching system’s ability to send DTMF tones to a telephone port as soon as it answers (goes off-hook), informing Aman- da of the nature of the call as well as the extension or CO line which is calling. This helps Amanda make the correct decision in processing the call (i.e., play a Busy message, play the current greeting, enter the log on mode, or play the company greeting by processing mailbox 990). This is useful in conjunction with a blind transfer when the call volume is very heavy and you wish to make telephone ports available for handling the next call as quickly as possible. informational mailboxA mailbox which usually does not accept messages from callers; in- stead, its greeting is played to callers to provide them with various pieces of information. To accomplish this in Amanda, the Do Not Dis- turb field must be ON. integerA whole number with no decimal point or fractions. For example, 24,- 32768,1,8,-30,32767,-1 are integers. Integration HelperA program accessed by selecting option 3 within the Setup utility and pressing the F1 key. This program can assist an installer in determin- ing the DTMF coming from a telephone switching system using in- band signaling. An alternative is using an Amanda trace file (either C:\AMANDA\TRACE.OUT or C:\AMANDA\SCREEN.OUT). integration timeoutThe pause after Amanda goes off-hook to allow for the arrival of DTMF sent by the telephone switching system using inband signaling. It also serves as an inter-digit timer after the arrival of the first digit. You can set this timer by modifying the first line of the screen access- ed by selecting option 3 of Setup. The default is 0 which means inband signaling is disabled. Use 10 to specify 1.0 second, 15 for 1.5 seconds and so on. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)A way in which callers can obtain information from a computer data- base through the use of DTMF. This is common in the banking indus- try. For example, if you want to know your account balance, you enter your account number and your personal identification number when prompted. The system you are communicating with confirms your ac- count number and security code and accesses a database to retrieve your account balance. jumper pinsPins found on a voice board and used to set the correct address for the board. List CommentA comment describing a mailing list that is recorded by the user who creates the list. The comment should help you distinguish one list from another and remember whose extensions are on the list.
108 Administering [email protected] LoginsThe total number of times the mailbox was accessed by a user by pressing the * key. long pauseUsing , within a token string causes Amanda to pause for 2 seconds. mailboxThe user options, messages, mailing lists, and other data identified by a mailbox. menu barLists a program’s choices. It is found at the top of the screen of any Amanda screen or Windows application. MFMulti-frequency. An inband address signaling method which uses ten decimal digits and five auxiliary signals are each represented by se- lecting two frequencies and combining them into one sound. monitored transferSame as supervised transfer. non-empty stringA string containing 1 or more characters. notification templateA general notification action which can be used for any number of no- tification records belonging to any number of mailboxes. For exam- ple, message waiting light ON and message waiting light OFF notification actions should be saved as templates. nullEmpty string or empty value. on-hookWhen a port or extension is ready to take a call. When off-hook, a port or extension is not available to accept calls. PCPMProgrammed Call Progress Monitoring. See supervised call transfer. port (channel)A hardware device in the computer or telephone switching system where data can be accessed. When not prefaced by COM, serial, or parallel, this guide refers to a port created by connecting a telephone port to a voice board. Amanda supports from 2 to 24 ports. See also COM port, RS-232 port, serial port, and parallel port. prompt fileThe Amanda file containing all system prompts (prerecorded words, sentences, or questions) that are included within the Amanda soft- ware. The default prompt file is C:\AMANDA\ENGLISH.IDX or EN- GLISH.BDX (depending on whether your computer is a Rhetorex voice board or an Amanda Company voice board for Norstar KSUs). The Spanish and French versions of the system prompts are also avail- able from The Amanda Company. reorder toneA fast busy or busy tone heard when you dial an invalid extension or when no intercom path is available. ring voltageA ring signal provided by the Central Office. It is generally 70 to 90 volts at 17 Hz to 20 Hz. sampling rateAn indication of the method used for digitizing sound which is re- quired before you can save prompts, greetings, and messages onto the hard disk. SMDISimplified Message Desk Interface, a Bellcore standard, is a data line from the central office that sends information and instructions (about the caller and called party) to your on-site voice mail box. For exam- ple, if you call yourself, Amanda assumes you want to listen to your messages.
Appendix B: Glossary109 SMDRStation Message Desk Reporting. See call accounting. status barArea at the bottom of the screen or window that describes actions cur- rently being performed within the program. stringA sequence of 0 or more characters. The length of a string is the num- ber of characters in the sequence. A space counts as one character when it appears anywhere within the sequence. A string of length 0 is null or empty. substringA portion of a string. For example, “EN” is a substring of “MEN” as well as “WOMEN”, or “TENTH”. supervised transferA type of call transfer in which Amanda stays on the line and listens to telephone switching system tone patterns after putting the caller on transfer hold. If what is heard does not match a Ring, Busy, or Reorder tone, the voice board driver reports an answer to Amanda. To com- plete the transfer, Amanda hangs up. (See also blind transfer.) system integration patternsThe patterns expected from the telephone switching system when Amanda is integrated with the telephone switching system. These pat- terns can be defined using Setup option 3 or editing the same ASCII file that contains the dial codes (C:\AMANDA\PBX.DB 1001.PBX). The In- tegration Helper can assist in defining the correct patterns, or you can use the trace facility within Amanda. taskbarA tool used in Windows 95 that helps you track the programs you are currently running and gives you easy access to those you are not. This is typically located at the bottom of the screen and includes the Start button. timed break recallUsing ~ token to make Amanda pulse dial the digit 1 to effect a timed break recall. tokenA command in the Token Programming Language that cause Amanda to perform some action. For example, the P() token causes Amanda to play messages and so forth. Tokens usually appear in the Extension fields of mailboxes and in the Method fields of notification records. tone patternsThe Ring, Busy, Reorder, and Hangup tones that Amanda uses to su- pervise transferred calls. toolbarA bar of buttons which represent common tasks of the program you are using. traceA facility within the Amanda software which logs all activity on tele- phone ports into a file named C:\AMANDA\TRACE.OUT. This file can be viewed using any ASCII editor such as MS-DOS EDIT or JOVE (supplied by The Amanda Company). The TRACE.EXE utility allows you to review Amanda’s activities. When testing token programming, use the following command to start Amanda with trace turned on: C:\AMANDA /t /s 1300 This command also limits the size of the trace file to 1.3 MB so it can fit on a 3.5-inch floppy disk. The trace can be left on indefinitely and will retain only the last 1.3 MB of data. The /t turns on trace mode and the /s limits the size to the specified number of bytes.
110 Administering [email protected] transfer dial toneThe solid (continuous) tone which must be heard by Amanda after a hookflash is performed and before DTMF digits representing the ex- tension to connect to are dialed. If one second of continuous dial tone is not detected by Amanda, a second hookflash is performed in order to get back to the caller. The absence of transfer dial tone is usually due to the fact that the telephone switching system does not have an available intercom path or DTMF receiver at the time. A non blocking telephone switching system is one that can guarantee transfer dial tone for all telephone ports by allocating one DTMF receiver per port. turnkey systemA system that comes ready to use. mailboxA unique number chosen to identify an Amanda voice mailbox. Any number from 0 to 99,999,999 is acceptable as a mailbox. unsupervised transferSame as blind transfer. voice boardThe audioboard which communicates with Amanda software and en- ables it to process incoming calls and/or make outbound calls. voice formVoice response to a series of questions that constitute a form. For ex- ample, Amanda might ask a caller for his name, address, and other pertinent information for a mailing label. Using the Q() command in the Token Programming Language, all the caller’s answers can be stored as a message. voice notificationDialing an extension or an outside number and playing the mailbox’s Name and Extension recording and saying the total number of mes- sages and how many of them are unheard. This is useful when mes- sage waiting lights cannot be lit by a single line port or when users wish to be notified at home after hours.
Symbols %R 53 %V 57 /I command-line options 11 /P command-line options 12 /S command-line options 12 /T command-line options 12 Numerics 411 31, 39, 44 990 2, 22, 93 sample greetings 23 991 3, 28, 94 sample greetings 29 997 36 Norstar 36 999 computer use of 83 recording system announce- ments 79 telephone use of 79 A accessing Amanda 11 Main screen 11 Users screen 33 activating notification records 57 scheduling records 70 alphanumeric defined 103 Amanda calling 21 Main screen 15 password 13, 33 shutting down 12, 81 starting 11 version 16 analog telephone defined 103 ANI defined 103 announcing called party 46 ANSWER 16 ASCII defined 103 At scheduling fields 70 attendant automated 1 off-duty 1 primary 1 secondary 1 audiotext defined 103 Auto screen And Every 70 At 70 Auto-scheduling Records List 67 Call Screening 70 Change On 70 displaying 67 Do Not Disturb 70 Enabled 70 Extension 70 Greeting 70 menu bar 67 MTWTFSS 70 Next Change 70 Restrict To 70 Rings 70 scheduling record fields 70 Selected Record’s Fields 67 User Information 67 autocreating mailboxes 40 automated attendant 1 defined 103 Auto-scheduling Records List Auto screen 67 B back-door attendant defined 103 backing up Amanda files 85 BackRest utility 85 BACKREST.EXE 85 Basic Options Users screen 34 beepers see pagers 49 blind transfer defined 104 BUSY 16 Busy Chain 47 busy hold music changing 80 busy message custom 46 locking 46 maximum length 46 system 46 Busy Message? 46 C cadence defined 104 call accounting defined 104 Call Processing diagram 5 Call Screening scheduling field 70 called party identifying 46 Caller ID defined 104 Caller Instructions 28 caller instructions setup sheets 95 Caller Instructions mailbox 94 calling Amanda 21 home 62 pager 60, 61 Calls 16, 17, 48 calls processing 4 case-sensitive defined 104 center voice messaging 1 CHAIN 16 Index
112 Administering [email protected] Chains Users screen 34 Change On scheduling field 70 changing busy hold music 80 dates 18 field settings 35 mailboxes 42, 47 notification record templates 55 notification records 55 pager telephone number for no- tification 59 report column order 75 report column widths 75 scheduling records 69 system date 83 system time 83 times 18 Variable field for notification 59 channel defined 104, 108 character defined 104 class of service defined 103 c-like escape sequence defined 104 CO defined 104 columns changing widths in reports 75 order in reports 75 command-line options 11 Comment 44 comments notification records 57 Company Greeting 22 Company Greeting mailbox 93 company greetings 93 component defined 104 compose defined 104 Conn Secs 48 connection time total 48 Continue Every notification record field 57 conventions iii Copy Messages To 45 copying files 19 mailboxes 42 copyright ii Created 47 creating informational mailboxes 41 mailboxes 47 mailboxes automatically 40 mailboxes based on another mailbox 42 mailboxes from template 38 menu options 47 notification record templates 51, 52 notification records 51, 52, 54 report templates 74 reports 74 scheduling records 68 system announcements 79 system-wide mailing lists 82 Current Greeting 46 locking 46 custom busy message 46 customer support 9 customizing reports 73 D D/T 46 data corruption defined 104 dates message 46 resetting 18 resetting system 83 scheduling 70 days of week notification 57 scheduling 70 dB level defined 104 DBF file defined 104 deactivating notification records 57 scheduling records 70 dead call defined 104 dealer sales 9 dedicated notification 49 defined 105 default box defined 105 default values defined 105 defining mailboxes 44 Delay 47 delaying between greeting and next ac- tion 47 deleting mailboxes 43, 85 mailing lists 86 personal mailing lists 86 system announcements 80 DelUsers utility 85 DELUSERS.EXE 85 diagrams Call Processing 5 Mailbox Processing 7 mailbox processing 6 DIAL 16 dial codes defined 105 Dir Name 1 44 Dir Name 2 44 direct call defined 105 direct message defined 105 direct message mailbox defined 105 directories employee 31, 44 disabling notification records 57, 58 scheduling records 70 disconnect supervision defined 105 disk notification 54 disk notification defined 105 disk space notification 54, 83 displaying Auto screen 67 files 90, 91 mailboxes 43 message statistics 86 Notify screen 51 Users screen 34 distribution sales 9 Do Not Disturb 45 locking 45 scheduling field 70 Done Chain 29, 47 defined 106 DTMF 3 defined 106 E edit block defined 106