Amanda Work Group Work Place Instructions Manual
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Administering Am [email protected] Version 3.xx Administrator’s Guide Edition 7/01
ii Administering [email protected] Copyright and Trademark Notices Copyright 1992–2001 The Amanda Company. All Rights Reserved. This guide and the software described herein are copyrighted with all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form by any means without the prior written permission of The Amanda Company. Amanda and Amanda@ are registered trademarks and sales trademarks of The Amanda Company. Other brand names and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Limited Warranty on Software The Amanda Company warrants the media on which the software is recorded to be free from defects in materials and faulty workmanship for a period of 90 days from the date the software is delivered. If a defect in the media should occur during this period, you may return the media to The Amanda Company and The Amanda Company will replace the media without charge. THE AMANDA COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTIES (OTHER THAN THOSE SET FORTH ABOVE) TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT OR ANY DERIVATIVES THEREOF OR ANY SERVICES OR LICENSES AND DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, PERFORMANCE, NONINFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE AMANDA COMPANY WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY BUG, ERROR, OMISSION, DEFECT, DEFICIENCY, OR NONCONFORMITY IN ANY SOFTWARE. THE SOFTWARE IS LICENSED “AS IS,” AND THE PURCHASER ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO ITS QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE. IN NO EVENT AND NOTWITHSTANDING ANY DOCUMENT, REPRESENTATION, OR OTHERWISE, SHALL THE AMANDA COMPANY BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONTINGENT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING DAMAGES FROM LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA, INTERRUPTED USE, LOST PROFITS, COST OF PROCURING SUBSTITUTE GOODS, TECHNOLOGY OR SERVICES, EVEN IF THE AMANDA COMPANY OR AN AUTHORIZED AMANDA COMPANY DEALER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. YOU AGREE THAT THE AMANDA COMPANY’S LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, WARRANTY, OR OTHER LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY SHALL NOT EXCEED ANY AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU FOR THIS PRODUCT. Any written or oral information or advice given by Amanda Company dealers, distributors, agents, or employees will in no way increase the scope of this warranty, nor may you rely on such oral or written communication. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or liability for incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to the conflicts of laws or provisions thereof.
iii Fraudulent Usage Advisory Although the Amanda software is designed to resist fraudulent usage, including unauthorized access to a long distance network, no product, including the Amanda software, is able to prevent such unauthorized usage. The Amanda software is likewise unable to prevent such uses as may constitute an invasion of privacy or other tort. THE AMANDA COMPANY MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY AGAINST UNLAWFUL OR UNAUTHORIZED USE OF YOUR AMANDA SYSTEM OR ITS CAPABILITIES AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY ARISING FROM SUCH USE. YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY, DEFEND, AND HOLD THE AMANDA COMPANY HARMLESS FOR ANY UNAUTHORIZED OR FRAUDULENT USE OF YOUR LICENSED AMANDA SOFTWARE. THE AMANDA COMPANY 13765 ALTON PARKWAY, UNIT F IRVINE, CA 92618 TELEPHONE (949) 859–6279 FAX (949) 859–4380 Conventions This manual uses the following terminology and conventions: AmandaThe name by which this manual refers to the [email protected] system to make reading about the system easier. Because of the name Amanda, the system is also referred to as “she.” callerSomeone who calls into Amanda. A caller of- ten obtains information, leaves a message for someone, and/or provides information. Be- cause Amanda is referred to as “she,” callers and users are referred to as “he.” userSomeone with an extension that Amanda trans- fers calls to and/or stores messages for. A user can access Amanda to play, delete, and send messages as well as set personal options such as Do Not Disturb. fixed-space typeThis guide displays information that you must type and messages from Amanda in fixed- space type.
Contents Copyright and Trademark Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Limited Warranty on Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Fraudulent Usage Advisory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Chapter 1: Introducing Amanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 What Amanda Does . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 How Amanda Operates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 A Mailbox for Each User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Mailboxes that Control Call Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Mailboxes that Provide Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Power of Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Processing Calls and Mailboxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Processing a Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Processing a Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Customer Service and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 End User Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 System Administration Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Installation Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Application Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chapter 2: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Starting Amanda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Using Command-line Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Shutting Amanda Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Changing the Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Chapter 3: Monitoring Amanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Using the Main Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Avoiding Security Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Resetting Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Tracing Port Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Resetting the Date and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Copying Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Chapter 4: Recording the Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Calling Amanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Recording the Company Greeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Sample Greetings for mailbox 990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Sample Scheduling Records for Mailbox 990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
vi Administering [email protected] More Holiday Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Recording Caller Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sample Instructions for Mailbox 991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Sample Scheduling Records for Mailbox 991. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Recording Employee Directory Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Chapter 5: Setting Up Mailboxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Accessing the Users Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Managing Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Using a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Using Templates with an Amanda/Norstar System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Asking the User for Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Personal Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Creating a Personal Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Creating a Mailbox for Someone Without a Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Creating Mailboxes Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Informational Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Creating an Information Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Creating a Range of Mailboxes from an Existing Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Modifying an Existing Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Moving from One Mailbox to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Deleting an Existing Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Mailbox Field Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Chapter 6: Notifying Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Selecting a Port for Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Planning Your Notification Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Accessing the Notify Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Managing Notification Records and Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Creating a Notification Record and a Notification Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Creating a Notification Record from an Existing Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Modifying Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Testing a Notification Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Disabling a Notification Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Changing Notification Telephone Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Changing the Notification Variable by Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Examples of Notification Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Controlling a Message Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Using %U and %V instead of %E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Using Voice Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Calling a Pager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Relaying Information to a Pager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Calling Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Emergency Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
vii Chapter 7: Automatic Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Managing Automatic Call-processing Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Creating Scheduling Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Modifying Scheduling Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Testing a Scheduling Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Disabling a Scheduling Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Example: Changing User’s Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Chapter 8: Generating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Managing Reports and Report Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Creating Reports and Report Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Creating Reports from Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Printing Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Saving Reports as Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Chapter 9: Using the Administrator Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Administering Amanda by Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Managing System Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Changing the Busy Hold Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Locking and Unlocking Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Resetting Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Listening to System Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Creating System-wide Mailing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Resetting the Date and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Setting Up the Administrator Mailbox from the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Chapter 10: Using Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Backing Up and Restoring Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Deleting Mailboxes and Mailing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Deleting Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Deleting Personal Mailing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Displaying Message Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Validating Notification Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Managing Text Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Searching Text Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Editing a Text File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 JOVE Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Displaying Text Files (20 Lines at a Time). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Displaying the Last n Lines of Text Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Performing Operations at Shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Reviewing Installation History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
viii Administering [email protected] Appendix A: Setup Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Company Greeting Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Caller Instructions Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Mailbox with Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Mailbox with Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 General Mailbox Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Mailbox Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Notification Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Appendix B: Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chapter 1: Introducing Amanda What Amanda Does [email protected] 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. 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.
2 Administering [email protected] 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. 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. 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. The administrator changes them from Amanda’s Users screen. 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.