Amanda Work Group Work Place Instructions Manual

							Chapter 5: Setting Up Mailboxes 43
Modifying an Existing Mailbox
To view or modify a mailbox:
1. From the Users screen, type the mailbox in the Mailbox field, then press Enter.
Amanda automatically loads that mailbox if it exists. (Otherwise, she assumes you are 
creating a new mailbox.)
2. Change the desired fields.
3. Press Alt+S to save your changes.
4. Press Y when asked if you want to overwrite this mailbox.
5. Press Esc to return to the Main screen.
T
IP:You can tell whether a particular mailbox has already been created by 
looking at the Created field in the Statistics area at the bottom of the 
screen. Existing mailboxes have a date in this field. New mailboxes have 
the word NEVER.
Moving from One Mailbox to Another
You press Page Up to go to the previous mailbox and Page Down to go to the next. If you 
don’t know a mailbox number, but can figure it out from the Comment or Dir Name fields, 
use the following procedure to identify it.
To identify a mailbox and go to it:
1. From the Users screen, press Alt+T.
The Table screen displays all the currently defined mailboxes in numerical order, 
along with the contents of the Comment, Extension, Dir 1 Name, and Dir 2 Name 
fields. For each mailbox, the table also displays the total number of messages (and 
their total length in seconds).
2. Select a mailbox from the table using Page Down, Page Up, and the arrow keys. Then 
press Enter.
Amanda displays the selected mailbox.
Deleting an Existing Mailbox
You can delete mailboxes from the mailbox screen or the table of mailboxes. 
To delete a mailbox:
1. Type the mailbox in the Mailbox field, then press Enter.
2. Press Alt+D and confirm the deletion by pressing Y.
Amanda automatically removes all messages and recordings related to the mailbox. 
						

							44 Administering [email protected]
To delete mailboxes from the Mailbox Table:
1. From the Users screen, select Alt+T.
Amanda displays a table of currently defined mailboxes.
2. Use the arrow keys to select the mailbox to be deleted.
3. Press Delete.
4. Amanda asks for verification. Press Y, D, or N:
 Y means YES, you are sure.
 D means don’t ask anymore. Once D is selected, Amanda does not ask for verifi-
cation again until you exit the table. This is helpful when you have many mail-
boxes to delete.
 N means don’t delete this mailbox after all.
This deletion process can be performed while Amanda is answering calls.
C
AUTION:The deletion of a mailbox is irreversible. Please be very careful when 
selecting D (Don’t Ask Anymore).
Mailbox Field Reference
The following table defines the User fields in the order in which they appear on the screen.
Mailbox Fields
FieldDescription
MailboxRepresents the number that Amanda uses to access the mailbox. It may range from 
0 to 99,999 and must be unique.
CommentHas no direct meaning to Amanda. It is provided for you as a notation field. Its max-
imum length is 17 characters.
Set NameIf you are connected to a Norstar KSU using the Amanda Company voice board, 
you see Set Name instead of Comment. The Set Name field can be automatically 
filled using the Autocreate command. Autocreate unconditionally resets this field 
with the name supplied by the telephone switching system for all Directory Num-
bers (DNs) included in the Autocreate extension range. DN is a Nortel acronym for 
Directory Number. The Norstar Set Name can also be entered manually into the Set 
Name field. For more information about Autocreate, see “Creating Mailboxes Au-
tomatically” on page 40.
If you enter a Set Name, use upper case because Set Names, by convention, are up-
per case.
Security CodeThe up-to-eight digit security code that permits access to a mailbox. For added se-
curity, the security code does not remain on the screen after you save the mailbox. 
The system administrator can change a security code but cannot see the current 
one—unless the configuration option sec_code_display has been set to true. (It’s de-
fault is false.) 
						

							Chapter 5: Setting Up Mailboxes 45
ExtensionContains the programmed dial actions Amanda should perform when she transfers 
a call that has accessed the mailbox and Do Not Disturb is OFF. Typically this field 
contains the extension that Amanda should ring. Amanda also allows you to pro-
gram other call actions by using her Token Programming Language. Other call ac-
tions include system paging for an urgent call, transferring to a remote number, and 
modifying Amanda’s standard call processing. Use a maximum of 65 characters.
Dir Name 1Amanda uses this information to automatically build the 411 directory. Normally 
you put the user’s first name in this field. Leave this field blank for mailboxes which 
are not to appear in the employee directory or start the entry with a character that 
does not appear on a telephone. For example, use $Eric. If you leave this blank, you 
may want to use the Comment field to identify the user who has this mailbox. Its 
maximum length is 16 characters.
Dir Name 2 Same as Dir Name 1. Amanda uses this second name field to allow for an additional 
name, e.g., a last name or nickname. Leave this field blank for mailboxes which are 
not to appear in the employee directory or start the entry with a character that does 
not appear on a telephone. For example, use $Cantona. Its maximum length is 16 
characters.
Maximum RingsThe number of rings Amanda allows when transferring a call to the extension before 
determining that there was a Ring No Answer. If it is 0, Amanda uses the system 
default (which is 4). This parameter only works when Amanda performs a super-
vised transfer.
Do Not Disturb
LockIf this field is OFF, Amanda evaluates the Extension field. If this field is ON, Aman-
da plays the current greeting for the mailbox. When the Lock field is ON, Amanda 
does not permit the user to change this setting from a telephone. In fact, Amanda 
does not play the menu option about changing the setting for the user. However, an 
scheduling record can change the value of Do Not Disturb—even when it is locked.
Screen Calls?
LockIf this field is ON and Do Not Disturb is OFF, Amanda says to the caller, “At the 
tone, please say your name and company, and I’ll announce your call.” The caller’s 
response is played to the user when he answers the telephone. The user can accept 
or reject the call based on who is calling. Lock is the same as above. An scheduling 
record can change the value of Screen Calls?—even when it is locked.
If a mailbox has both Screen Calls? ON and ID Call? set to YES, the person who 
answers the call hears which mailbox the call is for and then hears the Call Screen-
ing menu. The caller is not asked for his name and company.
Setting modified_call_screening to false allows the user to hear information about 
both the caller and the called party before accepting or rejecting a call.
Never use call screening with unsupervised (blind) transfers. The caller is asked for 
information that cannot be announced.
Store Messages?
MaxWhen YES, Amanda records and saves a message for the mailbox after playing the 
greeting. Amanda stores a maximum of 128 messages per mailbox (space permit-
ting). 
The maximum number of seconds for each message is defined by Max. When Max 
is 0, the time per message is unlimited.
N
OTE:Even when this field is NO, Amanda takes a message if the Copy Messages 
To field is a valid mailbox. Even when both Store Messages? is YES and 
Copy Messages To has a valid mailbox, only one copy of the message ex-
ists. Both mailboxes reference it. Amanda deletes a message only when all 
the users who reference that message have deleted it or when it is purged 
based on its age.
Mailbox Fields (Continued)
FieldDescription 
						

							46 Administering [email protected]
Copy Messages 
To:If this field contains a valid mailbox, Amanda takes a message and stores a copy of 
it in that mailbox. 
When Store Messages? is YES and Copy Messages To contains a valid mailbox, 
Amanda takes a message and stores it in two mailboxes, the current mailbox and the 
mailbox specified in the Copy Messages To field. To prevent Amanda from taking 
a message after the mailbox’s greeting plays, you must set the Store Messages? field 
to NO and leave the Copy Messages To field blank.
T
IP:A one-person operation with several telephone extensions can use this field 
to have all the messages sent to just one mailbox, which acts as a general 
mailbox. This makes it convenient to pick up messages. Amanda’s mes-
sage prefix tells what mailbox was originally called.
Message Volume:The current volume at which messages are played back. The range for the volume 
settings is -8 to 8. The default volume is 0.
GuestsThis field indicates the number of guest mailboxes that a user can create. When it is 
-1, this mailbox cannot access the Guest mailbox features of Amanda. When it is 
greater than 0, the user can create that number of additional Guest IDs. As he creates 
or deletes a Guest mailbox, this number is automatically decreased or increased by 
1.When the number is 0, the user has created all the Guest IDs that he is allowed. 
He must delete one before creating another.
Current Greeting
MaxThis field indicates which of the user’s recorded greetings becomes the RNA (Ring 
No Answer) greeting. Amanda plays this greeting when any of the following is true:
 Do Not Disturb is ON.
 The user does not answer the telephone and there is no mailbox in the RNA 
chain.
 Call screening is ON and the caller rejects the call.
If this field is 0, Amanda uses the system greeting (“Please leave a mes-
sage for” followed by the Name/Extension recording for that mailbox).
Max defines the maximum number of seconds allowed for each greeting. A value 
of 0 acts as a lock. It prevents the user from recording or changing greetings. How-
ever, an scheduling record can change the value of Current Greeting—even when it 
is locked.
If the mailbox is a message taker (that means either Store Messages? is YES or 
Copy Messages To has a valid mailbox), Amanda plays the system greeting when 
the specified greeting does not exist.
Busy Message?
MaxIndicates whether Amanda should use the system busy message or the custom busy 
message when letting the caller know that the dialed extension is busy. The system 
busy message allows the caller to hold for the extension by pressing *, which, in 
turn, causes Amanda to play the Busy-Hold music file (about 30 seconds of custom 
music) before trying the extension again. If the extension is still busy, Amanda 
changes her prompt, allowing the caller to continue holding, enter another exten-
sion, or leave a message. 
Max defines the maximum length in seconds for the custom busy greeting recorded 
by the user. A value of 0 acts as a lock. It prevents the user from recording or chang-
ing his busy message. 
N
OTE:If the Extension field indicates an unsupervised transfer (for example, 
127H), calls cannot be placed on hold.
Mailbox Fields (Continued)
FieldDescription 
						

							Chapter 5: Setting Up Mailboxes 47
ID Call?When ID Call? is NO and Amanda performs a supervised transfer, she plays a con-
nection tone that only the called party can hear before she connects the caller. When 
this field is YES, Amanda plays the Name/Extension recording of the mailbox that 
was called. This is particularly useful when two or more mailboxes ring the same 
telephone extension. (Messages are stored with the mailboxes, so each users’ mes-
sages are private.)
N
OTE:If the Extension field indicates an unsupervised transfer (for example, 
127H), ID Call? is not available.
D/T?Indicates whether Amanda plays the date and time of the message. When D/T? is 
YES, Amanda plays the date/time when that message was recorded followed by the 
message itself. When set to NO, the date/time is not given before playing the mes-
sage. 
N
OTE:  A user can always get the message date/time by pressing 74 during the mes-
sage regardless of this setting.
Name/Ext?The Name/Extension field controls whether users can record their name and exten-
sion. When set to NO, Amanda prevents the user from recording it. If set to YES, 
the user may record his name and extension. If there is no Name/Extension record-
ing, Amanda defaults to saying the mailbox number.
N
OTE:If one person records all the Name and Extension recordings for the system 
(so they have the same voice and so forth), set this field to YES to permit 
the recording, then change it to NO after the recording has been made. 
Chains:
DoneAfter Amanda finishes processing a mailbox, control is transferred to the mailbox 
specified in the Done Chain. If this field is blank, Amanda uses the Done Chain of 
the company greeting mailbox (generally 990). This chain normally points to mail-
box 991, the caller instructions mailbox.
N
OTE:If the Extension field indicates an unsupervised transfer (for example, 
127H) it is best to leave chain fields blank.
Chains:
RNA:If a dialed extension returns Ring No Answer, Amanda’s standard Ring No Answer 
action (which is to play the mailbox’s greeting and possibly take a message) can be 
changed to continue processing at the mailbox specified in the RNA chain.
The mailbox specified by the RNA chain should not have an RNA chain. Most users 
prefer to leave a message than wait through the rings at more than two extensions. 
N
OTE:If the Extension field indicates an unsupervised transfer (for example, 
127H) it is best to leave chain fields blank.
Chains:
Busy:This field is similar to the RNA chain field. Amanda uses it when a dialed extension 
returns a Busy. 
N
OTE:If the Extension field indicates an unsupervised transfer (for example, 
127H) it is best to leave chain fields blank.
Delay:Time in tenths of seconds to delay after playing the mailbox’s current greeting that 
Amanda waits before performing the next action (either taking a message or chain-
ing to another mailbox). A value of 20 is 2 seconds. The caller can still enter DTMF 
digits during this time. For example, if the greeting offers a menu, allow the caller 
enough time to decide which item to select.
Mailbox Fields (Continued)
FieldDescription 
						

							48 Administering [email protected]
Menus
1:     2:     3:
4:     5:     6:
7:     8:     9:
        0:Using these fields allows you to provide callers with a menu. If the menu field con-
tains a mailbox, Amanda transfers control to that mailbox when the caller presses 
the digit corresponding to that field. If a menu field is empty, Amanda interprets the 
digit pressed by the caller as a mailbox. The menu is available only while Amanda 
plays the current mailbox’s greeting or during the delay you specify to follow the 
greeting. For example, suppose that mailbox 100 has menus 1: 1001 and 2: 1002. If 
a caller presses 1 or 2 during the greeting, Amanda sends the caller to mailbox 1001 
or 1002. But, if the caller presses 3, Amanda sends the caller to mailbox 3.
CreatedThe date and time that the mailbox was created.
SavedThe date and time that the mailbox was last saved.
Messages Cur-
rentThe total number of messages currently in the mailbox. (The New field specifies the 
number of unheard messages. The Sec field contains the total number of seconds 
needed to hear this mailbox’s messages.)
Messages Maxi-
mumThe maximum number of messages this mailbox has accumulated at one time. 
Messages TotalThe cumulative total of messages taken for this mailbox since its creation or the last 
reset of this mailbox’s statistics.
Conn SecsThe total amount of seconds callers accessed this mailbox.
User SecsThe total amount of seconds the user was logged on to this mailbox.
Statistics Start-
ed:The date and time since creation or the last reset of this mailbox’s statistics.
CallsThe total number of times the mailbox was processed.
TransfersShows the total number of times Amanda successfully transferred a call to the Us-
er’s extension.
LoginsShows the total number of times the User logged on to this mailbox.
NotifiesShows the total number of times Amanda successfully notified this mailbox.
Mailbox Fields (Continued)
FieldDescription 
						

							Chapter 6:
Notifying Users
Overview
Amanda uses notification records to notify users that they have messages. The records tell 
Amanda to:
 Turn message lights on and off 
 Page users using their pager numbers
 Call users at their homes, off-site locations, or other extensions
 Use an office paging system to locate users
Amanda can also perform a relay page, allowing the caller to reach the user without 
leaving a message. 
Selecting a Port for Notification
To select a port for notification, Amanda can use roving, dedicated, or restricted 
notification. You must use dedicated or restricted notification if your telephone switching 
system expects the same port to both turn the message light on and turn it off. In this case, 
only one port should perform notification.
The kind of notification is usually set up for you by the person who installed the Amanda 
system. You can change the kind of notification using the Setup utility (selection 4). 
With roving notification, Amanda tries to use the last port (for example, port 4 on a four-
port system) for notification. If the last port is busy, Amanda tries the second-to-last port 
(for example, port 3), and so forth. 
With dedicated notification, port 1 is used:
 Only for notification
BUT that port
Cannot take incoming calls
Dedicated notification eliminates glare (the collisions between incoming calls and 
outgoing notifications), but you have one fewer port for calls. When two calls collide, 
Amanda fails to get a dial tone on the port and hangs up. From the caller’s perspective, he 
hears DTMF tones and/or a hangup instead of the company greeting.
When a port is dedicated to notification, it is identified by an N on the Main screen. 
Otherwise the port is identified by an A (for Answer) because it can answer calls. 
						

							50 Administering [email protected]
With restricted notification, one port is used:
 Only for notification
AND that port
Can take incoming calls
With restricted notification, there can be some glare. However, all your ports can be used 
for calls. If you select restricted notification, you must indicate which port has the highest 
number.
N
OTE:When using roving or restricted notification, the ports should be in a lin-
ear hunt group (not a circular hunt group). In a linear hunt group, port 1 
always rings first, port 2 rings only if port 1 is busy, and port 3 only rings 
if port 1 and port 2 are both busy. Then when Amanda’s last port rings, 
all the other ports must be busy. 
Planning Your Notification Records
If users’ telephones have message lights, you need notification records that turn those 
lights on and off. You program a normal notification record to turn the light on and a 
pickup notification record to turn the light off.
Users with pagers can be notified using normal or urgent notification records. However, if 
you want Amanda to ask callers for their telephone numbers and send those numbers to 
the pagers, you need to use relay page notification records.
A normal notification record works for both urgent and non-urgent messages—until you 
add an urgent notification record. Then only non-urgent messages activate normal 
notification records. That means that, if urgent messages are to turn on message lights, you 
must add an urgent notification record that turns on message lights. This record is identical 
to the normal notification record for message lights, but its type is urgent instead of 
normal.
As the system administrator, you should use the disk notification record (available only 
for mailbox 999). Amanda lets you know when disk space becomes less than a specified 
percentage. By default, that is 20%, but you can change the diskwarn configuration option 
that controls this percentage using the Setup utility (selection 4).
Accessing the Notify Screen
While Amanda is running, you can use the Notify screen to create and modify notification 
records.
To access the Notify screen:
1. From the Users screen, type the number for the mailbox in the Mailbox field, then 
press Enter.
2. Press Alt+N.
(If the mailbox has not yet been created and saved, Amanda does not allow you to 
access the Notify screen for that mailbox. If this is a new mailbox, save it before 
pressing Alt+N.) 
						

							Chapter 6: Notifying Users51
The first notification record in the Notification Records List is selected (whether 
enabled or disabled). The cursor is positioned at the Enabled field in the Selected 
Record’s Fields so that you can edit this record.
The Notify Screen
SaveTemplates Esc/EXIT  PgDn/NEXT  PgUp/PREVNotify
Mailbox: Comment: Security Code:
Extension:
Directory Name 1: Directory Name 2:




Enabled M T W T F S S From To Notify After Continue Every Max Times
   NO YYYYYYY 00:00 23:59     0 min        60 min         1
Title: Type:  NORMALVa r i a b l e :
Method:
The Notify screen displays a menu bar, user information, a list of notification records, and 
the selected record’s fields.
 
Menu bar The rectangle at the top of the screen. The left side displays menu 
commands that you can access by pressing Alt plus the first letter of 
the selection. For example, pressing Alt+S saves a new or modified 
notification record. The right side lists keys on the keyboard and the 
actions they perform. For example, pressing Esc allows you to exit the 
Notify screen and return to the Users screen.
User InformationJust below the menu bar. The fields in this area provide the minimum 
information Amanda requires for defining a mailbox. The User Info is 
a copy of the user information on the Users screen.
Notification 
Records ListIn the middle of the screen. It displays a one-line description of each 
enabled notification record containing its Title, days and times for no-
tification, the delay between receiving the message and performing 
the first notification, and the delay between the first and subsequent 
notifications. There are four records available for each mailbox. Each 
record defines how to notify the user of new messages. To access a 
specific notification record in the Notification Records List, press 
Page Up and Page Down.  
						

							52 Administering [email protected]
Managing Notification Records and Templates
Notification records are created:
 When the mailbox is created (by copying the notification records that already exist 
in the mailbox on which the new mailbox is based)
 At the same time you create a new template
 By starting with an existing template
Each user can have up to four notification records.
Many users use exactly the same notification records with the exception that their 
extensions, home telephone numbers, or pager numbers differ. Because of this, every 
notification record is based on a template. The templates make it easy to add notification 
for new users or additional types of notification for existing users.
Changing a notification template changes all the records that are based on that template—
unless the change only enables or disables the record or changes the contents of the 
Variable field. These two fields are part of a notification record but not part of a 
notification template because they vary from user to user.
N
OTE:When you create new mailboxes, all the fields in the notification 
records—including the Enabled and Variable fields—are copied to the 
new mailbox from the mailbox on which it is based. When an enabled 
record’s Method field uses %V, the Variable field must include a num-
ber.
Managing notification records includes:
 Creating and modifying notification templates and records. 
The next few sections cover the creation and modification of templates and records.
 Making the notification records needed by most or all users part of the mailbox 
template (by default mailbox 997). 
For example, if the records that turn message lights on and off are in the template, you 
don’t have to create those records for each mailbox that requires them.
 Testing notification templates and records by making calls to users and verifying 
that the expected notification takes place.
Creating a Notification Record and a Notification Template
Your first notification record is created at the same time as your first notification template. 
Any time that you need a new template, you create it and a record simultaneously.
To create a new notification record (and a notification template):
1. From the Users screen, type the number for the mailbox in the Mailbox field, then 
press Enter.
2. Press Alt+N to access the Notify Screen.
Selected Record’s 
FieldsAt the bottom of the screen. It displays the data for the notification 
record selected in the Notification Records List. Use this area to edit 
notification records. To move from one field to another, press Enter, 
Tab and Shift+Tab, or Up Arrow and Down Arrow.