Feature Description
Shared Call Appearances (SCA) can be configured for use on internal calls. This can be useful for internal calls to a support help desk for example, so that calls can easily be answered by a pool of employees and then easily placed on hold and picked up by a particular knowledge expert.
The Shared Call Appearances feature provides the following functionality:
- Presents external calls on programmable keys on XSTIM extensions (SCA keys)
- Multiple XSTIM extensions can be configured to have the same SCA key(s)
- Once a call is assigned an SCA ID, all extensions with the corresponding SCA key provide indication of the call state via icons (XSTIM IP phones) or indicators (Digital phones)
- While an SCA call is ringing, any extension on which the call is ringing or presented to (see Configuration – Step 5 on how to program a non-ringing SCA key) can answer the call by going off-hook or by pressing the Answer softkey or the programmed SCA key
- If an SCA call is put on hold, users of all phones with the corresponding SCA key can press that key to retrieve the call
Note that the behavior of the physical SCA key on a UCX system differs from the behavior on Norstar / BCM systems.
- You cannot originate outbound calls by pressing the SCA key when using UCX based SCA.
- Incoming calls can also be answered by going off hook or pressing an extension button or the Answer softkey
Introduction
From the end user perspective
- SCA keys implement call appearances that can be shared by any number of XSTIM extensions
- SCA keys provide “public hold” or “transfer on hold” functionality
- SCA keys provide visibility of how many SCA calls are active
- SCA keys can be configured on expansion modules (with SCA, the number of active calls on a phone is not limited by the number of programmable buttons on the phone itself)
Prerequisites
None.
Configuration
Step 1 – Configure Ring Group
You need to configure a new ring group if you want multiple phones to ring or be alerted on an incoming SCA call.
- From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
- From the left side column under Inbound Call Control, select Ring Groups
- Fill in the following required fields:
- Ring-Group Number – the number to dial to reach this ring group
- Group Description – a description for this ring group
- Extension List – the list of extensions to ring
- Destination if no answer – select the destination if none of the extensions in the group answers
- Press the Submit Changes button
Step 2 – Create a new Inbound Route
To add an inbound route, perform the following steps:
- From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
- From the left side column under Inbound Call Control, select Inbound Routes
- Add a new route or edit an existing one
- Add a DID Number that would not be seen on any other incoming route. In this example ‘4035551234‘ was used as the 555 NXX code is not used in North America.
- You may optionally enter a CID name prefix that will appear next the incoming callers name on the set display In this example we used ‘Int:‘ to designate an internal caller.
- Enter a tag in the Shared Calls Tag field (you will use this tag when you set up SCA buttons on the phones). In this example we are using the tag ‘SCG5‘ (for Shared Call Group 5).
- Set Destination to be any valid destination (in this example we use the Ring Group created in Step One, ‘74‘).
- Press the Submit Changes button
Step 3 – Create a Custom Destination
To add a Custom Destination, perform the following steps (refer to the Custom Destinations documentation for additional details):
- From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
- From the left side column under Inbound Call Control, select Custom Destinations
- Add a new destination
- Enter the following in Custom Destination field: from-pstn, 4035551234,1 (using you own unique DID from Step Two)
- Add your own description. In this example ‘Support_SCA‘ was used.
- Add any Notes you may want.
- Press the Submit Changes button
Step 4: Create a Misc Application to program a feature code for assigning to the classroom phones
To configure the Misc Application, perform the following steps:
- From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
- From the left side column under Applications, select Misc Applications
- Add a Description (eg. Support)
- Add a Feature Code (eg. 511)
- Ensure the Status is Enabled
- Set the Destination to point to Custom Destinations: Support_SCA (the Custom Destination from the previous step
Step 5 – Configure Programmable Keys on XSTIM Devices
To configure the SCA button on an XSTIM phone, perform the following steps:
- From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
- From the left side column under Basic, select XSTIM Phones
- Repeat fthe following steps for each of the XSTIM phones that you assigned to the Ring Group in Step One
- Scroll down to the section labeled Programmable Keys
- In the Label field of a shared call appearance key, enter a descriptive label such as “Tech Support“
- In the Digits field, the value MUST start with the letters “SCA” followed by a colon “:“, a call number (1,2,3,…), the “@” sign, followed with the Shared Calls Tag (e.g. SCG5), and optionally end with “:N” to indicate that the call should be presented to the key but does not ring.
- For example (ringing): SCA:1@SCG5, SCA:2@SCG5, etc. where SCG5 is the Shared Calls Tag that you used in Steps One and Two
- Non-ringing example of the above: SCA:1@SCG5:N, SCA:2@SCG5:N, etc. where SCG5 is the Shared Calls Tag that you used in Step 2.
- Press the Submit Changes button and apply your configuration changes (the dropdown selection box will automatically change to Other when you click the Submit Changes button).
In the example below:
- SCA:1@SCG5 represents the first call appearance of shared call group 5 (SCG5)
Usage
Caller
Whenever an internal user needs to contact the Support group, they will dial the digits associated with the Misc Application ( created above (i.e. 511)
Ring Group user:
The following display images show the various states that are presented to the Ring Group user at extension 223 (Carol).