Basic Voice Call Station/System Features | Feature/Function Enhancements

Do station users really need six variations of call forwarding? Do managers still “buzz” their secretaries? Although PBXs have many call forwarding options and still retain the manual signaling (buzz) feature, the most significant station/system feature enhancements during the past two decades have been to improve incoming call coverage, support the needs of the new mobile workforce, and simplify the administration and maintenance operations of the system manager.

An important PBX feature developed in the days before voice messaging systems invaded the workplace was programmed call coverage. Programmed call coverage was a form of enhanced call forwarding, with some important distinctions. First introduced in 1983 by AT&T on the System 85 PBX, call coverage did not receive the market attention it deserved during the 1980s and 1990s, but renewed interest in personalized call screening and routing to improve communications service levels has revitalized the feature. Call coverage capabilities on current-generation PBX systems allow station users to define where incoming calls are directed when they are unable to answer the call and program the coverage path based on who is calling (CLID, Automatic Number Identification [ANI], internal calling number, call prompt), where the call originated (internal or external to the system), how it arrived into the system (trunk group ID), or when a call is placed (time of day, day of week). Building on the concept of call forwarding, personal call coverage programming redirects calls to a defined path of answering stations and will default to the called party’s voice mailbox only as a last resort. Calls will not be redirected to the forwarding position or voice mailbox of a station user defined in the call coverage path; the originally called party’s coverage path overrides intermediary station user call forwarding commands.

Call coverage tables and station user programming was not possible before the development of digital PBXs. The new CTI-based PBX system designs allows station users to program caller-specific call coverage paths based on identified callers. The personal call coverage function in these new-generation systems is supported at the station user desktop (a PC client softphone), not at the common control call processing system. The objective of personalized call coverage features is to reduce dependency on voice mail systems because a human answering station rather than a noninteractive machine might be preferred by the caller. Voice mailboxes should be the last option in a call coverage environment, not the first or only option.

The new mobile workforce includes station users who are rarely in the office and workers who do not have permanent desk assignments because they are constantly moving or their job function is not desk based. To support these mobile workers, it is necessary to dissociate a station user’s telephone directory number from a physical telephone instrument. Hoteling, a feature designed to support workers who work at different desks throughout the enterprise, allows station users to log into the system from a telephone and reassign their directory number to their chosen telephone. In addition to their telephone number, the individual’s station user profile (service levels, call restriction levels, group assignments) is also assigned to the physical telephone location. Account codes and call records are maintained for the station users for each telephone they use. When done using the telephone, after 1 hour, or 1 week, or 1 month, the station user logs out, freeing the telephone for the next mobile worker. Hoteling is becoming very popular in sales offices. The feature can significantly reduce system costs by optimizing common equipment hardware, telephone instrument, and cabling requirements and, more importantly, minimizing real estate requirements (fewer dedicated desks/telephones, less office space).

Today’s mobile workers who are rarely at a fixed telephone location also benefit from recent feature enhancements. The find-me feature allows station users to program their telephone to direct calls to other telephone numbers outside of the PBX system. More than one external number can be programmed. For example, on a no-answer call at the station user desktop, the call can be forwarded to another telephone number after a selected number of rings; if there is no answer at the external number, another telephone number is dialed, and the call is redirected. External telephone numbers likely to be programmed include cellular telephones, home, conference facility, remote office branch, or even a hotel. A relatively recent teleworker option available on some PBXs allows station users to bridge their line appearance to a telephone external to the system. The concept of the PBX as a mobility server can significantly improve call coverage, reduce lost or abandoned calls, and increase the number of successful call attempts between caller and called parties.

Another category of mobile workers consists of station users who require a telephone away from the formal office environment. Known as teleworkers, these station users require their high-performance telephones to function away from the workplace and receive incoming calls redirected to their remote desktop. The original teleworker option was an off-premises extension (OPX) station using highly tariffed telephone trunk circuits to link remote analog station equipment to the main PBX system. Expensive and low-performance analog OPX stations have evolved into affordable and high-performance digital desktops. The same digital telephone supported behind the PBX at the office can be supported remotely with several options, including distance extender modules and analog trunk carrier facilities, ISDN BRI services and equipment, and the recently available IP workstation (hard telephone or PC client softphone).

The most important system feature enhancements during the past decades have been systems administration and maintenance tools. The early PBX management terminals required high-level programming skills and weeks of training. A typical station move, add, or change operation could require at least 15 minutes of keyboard entries. After booting up the systems management terminal the administrator was met by a blank monitor screen waiting for a programming command. There were no menus, on-screen help command, or point, click, and drag. Computer technology evolved during the 1980s and so did PBX management tools. By 1990 a systems management terminal had a basic graphical user interface (GUI), usually a menu selection list and formatted screens. By 2000 PBX management tools were accessed through a web browser via the Internet, and a sophisticated GUI simplified the administration process. Few keyboard entries are now required, and access to a common metadirectory server simplifies the initial station user directory entry.