BusinessPhone Communication Platform 6.0
Facilities

## Group (PBX)-Hunting

## Definition

Directory numbers can be assigned to a group with a common call number.

Calls to the group are directed to one/more free and not diverted directory number(s) in the group, according to a defined hunting order.

## Use

Group hunting is employed when a group of persons with common work duties answer incoming telephone traffic. The hunting of a free group member can either be done according to a serial or parallel distribution.

### Distribution mode

#### Serial distribution

Serial distribution means that an incoming call to the common call number is presented to one of the free assigned group members.

The following directory numbers are allowed to be members within a group with serial distribution:

- Extension number
- Operator console
- Fictive number
- Voice answer number

The serial distribution is available in two modes:

- Sequential distribution:

- The incoming call always is presented to the first member of the group.

- Cyclic distribution:

- When a group member has answered a call, the next incoming call is presented to the next following member of the group.

#### Parallel distribution

Parallel distribution means that an incoming call to the common call number is presented to all assigned group members.

Only extension numbers are allowed to be members of a group with parallel distribution.

### Exit position

Each PBX group can have a specific exit position. Calls to a blocked group will be redirected to the exit position of the group independent of the distribution mode.

#### A group can be blocked for the following reasons

- No member dedicated to a PBX group
- All members of the PBX group are blocked
- All members of a PBX group are logged out

#### The exit position can be any of the following destinations

- Operator queue
- Operator individual
- Extension
- ACD group
- PBX group
- Fictive number
- Voice answer reference number
- Common abbreviated number
- CN destination

With the queue overflow function a call waiting in a PBX group can be rerouted to the exit position after a programmable time.

The exit position can be programmed independent of the distribution mode.

### Queue announcement

Each PBX group is equipped with a queue announcement of its own. If a call has entered the queue of a PBX group, because of a busy group the caller will receive a queue announcement of the specific group. After the queue announcement the caller will hear silence or music on hold (if multiple Music on Hold is programmed). For detailed description of multiple Music on Hold please see Facility Description Music-on-Hold (343/155 34-ASB 150 02 Uen). If the voice prompts for the queue announcement have not been recorded, the caller will receive alerting all the time he is in the queue.

### Queue overflow

To avoid that a caller waits too long in the queue of a busy PBX group, it is possible to reroute the call to the exit position after a certain time. The queue overflow function can be disabled by setting the queue overflow value to 0.

It is possible to leave the PBX queue after a predefined time. This time can be set by programming a supervision time (queue overflow time) for each PBX group individually. After a caller has been waiting in the queue longer than the supervision time, the call will be rerouted to the exit position of that specific PBX group. If the supervision time has been set to 0, a call to a busy PBX group will be rerouted immediately to the exit position. This means that the queuing mechanism of a PBX group has been disabled.

### Reroute on no answer

If a call is distributed to an extension but not answered during a specified time, it is possible to reroute the call to the exit position. This possibility is only available for extensions but not for operators, fictive numbers and voice references. Reroute on no answer can be disabled by setting the value to 0.

### PBX group logging

A selective logging function will support the user of one or more PBX groups to login or logout of specific PBX groups by using a function code. If the logging on/off sequence from a PBX group was successful, the user will see a display message and a positive confirmation tone will be generated.

Note

After a system restart (warm start) the PBX group login/logout data for each extension will still be available. At default (after a cold start) it is necessary to create a data file. After loading this file to the exchange, the logging data will also be restored to the values before saving.

## Operation

### General

#### Incoming call to the PBX group

At internal calls, the display of the calling party depends on the call state:

alerting state | called PBX group name & number
speech state | called PBX group name & number
connected party name & number

At network calls via VPN or leased lines using QSIG to a PBX group, the display of the calling party depends on the call state:

alerting state | called PBX group name & number
speech state | connected party name & number

For public ISDN calls, the number of the group is sent as connected party number to the public net. The number of the answering group member will not be available for the called external party.

##### Display layout

If an internal call is set up to a PBX group with serial distribution, three different display layouts are possible (Command 3508)

- Layout #0 (default layout):
  the first row shows the PBX group, the second row shows the calling party. This layout points out the PBX group as important diversion information independent of whether or not the call was diverted before. The PBX member has to decide how to proceed with this call depending on the calling party and the called PBX group.
- Layout #1:
  the first row shows the name and number of the first called party (B-party) if the call is diverted, and the PBX group if the call isn’t diverted, the second row shows the calling party. This layout takes care of the originally called party which is important e.g. if fictive numbers are diverted to a PBX group. The fictive number points out the call reason used by the members of the PBX group. In this scenario the data of the PBX group is not relevant for the called PBX group member.
- Layout #2:
  the first row shows the called party number (B-party), the second row shows the PBX group. If the call is diverted the first row is not affected. This layout is focused on Cordless extensions where at least the second row is available and the PBX group is the most important information. Only DT570 instruments support information on the first and second row.

Note

The display of the PBX group member will be updated to the regular extension display content after speech. The first row will contain the first called party, in case of diversion the called party number (B-party) or the PBX group, independent of the PBX group settings for the display profile. The second row shows the calling party.

#### All members of the group are blocked, diverted or no member is configured

If all members of a group are blocked, diverted or no member is configured, no queuing will be performed.

All incoming calls will be rerouted to the exit position of the PBX group.

If no exit position has been programmed or the destination was not valid, the PBX group will release an internal as well as an external party and they will receive busy tone.

### PBX group logging

#### Selective login to a PBX group

A function code to enable the slave of a tandem unit for incoming traffic already exists. This login function code has been enhanced to a more generic procedure suitable also to login to a PBX group.

Function code for login: *28* <PBX group> #

After entering the function code, the member list of the desired PBX group will be examined for the user who wants to log in. If the user is a member of the desired PBX group, a positive confirmation tone, or in case of a negative confirmation, a warning tone will be generated.

#### Selective logout from a PBX group

The selective logout will give the member of a PBX group the opportunity to log out from a dedicated group by using a function code similar to the login procedure.

Function code for logout: # 28 * <PBX group> #

The user has to enter the PBX group from which he wants to be logged out. There will be a notification tone according to the result of the deactivation procedure. This procedure will set the extension to not available for calls to the entered PBX group.

After successful logout from a PBX group, a display message will be shown on the extension’s display (if available):

#### Global logout from all PBX groups

A global logout function can be used to deactivate all PBX traffic for the particular user. Once logged out from all PBX groups, the user will not receive any group calls till the next login to a specific PBX group has been executed or the system has been restarted. After a system restart (warm start) the PBX group login/logout data for each extension will still be available.

The function code for global logout: # 28 * * #

The user will receive a positive confirmation tone if the logout procedure has been executed successfully. If an internal error occurs which has interrupted the logout procedure an error tone will be generated. The logout procedure will not check whether the user is a member of any PBX group.

After successful logout from a PBX group a display message will be shown on the extension’s display (if available):

(for small displays)

or

(for large displays)

### Serial distribution

The basic idea of this facility is to distribute an incoming call to a free group member, according to the sequential or cyclic distribution mode. The selected member will be skipped if it has activated call diversion or if it is busy.

#### All group members are busy

Any call to a busy PBX group will be queued, and the caller receives the queue announcement of the PBX group. The first call in the queue will periodically poll for a free member. The polling interval is five seconds. If at least one free member will be detected, the call will be presented and will be released from the queue.

All further calls to the same PBX group will be linked to the queue and remain in the queue until they are answered or, in case of external calls, they exceed the supervision time out (command 1413).

If the queue overflow time is programmed, the call will remain in the queue only until a member of the PBX group gets free or the queue overflow time has elapsed. If the queue overflow time has elapsed, the caller will be rerouted to the exit position of the specific PBX group. If also this call is not answered within a specified time, the call will be rerouted to the reroute position of the incoming trunk.

If no exit position was programmed or the destination was not valid, the PBX group will release an internal party. An external party will not be rerouted to the reroute position of the incoming trunk, but will be released and receive busy tone.

Note

The value for rerouting on no answer for the PBX group has to be shorter than for the trunk.

Since a call to an operator, to a fictive number or to a voice answer number cannnot receive busy tone, the call is always presented to such a group member. Only in case of congestion, the next member will be tried.

### Parallel distribution

The basic idea of this facility is to broadcast an incoming call to all free group members. All group members which are busy or have activated call diversion will be excluded from the broadcast. During the broadcast only one PCM channel will be occupied in the system.

#### Several incoming calls nearly at the same time

If a call is answered by more than one member at almost the same time, the first member will be connected to the presented caller. The second member will be connected to the first queued caller from the queue of the same PBX group. If there is no call left in the queue the second extension will receive dial tone.

If a call is answered and another group call is queued, the display of the remaining members will be updated immediately with the data of the next caller. The ring cadence will follow in accordance with the type of the next presented caller.

#### All group members are busy

A PBX group can present only one incoming call to its member. The next incoming call cannot be presented before the first call is answered. All the following calls to this group will be queued, the caller receives the queue announcement of the PBX group. The first call in the queue will periodically poll for a free member. The polling interval is five seconds. If at least one free member is detected, the call will be presented and will be released from the queue.

All further calls to the same PBX group will be linked to the queue and remain in the queue until they are answered or, in case of external calls, they exceed the supervision time out (command 1413).

If the queue overflow time is programmed, the call will remain in the queue only until a member of the PBX group gets free or the queue overflow time has elapsed. If the queue overflow time has elapsed, the caller will be rerouted to the exit position of the specific PBX group. If also this call is not answered within a specified time, the call will be rerouted to the reroute position of the incoming trunk.

If no exit position has been programmed or the destination is not valid, the PBX group will release an internal party. An external party will not be rerouted to the reroute position of the incoming trunk, but will be released and receive busy tone.

Note

The value for rerouting on no answer for the PBX group has to be shorter than for the trunk.

#### Supervision of the PBX group

If a supervision of a PBX group with parallel distribution is programmed on a function key of an extension, the key will indicate the status of that group.

During call presentation or call queuing, the key will switch to periodical flashing.

If the call is answered by a member, the LED will be turned off. It is also turned off if the group is idle or blocked.

If the key is pressed during flashing the LED, the extension will pick up the call from the respective PBX group.

If the key is pressed during idle state (LED is off), the extension will receive a blocked tone because there is no call to pick up from the dedicated group.

It is not possible to set up a call to a PBX group by pressing a supervision key. The key can be only used as pick up key.

## Capacity

Up to16 PBX groups can be programmed.

Each PBX group can have up to 20 members.

## Limitations

### General

- If a group member is already busy, is not possible to present more PBX group calls on her/his telephone.
- During the presentation of a PBX group call, the respective extension will be busy for another incoming or outgoing call.
- It is not possible to define S-bus terminals as group members, because they are dedicated to be trunk individuals.
- If a PBX group is busy, it is neither possible to order call back nor to effect intrusion.
- No Line 2 support
- The display of the different layout types for incoming calls is only applicable on extension instruments, not on operator instruments.
- Display of IP and cordless telephones: only DT570 and DT590 support a first and a second row.

### Serial distribution

- It is not possible to program a supervision key on a PBX group with serial distribution

### Parallel distribution

- No “free seating” CTI operators, active ACD Agents, facilities and operators are supported
  as group members
- No caller list entry is generated, because the trunk is connected to the group and not to a member during ringing.
- Auto answer is not possible.
- Analog telephones

- For analog extensions it is not possible to enable ringing for all individuals on the same board at the same time. An analog extension board (ELU-A) can provide the ringing voltage only for one instrument at the same time. The request for all other instruments will be queued. In that case the ringing signal will be multiplexed over the queued instruments. The repetition rate of the ringing signal will go down depending on the number of parallel ringing instruments located on the same board. Recommendation: Distribute the group members over different ELU-A boards, if possible.

- Cordless telephones

- Due to the capacity limitations in the cordless system, only 8 cordless telephones may be assigned as group members. This refers to single cordless extensions, as well as Tandem Units with cordless extensions.

- Mobile extension

- A mobile extension can not be a member of a PBX group, if the distribution mode is parallel.

- IP-extensions

- In case that IP-extensions are members of a “parallel” PBX group, the number of licensed IP voice channels can be easily exceeded because each Call Setup to an IP extension reserves an IP voice channel, even if just another extension answers the call.
- Example: IP-Extension threshold is 4, but 5 IP extension members are programmed in a “parallel” PBX group. In case of an incoming call just the first 4 IP extensions will ring. Additionally the warning DB occurs. DB with D2=80:

- Number of available voice channels exceeded or
- no final licence file applied within the 28 days temporary licence period.

## Programming

##### The following commands are only accessible via BMS:

For a PBX group to be utilized the group must first have been created and assigned a directory number.

5402 |  | Create PBX group

5502 |  | Delete PBX-group

3506 |  | MOH Source

5609 |  | Alter PBX group number

##### The following commands are accessible via BMS and System telephones:

3401 |  | Assigning members to a group

3501 |  | Hunt order

3502 |  | Exit position of PBX group

3503 |  | PBX queue announcement reference

3504 |  | PBX queue announcement delay

3505 |  | PBX queue overflow time

3507 |  | Reroute on no answer

3508 |  | Flexible Display

6501 |  | Directory name

##### The following commands are only accessible via System telephones:

4436 |  | PBX group announcements

## Equipment

The function Group (PBX)-hunting with parallel distribution is supported by ASB 150 02 R11 or higher system releases.

In order to have access to the function, the proper licensing concept has to be used, see Facility Description – General (155 34-ASB 150 02 Uen), chapter ASB150 02 Licensing

An unauthorized call to a group, which has programmed parallel distribution, will be handled with the default programming mode (cyclic distribution). The warning DB will be generated after each incoming call to such a group.

Revision: H © Ericsson Enterprise 2004