atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems NEC Telephones & Systems IPK II virtual extensions and department groups

NEC IPK-II, two 8 line COID cards, two 16 line ESIB cards

I thought I had a handle on this but I can't explain the behavior I'm seeing.

Given: Two companies sharing the system. Each has 5 trunks coming in. Each wants all their company extensions to ring simultaneously. Each has their own extension ring tones/patterns.

Problem: Virtual Extension ringing on incoming calls doesn't respect the priority specified in program 16-02.



What I have done (with program numbers) and my thinking:

Set all trunks to DIL (22-04).

Set the pilot number for each group of trunks, two pilots total.(22-07)

Specify the department groups the pilots will ring. (11-07)

Specify virtual extensions, one for each incoming trunk in the unlikely event that each company has five calls incoming at the same time. (11-04)

Specify that the virtual extensions are members of their department group and specify the ring priority of the virtual extensions. (16-02)

At this point each company has five trunks, five VE specified, a pilot number for the trunks to ring, and the pilots and VEs are of the same department group.

Set function buttons at the stations to be "*03 Virtual Extension Key" and set the value equal to the VE numbers specified in 11-04. (15-07)

Set the station to ring with the VE that the function buttons are assigned to. (15-09)

Ensure there is no delay set on the ring. (15-11)



The problem:

When a call comes in it rings on a different VE than the top priority specified in 16-02.

In my case I have pilot #300 set to department group 63. (11-07) Virtual extensions 301, 302, 303, 304, and 305 are set to virtual extension ports 001-005 (11-04) with the corresponding priority order withing the department group of 1-5. (16-02) Yet when a call comes in it is VE 304 that rings (VE port 004, department group priority 4), and the next simultaneous call rings on VE 305 (VE port 005, department group priority 5). I didn't test three or more simultaneous incoming calls.


It seems as if there is another program somewhere specifying the order in which the VE or VE ports should receive department group calls other than program 16-02. What am I missing?

Josh

Why so many VE? What is the point? Are you certified on the system because you seem to be making a mountain out of something really easy to do.

I am not certified. I'm the in-house IT guy that inherited the maintenance job as the company that installed the system seems to be as inept as I am and the check writers got tired of cutting big checks to do the same lousy job they're already paying me to do.

I have no idea why it is set up that way, I'm just coming in behind the first guy trying to figure out what's going on. I'm assuming it is so that when multiple simultaneous calls come in at once there is a virtual extension in the department group to receive each one of them. I've seen as many as four lines ringing at the same time, and as long as we've got the fifth trunk there (for each company) Murphy says that sooner or later it's going to light up, too.

What would be the easier setup? It looks like to me that once you understand (or think you do) all the spread out programs involved the current setup isn't terribly complicated: Have calls from trunks 1-5 ring on department group virtual extensions 1-5 in the specified order and have stations monitor and ring with those extensions.

It all works for the most part other than the "in the specified order" part. That's what isn't working as expected, so I'm try to figure where my expectations are wrong.

Josh

What voicemail are you using?

I am not fully understanding why you put VE into department group.

If they need to ring simultaneously, DIL to VE then put VE key on each extension, it should just work.

If they need to ring extensions in a particular order, DIL to department group, put extensions into the group. And set up priority in 16-02, then some settings in 16-01.

what's the point to set up one Virtual Extension for each line?

As I say, I don't understand either; I'm not the guy who set it up.


@Coral Tech - EliteMail LX


@crazyfrog -

The desired setup is that any arbitrary trunk in a group of five can receive an incoming call and have it ring all the extensions in a specified group of extensions. There are two such "trunk group<->extension group" sets.


What led to this mess is that years of extension moving and function key re-programming has left a lot of users with useless and mis-programmed function keys and there is no consistency from one extension to the next. I was attempting to clean things up so users had the same set of functions wherever they went and make the useless keys functional.

Most extensions don't have enough keys to have the desired programs AND have a key for each trunk. From what I have been able to piece together the intent of the current setup is to have the group of trunks ring a group of virtual extensions. Extensions with a limited set of function keys would monitor the first two or three VEs and extensions with plenty of function keys could monitor all the VEs.

What I have observed is that when a call rings in the first VE rings. A user picks it up and the VE clears. Another call comes in while the first one is active and the same VE rings. Another user picks that call up. If those two calls came in simultaneously then two different VEs ring. So my understanding was that if five calls came in simultaneously I'd need five VEs to receive them.

Extensions with a limited number of function keys would not see all five VEs ring. As a result the VEs need to ring in a predictable order so the limited extensions could be programmed with the VEs known to be first in line. However, the VEs don't seem to be respecting the order specified in 16-02 to make this a successful strategy.


If there is a simpler way to accomplish the (any/all trunk from group of 5)->(all extensions in group of ##) I'm all for it. I'm just trying to understand the current setup before I make wholesale changes. It doesn't seem to be behaving as I expect. (VE ring order not the same as priority in 16-02.)

Josh

Optus Telequip is located in Arkansas, they are a large NEC dealer, they will be able to help you.

Maybe this explanation will help. The idea behind CAR/VE + CAP keys is that if you have more lines than buttons you DIL your trunks to one CAR/VE key. Then assign several CAP keys. You can set this up so every phone has the same assignments (same CAR/VE and CAP). When a call comes in someone answers it and it jumps to the first available CAP key leaving the CAR/VE key vacant available for the next call. If every phone has the same assignments then you can place a CAP key on hold and grab it from any other station with the same key. With DID's, you give every phone (usually 2) unique CAP keys so they can get two DID calls at the same time. A third one goes to VM. If the call is for someone else you have to transfer it.

@dans - That's the installer. The bosses got tired of having techs come out and fumble through menus for hours on end having no idea what they are doing and having to pay for their on-the-job education. To be fair, there are some super sharp guys working there; unfortunately they never seem to make it out to our office.

Besides, I'm a man trying to learn to fish instead of accepting a fish from the take out place down the street.

@helpifican - That is the way I understood things to work. The issue comes up when we have simultaneous calls coming in at once. Can VEs accept multiple incoming calls? If I have all five trunks DIL to VE 300 and put a VE300 key and a couple CAP on each station, what happens when 3 calls come in at once? (Three calls happens frequently, four occasionally, five is rare but > 0.) Will all 3 calls come in on 300 and that VE continue ringing until all 3 calls drop to a user's CAP when they pick up? My impression was that this isn't the way it works. You have to have one VE for each call that is trying to come in - thus the 5 VE for 5 trunk - and each station will have to have a key for each of the VE. They need to monitor more than one VE because if they monitor one and someone picks it up the remaining two calls don't suddenly change extensions to ring on the suddenly freed-up VE; they continue ringing on the subsequent two VEs for which there is no key.

(I understand about having VM accept the overflow, but in our situation VM is anathema to our company. We're medical and oxygen supply with a mostly senior clientele - they need to talk to a person now. We even have an after hours answering service so that they get to talk to someone 24/7/365 instead of a machine.)


@all - Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

Josh

Looking at your original post, you have 5 trunks for each company. Scrap the VE's and CAR keys. Place all 5 trunks on every phone. Make it a square key system.