Microsoft Lync Server 2010: Configuring Announcements for Unassigned Numbers

Microsoft Lync Server 2010: Configuring Announcements for Unassigned Numbers

Microsoft Lync Server 2010

Published: March 2012

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Contents

Configuring Announcements for Unassigned Numbers

Announcement Configuration Prerequisites and Roles

Deployment Process for Announcements

Configure Announcement

Configure the Unassigned Number Table

Create an Unassigned Number Range

(Optional) Verify Announcement Deployment

Microsoft Lync Server 2010: Configuring Announcements for Unassigned Numbers

Configuring Announcements for Unassigned Numbers

The Announcement application is an Enterprise Voice feature that allows you to configure what happens to calls to unassigned extensions (extensions that are valid for your organization but are not assigned to a person or phone). For example, you can configure calls to unassigned numbers to play a message or be transferred to a different destination or both.

The Announcement application is installed as a feature of Response Group application on the Front End Server or Standard Edition server when you deploy Enterprise Voice. You need to configure Announcements by uploading your audio files or configuring text-to-speech (TTS) and configuring the unassigned number table.

This section guides you through the configuration of Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Announcements. It assumes that you have already read the planning sections related to Announcements and deployed an Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition server with Enterprise Voice.

In This Section

Announcement Configuration Prerequisites and Roles

Deployment Process for Announcements

Configure Announcement

Configure the Unassigned Number Table

(Optional) Verify Announcement Deployment

See Also

Planning for Call Management Features

Deploying Enterprise Voice

Deployment Process for Announcements

This section provides an overview of the steps involved in deploying the Announcement application. You must deploy Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition with Enterprise Voice before you configure announcements. The components required by the Announcement application are installed and enabled when you deploy Enterprise Voice.

Announcement Deployment Process

Phase / Steps / Roles / Deployment documentation
Configure Announcement settings / Create the announcement by recording and uploading audio files or by using text-to-speech (TTS).
Configure the unassigned number ranges in the unassigned number table and associate them with the appropriate announcement. / RTCUniversalServerAdmins
CsVoiceAdministrator
CsServerAdministrator
CsAdministrator
CsViewOnlyAdministrator / Configure Announcement
Configure the Unassigned Number Table
Verify your Announcement deployment / Test listening to announcements to verify that your configuration works as expected. / - / (Optional) Verify Announcement Deployment

Configure Announcement

When you configure announcements, you are really configuring how you want calls to unassigned numbers to be handled. You can play a prompt, which can be an audio file or a text-to-speech (TTS) file, or you can just transfer the call to a specified destination without playing a prompt.

To create a new announcement, you perform the following steps:

1.For audio prompts, record the audio file by using your favorite audio recording application.

2.For audio prompts, run the Import-CsAnnouncementFile cmdlet to import the contents of the audio file to File Store.

3.Run the New-CsAnnouncement cmdlet to create and name the announcement. Perform this step to create announcements with an audio prompt, a TTS prompt, or no prompt.

Tip:

You might want to create an announcement with no prompt, for example, if you want to transfer calls to a specific destination without playing a message.

4.Assign the new announcement to a number range in the unassigned number table.

This topic describes how to import and create announcements. For information about assigning announcements in the unassigned number table, see Configure the Unassigned Number Table.

To create a new announcement

1.For audio prompts, create the audio file.
2.Log on as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group, or as a member of one of the predefined administrative roles that support Announcement. If you are not logged on as a member of one of these roles, you are prompted for alternate credentials.
3.Start the Lync Server Management Shell: Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Lync Server 2010, and then click Lync Server Management Shell.
4.For audio prompts, run:
Import-CsAnnouncementFile –Parent <service of the Application Server running the Announcement application> -FileName <name for file in File Store> -Content Byte [<contents of file in byte array>]
5.Run:
New-CsAnnouncement –Parent <service of Application Server running the Announcement application, in the form: service:ApplicationServer:<fqdn> > `
-Name <unique name to be used as destination in unassigned number table> `
[-AudioFilePrompt <FileName specified in Import-CsAnnouncementFile>] `
[-TextToSpeechPrompt <text string to be converted to speech>] `
[-Language <Language for playing the TTS prompt (required for PromptTts)>] `
[-TargetUri sip:SIPAddress for transferring caller after announcement]
For transferring calls to voice mail, type SIPAddress in the format sip:username@domainname;opaque=app:voicemail (for example, sip:;opaque=app:voicemail). For transferring calls to a phone number, type SIPAddress in the format sip:number@domainname;user=phone (for example, sip:+ ;user=phone).
For example, to specify an audio prompt:
$a = Get-Content ".\PromptFile.wav" -ReadCount 0 -Encoding Byte
Import-CsAnnouncementFile -Parent service:ApplicationServer: `
-FileName "ChangedNumberMessage.wav" -Content $a
New-CsAnnouncement -Parent service:ApplicationServer:pool0.contoso.com `
-Name "Number Changed Announcement" -AudioFilePrompt "ChangedNumberMessage.wav"
For example, to specify a TTS prompt:
New-CsAnnouncement -Parent service:ApplicationServer:pool0.contoso.com `
-Name "Help Desk Announcement" `
-TextToSpeechPrompt "The Help Desk number has changed. Please dial 5550100." -Language "en-US"
For more detail about these cmdlets, and to see a list of the language codes to use in the TextToSpeechPrompt parameter, see the Lync Server Management Shell documentation or Help for Lync Server Management Shell.

Configure the Unassigned Number Table

In Microsoft Lync Server 2010, you can specify what happens to incoming calls to phone numbers that are valid for your organization but are not assigned to a user or phone. Callers can hear a message or be routed to another destination or both.

How you configure the unassigned number table depends on how you want to use it. You can configure the table with all the valid extensions for your organization, with only unassigned extensions, or with a combination of both types of numbers. The unassigned number table can include both assigned and unassigned numbers, but it is invoked only when a caller dials a number that is not currently assigned. If you include all the valid extensions in the unassigned number table, you can specify the action that occurs whenever someone leaves your organization, without needing to reconfigure the table. If you include unassigned extensions in the table, you can tailor the action that occurs for specific numbers. For example, if you change the extension for your customer service desk, you can include the old customer service number in the table and assign it to an announcement that provides the new number.

Important:

Before you configure the unassigned number table, your system must already either have Announcements defined or an Exchange Unified Messaging (UM) Auto Attendant set up.

Tip:

When someone calls an unassigned number, Lync Server searches the unassigned number table from top to bottom and uses the first matching range. Therefore, an action that you want to be performed as a last resort should be specified for the last range in the table.

In This Section

Create an Unassigned Number Range

Follow these steps to create an unassigned number range for Announcements by using Lync Server Control Panel.

Important:

Before you configure the unassigned number table, you must have already defined one or more announcements or set up an Exchange Unified Messaging (UM) Auto Attendant.

To configure routing of unassigned phone numbers

1.Log on to the computer as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group, or as a member of the CsVoiceAdministrator, CsServerAdministrator, or CsAdministrator role. For details, see Delegate Setup Permissions.
2.Open a browser window, and then enter the Admin URL to open the Lync Server Control Panel. For details about the different methods you can use to start Lync Server Control Panel, see Open Lync Server Administrative Tools.
3.In the left navigation bar, click Voice Features and then click Unassigned Number.
4.Click the Unassigned Number page, and then click New.
5.In New Unassigned Number Range, in Name, type the name for this range of numbers.
Note:
After you commit the new unassigned number range to the database, you cannot change this name.
6.In the first Number range field, type the beginning number of the range, and in the second Number range field, type the ending number of the range.
Notes:
The beginning number of the range must be less than or equal to the ending number of the range.
If the beginning number of the range or the ending number of the range includes an extension number, both the beginning number and the ending number of the range must include an extension, and the extension number must be the same for both the beginning number and the ending number.
The number must match the regular expression (tel:)?(\+)?[1-9]\d{0,17}(;ext=[1-9]\d{0,9})?. This means the number may begin with the string tel: (if you don’t specify that string it will be automatically added for you), a plus sign (+), and a digit 1 through 9. The phone number can be up to 17 digits and may be followed by an extension in the format ;ext= followed by the extension number.
7.In Announcement service, do one of the following:
Click Announcement.
Click Exchange UM.
8.If, in the previous step, you clicked Announcement, do the following:
a.Under FQDN of destination server, click Select, click the service ID of the Application service that runs the Announcement application that will handle incoming calls to this range of unassigned numbers, and then click OK.
b.In Announcement, click the announcement to be played for this range of unassigned numbers.
9.If, in the previous step, you clicked Exchange UM, under Auto Attendant phone number, click Select, click the phone number to be used for this range of unassigned numbers, and then click OK.
10.Click OK.
11.On the Unassigned Number page, make sure that the unassigned number ranges are arranged in the order you want. To change a range's position in the table, click one or more consecutive names in the list of ranges, and then click the up arrow or down arrow.
Tip:
Lync Server 2010 searches the unassigned number table from top to bottom and uses the first range that matches the unassigned number. If you have a range that specifies a last resort action, make sure that range is at the bottom of the list.
12.When you have the unassigned number ranges in the order that you want, click Commit all.

(Optional) Verify Announcement Deployment

After you install and configure Announcement, you need to verify the configuration to make sure that calls to unassigned numbers work as expected. At minimum, verify the following:

Call a number that is valid for your organization but is an unassigned number.

Call the unassigned number and verify that the correct announcement plays.