pstn calling (germany) - gallery.technet.microsoft.com · office 365 e5 - (incl. in e5) domestic +...

Contact: http://www.uclabs.blog

Thomas Poett, MVP Office Servers and Services

(Skype for Business), © 27.07.2017

Version 1.0

Planning and configuring

PSTN Calling (Germany) with Call Queues & Auto Attendant

http://www.uclabs.blog/

https://mvp.microsoft.com/enu-us/PublicProfile/4040011

https://www.google.de/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=imgres&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwitutH7gqDVAhVC1hQKHSyxCx4QjRwIBw&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skype_for_Business_Logo.png&psig=AFQjCNE-kWgpyBtQvDu18VreSq3Iow3JMg&ust=1500920567574738


Index Generics: Skype for Business Online PSTN Calling Germany................................................................... 5

Features in PSTN Calling Germany ...................................................................................................... 5

Call reporting: Run usage reports to review active users, sessions, client device information, and

types of activities ............................................................................................................................. 6

Licensing in PSTN Calling Germany ..................................................................................................... 6

Set-up and management: ................................................................................................................ 7

Payment model: .............................................................................................................................. 7

Billing and reporting: ....................................................................................................................... 7

PSTN Conferencing with PSTN Calling ............................................................................................. 7

Applying for PSTN Calling Germany ........................................................................................................ 8

Configuring for PSTN Calling Germany .................................................................................................. 12

Assigning a PSTN Calling Germany phone number ........................................................................... 14

Assigning Germany phone number to a user ................................................................................ 15

Solving problems assigning Germany phone numbers to a user .................................................. 18

Dial Plan with PSTN Calling (Tenant Dial Plan) ...................................................................................... 19

Dial Plan Hierarchy ............................................................................................................................ 19

Dial Plan Command Lets .................................................................................................................... 19

Devices with PSTN Calling ..................................................................................................................... 20

Overview and Planning Call Queues and Auto Attendants (Cloud PBX) ............................................... 21

Call Queues in detail .......................................................................................................................... 22

Auto Attendant in detail .................................................................................................................... 22

Requirements for your Online Tenant .............................................................................................. 23

Visualizing Workflow Process for Call Queues and Auto Attendants ............................................... 24

Call Queues .................................................................................................................................... 24

Auto Attendant .............................................................................................................................. 25

Setup Call Queues with PSTN Calling ................................................................................................ 26

Preparation for Call Queues .......................................................................................................... 26

Configuring a Call Queues ............................................................................................................. 28

Setup Auto Attendant with PSTN Calling .......................................................................................... 31

Configuring Auto Attendant General Info ..................................................................................... 32

Configuring Auto Attendant Hours of Operation .......................................................................... 34

Configuring Auto Attendant Business Hours of Call Handling ...................................................... 35

Configuring Auto Attendant After Hours Call Handling ................................................................ 39

Configuring Auto Attendant Dial Scope ........................................................................................ 40

Configuring User Outbound Call ID Overwrite .................................................................................. 41




Introduction and special thanks

Thanks to Christoph Hassler, Severin Dreker and Team (Microsoft PDU Germany): My special thanks goes to the Microsoft PDU Modern Workplace Germany for their commitment working together with me as a team. I appreciate their work for joint support bringing Microsoft Skype for Business Online and Teams successfully on the road. Another thank goes directly to their Cloud Solution Architects (CSA) for all the inspiring discussions about Cloud Voice. (Well Frank

Schuster 😊)

Thanks to Kenneth Hoehne from Plantronics providing new headset toys to my test setup.

This guide is written for Pre-Sales Consultants, technical Consultants and System engineers at Level

200.

This guide focus on the Office 365 Web based administration. PowerShell knowledge therefor is not

required. But PS will enable you with further configuration details.

It guides you through the general understandings of Office 365 Skype for Business PSTN Calling

ordering and configuration, the related planning process and should inspire you thinking about

different approaches towards technology and best practices.

If you have question or need assistant with Skype for Business please contact me via my blog:

© 27.07.2017, Thomas Poett, MVP Office Servers and Services

(Skype for Business) - Version 1.0






About the author:

I'm working at Westcon Group Germany as Business Unit Leader Microsoft Cloud, supporting

professional Sales for Enterprise Voice On-Premise, Hybrid or Cloud and Microsoft CSP

Licensing.

Extensive experience in business and market development. Specialized in intercultural and business

relationship in Asia. Successful in providing leadership on new topics and complex global projects that

require interfacing with internal/external teams and ecosystems. Early adaptor of visionary

technologies.

• 20+ year career within different companies in the areas software development, telecommunication,

IT, mobility and hosted/cloud services.

• Strong technical and business background – was member of Microsoft´s German Inner Circle.

• Organized, logical, rationale thinker and problem solver with superb communication and

collaboration skills.

• Business Management skill in strategic and organized developing German SME subsidiaries in Asia

Specialties: Management:

Start-up companies, Business Relation Management, Partner Relation Management, Enterprise

Business Sales Skills, strong team leader and motivator, perfect Asian business and human behavior

understandings, excellent financial cash flow management

Technical:

Microsoft Office 365, Public and Private Cloud Computing, specialized in Hybrid Cloud integration,

Unified Communication (Skype for Business, Exchange), Security (PKI, Forefront, ADAL), Active

Directory,

View my complete profile



https://plus.google.com/112976874990638509831

http://www.uclabs.blog/2017/03/skype-for-business-cloud-connector.html


Generics: Skype for Business Online PSTN Calling Germany

In Skype for Business Online you have multiple options for PSTN Calling. One of the PSTN Calling

options are the On-Premise Hybrid Setups.

Here you can utilize either a

- Skype for Business On-Premise Server installation with Session Boarder Controller connecting

to your PBX or PSTN

- Cloud Connector Edition with Session Boarder Controller or CCE Appliance connecting to

your PBX or PSTN

(see my blogs and articles about CCE)

- PSTN Calling option using Microsoft as you provider, with PSTN connectivity in the Office 365

Cloud

PSTN Calling Germany was released in June 2017 as Preview and will be soon in production.

In Germany, you have the toughest regulations and government rules which you can imagine.

Therefore, it took some until Germany was listed as one of the available countries.

It’s no surprise, that the process applying for German PSTN Calling number has some differences

compared to the other countries, which will be explained during the following chapters.

Cloud PBX with PSTN calling allows organizations to purchase PSTN calling services directly from

Microsoft without the need of an on-premise deployment. Customers will be able to acquire new

telephone numbers from Microsoft or transfer (port) their own telephone numbers.

Features in PSTN Calling Germany

The PSTN Calling allows us having User Numbers (Subscriber Number) and Service Numbers (Service).

The Service Numbers are for the Call Queues and Auto Attendant features in Skype for Business

Online. This can also contain Service Numbers where the Caller need to pay for, like for a 0180

number. The other option is the 0800 Service number with might be a free calling number, where

you have to pay the minutes.

Number Porting is another feature, where your number you currently have purchased with your

actual telephony provider and transfer those number ranges directly to Microsoft. Currently you can

port a number range of up to 999 numbers.

PSTN Domestic Calling enables users with the license assigned to them to call out to numbers

located in the country/region to which they are assigned in Office 365. (3000 minutes)

PSTN Domestic and International Calling enables users with the license assigned to them to call out

to numbers in 196 countries worldwide, as well as to numbers located in the country/region to which

they are assigned in Office 365. (600 minutes)

You billing option are (Pre-Paid or Consumption Billing):

With consumption billing, you set up either a one-time funding of a pre-paid balance or an




automatically recharged amount with a minimum balance that will trigger a purchase for that

amount. Before setting up consumption billing, you will need to investigate call usage for your

organization to determine the optimum setup, including the monetary amounts that you will need to

put in.

If you have PSTN Consumption billing enabled, you can pay per minute for international calls.

Otherwise, the international call will not connect.

Call reporting: Run usage reports to review active users, sessions, client device information, and

types of activities

Licensing in PSTN Calling Germany

PSTN Calling (domestic or international) is an Add-On to Skype for Business Online and can’t be

purchased as standalone license. It further requires Cloud PBX.

The license is on a per user level and can be pooled into our tenant. Calls from this pool will be

deducted for incoming and outgoing calls.

Office 365 Plan requirement Calling Plan

Skype for Business Online Plan 2

Cloud PBX Domestic + International

Office 365 E1 Cloud PBX Domestic + International

Office 365 E3 Cloud PBX Domestic + International

Office 365 E5 - (incl. in E5) Domestic + International

Other Plans are Office 365 E4 or the new Microsoft 365 Plans.

If you have Office 365 Business or Office 365 Business Premium you must change the subscription to

Office 365 E1 or Office 365 E3

If you consider using Voice Mailbox, you must have Office 365 E3 or E5.

Consumption billing for PSTN services will launch on June 1, 2016, enabling PSTN Conferencing toll-

free dial-in, international dialing for users with PSTN domestic calling, and additional domestic and

international calling minutes.

New with Microsoft Cloud are the Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans, which include Skype for Business

and Cloud PBX too.




Set-up and management: - Customer selects an individual pre-paid balance amount (e.g. $100), minimum balance

threshold (e.g. $10), and balance replenishment amounts (e.g. $90).

- Customer funds their pre-paid balance directly in the Office 365 Portal (as opposed to buying

on CPS – SKU on PL).

- It’s important to establish appropriate replenishment amounts as all payments made to fund

prepaid balance are valid for one year.

- If customer elects to not set up a pre-paid balance and they reach their monthly excessive

usage limit, their PSTN services is suspended for the remainder of the month.

Payment model: - Account balance is drawn down as services are consumed.

- Customer can select their EA Enrollment as a payment instrument in the Office 365 Portal.

- Each time a customer’s balance reaches the minimum threshold, a replenishment of funds is

triggered at which time the customer is invoiced.

Billing and reporting: - Consumption billing charges appear as a line item on the EA Invoice as Skype for Business

PSTN Consumption.

- Usage reports are available in the Admin Center at any time.

- Customers without an EA can set up an account with a credit card or invoicing payment

model.

- For domestic PSTN Calling plans, each licensed user is allocated in the above-stated domestic

dial-out minutes pooled at the tenant level.

- For international PSTN Calling plans, each licensed user is allocated in the above-stated

domestic dial-out minutes and 600 international dial-out outbound minutes pooled at the

tenant level.

For all local and international calls placed to users within the same tenant, peer-to-peer calling is enabled and the call is placed over the Voice Over IP network, meaning that all local and international calls placed within the tenant will not count towards the allocated minutes.

The PSTN Calling Terms and condition can be found here:

http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/DocumentSearch.aspx?Mode=2&Keyword=PSTN

PSTN Conferencing with PSTN Calling

Skype for Business Online Conferencing for PSTN Dial-Out will work the same way as PSTN Calling

dial-out. The calling minutes are deducted from the pool. If you don’t have PSTN Calling plan

assigned, the individual minute price applies.

http://www.uclabs.blog/2017/06/escalate-cce-pstn-call-to-conference.html



http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/DocumentSearch.aspx?Mode=2&Keyword=PSTN

http://www.uclabs.blog/2017/06/escalate-cce-pstn-call-to-conference.html


Applying for PSTN Calling Germany

Applying for PSTN Calling Germany is a straight forward process and requires some documentation

tasks requesting your number rages.

Most important is, you must provide a location billing address, where you have physical presence in

Germany. And it is required you assign the User an Office 365 GERMANY location profile.

This is for “Notfall Rufnummer Konzept” in Germany.

Acquiring German Phone Numbers within your Office 365 Tenant, you have to maneuver to the

Skype for Business Admin Center under your Voice section/ phone numbers. From there you chose

the “+” sign adding your new phone number.

Chose on of both option to apply for a user or service phone number.

2

3

1




Now you can apply for your GERMANY PSTN Calling phone number.

This section will bring you to Information page, where download the “New Number Request” form.

Download the request form and send it to Microsoft [email protected]

1

1



mailto:[email protected]


The following screenshot was taken from the German request form.




After approx 1-2 days, if you have requesed a new number or number range, you will receive the

following Email:

Hi XXX, Good news! Your number order completed successfully! The numbers have been assigned to your tenant

Number Order ID VSO 2xx2 VSO 2xx3

Current order status Completed Completed

Total Numbers 2 3

City - Area Code Munich - 89 Munich - 89

Number Type Subscriber USERs

Service e.g. AA,CQ, ConfBridge,..

Subscriber numbers assigned: 49898553903,49898553904 Service numbers assigned: 49898553900,49898553901,49898553902 Thank you for choosing Microsoft and have a good day! Regards, XXX The Skype for Business PSTN Team

This process is pretty simple and straight forward. You can apply for numbers either by writing in

German or English.




Configuring for PSTN Calling Germany

The most important part using PSTN Calling Germany is the Emergency Location. Which will be setup

automatically by Microsoft, once your number range is validated and approved.

Navigate to your Skype for Business Online Admin Center.

Once Microsoft has created your Emergency Location, you can correct or change this setting.

If you create a new EL, simply add a new location by clicking on the “+” sign. Add all necessary data

and validate the address. So, it needs to be an exciting address and should belong to your

corporation.




Do not wonder if the format of your address looks a little foreign to you. This is an American format.

So, you should get used to.

IMPORTANT:

If you trying assigning a different emergency location to a user who has a German PSTN number,

which doesn’t match your provided location information, the assignment will fail.

A correctly assigned user look like this real example:




Assigning a PSTN Calling Germany phone number

After Microsoft provided you with the auto configured tenant setup, you cannot further add or

request additionally numbers.

Let’s provide an example who e.g. a user number request looks like in US in comparison with

Germany. This reflects the different telecommunication laws of both countries.

Once in US you added the new number, you need to acquire number!

This example applies to both, user and service numbers!

Whereby Germany generally doesn’t allow you requesting services numbers, therefore, it isn’t listed

in the Country for Service Number request.

We remember, you have to run through the manual process.

But how to find the newly provided number for PSTN Calling Germany?

During the auto setup process with Microsoft, those numbers will immediately appear in your owned

and activated number list

1




Assigning Germany phone number to a user

Number assignments are made via the Skype for Business Admin Portal as usual.

Make sure the requirements are fulfilled (Ex, Cloud PBX and PSTN Calling License)

Your PSTN Calling Plan is assigned to the user. My user has an Office 365 E5 plan. You need to verify

that Cloud PBX and PSTN Conferencing are activated!

Next you navigate to your users activated for Cloud PBX and are online users.




You proceed with “Assign number”. The process will be based on your LOCATION PROFILE in user

setting present you with the correct location based number. Here this user has a German location

profile

If the validation of your assignment was successful, the setting will be saved.

Further, the number needs to be activated and processed with your PSTN Calling Setup, which can

take update 5 min.

After processing it shows that activation status and the user is ready for placing calls.




Finally, the user is ready and can work with in- and outbound callings.

For better user experiences, the user can see his/ her assigned PSTN number in Skype for Business

client.

Placing an outgoing call:

Receiving an incoming call:




Solving problems assigning Germany phone numbers to a user

If a user was associated with an on-premise CCE or on-premise SfB deployment, the number can’t be

change to PSTN Calling.

First you need to unregister the user from your on-premise deployment and reassign him or her to

PSTN Calling, making the user an online Skype for Business user

If the Phone Number you assigned doesn’t match the location registered for those registered

number range, the following error occurs. Change the location to the correct location associated with

the number range registered.




Dial Plan with PSTN Calling (Tenant Dial Plan) Dial Plans cannot (yet) be configured in the Online Portal. You have to use PowerShell managing your Dial Plan. If you don’t create dial plans which match your user’s requirements, you might confuse users with their dialing behaviors. Download the Tenant Dial Plan Configuration Guide: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Tenant-Dial-Plans-in-Skype-c80a7dfd

Dial Plan Hierarchy The Online Dial Plan hierarchy (scope) is working differently if a Tenant Dial Plan is activated. As well

the Tenant Dial Plan hierarchy differs from On-Premise scopes. On-Premise you could define Dial

Plan based on Global, Site, Pool and User level, where the lowest (closer to the effective user) Dial

Plan will be effective.

With Online Dial Plans you merge the Service Country with the Global or User applied Dial Plan.

Note:

The Tenant Dial Plan always comes first!

Only Service Country Dial Plan in-place, which NO Tenant Global or Tenant User Dial Plan assigned

Tenant Global Dial Plan with NO Tenant User Dial Plan assigned

Tenant User Dial Plan assigned

Dial Plan Command Lets

Starting with a dial plan design isn’t different from the on-premise design. You run exactly the same

planning process as you did before.

Further example and design processes I’ll provide later in this article.

First, I provide an overview of the dial plan cmdlets: PS C:\> Get-Command *tenantdialp*

Command comment Get-CsEffectiveTenantDialPlan retrieve an effective tenant dial plan

Get-CsTenantDialPlan retrieve a tenant dial plan.

Grant-CsTenantDialPlan assign an existing tenant dial plan to a user

New-CsTenantDialPlan create a tenant dial plan

Remove-CsTenantDialPlan remove a tenant dial plan

Set-CsTenantDialPlan modify an existing tenant dial plan

Test-CsEffectiveTenantDialPlan test a tenant dial plan

Service Country Service Country Service Country

Tenant - Global Tenant - User



https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Tenant-Dial-Plans-in-Skype-c80a7dfd


Devices with PSTN Calling Plantronics, Polycom, AudioCodes and many more provide devices working with Skype for Business Online. You can leverage from a wide range of Headsets, Desk Phones or other devices like Conferencing Spiders or mobile conferencing speaker. PSTN Calling also works with Skype for Business Mobile Clients on Windows Mobile, IOS or Android. For further information go to Microsoft or Westcon Comstor.

Microsoft Device List: http://partnersolutions.skypeforbusiness.com/solutionscatalog/ip-phones http://www.plantronics.com/us/solutions/microsoft/

Westcon-Comstor: http://discoverucc.com/

Licensing with the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program: https://www.westconcomstor.com/global/cloud.html



http://partnersolutions.skypeforbusiness.com/solutionscatalog/ip-phones

http://www.plantronics.com/us/solutions/microsoft/

http://discoverucc.com/

https://www.westconcomstor.com/global/cloud.html


Overview and Planning Call Queues and Auto Attendants (Cloud PBX)

Comparing Call Queues and Auto Attendants with the traditional PBX terms. Auto Attendants have

an identical wording, while Call Queue are mostly referred as Hunt Groups/ Call Groups.

If you have Skype for Business Online users, they aren't required to have a phone number or have

PSTN calling plan assigned to them, but they must have a Skype for Business Cloud PBX license

assigned for them to be reachable when they search using Dial by Name.

Therefore, I provide you with some examples of different use cases for CQ and AA in the following

table.

Scenario Use Call Queues or Auto Attendant

comment

Support Team direct call Call Queue Simple hunt group with simple announcements

Support Team with sub-teams Auto Attendant with different Call Queues

Mini Call Center

Auto Attendant with DID address book transfer

Auto Attendant Perfect as switch board with dedicated operator

Central corp number with department routing

Auto Attendant with Call Queues

Perfect as switch board

Main Desk Operator with after hour announcement

Auto Attendant with Operator and after hour settings

Another switch board solution

Sales Team with overflow to operator

Call Queues with overflow to Auto Attendant

Hunt group with call handling

Business hours controlled access to a sales team with support after work hours

Auto Attendant with Call Queue and Call Queue to support team after work hours

Note:

Right now it is not possible placing calls on behalf of the Call Queue. Therefore, a user would display

his person phone number or SIP name if he initiates any outbound calls.

You can overwrite a user number as workaround.

Follow the instruction in the last chapter: Configuring User Outbound Call ID Overwrite




Call Queues in detail

Skype for Business Online Cloud PBX Call Queues include greetings that are used when someone calls into a phone number for your organization, the ability to automatically put the calls on hold and search for the next available call agent to handle the call, while the people who call-in are listening to music on hold. You can create a single or multiple call queues for your organization.

Cloud PBX Call Queues can provide:

• An organizational greeting. • Music while people are waiting on hold. • Redirecting calls to call agents in mail-enabled distribution lists and security groups. • Making settings for call queue maximum size, timeout and call handling options.

When someone calls in to a phone number that is setup up with a call queue, they will hear a greeting first (if any is setup), and then they will be put in the queue and wait for the next available call agent. The person calling in will hear music while they are on hold waiting, and the calls will be offered to the call agents in the First In, First Out (FIFO) manner.

All calls waiting in the queue will be distributed using an attendant routing mode:

• The first call in the queue will ring all call agents at the same time.

Note: Call agents who are Offline or have set their presence to Do not Disturb won't be called.

• Only one incoming call notification (for the call at the head of the queue) at a time will be sent to the call agents.

• After a call agent accepts the call, the next incoming call in the queue will start ringing call agents.

Reference: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-a-Cloud-PBX-call-queue-67ccda94-1210-43fb-a25b-7b9785f8a061

Auto Attendant in detail

Skype for Business Cloud PBX auto attendants can be used to create a menu system for your organization that lets external and internal callers move through menu system to locate and place or transfer calls to company users or departments in your organization.

When people call, they are presented with a series of voice prompts that help them place a call to a user or locate someone in your organization and then place a call to that user. An auto attendant is a series of voice prompts or and audio file that callers hear instead of a human operator when they call into an organization. An auto attendant lets callers move through the menu system, place calls, or locate users by using a phone keypad (DTMF) or voice inputs using speech recognition.



https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-a-Cloud-PBX-call-queue-67ccda94-1210-43fb-a25b-7b9785f8a061

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-a-Cloud-PBX-call-queue-67ccda94-1210-43fb-a25b-7b9785f8a061


A Cloud PBX auto attendant has the following features:

• It can provide corporate or informational greetings.

• It can provide custom corporate menus. You can customize these menus to have more than one level.

• It provides directory search that enables people that call in to search the organization's directory for a name.

• It enables someone that calls in to reach or leave a message for a person in your organization.

Reference: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-are-Cloud-PBX-auto-attendants-ab9f05a2-22cb-4692-a585-27f82d1b37c7

Requirements for your Online Tenant

Your organization must have (at a minimum) an Enterprise E3 plus Skype for Business Cloud PBX license or an Enterprise E5 license. The number of Skype for Business Cloud PBX user licenses that are assigned impacts the number of service numbers that are available to be used for auto attendants. The numbers of auto attendants you can have depends on the number Skype for Business Cloud PBX and PSTN Conferencing licenses that are assigned in your organization

Note:

To redirect calls to an operator or a menu option that is an Online user with a Skype for Business

Cloud PBX license, you will need to enable them for Enterprise Voice or assign a PSTN Calling plan to

them.

Reference:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-are-Cloud-PBX-auto-attendants-ab9f05a2-22cb-4692-

a585-27f82d1b37c7

Directory size maximum:

Input type Search format Maximum number of users in an organization

DTMF (keypad entry) Partial

FirstName + LastName

LastName + FirstName

No hard limit

Speech (voice input) FirstName

LastName

FirstName + LastName

LastName + FirstName

50,000 users



https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-are-Cloud-PBX-auto-attendants-ab9f05a2-22cb-4692-a585-27f82d1b37c7





Visualizing Workflow Process for Call Queues and Auto Attendants

Making the functionality and call flow processing more understandable, the workflows are easier to

understand when illustrated.

It need to be highlighted, that call actions can even point into the other workflows. This would be a

nested setup. You can therefore structure complex workflows enabling you defining a good and

simple IVR/ Contact Center or Attendant work place.

There is no recommendation starting with Call Queue or an Auto Attendant. This is your free choice

and your choice best matching your requirements, which service is an call-in entry point.

Call Queues

The Call Queue flow is simple and structured in a way which makes it easy to understand. It either place a call to an available agent or it uses the overflow/ timeout trigger for further actions.

Call enters Call Queue

Call Queue with PSTN Cloud PBX

Is Greeting available

Play greetings file YES

Is agent available?

NO

Play Music on hold file? Or silent

YESPLACE CALL

NO

Search Distribution Group for

Agents

NOMax calls in

queue?

YES

Forward based on action defined

Is max waiting time reached

NO

Forward based on action defined




Auto Attendant

Within an Auto Attendant, announcements are made informing the caller about possible actions. You

can always interrupt the “Announcements” and overwrite them either with voice or pressing a key.

Consider two announcements paths, in or out of business hours. The call menu can be different in

both paths. Remember, a caller can choose connecting to an operator by pressing “0” or by saying

“operator”.

Call enters Auto Attendant

Auto Attendant with PSTN Cloud PBX

Set flags for Time Zone and

Speech Language

Is operator addressed?

Call operator or Call Queue

Is call in operation

hours?YES

Enter process of in business

hours

NOEnter process

of out of business hours

Caller interrupts manually at any

point of time

Play Greeting Play Greeting

Action after greeting

Discon.disconnect

Redir. Redirect Call

Play menu options

Process Menu and track

aktion

Option activated

If *

is p

ress

ed

or

rep

eat

YES(number)

Process based on action defined

Execute Dial Scope

Action after greeting

Discon.disconnect

Redir. Redirect Call

Play menu options

Process Menu and track

aktion

Option activated

If *

is p

ress

ed

or

rep

eat

YES(number)

Process based on action defined




Setup Call Queues with PSTN Calling

Call Queues implement an automated distribution system for calls that includes playing licensed music on hold for the caller and matching the caller with an available agent. Custom music on hold and custom prompts can also be uploaded to Office 365 for use with a customer’s Call Queue. Agents can be quickly configured for handing calls from a queue by using a simple distribution list, with calls routed in parallel to all agents who are signed in and configured to handle calls from the queue.

There are Microsoft Partners developing Cloud based solutions for Call Queues and Auto Attendant.

One of the first partner to take advantage of this new functionality with Skype for Business Online is

Enghouse Interactive with their new attendant console.

Call queues are configured in the Skype for Business Online Admin Portal under “call routing”

Note:

At point of writing the guide, Call Queues are not supported with Cloud Connector Edition. This

feature will be activated in later release of the CCE.

Preparation for Call Queues

A Call Queue requires a Distribution Group in Office 365, containing the user within the Queue.

Best approach could be defining dedicated Distribution Groups for Call Queues and set those

Distribution List cannot receive email from outside. Making the Distribution Group tight to Call

Queue, the management might be simpler and more committing to Call Queue.

A Distribution Group might take up to 60min before the creation process in Office 365 is

accomplished.



http://www.enghouseinteractive.com/


After creating the DG, place the users in the DG and make sure the user is enabled for Skype for

Business Online.

You can either manage the DG member from Exchange Online or from the Admin Center.




Configuring a Call Queues

Move forward the Skype for Business Online Admin and click the “+” symbol next to “ADD NEW”

Provide for each Call Queue the following settings:

Setting Comment

Name A unique name for call queue

Phone Number A service phone number from PSTN Calling number range

Domain Choose your configured domains, so the call queue can be contacted vis SIP URI ([email protected])

Greeting Provide a greeting in form of an audio file (text 2 speech is not available) – max 5MB

Music on hold While user wait in the queue, provide an audio file played during the waiting time

Call agents Search and select Distribution Group, multiple DG can be used, where calls are routed too

Max calls in queue Define how many calls can be places in a queue before an overflow occurs. (calls active are not taken into count)

Forward if max is reached Decide where an overflow call will be routed to:

• A person in the company (SfB enabled)

• Another Call Queue

• Auto Attendant

Wait in queue Once a call is placed in the queue a time starts count how long the caller is waiting. Define the max waiting time here

Forward if max is reached Once this timer is reached, decide what will be happened to this call. You can route the call too:

• A person in the company (SfB enabled)

• Another Call Queue

• Auto Attendant




You can choose from more than 1 Distribution Group, so a combination of multiple DG is possible.

Last two steps are defining the none agent routed call handling.

First is the over flow of a call queue.

Next comes the wait time in a call queue.




After you apply the configuration, the DG needs to be synchronized with the CQ, which can take up

to 10min

The Call Queue is ready to use:




Setup Auto Attendant with PSTN Calling Auto Attendant provides an automated system to answer inbound phone calls to a company, play prompts to interact with the caller and determine the destination of the call. Prompts can be made from uploaded pre-recorded material or using text-to-speech in 27 languages while replies from callers can be captured using DTMF (touchtone) or speech recognition in 14 languages. Callers can speak the name of an end-user in the tenant directory to be routed directly to that person or they can be presented with a customized menu to support routing to different departments.

• It can provide corporate or informational greetings • It can provide custom corporate menus. You can customize these menus to have more than

one level • It provides directory search that enables people that call in to search the organization's

directory for a name • It enables someone that calls in to reach or leave a message for a person in your organization

The Auto Attendant can make use of the Call Queues discussed in the chapter before.

Warning:

Operating Auto Attendant in a split-domain (hybrid) topology is only supported for pure online

tenants. This might further change with a CCE update.

After the configuration step are successful applied, the Auto Attendant is ready for operation.




Configuring Auto Attendant General Info Before starting with an Auto Attendant, you need to ensure you have available Service Numbers with

your Online Tenant. Check this in the Admin Center/ Voice/ Phone Numbers.

Setting Comment

Name A unique name for call queue

Phone Number A service phone number from PSTN Calling number range Note: User (subscriber) numbers can't be assigned to auto attendants.

Time zone Time zone necessary for activation hours

Domain Choose your configured domains, so the auto attendant can be contacted vis SIP URI ([email protected])

Language The Auto Attendant read and processing language. The language you set here is the language that the auto attendant will use to interact with people that call into this auto attendant and all the system prompts will be played in this language.

Speech recognition Speech recognition is available and if this option is checked, people that call in can use voice input in the language you set

Operator This is optional and doesn't need to be set for the auto attendant. However, you can set Operator option for people that call in to be able to break out of the menus to speak to a person to help them.

• The key 0 is automatically assigned to Operator.

• A Person in your company that is an Online user with a Skype for Business Cloud PBX license that is enabled for Enterprise Voice or assigned a PSTN Calling plan.

• A Call Queue that you have set up. Note: You can set it up so the person calling will be sent to voicemail. To do this, select a Person in your company and set this person's calls to be forwarded directly to voicemail.




Independent from the further option explained later in this document, the Operator can be a Call

Queue or a Person.

If you only a single receptionist, or a single shared desk, where the person uses a shared account, this

is option is suiting the requirements best.

If you decide for Call Queue, this will be for example a group of people handling the calls where the

caller will talk too.

With a Call Queue, you will also be able to reroute the call into the Auto Attendant, or use the

overflow feature routing a call into another team.




Configuring Auto Attendant Hours of Operation

Next value for operational hours, the Auto Attendant allows you activating a AA based on the

company’s working profile. In comparison with Call Queues, this feature is much different, because a

Call Queue is always working 24/7.

Further ,only if you don’t choose 24/7, the next option will be available for “after business hour” call

handling.

Us your mouse marking the Business Hours in “blue”.




Configuring Auto Attendant Business Hours of Call Handling

If you want adding options for callers contacting / dialin to the Auto Attendant, e.g. contacting

another department or group, you can define this here.

Should you have a requirement for further sub-groups, like a cascaded hierarchy, where you want on

the top-level for example a Support Team and underneath the different support department, like

invoicing, technical or other support groups, you need to route the call into the next Auto Attendant.

Setting Comment

Greeting Provide a greeting in form of an audio file (text 2 speech is not available) – max 5MB. In case an empty greeting, the caller will hear no message or greeting before the call is handled by one of the options you select

• None No greeting will be played when people call into the auto attendant phone number.

• Create a custom greeting If you chose this, you should enter the text you want the system to read (up to 1000 characters). For example, you would enter "Welcome to Contoso. Your call is important to us." in the Callers will hear text box.




• Upload an audio file If you chose this, you will need to record the greeting and then upload your audio file (in a .wav, .mp3 or .wma format).

After greeting action Disconnect If you select it, the person calling in will be disconnected after hearing a business hours greeting. Redirect call This can be used to automatically send the call to:

• Person in your company that is an Online user with a Skype for Business Cloud PBX license that is enabled for Enterprise Voice or assigned a PSTN Calling plan. You can set it up so the person calling in can be sent to voicemail. To do this, select a Person in your company and this person will have their calls forwarded directly to voicemail.

• A Call Queue Using a Call Queue allows the call to be transferred to an existing Call Queue that you have set up

• Another Auto Attendant You can use an existing auto attendant to create a second level of menu options containing a submenu. These are called nested auto attendants.

Play menu options prompt These can also be used to let you set up a prompt you want played.

Menu Prompt (Play menu options prompt)

Menu prompt To create main menu prompt, you can either use Text-to-Speech or upload an audio file (.wav, .mp3 or .wma). You can type the prompt in the Callers will hear box or record an audio file

• Create a custom prompt If you chose this, you should enter the text you want the system to read (up to 1000 characters).

• Upload an audio file If you chose this, you will need to record the greeting and then upload your audio file (in a .wav, mp3 or .wma format).

Dial by Name you choose this option, this will enable people who call in to search for people in your organization using Directory Search

Edit Menu Options Menu options can be added or removed by using key buttons on the keypad. To add a menu option, press the corresponding key on the keypad (You don’t need following the ranking, you can choose e.g. 0,3 and 6) Note: The keys * (Repeat) and # (Back) are reserved by the system and can't be reassigned. If speech recognition is enabled, pressing * will correspond to “Repeat” and # will correspond to the “Back” voice commands.

Select for #number (Enter Name Option)

Enter the Name of the option This can be up to 64 characters long, and can contain multiple words like “Customer Service” or “Operations and Grounds”. If speech recognition is enabled, the name will automatically be recognized, and the person calling in will be able to either press 3, say “three” or say “Customer Service” to select option mapped to key 3. The call can be sent to:

• Operator If operator is already setup, it is automatically mapped to key 0 but it can also be deleted or reassigned to a different key. If operator isn't set to any key, then the voice command “Operator” will be disabled too.

• A Person in your company that is an Online user with a Skype for Business Cloud PBX license that is enabled for Enterprise Voice or assigned a PSTN Calling plan. You can




set it up so the person calling in can be sent to voicemail. To do this, select a Person in your company and this person will have their calls forwarded directly to voicemail.

• Call Queue Using a Call Queue option allows the call to be transferred to an existing Call Queue that you have set up.

• Auto Attendant You can use an existing auto attendant to create a second level of menu options containing a submenu. These are called nested auto attendants. Note: The Business Hours of nested (or second level) auto attendants will also be used including for the calls sent from another auto attendant that has been set up.

Greeting Setting:

After greeting action:

Menu Prompt:

(Play menu options prompt)




If you define “Callers will hear” text or custom audio file, the menu option will not be read.

The next step is to select where the call is to be sent if the corresponding key is pressed, or the

option is selected using speech recognition.

The “0” key is reserved for an operator and can be routed into different options.

Note, as per default, the “*” key is used for repeating the menu. Other you see the different options

available for handling the actions in each submenu.




Configuring Auto Attendant After Hours Call Handling

The after-hour call handling is only available if you haven’t 24/7 feature used. This activates a further

submenu. The menu is structured in the same way as the previous menu.

It is only used during after-hours and helps you setting an individual call handling if either your

company is closed, or your company is close during a leave period, as well useful if you have a

different team handling support or emergency calls.




Configuring Auto Attendant Dial Scope

On this page, you can set up what users in your organization will be listed in your directory and

available for Dial by Name when a person that calls into your organization.

So to speak, if a caller speak to the virtual operator and want to get transferred to a person in your

company.

Several people might not be reachable from outside callers. Some examples are, the team member

of a support group, your leaders or the CxO level. With the Auto Attendant, you have a possibility

deciding who will be listed in the corporate Auto Attendant directory.

Setting Comment

Include All Online Users Using this option allows all of the people in your organization to be included in directory search. Custom If you use this option, you can search for a distribution list or security group that has been created in your organization You can add multiple distribution lists and security groups.

Exclude None Using this option will indicate that no Online users will be excluded from directory search. Custom If you use this option, you can search for a distribution list or security group that has been created in your organization, and all people added to this distribution list or security groups will be excluded from directory search.




Configuring User Outbound Call ID Overwrite

Last part in this guide will be possible only if you use PowerShell. As usual, the way how you can

modify more parameter is strictly by using PowerShell. This guide is written in Level 200 only, I need

stepping into one PowerShell scripting to present the outbound calling ID overwrite.

For example, if a Call Queue represents a Support Team, you want that each dedicated person in this

team to not expose their DID. You need to configure a Distribution Group for those team members

used in the Call Queue.

Next step is creating a “Calling Line Identity” policy, where you enable the User Overwrite.

The Service Number you are defining should be this you have assigned to the Call Queue! The

Calling ID Substitute should be the name of the team.

New-CsCallingLineIdentity -Identity "SupportTeam01" -CallingIdSubstitute "Support

Team Office 365" -ServiceNumber 498912345678 -EnableUserOverride $True –Verbose

Note :

The key here is not to use “+” before the Service Number assigned to AA or call Queue to make it

work:

do this -ServiceNumber 498912345678

and not this -ServiceNumber +498912345678

After creating the new CallingLineIdentiy, you need to assign this policy on a per user basis:

Grant-CsCallingLineIdentity -Identity "[email protected]” -PolicyName

SupportTeam01

Further documentation on CsCallingLineIdentity can be found here:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Set-the-Caller-ID-for-a-user-c7323490-d9b7-421a-aa76-

5bd485f80583)



[email protected]

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Set-the-Caller-ID-for-a-user-c7323490-d9b7-421a-aa76-5bd485f80583

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Set-the-Caller-ID-for-a-user-c7323490-d9b7-421a-aa76-5bd485f80583

pstn calling (germany) - gallery.technet.microsoft.com · office 365 e5 - (incl. in e5) domestic +...

Documents