AT&T Feature 5 User Manual

AT&T

®

MERLIN

COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

PLANNING GUIDE:
MODELS 1030 AND 3070

WITH FEATURE MODULE 5

Table of Contents

Introduction
Decisions

Square vs. Pooled Decision
About Square Systems

Standard Square Configurations
Customized Square Configurations

About Pooled Systems

Button Access vs. Dial Access to Line Pools
Automatic Route Selection
The Call Management System

Getting Started

Administrator/Attendant Console

Types of Consoles

Using the Console
Specifying Touch-Tone and Rotary Signaling
Call Restrictions

Allowed Lists
Automatic Route Selection (ARS)

ARS Default Tables
Group Page
Group Call Distribution
Enhanced Night Service

Night Service with Group Assignment
Night Service with Extra Alert
Night Service with Outward Restriction

Night Service with Time Set
Station Message Detail Recording (SMDR)
System Speed Dial Codes

Return interval for Transferred Calls

One-Touch Hold with Call Announcement

Voice Terminal Programmability

Auto lntercom
Automatic Line Selection
Call Coverage
Call Pickup

Do Not Disturb
Last Number Radial
Line Pickup
Notify (Send, Receive)
Outside Auto Dial
Personal Speed Dial
Personalized Ring
Privacy
Saved Number Redial

Simultaneous Voice and Data Calls
Touch-Tone Enable
Voice Announcement Disable

Initial Feature Assignments

Nonattendant Voice Terminals with 1030 or 3070 Configuration in Standard

Square Systems

Nonattendant Voice Terminals with 1520 Configuration in Standard Square

Systems
Nonattendant Voice Terminals in Pooled Systems
Administrator/AttendantConsole for Small Systems in Attendant Mode
Administrator/Attendant Console for Large Systems in Attendant Mode

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Introduction

The advanced technology of the MERLIN communications system allows you to
customize the system to meet your business needs. As the system administrator, you
are responsible for selecting MERLIN system options and features that will enhance
your business operations.

This guide will help you decide which features to assign to your MERLIN system,
and to each voice terminal. Voice terminals are MERLIN system telephones. We
would like you to read through this guide and also the System Configuration Forms
before the Technical Customer-Support Specialist (TC-SS) assigned to your account
contacts you. Reading this guide beforehand will enable you to have an understand­ing of the questions the TC-SS will ask you, and also how you want your system to
operate. Since the needs of customers vary, we need you to supply the information
contained in the System Configuration Forms to customize your system.

This planning guide explains everything you need to know to customize your
MERLIN communications system.

Here is what you need to do:

1.

Read this planning guide, which is divided into the following sections:

●

Decisions: This section helps you make the following systemwide

choices:
— How will people access outside lines? Will you have a square or pooled

system?

— If you decide to have a pooled system, how will people access the line

pools? Will they press a button or dial a number to get an outside line?

— Will you be using the Automatic Route Selection feature with your

MERLIN communications system?

— Will you have a Call Management System working with your MERLIN

communications system?

●

Getting Started: This section discusses systemwide features that will be

set by you when your system is installed. If necessary, you can change

these features at any time.

●

Voice Terminal Programmability: This section discusses the features that

are programmed at each voice terminal. Voice terminals can also be pro-

grammed from the administration console.

●

Initial Feature Assignments: This section shows you the initial features

preassigned to voice terminal buttons.

●

Documents: This section discusses the documentation that you will

receive with your MERLIN system and who the appropriate person for each

document would be.
After reading through this guide, remove the forms from the front pocket of

2.

this package. Read through the “Instructions for Completing System and
Voice Terminal Configuration Forms.” If you want to begin filling out the forms,
follow the directions in those instructions to complete:

●

The System Configuration Form.

●

One Voice Terminal Configuration Form for each voice terminal in your
system (make enough photocopies of this form for all the voice terminals
in your system). When filling out this form, make certain that you have the
correct form for your system; there are several of these forms.

If you have any questions, please call the Technical Customer-Support

3.

Specialist responsible for your account. You will find his or her name on the
letter that accompanies this package.

®

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Decisions

SQUARE VS. POOLED DECISION

One of the first decisions you must make about your system is how people will access
outside lines from their voice terminals. The MERLIN communications system gives
you two configuration options for arranging your outside lines: square or pooled. In
a square system, each outside line appears on a separate button at each voice ter­minal, except for those voice terminals with too few buttons to accommodate all the
lines. In a pooled system, outside lines are grouped together so that one button pro­vides access to several outside lines. On administrator/attendant consoles, however,
each outside line appears on a separate button, whether your system is pooled or
square, and you cannot change this arrangement.

Whether your system should be square or pooled depends on your specific business
needs. If you want to use the Automatic Route Selection (ARS) feature, your lines
must be pooled and your system must be set for Dial Access to Line Pools (Dial
Access is discussed on page 8. The characteristics of both configurations are dis­cussed in detail in the paragraphs that follow.)

ABOUT SQUARE SYSTEMS

A square configuration is one in which outside lines are represented by separate but­tons on every voice terminal in the system. A square configuration simplifies call
handling because people can join in on calls or pickup calls on hold just by touching
the appropriate line button at almost any voice terminal.

You can choose between two kinds of square configurations: standard or cus­tomized. In the standard configuration, you give all voice terminals in the system
access to the same lines. In the customized configuration, you assign specific lines
or sets of lines to selected groups of voice terminals. You can also assign personal
lines to individual voice terminals in a customized square configuration.

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Standard Square Configurations

The standard square configuration is ideal for offices in which all employees use the
same lines to make and receive calls. In this arrangement, every line in the system
appears at each voice terminal that has enough buttons to accommodate that number
of lines. Depending upon the size of your system, you can assign up to 30 lines to
as many of your voice terminals as you want.

You assign each of your lines to the same buttons at each voice terminal. To get the
most from a standard square configuration, all your voice terminals should have
enough buttons to handle all the lines in your system. If you have ordered many
5-button voice terminals, keep in mind that they will be more difficult to use in a square
arrangement. An example of a standard square configuration appears below. All six
lines in the system are available for general use and appear on the same buttons
at each voice terminal, as shown.

Customized Square Configurations

In a customized square configuration, you assign individual lines or groups of lines
to selected voice terminals with similar requirements for placing and receiving calls.
This arrangement lets you tailor your communications system to meet the needs of
different departments. Calls are easily passed between departments using the Line
Pickup feature. This configuration also simplifies keeping records of calling patterns
within your business.

EXAMPLE OF STANDARD SQUARE CONFIGURATION

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For example, the departments at a car dealership may have different calling needs.
Say that Ultimate Motors has eight local lines, three WATS lines, and one Foreign

Exchange (FX) line. The sales and office staff use the out-of-state WATS line frequently
to speak with manufacturers’ representatives, haulers, and other dealerships. This
group uses an in-state WATS line to contact customers, vendors, and the Division
of Motor Vehicle Registration in the state capital. The third WATS line is an incoming
in-state WATS line used by customers who live outside the immediate area. The ser­vice staff doesn’t usually have to make long distance calls; however, one major equip­ment supplier is located 25 miles away, and calls to this supplier would normally be
toll calls. To reduce this expense, Ultimate has a Foreign Exchange line for the sup­plier’s exchange code, 560, When the staff uses this line, calls to the supplier are
treated as the equivalent of local calls. The manager handles many confidential

negotiations over the telephone and so requires a personal line.
A customized square configuration is the most appropriate system arrangement for

Ultimate Motors’ varied communications requirements. The administrator assigns
the three WATS lines and three of the eight local lines to the sales and office staff.
The service department’s voice terminals get three other local lines and the Foreign

Exchange line. The seventh local line is assigned to the voice terminal at the parts
desk, and the eighth is assigned as a personal line at the manager’s voice terminal.
The figure below illustrates this type of configuration.

Telephone Lines of Automobile Dealership

EXAMPLE OF CUSTOMIZED SQUARE CONFIGURATION

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ABOUT POOLED SYSTEMS

For many businesses large enough to need the MERLIN system, Model 1030 or

Model 3070, pooled operation is more cost-efficient than a square one because:

●

The lines in the pool are shared by many people, so each line gets more use.
As a result, you may need fewer outside lines.

●

Only two buttons on each voice terminal are necessary to represent up to 30

interchangeable lines, so you can use more of the smaller, less expensive voice

terminal models.

●

Voice terminal buttons that would otherwise represent lines are used for system

features — a substantial advantage in systems with a large number of outside

lines or many 5- and 10-button voice terminals.

●

Automatic Route Selection allows you to determine which of your line pools pro­vide the lowest cost, most efficient dialing methods for particular types of calls.

SIMPLE POOLED SYSTEM

The diagram above shows all lines assigned to a pool. You do not need to assign

all your lines to pools; you can assign individual lines that are not included in any
pool to any voice terminal in your system. For example, you can assign individual

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special-purpose lines such as personal or WATS lines. Assigning a special line to
a button on one voice terminal in no way affects the use of the corresponding button
on other voice terminals. A diagram of a pooled system with eight lines appears below.

Attendant console

Line not assigned to pool = Line D

Line C

Line B

Line A

Intercom

Voice

Intercom

Ring

Line H

Line G

Line F

Line E

Line D

Main pool = Lines A, B, C
Line pool 2 = Lines E, F
Line pool 3 = G, H

Voice terminal 1

Line pool 3
Main pool

Intercom­Voice

Line D
Main pool

Intercom­Voice

Voice terminal 2

Voice terminal 3

POOLED SYSTEM WITH 8 LINES

Line pool 2

Main pool

Intercom­Voice

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Button Access vs. Dial Access to Line Pools

NOTE: If you want to use Automatic Route Selection, you must select Dial Access

to Line Pools.

If you have decided to configure your system as pooled, you must also decide how
voice terminals will access the pools. You can choose one of two options for line
pools: Button Access to Line Pools or Dial Access to Line Pools.

If you have only one or two line pools, Button Access is the best option for your system.
If your system has several line pools, however, Dial Access is preferable because
you can access all pools by using only two buttons on each voice terminal. Dial
Access is also preferable if you want basic telephones to have access to more than
one line pool or if you want 5-button voice terminals to have access to more than one
special pool.

DIAL ACCESS TO POOLS

Assume that you have five line pools. With the Dial Access option (see the diagram

above), you arrange the system so that people can access any line pool by lifting

the handset, touching one of the two buttons above Intercom-Voice, and dialing the

access code assigned to the pool (9 for the main pool or 890 through 899 for the

others). Even if you set your system for Dial Access, you can still assign some pools

to particular buttons, if you like.

With the Button Access option (see the diagram below), people access all line pools

directly through pool buttons on each voice terminal. In such an arrangement, the

first two buttons above Intercom-Voice provide access to the main pool. You may

assign additional buttons for access to other pools that may include WATS lines, FX

lines, or lines used for special purposes.

BUTTON ACCESS TO POOLS

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AUTOMATIC ROUTE SELECTION

If you decide to use the Automatic Route Selection (ARS) feature, you must configure
your system as Pooled with Dial Access to the pools. However, because you are using
ARS, the dialing of codes to access pools is eliminated when placing calls. When
placing a call, the user has to touch a Pool Access button, lift the handset, and then
dial the outside telephone number.

Your ARS routing patterns are determined by your system administrator. It is the
system administrator’s responsibility to decide which lines provide the lowest cost
and most efficient way to place calls for your business.

THE CALL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS)

The Call Management System (CMS) for the MERLIN communications system is
an automatic call distributor that answers calls and connects them to available agents.
Agents, of course, are your employees who answer incoming calls. In addition to
distributing calls, CMS provides current and historical data to a business in the form
of reports relative to call handling, line usage, and agent productivity. Using such
information, a business can make management decisions concerning how many
agents and lines it needs to support a specific function such as inside sales or
customer services, inquiries, or complaints. In addition, CMS offers a business a great
amount of flexibility to change the number of agents or line configurations to handIe
the needs of callers in the best way possible. If your business has CMS for the
MERLIN communications system, you need to administer your system to be com­patible with this automatic call distributor.

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Getting Started

Your MERLIN communications system can be tailored to meet your specific com­munications requirements. To customize your system, you can add a variety of system
features.

The following pages discuss those features and explain the effect they have on your
system. These features are the first ones that should be administered to get your
system up and running. Read through this section and determine which features your
system will use.

THE ADMINISTRATOR/ATTENDANT CONSOLE

Do you have a 34-button deluxe voice terminal with or without an Attendant Intercom
Selector as your administrator/attendant console?

The administrator/attendant console is the voice terminal connected to the
intercom-10 Voice Terminal Module jack in the control unit. The console operates in
either of two ways, depending on which mode you put it in.

●

It functions as your primary attendant console under day-to-day call-handling

conditions.

●

It functions as the administrator console when you use it to establish options
and features for the system as a whole or for individual voice terminals.

To change the administrator/attendant console from one mode of operation to the
other, you just set a switch on the control unit and then set another switch on the con­sole itself. When the console is in administration mode, some of its buttons take on
different functions than they have when the console is in the call-handling mode.

Therefore, when you administer the system, you insert in the console a special set

of administration-mode button labels so that you know which buttons to touch. But-

ton labels are provided in the back of the Administration Manual.

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Types of Consoles

The type of administrator/attendant console you have depends primarily on the

number of the voice terminals and lines in your system.

In systems with eight or fewer lines and 20 or fewer voice terminals (small systems),
the administrator/attendant console is a 34-button deluxe voice terminal. A 34-button
deluxe model is suitable as the administrator/attendant console for small systems

because it has enough buttons to show the status of each line and each voice ter-

minal in the system. The system assigns lines and intercom numbers to these but­tons automatically. You can use the lights next to each button to keep track of what

is happening on the lines and at the voice terminals you are working with.

For systems with more than eight lines or more than 20 voice terminals (large
systems), two consoles are available:

● The administrator/attendant console with Attendant Intercom Selector for large

systems is a 34-button deluxe voice terminal with an attached Attendant inter­com Selector.

The administrator/attendant console with Attendant Intercom Selector is con­venient for administering a large system because up to 70 voice terminals can
be represented using the Auto Intercom buttons on the Attendant Intercom
Selector. This leaves all 30 buttons on the console available to show the status
of each line in the system. On this console, all your lines and intercom numbers
are assigned to buttons automatically when the system is activated.

● The economy administrator/attendant console for large systems is a 34-button

deluxe voice terminal without an Attendant Intercom Selector.

If you don’t need the extra capacity or convenience provided by the Attendant
Intercom Selector, you can use the economy administrator/attendant console
to administer a large system. On this console, all your lines are assigned to but­tons automatically when the system is activated. Any buttons not used for lines
can be programmed as Auto Intercom buttons for use in the attendant mode,
but they are not used during administration. Because the economy
administrator/attendant console has no Auto Intercom buttons in the administra­tion mode, you must specify a particular voice terminal by dialing its intercom
number.

Administrator/attendant consoles for small and large systems in administration mode
are illustrated on pages 12 and 13.

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