Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2
Topic Last Modified: 2013-01-09
After you create a Unified Messaging (UM) auto attendant, incoming calls to an external telephone number that a human operator would ordinarily answer are answered by the auto attendant. Unlike for other Unified Messaging objects, such as UM dial plans and UM IP gateways, you aren't required to create UM auto attendants. However, auto attendants help internal and external callers locate users or departments that exist in an organization and transfer calls to them.
Looking for other management tasks related to UM auto attendants? Check out Managing UM Auto Attendants.
Prerequisites
A UM dial plan has been created. For detailed steps, see Create a UM Dial Plan.
What Do You Want to Do?
Use the EMC to create a UM auto attendant
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "UM auto attendants" entry in the Unified Messaging Permissions topic.
- In the console
tree, navigate to Organization Configuration > Unified
Messaging.
- In the work pane, click the UM Auto Attendants tab.
- In the action pane, click New UM Auto Attendant.
- In the New UM Auto Attendant wizard, complete the following
fields:
- Name Use this text box to create the
display name for the UM auto attendant. A UM auto attendant name is
required and must be unique. However, it's used only for display
purposes in the EMC and the Shell.
If you have to change the display name of the auto attendant after it's created, you must first delete the existing UM auto attendant and then create another auto attendant that has the appropriate name. If your organization uses multiple UM auto attendants, we recommend that you use meaningful names for your UM auto attendants. The maximum length of a UM auto attendant name is 64 characters, and it can include spaces.
Although you can include spaces in the name of a new UM auto attendant, the name cannot include spaces if you integrate Unified Messaging with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Microsoft Lync Server. Therefore, if you created an auto attendant that has spaces in the display name, and if you are integrating with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Microsoft Lync Server, you must first delete that auto attendant and then create another by using a display name that does not include spaces.
- Select associated dial plan Click
Browse to select the UM dial plan to associate with this UM
auto attendant. Selecting and associating a UM dial plan with the
auto attendant is required. A UM auto attendant can be associated
with only one UM dial plan.
- Pilot identifier list Use this field to
enter the extension numbers or pilot numbers that callers will use
to reach the auto attendant. Type an extension number or pilot
identifier in the box, and then click Add to add the number
to the list. The number of digits in the extension number or pilot
identifier that you provide doesn't have to match the number of
digits for an extension number configured on the associated UM dial
plan. This is because direct calls are allowed to UM auto
attendants.
The number of extension numbers or pilot identifiers entered is unlimited. However, you may create the new auto attendant without an extension number listed. An extension number or pilot identifier isn't required.
You can edit or remove an existing extension number or pilot identifier. To edit an existing extension number or pilot identifier, click Edit. To remove an existing extension number or pilot identifier from the list, click Remove.
- Create auto attendant as enabled Select
this option to enable the auto attendant to answer incoming calls
when you complete the New UM Auto Attendant wizard. By default, a
new auto attendant is created as disabled.
If you decide to create the UM auto attendant as disabled, you can use the EMC action pane or the Shell to enable the auto attendant after you finish the wizard.
- Create auto attendant as
speech-enabled Select this check box to
speech-enable the UM auto attendant. By speech-enabling the auto
attendant, callers can respond to the system or custom prompts used
by the UM auto attendant using touchtone or voice inputs. By
default, the auto attendant won't be speech-enabled when it's
created.
For callers to use a speech-enabled auto attendant, you must install the appropriate Unified Messaging language pack that contains Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) support and configure the properties of the auto attendant to use this language.
- Name Use this text box to create the
display name for the UM auto attendant. A UM auto attendant name is
required and must be unique. However, it's used only for display
purposes in the EMC and the Shell.
- On the
Completion page, confirm whether the UM auto attendant was
successfully created:
- A status of Completed indicates that the wizard
completed the task successfully.
- A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't
completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an
explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration
changes.
- A status of Completed indicates that the wizard
completed the task successfully.
- Click Finish to complete the New UM Auto Attendant
wizard.
Use the Shell to create a UM auto attendant
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "UM auto attendants" entry in the Unified Messaging Permissions topic.
This example creates a UM auto attendant named
MyUMAutoAttendant
that can accept incoming calls but
isn't speech-enabled.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
New-UMAutoAttendant -Name MyUMAutoAttendant -UMDialPlan MyUMDialPlan -PilotIdentifierList 55000 -Enabled $true |
This example creates a speech-enabled UM auto attendant
named MyUMAutoAttendant
.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
New-UMAutoAttendant -Name MyUMAutoAttendant -UMDialPlan MyUMDialPlan -PilotIdentifierList 56000,56100 -SpeechEnabled $true |
For more information about syntax and parameters, see New-UMAutoAttendant.
Other Tasks
After you create an auto attendant, you may also want to: