Outdialing happens when:

• A call is placed to an external telephone number.
  
  
• A call is transferred to an auto attendant.
  
  
• A call is transferred to a user in your organization.
  
  
• A UM-enabled user uses the Play on Phone feature.
  
  

For outdialing to work correctly, the following settings must be configured correctly:

• Dialing rules   Dialing rules define the number that is dialed by the UM-enabled user and the number that will be dialed by the Private Branch eXchange (PBX) or IP PBX.
  
  
• Dialing rule groups   Dialing rule groups determine the types of calls that users within a dialing group can make.
  
  
• Dialing authorizations   Dialing authorizations determine the restrictions that will be applied to prevent users from incurring unnecessary telephone charges or from dialing long-distance calls.
  
  

To enable outdialing for users who call in to a dial plan or an auto attendant, you must:

• Make sure the VoIP gateways represented by a UM IP gateway that is linked with a dial plan will allow outgoing calls.
  
  
• Create dialing rule groups by creating dialing rules on the UM dial plan.
  
  
• Add dialing authorizations for in-country/region and international dialing rule groups on the UM dial plan, UM mailbox policy, or auto attendant associated with the same dial plan as the UM IP gateway.
  
  

Two types of users can use the outdialing feature in Unified Messaging: authenticated and unauthenticated. All users who call in to a UM auto attendant are unauthenticated. When users call in to an Outlook Voice Access number, they’re considered unauthenticated because they haven't provided their extension number and PIN and signed in to their mailbox. Users are authenticated after they provide their extension number and PIN and successfully sign in to their mailbox.

When users call in to an Outlook Voice Access number configured on a UM dial plan and try to place or transfer a call without signing in to their mailbox, only the UM dial plan outdialing settings are applied to the call. When anonymous or unauthenticated users call in to a UM auto attendant, both the outdialing settings configured on the auto attendant and the outdialing settings configured on the dial plan associated with the auto attendant are applied to the call.

When users call in to the Outlook Voice Access number configured on a dial plan and successfully sign in to their mailbox, they become authenticated users. When they’re authenticated, the outdialing call settings use the dialing rules and dialing authorization settings on the UM mailbox policy that’s linked to those users.

Return to top

You need to configure several settings to apply outdialing rules for your organization. In addition to configuring the UM dial plans, UM auto attendants, and UM mailbox policies that you’ve created with the correct dialing rules and dialing authorizations, you need to configure access codes, number prefixes, and number formats on the UM dial plans. The following outdialing settings are configured on dial plans, auto attendants, and UM mailbox policies:

• Outside line, country/region, and international access codes
  
  
• National number prefixes
  
  
• In-country/region and international number formats
  
  
• Configured in-country/region and international dialing rule groups
  
  
• Allowed in-country/region and international dialing rule groups
  
  
• Dialing rule entries
  
  
• Dialing authorizations
  
  

For you to successfully configure outdialing for your organization, you first need to understand how each component can be used with outdialing and how the component must be configured. The following table introduces each component that needs to be configured on UM dial plans, UM auto attendants, and UM mailbox policies before outdialing will work correctly.

Outdialing components

Return to top

A dialing rule group is a collection of one or more dialing rules configured on a UM dial plan. Two types of dialing rule groups can be configured on a UM dial plan: in-country/region and international. In-country/region dialing rule groups apply to telephone numbers dialed within the same country or region. International dialing rule groups apply to international telephone numbers dialed from one country or region to another country or region.

Each UM dial plan can contain one or more dialing rule groups. To apply a dialing rule group to a set of users, after you create the dialing rule group, you must add it to the list of allowed dialing rule groups on the UM dial plan and on the UM auto attendants and UM mailbox policies associated with the UM dial plan.

Dialing rule groups enable you to specify dialing rules that you want to apply to a group of UM-enabled users who fall into a specific category. For example, you can use dialing rule groups to specify which group of users can place international calls and which group can make only in-state or local calls. You can create a dialing rule group using the Exchange Administration Center (EAC) or the Set-UMDialPlan cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell. When you create a dialing rule group, you must define at least one dialing rule for the group.

When a user dials a telephone number, UM takes the number and looks for a match in the dialing rules. If a match is found, UM uses the dialing rule to determine the number to dial by looking at the telephone number or digits listed in the Dialed Number section of the dialing rule. The number listed in the Dialed Number box of the dialing rule will be dialed.

The following table shows an example of dialing rule groups and dialing rules. In this example, Local-Calls-Only and Low-Rate are the dialing rule groups that have been created. The dialing rule group Local-Calls-Only has two dialing rules: 91425* and 91206*, and the dialing rule group Low-Rate also has two dialing rules: 91509* and 91360*.

Dialing rule groups and dialing rules

For example, when a user dials 9-1-425-555-1234, UM dials 4255551234. UM removes any nonnumeric characters (in this example, the hyphens) and applies the number mask from the dialing rule. In this example, UM applies the number mask 91*. This tells UM not to dial the 9 or the 1, but to dial all the other numbers in the telephone number that appear to the right of the number 1. This includes all the numbers represented by the asterisk (*).

You can use the EAC or the Shell to create and configure single or multiple in-country/region and international dialing rule groups and dialing rules. However, if you're creating many or complex dialing rule groups and dialing rules, you can use a comma-separated value (.csv) file in the Shell. You can import or export a list of dialing rule groups and dialing rules.

To import a list of dialing rule groups and dialing rules that you've defined in a .csv file, run the Set-UMDialPlan cmdlet, as follows.

	Copy Code
Set-UMDialPlan "MyUMDialPlan" -ConfiguredInCountryOrRegionGroups $(IMPORT-CSV c:\dialrules\InCountryRegion.csv)

To retrieve a list of the dialing rule groups configured on a UM dial plan, run the Get-UMDialPlan cmdlet, as follows.

	Copy Code
(Get-UMDialPlan -id "MyUMDialPlan").ConfiguredInCountryOrRegionGroups | EXPORT-CSV C:\incountryorregion.csv

The .csv file must be created and saved in the correct format. Each line in the .csv file represents one dialing rule. However, each dialing rule is configured on the same dialing rule group. Each rule in the file will have four sections separated by commas. These sections are name, number mask, dialed number, and comment. Each section is required, and you must enter the correct information in each section except for the comment section. There should be no spaces between the text entry and the comma for the next section, nor should there be any blank lines between the rules or at the end. The following is an example of a .csv file that can be used to create in-country/region dialing rule groups and dialing rules.

Name,NumberMask,DialedNumber,Comment

Low-rate,91425xxxxxxx,9xxxxxxx,Local call

Low-rate,9425xxxxxxx,9xxxxxxx,Local call

Low-rate,9xxxxxxx,9xxxxxxx,Local call

Any,91*,91*,Open access to in-country/region numbers

Long-distance,91408*,91408*,long distance

The following is an example of a .csv file that can be used to create international dialing rule groups and dialing rule entries.

Name,NumberMask,DialedNumber,Comment

International, 901144*, 901144*, international call

International, 901133*, 901133*, international call

Return to top

Dialing rule groups are created on a UM dial plan. You can create in-country/region or international dialing rule groups using the EAC or the Set-UMDialPlan cmdlet in the Shell. After you create the appropriate dialing rule groups on a UM dial plan and define the dialing rules, you can apply the dialing rule groups that you created to a UM dial plan, a UM auto attendant, or to users who are associated with a UM mailbox policy, and authorize outdialing depending on how the user accesses the voice mail system.

You can apply the dialing rule groups that you created on a UM dial plan to the following:

• Same dial plan   The settings will apply to all users who call in to an Outlook Voice Access number but don't sign in to their mailbox. To apply an in-country/region dialing rule group named MyAllowedDialRuleGroup to the same dial plan, use the Shell Set-UMDialPlan cmdlet, as follows.
  
  

  	Copy Code
  Set-UMDialPlan -Identity MyUMDialPlan -AllowedInCountryOrRegionGroups MyAllowedDialRuleGroup

• Single or multiple UM mailbox policies   The settings that are configured on a UM mailbox policy will apply to all users who are linked with that UM mailbox policy. The settings configured on a UM mailbox policy apply to users who call in to an Outlook Voice Access number and sign in to their mailbox. To apply an in-country/region dialing rule group named MyAllowedDialRuleGroup to a single UM mailbox policy, use the Dialing authorization page on the UM mailbox policy in the EAC or use the Set-UMMailboxPolicy cmdlet in the Shell, as follows.
  
  

  	Copy Code
  Set-UMMailboxPolicy -Identity MyUMMailboxPolicy -AllowedInCountryOrRegionGroups MyAllowedDialRuleGroup

• Single or multiple auto attendants associated with the UM dial plan   This will apply to all users who call in to a UM auto attendant. To apply the in-country/region dialing rule group named MyAllowedDialRuleGroup to a single UM auto attendant, use the Dialing authorization page on the auto attendant in the EAC or the Set-UMAutoAttendant cmdlet in the Shell, as follows.
  
  

  	Copy Code
  Set-UMAutoAttendant -Identity MyUMAutoAttendant -AllowedInCountryOrRegionGroups MyAllowedDialRuleGroup

The following table summarizes the way that dialing rule groups are applied in Unified Messaging.

Applying outdialing rules

Return to top

The outdialing process happens when:

• Unified Messaging places a call to an external telephone number for a caller.
  
  
• Unified Messaging transfers a call to an auto attendant.
  
  
• Unified Messaging transfers a call to a user in your organization.
  
  
• A UM-enabled user uses the Play on Phone feature.
  
  

In each outdialing scenario, UM will apply the dialing rules that have been configured, and then place the call for the user. However, depending on the scenario and how the call is initiated by the user, UM may apply only some of the dialing rules to the telephone number being dialed. In other outdialing scenarios, UM may apply all the outdialing rules configured to the telephone number being dialed.

Return to top