Also, when you have 4 or 5 people with the same last name it is very difficult from an end user standpoint.
Thank goodness that the system is not installed in a part of the world where certain last names are very common (Le, Lee, Ye, Yee, Ng, Smith, Kennedy, and Yoder come to mind).
I suggest that you swap the sense of the VM dial-by-name service first and last name.
for each mailbox xyz:
1. enter the first name in the VM last name field
2. enter the last name in the VM first name field
3. record the name associated with the mailbox. Each mailbox owner can re-record the name in their own voice if they wish.
then for the VM system
3. re-record prompt #zzz (I do not have the manual handy)
original prompt
"Enter the first three or four letters of the person's LAST name. For Q press 7. For Z, press 9."
new prompt:
"Enter the first three or four letters of the person's FIRST name. For Q press 7. For Z, press 9."
Dial by name service will take over from there. After each possible match, the VM prompts with
"Extension xyz" Recorded Name "To call this person, press 1. To try the next person, press 2"
The Panasonic KX-TD also has department dialing, and operator dialing. A good arrangement of custom menus offers all options to the caller. The good news is that most people who call learn the extension they need to reach the first time dialing in, so they bypass all menus.
I hope that this helps.
Paul H. Gusciora San Rafael, CA (formerly of Massachusetts)
Massachusetts is Native American for "many Kennedys live there"
----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 09:36:50 EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: KX-T: Better Auto Attendant
We have two customers both with 2 cab TD1232-6 systems that have had TVS200 Voice Mails in use for 3 or 4 years. They both want to start using the Auto Attendant to answer incoming calls. The problem is they have 50+ mailboxes and want to allow callers to have access to an extension directory/dial by name.
We find that the TVS is very weak in this area because it requires at least 3 digits to be entered for the name and when a caller only enters 3 digits the system waits a long time before saying the available name. It seems like the system is waiting to see if the caller is going to enter a 4th digit. Also, when you have 4 or 5 people with the same last name it is very difficult from an end user standpoint. The system plays the first persons name and then asks if this is who you want, if not then it plays then next name and so on.
We are thinking about adding another product just for the Automated
Attendant and then leaving the TVS as the voice mail. A four port system should be
fine as we will set it up for blind transfers and then forward no answer to
the TVS.
Can anyone recommend a really good Automated Attendant with a strong directory feature?
Avaya now has a new feature called Directory Sub-menu Generator which automatically plays a list of all names and extension numbers as a sub-menu greeting. This appears to use the Mailbox Owners Name to automatically generate a directory list. The advantage of this is that every time a person leaves or joins the company the directory list doesn't have to be rerecorded. This would be great but with 50 or more names, I think it would take to long for the caller to hear the entire list.
What we are looking for is a product that allows the caller to only enter the 1st 2 digits of the first or last name and then if several people have the same name, for it to say those names in a list and allow the caller to choose; For Mike Jones dial 101, Sally Jones 108, Peter Jones 115... Quick and easy.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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