User Features

Call Park:

• Call Park configuration is done on a CUCM, not per cluster.

• Feature works within a CUCM cluster.

• CUCM can park only 1 call at each call park extension number.

• A single DN or a range of DN’S can  be defined for use as  call park extension number.

• Upto 100 call park numbers can be provisioned per CUCM cluster.

• Call Park feature can also be used across CUCM clusters.

 

Directed Call Park:

• Directed Call Park number exists cluster wide
• Phones that support the directed call park BLF can be configured to monitor the Busy.Idle status of specific directed call park numbers.
• Users can also use the BLF to speed dial a directed call park number.
• Directed call park feature enables users to point the call to a number they use, whereas call park automatically assigns a DN.
• CUCM can park only 1 call at each directed call park number
• To retrieve a parked call, a user must dial a configured retrieval prefix followed by the directed call park number at which the call is parked
• If a call is not retrieved before expiration of the call park reversion timer configured in the service parameter, the call reverts to the configured reversion number.
• Any phone that can perform a transfer can use directed call park

 

 

Call Pickup:

Enables a group of users who are seated near each other to cover incoming calls as a group.

Types of Call Pickup:

1.  Call Pickup: Enables Users to Pickup incoming calls on any telephone within their own group. When the Pickup softkey is pressed, CUCM automatically dials the appropriate call-pickup number associated with the dn and since the other phone is in the same pickup group, the incoming call will be redirected to the phone that clicked the Pickup softkey.

2. Group Call Pickup: Enables users to pickup incoming calls destined to DN’s on different pickup groups. When GPickup softkey is pressed, the appropriate group number for the destination call-pickup group needs to be entered and then press the Answer softkey.

3. Other Call Pickup or Pickup Chaining: Enables users to pickup incoming calls in a group that is associated with their own group.

 

 

Hold Reversion:

When a call is put on hold with the Hold softkey and the duration exceeds the hold-reversion timeout limit, CUCM generates alerts to the phone to remind the user to handle the call.

The types of alerts that are generated at he phone for reverted calls depend on the capabilities of the phone device and the firmware release that is installed.

Hold Reversion Duration Timer: Wait time before a reverted call alert gets issued to the phone of the holding party.

Hold Reversion Notification Interval Timer: Frequency of the periodic remainder alerts to the holding party phone.

 

Can be configured at:

1. Cluster-wide: Under Service parameters

2. Directory number configuration window

DN Configuration for Hold Reversion > Cluster-wide configuration

 

Call Focus Priority: Specifies whether an incoming call or reverted call has priority. Incoming calls have priority by default.  Configured at the device pool level, which is then assigned to a phone in CUCM Administrator.

 

Best Practices:

• Do not configure call park and directed call park simultaneously. If both features are enabled, ensure that the call park and directed call park numbers do not overlap.
• Call Pickup, group call pickup and other group call pickup can be automated by enabling the service parameter “Auto Call Pickup Enabled”. When this parameter is enabled, CUCM automatically connects users to he incoming call in their own pickup group, in another pickup group or a pickup group that is associated wuth their own group after the users press the appropriate softkey on the phone. This action requires only one key stroke.
• Access to call pickup group can be restricted by assigning a partition to call-pickup group numbers. Therefore, only the phones that have a CSS that includes the partition with the call pickup group number can participate in that call-pickup group. Make sure that the combination of partition and group number is unique throughout the system.

Call Coverage

Call Coverage Features:

1. Call Forwarding:

Call Forward All:  Can be configured from user web page or from the phone

Primary and Secondary CFA can be configured. They get concatenated like device and line CSS.

Call Forward No Answer: Can be configured by the administrator from the CUCM Administration or from the user web page

Call Forward Busy:  Can be configured by the administrator from the CUCM Administration or from the user web page

2. Shared Lines

3. Call Pickup:  PickUp, GPickUp softkeys used

4. Call Hunting:  Based on a pilot number. the pilot number can be called directly or can be assigned as call forwarding target form an IP Phone that allows hunting through multiple line groups

Hunt Pilot –> Hunt List –> Line Group 1 –>Phone Dn1 or Voicemail , Phone Dn 2 or Voicemail

Line Group 2 –>Phone Dn 1 or Voicemail, Phone Dn 2 or Voicemail

Reasons for Hunt failure:

• Hunting options exhausted and the call is not answered
• Max Hunt timer has expired

Calls can be redirected to final destination when hunting fails. Destination of the redirect can be following:

• Specific destination at the hunt pilot in “Hunt Forward” settings
• A personal preference (Call Forward No Coverage Internal/External  settings at the phone line) , configured at the DN of the originaly called number.

When the “Use Personal Preferences” check box is checked, CUCM ignores the settings in the destination and CSS fields of the “Hunt Forward” settings in the Hunt Pilot configuration

Call Hunting Options:

1. Try next member, Then, Try next group in hunt list

2. Try next member, but Do not go to next group

3. Skip remaining members, and Go directly to next group

4. Stop Hunting

Call Hunting Distribution Algorithms:

1. Top down: CUCM distributes calls to the first idle or available members at the top of the line group to the last idle or available member (bottom of the list). An important distinction in this model is that every new call attempts to use the first first member.

2. Circular: CUCM distributes calls to idle or available members starting from the first member of  the line group.

3. Longest Idle Time: Only members of the Idle call state are considered by this distribution algorithm. Available and busy call states do not receive calls. A phone in the available call state is servicing  call but can manage a second call.

4. Broadcast: CUCM distributes calls to all idle or available members of a line group simultaneously.

Best Practices:

• Configure seperate CSS for each call-forward type
• For CFA and CFB,  different CSS can be set for internal (on-net) calls and for external (off-net) calls.
• A phone line can be assigned to only 1 pickup group
• Use a naming nomenclature that is brief and descriptive of the line group usage in the environment.

Note:

• CF_CSS >  Line CSS > Device CSS
• While hunting, the forwarding configuration of the line group members is not used and the hunting continues based on the algorithm.
• Call Routing Database: Hunt Pilot, Route Patterns, Translation Patterns,  DN’s
• The hunt pilot can distribute calls to any of its line group members, regardless of the partitions of the line group member. Class of service is not implemented in the call coverage paradigm.
• CTI ports and CTI route points cannot be added to a line group.  Therefore, calls cannot be distributed to endpoints controlled through CTI applications such as CRS (Cisco Customer Response Solution), IVR (Cisco Unified IP Interactive Voice Response), etc
• The DN’s that will become the members of the line group must already exist in the database befor you can complete the call-hunting configuration.
• CSS:   ER, TOD, Internal, LD, International, CF (CFNA_CSS_Internal, CFB_CSS_Internal, CFNA_CSS_External, CFB_CSS_External)

Calling Privileges

Usage:

• Implement special applications such as Tail-End Hop Off (TEHO):  Allows organizations to save PSTN toll charges by routing long-distance and international calls across the pricate IP WAN network before hopping off at the destination site GW tp route a local PSTN call.
• Time-of-Day routing application, where calls should take different paths depending on the time when the call is placed.

Elements: Partition, CSS, Time Period, Time Schedules, CMC, FAC

COS Usage:(Internal, Local,Long Distance,International)

Used to control telephony charges by blocking costly service calls

Used to protect privacy of some users e.g: executive managers)

Partition:Group of dialable patterns with similar reachability characteristics

• All phones are in null partition by default
• Assigned to call-routing targets: VMPorts, DN, CTI Ports, call-park ranges, RP, TP, meet-me conf num, any entry of call-routing table
• While assigning partitions to the CSS, the top of the list is the highest priority. The emergency partition should normally be at the top of the list

CSS: Defines which partitions are accessible to a particular device.

• Assigned to devices which are source of a call-routing request: phones, phone lines, gateways, trunks, VMPorts,VM Pilot, TP, CTI Route Point  and CTI ports
• Entries in CSS specifies the entries in the call-routing  table that the line/device/pattern/port is allowed to see for the call-routing request
• IP Phones have line and device CSS. Whereas, other call-routing sources such as gateways, trunks, VMPorts,TP  and CTI ports have only device css.
• For IP Phones, Line CSS has higher priority than device CSS in the call-processing logic
• For CTI ports, the partitions of the Device CSS is processed before the partitions of the line CSS
• Calls routed through Trunks(SIP Trunks, intercluster trunks) and gateways take on the CSS applied at the device
• All the partitions are immediately considered for best-match logic. The partition order in a calling search space is used exclusively as a tie-breaker in case of equal matches based on the closest-match logic.

Best Practices:

• In a  multisite environment with PSTN GW’s at each site, PSTN RP should always be routed to the local PSTN GW; hence the same route patterns have to exist multiple times(once per site) and only site-specific route patterns should be accessible by devices located at this site.
• Route emergency calls through a local GW in multisite centralized deployments
• In a multicluster distributed call-processing environment, it is not advised to allow emergency call routing across trunk links. Need to locally route emergency calls to local PSAP. It is a common practice to restrict the emergrncy call routing in the CSS applied to trunks.

Digit Manipulation

Objectives:

• Provide transparent dialing
• Creating a Unified Dialing Plan for end users

Usage:

• Change calling-party number for caller-id purposes on outgoing PSTN calls (Manipulate called-party and calling-party numbers when routing a call to the PSTN)

• Strip PSTN access codes before extending calls to the PSTN (8 or 9)

• Expanding or Modifying abbreviated dialing options

• Calls from PSTN  to internal numbers need conversion to internal dial plan(4 or 5 digits)

Operation and Configuration Options:

Call Type                                                  Requirement                                                                                           Method

Internal to Internal                               Expand Abbreviated number                                                 Use called-party transformation in the translation pattern

Internal to PSTN                                  Expand calling-party DN to full E.164                                   Use Calling party External Ph.num mask

The calling-party transformation in RP or RL provides additional manipulation

Internal to PSTN                                             Strip PSTN access code                                                     Use digit stripping in the RP or RL

PSTN to Internal                              Convert E164 called-party DN to internal num                    Use called-party transformation in the translation pattern, or use significant digits

Manipulate caller-id if inoming PSTN to allow quick return call         Use calling-party transformation in the translation pattern

Internal to Internal /              Expand end-pt DN to accommodate overlapping dial-plan      Use called-party transformation in the translation pattern

PSTN or Internal

External Phone Number Mask Usage:

• Change the display of the main ph.num at the top of the LCD screen so that the user can instantly identify the PSTN DID number
• Auto.mated Alternate Routing (AAR) technology uses to manipulated digits for the PSTN outbound dialing when BW is not available for a guarantee-quality call over h WAN. The AAR call will be rerouted out the PSTN using the full ph.num of the dest as detrmined by the application of the ext ph.num mask
• Change the display of the caller-id for off-net calls

Configuration:     In DN page

Calling party transformation section in RP that will be used to route calls to the PSTN includes a check-box to use “calling-party’s external ph.num mask”

Digit Prefix and Stripping:

• Can be applied to calling or called party

• Configured under corresponding RP, RL and translation-pattern
• Digit Discard Instructions (DDI), is configured under called-party transformation under RP
• For the PreDot delimiter to work the RP has to include a period(.) delimiter
• PreDot and NoDigits DDI’s  are the only DDI’s that can be used if the pattern does not contain the @ sign
• Trailing # is automatically removd by CUCM. This parameter can be turned off by changing the “strip # sign from the Called Party Numbe”r CM service parameter to False

When 10-10 Dialing DDI is applied to 9.@ RP, the access code 9 is stripped from the dialed number (e.g: 91010288 1 214 555-1212), removes the carrier selection (1010) and carrier identification code 288 is removed, and then send the 11 digit long-distance ph.num 1 214 555-1212 to the gateway device

If 10-10 dialing is used for outbound calls, for example 91010288 1 214 555-1212, the long distance call will be billed by the preferred carrier to the company. Most companies contract minimum guarantees with the long-distance provider of their choice.

Transformation Mask:

• Caller-ID = Presentation of Calling party name and number

• ANI (Automatic Number Identification) = Calling number

• Configured at RP, RL and Translation patterns

• The calling and called party transformation settings that are assigned to RG in a RL override the corresponding transformation settings that are assigned to a RP

• RP transformations apply only when a RP is pointed directly to a GW

Translation Pattern:

• Can be used to manipulate digits and also block certain patterns
• Used frequently in cross-geographical distributed systems, where, for instance, the office codes are not the same at all locations
• Used for Security desks and Operator desks for abbreviated dialing
• Used for Hotlines with a need for PLAR functionality (security phones in elevtors or on a college campus)
• Used for Extension numbers from public to private networks
• Used when the DID range from the central office does not match the internal DN range. TP can map the PSTN num to the internal DNs
• To prevent call-routing loops, CUCM passes digits through translation patterns for only 10 iterations
• Translation Patterns exists only to manipulate digits
• TP are processed as urgent priority by default, and the urgent priority check box cannot be removed from the TP
• An overlapping dial-plan involving a TP could result in call-routing issues
• The calls to an unidentified extension can be routed to the company operator by configuring an additional translation pattern of XXXX with the called-party transformation mask of the operator DN
  

Significant Digits:

• Configured in GW or Trunk under the Incoming call section

• This parameter affects all calls received by the GW or trunk

• Therefore, use it when there is uniform-length extensions in the internal network

• Instructs CUCM to analyze the configured number of least significant digits of the called number for incoming calls received by gateway or trunk

• Easiest approach to convert incoming PSTN called number, to an internal extension in a uniform-length extension in the internal ntw

• Performs only one call-routing table lookup

• More processor friendly alternative than translation pattern, but this approach  will not allow the same flexibility as TP

Pointers:

• No number on the PSTN in North America begin with a 9 except for 911 for emergency call routing
• The primary difference between a translation pattern and  route pattern is that translation patterns do not have a final call-routing destination (RL, GW, or Trunk)

CUCM Path Selection

Elements:

Route List

Route Group

Route Filter

Distribution algorithms

Call Classification

• The route list and route group elements provide the greatest level of flexibility for call routing and digit manipulation

• For resilency purposes, multiple paths are configured for the route pattern(strings of digits and wildcards configured in CUCM)

• Route patterns can point directly to a trunk or gateway, but the device would not be available for any other route patterns and there cannot be a redundancy if the device is not available or is out of resources

• Call routing logic consists of route patterns, route lists, route groups and devices. The processing order is top down from route pattern down to devices but the configuration order is bottom up

• Call processing logic must be built from bottom up

• There are generally 2 route groups within a route list. The first route group is an IP WAN route group distributing calls over a trunk between clusters.If a 4 or 5 digit dialing is used internally and between sites, no digit manipulation is needed at the IP WAN route group level.  If the call is rejected or cannot be setup using a trunk of the H.323 Gatekeeper or the IP WAN is down, the call is routed over the PSTN. The PSTN will not route calls as 4-digit or 5-digit dialing. It will need to prefix the necessary number of digits to properly route the call to a 4 or 5 digit extension. Alternatively, most providers customize the number of dialed digits forwarded from the PSTN to the company’s dial plan requirements

• Route Filters can be used only with the @ route pattern to match certain elements or special numbers of a numbering plan

Distribution algorithms used in route groups:

• Circular: Used for load sharing resources (is a viable solution when there are 2 GW’s configured under the same RG and gateways are pointed to different service providers having same negotiated rates)

• Top-Down : Used to prioritize GW usage within a RG (is a viable solution when there are 2 GW’s configured under the same RG and gateways are pointed to different service providers having different  negotiated rates)

Best Practices:

• Point a route pattern to a route list logical entity

• Always put the devices having identical digit-manipulation requirements into same route group because digit manipulation can be configured only once per route group during the route list configuration
• Use a naming nomenclature that includes the configuration item’s functionality (give a descriptive name)
• For large scale deployments, use explicit route patterns rather than @ wildcard and route filters. This practice also facilitates management and troubleshooting because all patterns configured in CUCM are easily visible from the Route Pattern configuration page

Route Pattern Level Check boxes for Call Classification:

Provide Outside dial Tone

Allow Device Override parameter

Translation Pattern Level Check boxes for Call Classification:

Provide Outside dial Tone

Urgent Priority

Toll Fraud prevention features:

Block off-net to off-net transfers

Drop conferences when no on-net party remains

SIP Dial Rules

SIP Phones:

TypeA:

• 7905, 7912,7940, 7960
• Do not support KPML
• Do support SIP dial rules (SIP dial rules are configured in CUCM and downloaded to IP phone at boot time)

TypeB:

• 7911,7941,7961,7970,7971
• Do support KPML
• Do support SIP dial rules

Type A SIP Phone: No Dial Rules

• Type A phones with no dial rules do not deliver a dial tone to the calling party when the calling party goes off-hook with a headset, speaker phone or handset

• All digits are sent after the user completes dialing and clicks the Dial softkey in SIP INVITE message to CUCM for digit analysis (enbloc)

Type A SIP Phones: Dial Rules

• Emulate the functionality of SCCP phones

• When a user goes off-hook, dial tone is played by the phone

• Digits are processed against local SIP dial rule and decided if the call can be permitted. Then, the digits are sent enbloc to CUCM using SIP INVITE without the need t0 press the Dial key
• If a dialed pattern does not match a SIP Dial Rule, the user can press the Dial key or wait for inter-digit timeout

• If a particular pattern is recognized by the phone but blocked in the dial rule, the call is immediately ended. The user will not receive a reorder tone, but the session will be ended.

Type B SIP Phones: No Dial Rules

• Emulates similar end user experience to that of phones running SCCP using KPML messages  to report user activities to CUCM

• SIP NOTIFY message is used to send every KPML event(user input key pressed) to the CUCM

• CUCM then performs digit-by-digit analysis to recognize partial patterns as the user dials them

• Therefore, once the route pattern match is found by CUCM, CUCM provides a call progress indication (either a ringback tone or reorder tone) after dialing the last digit, without having to press the Dial softkey

Type B SIP Phones: Dial Rules

• Digits are processed against local SIP dial rule and decided if the call can be permitted. Then, the digits are sent enbloc to CUCM using SIP INVITE without the need t0 press the Dial key

• If a dialed pattern does not match a SIP Dial Rule, the user has to wait for inter-digit timeout before the SIP NOTIFY message is sent to CUCM. Users do not need Dial softkey clicked to indicate the end of dialing

• But, when on-hook dialing is used, users can click Dial soft key at any time to trigger sending of all dialed digits to CUCM in one SIP INVITE message

• If a particular pattern is permitted by the phone but blocked by CUCM, the user must dial the entire dial string before receiving an indication that the call is rejected by the system

SIP Dial Rules Advantages:

• Network BW is conserved as the number of signaling message exchanged btw IP Phones and CUCM across the network is reduced (Unlike SCCP Phones)

• Less CUCM processor and memory overhead (Unlike SCCP Phones)
• Provides processing and signaling benefits

SIP Dial Rules Disadvantages:

• Loss of reorder tone for pattern rejection in Type A SIP IP Phones
  

Pointers:

• SIP devices support enbloc dialing by default

• SCCP phones support digit by digit addressing method

• Trunks and ISDN PRI’s send their digits enbloc by default but they can both be configured for overlap sending and receiving, allowing digits to be sent one by one over an ISDN PRI
• KPML is a Cisco standard
• Type A phones use Enbloc and SIP Dial Rules methods of addressing
• Type B phones use KPML and SIP Dial Rules methods
• Unlike Type A IP Phones, Type B IP Phones do not need the Dial softkey at any time to trigger  the sending of all dialed digits to CUCM in one SIP INVITE message/to indicate the end user input
• Dial rules should be configured more restrictive than calling restrictions applied at the CUCM call-processing layer

Digit Analysis

Elements:

Route Pattern

Translation Pattern

When an endpoint goes off-hook, CUCM begins the digit analysis process. Every number in the call routing database is an initial match unless the phone is configured as PLAR

Digit collection is stopped as soon as an entry in the call routing table is matched in its full length and no other (longer) potential matches exist.

PLAR is used on a dn to automatically dial a destination and requires a configuration of CSS

Methods of Forwarding Digits: Determines how digit analysis will match on a route pattern when there is an overlapping dial plan

SCCP phones  and Analog Interfaces (FXO, FXS) send digits one by one as they are dialed

H.323 and ISDN send their digits in one Q.931 setup message (enbloc) by default

SIP phones use enbloc dialing in one SIP INVITE message by default.

SIP dial rules allow SIP phones to emulate the functionality of a SCCP phone.

Device              Signaling Protocol      Addressing Mode

IP Phone                SCCP                                       Digit by Digit

IP Phone                 SIP                                                  Enbloc

KPML (IETF SIP standard-based extension tht cisco supports) Allows diigits to be sent one by one.

SIP Dial Rules (these are downloaded to the phones and processed inside a SIP phone).

Can detect invalid numbers and play a reorder tone without sending any signaling messages to CUCM.

Gateway   MGCP/SIP/H.323                     Enbloc

Overlap sending and receiving (ISDN PRI only)

Trunk             H.323/SIP                                Enbloc

Overlap sending and receiving (ISDN PRI only)

North American PSTN Dial Plan:

Route Pattern                                             Description

911                                                                  Emergency Call Routing without access code

9.911                                                              Emergency call routing with access code

9.[2-8]11                                                     3-digit service codes (eg; 411 for information)

9.[2-9]XX XXXX                                      7-digit local dialing

9.[2-9]XX [2-9] XXXX                           10-digit local dialing

9.1[2-9]XX [2-9]XX XXXX                   11-digit long distance dialing

9.011!                                                           International dialing (variable-length dialing)

9.011!#                                                       International dialing (variable-length dialing with inter digit termination)

Call Routing

• Call Routing Destinations: DN’s,  CTI ports

Translation Pattern(translates called-party number)

Route Patterns (Used to route calls to remote destinations: PSTN, remote CUCM Cluster, etc)

Hunt Pilot (Used to distribute calls)

Call-park numbers  (Holds a call on a number to be retrieved on any other phone in the network)

Meet-me numbers (Conference call controller to set up a conference call to multiple parties)

• CUCM can by default route calls to internal destination

• PSTN Calls:     Need Route patterns on CUCM that point to external destination (9.!)

Route Pattern will be steered through various gateways and trunks to reach the PSTN, remote clusters and traditional PBX’s.

9.011!   — International Calls

.  — Terminates Access Code, delimiter for digit stripping rules

# — Terminates Interdigit timeout (Default is 15 seconds)

X — Matches any number including * and #

!  – Matches infinite number of dialed digits

• Methods to reduce Inter digit Delay:

Reduce T.302  timer service parameter. Set the value to 4 or 5sec as best practice to prevent premature transmission of the call before the user is finished dialing

Configure a 9.011!#  route pattern in addition to 9.011! pattern (Users need to dial # at the end of the international calls

The alleviate the  post dial delay for any route pattern, configure a second route pattern ending with #

To force immediate routing of certain calls as soon as a match is detected, without waiting for additional digits or the T302 timer to expire set the “Urgernt Priority” check box on the route pattern configuration

Translation Patterns always have “Urgent Priority” enabled by default and the call is translated as soon as the digits match.

• Pointers:

Do not set the “Urgent Priority”  for 9.911 route pattern

If “Urgent Priority” and “Enbloc dialing” are both enabled, then urgent pattern is not considered. The routing analysis and decision will be done only after collecting the entire string of digits.

CUCM routes all calls that include ! when T302 inter digit timeout expires

CUCM does not implicity know how to process the inter digit timeout unless its put into a route pattern

If the pound is not in the route pattern, the user cannot dial this digit unless PreDot IntlAccess IntlDirectDial DDI (Digit Discard Instructions)  is used

Analogy:

Route patterns = Static routes on router

Call Routing Components

Endpoint Addressing Considerations

• DN’s to all endpoints and applications
• # of dialable extensions determines  quantity of digits needed to dial extensions
• Large organizations prefer 5 digit dial plan
• On-net, Off-net, Abbreviated dialing
• Uniform On-Net dial plan should be used for ease of usage.

On-Net Dialing: Calls go over IP WAN.

May involve multiple CUCM clusters

No Toll charges incurred on the call

May involve CUCME on the second site

Off-Net Dialing: Calls routed across GW or Trunks to the PSTN

Prepend 9  to dial off-net calls

No IP WAN

Abbreviated Dialing: Off-net destination is dialed by a internal number.

CUCM will map the abbreviated number to the full PSTN number.

0 – Operator

8 or 9 – access code to dial PSTN  numbers

Challenges faced by Large Enterprises:

• Number of Extensions > Affordable number of digits for extensions
• DID range should not conflict with existing on-net abbreviated dial ranges.(Solution: Increase the number of digits for On-Net dialing )
• 0 or 9 are reserved for offnet access codes or operator dialing. Therefore, avoid DID range whose last 5 digits start with 9 or increase the abbreviated dialing to 6 or more
• It is prudent to restrict users from dialing destinations that incur high costs such as 1-900 numbers