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by csherwood
on 23:50, 6 Mar 2012
Fonality Knowledge Base - Home > Connect > Installation > End User Installation Guide

End User Installation Guide

 

Thank you for purchasing Fonality Connect service from Fonality!  This installation guide will walk you through setting up your new IP phones as well as configuring your phone system.  The installation guide covers topics like configuring your AutoAttendant, setting up your voicemail, and setting your company Caller ID.  Our online Knowledge Base covers additional topics in great detail including many video tutorials for new users.

Setting up your phones

Please refer to the tri-fold Quick Start Guide which is included with the packaging of your phones.  This guide walks a new user through the physical installation of any IP phone sold with the Fonality Connect service.

Once your phones are properly installed, you should be able to place and receive calls to each phone.  Every Fonality Connect phone comes with a unique phone number (direct-inward-dial or DID) pre-configured by Fonality.  You can then make a test call outbound (to your cell phone for example) from each phone, and another test call inbound (from your cell) simply to check that service is functional. 

Fonality Admin Panel

The Fonality Admin Panel is the administrative interface where all configuration takes place.  From this portal you have access to every phone, phone number, your AutoAttendant, Conference Bridges (requires Enterprise or Call Center Edition), and much more. 

For users new to IP Telephony, all Moves, Adds, and Changes (MACs) are performed by the customer within this interface.  Possibly the single greatest value of the Fonality Connect service is that you don't need any background in IT to administrate your phone system!

Logging in to the Admin Panel

Access the Fonality Admin Panel at:

http://cp.fonality.com

You can modify your system settings at any time from any personal computer with access to the Internet and a web browser.  Change your company greeting from the office, your home, or on the road!

When you reach the Admin Panel login page, use the Admin Username and Admin Password emailed to you with your Fonality Connect order.

Forgot your password?

Click the Forgot your username or password? link at the bottom of the login page.

Configure your AutoAttendant

The AutoAttendant is the first interaction callers have with your phone system.  Even if you've never configured an AutoAttendant before, all of us have used them in our lifetimes.  When you call your bank, cable or telephone company, or a hospital, the first thing you hear is something like, "Thank you for calling XYZ Company, your call is very important to us..." 

Your Fonality Connect service includes an AutoAttendant that you can configure to do anything you want!  Record a message instructing your callers to press a certain key to reach the Billing Department for example, or simply ask the caller to dial an extension directly.  It's up to you.

AutoAttendant Options

Fonality Connect comes with a wide variety of options that you can mix and match to create a virtually unlimited number of Auto Attendants.

You can read the full list of options online via our Knowledge Base:
http://help.fonality.com/AutoAnswer/Call_Sequence_Options_Defined

All of the links included in this guide can be accessed in a similar fashion.  Start at the main help.fonality.com page and click the category indicated in the link to access additional help documents.

Storyboard your AutoAttendant

We recommend "storyboarding" your AutoAttendant before you actually begin configuring anything.  Consider all the destinations within your phone system.  Common questions are:

  • Do you have a Billing Department, Support Department, Sales Department or Shipping Department?  If so, you will want a keypress option from the main menu for each.
  • Do you have a general voicemail box?
  • Do you need any Queues?  (requires Call Center Edition or higher)
  • Do you need hunt groups for any reason?
  • Do you want callers to have direct access to a commonly used conference bridge?
  • Do you need a general information voice prompt providing driving directions, hours of operation, or answers to other commonly asked questions?

By answering these questions on a piece of paper ahead of time, you can begin to sketch out a proper AutoAttendant structure for your company.  By identifying the destinations within your organization, you also identify the jumping-off points from your main menu.

Setup the Main menu (aka AutoAttendant aka IVR)

  1. Click on AutoAnswer --> edit call menu
  2. There are four sections visible:  Call Sequence, Keypress Options, Add New Sequence, Add New Keypress.  Your current Main menu consists of the steps displayed under Call Sequence
  3. To add a new step to the Call Sequence:
    1. Decide where you want the new step to go within the Main menu.  Under Add New Sequence, select "After Step: X" where X is the number of the step before your new step
    2. Select the type of call sequence you wish to insert.  A list of available options and their function follows this set of instructions at the bottom
    3. Click "Apply All Changes"
  4. To remove a step from the existing call sequence:
    1. Check the box next to the step you want to remove
    2. Click "Apply All Changes"
  5. You can add as many steps as you wish to your Main call menu.  Please keep in mind that if your Main menu becomes too long, callers may become confused by all of the options and experience delays before they are actually connected to a person.  For this reason, Fonality recommends that you approach the Main menu as though it acts like the receptionist for your organization - quickly allow the caller to tell you (using Keypresses or by dialing an extension) where they wish to go within the system, and immediately route them away from the main menu into a sub-menu, queue, or directly to an extension.

Setup any submenus

Submenus function exactly like the Main menu except they are a layer under the Main menu.  Submenus can never answer an incoming call.  From the Main menu, a caller can choose a keypress or dial an extension that forwards to a submenu (more on that later), and once they enter the submenu, you can configure additional keypresses or play voice prompts - everything you can do in the Main menu.

Here's a basic example of how the Main menu --> submenu function should be implemented:

  1. Caller dials your phone number
  2. Main menu answers
  3. Caller presses option 3 to reach Support
  4. Main menu sends caller to Support submenu
  5. Support submenu asks caller to enter their account code, then sends the caller into the Support Queue

Menus in Fonality Connect are like parts of a tree.  The Main menu represents the trunk, and each branch, and smaller branch, etc. are the submenus nested under the Main menu.  The leaves of the tree might represent a voicemail box or an actual phone.  Leaves are end-points - there is no where else for the caller to go once they reach an end-point.  Using this philosophy, you can easily configure your entire phone system!

Add a submenu

  1. Click on AutoAnswer --> sub-menus
  2. Type the name of your new submenu into the field at the top (e.g. Support)
  3. Click Create New Submenu

Edit a submenu

  1. Click on AutoAnswer --> sub-menus
  2. Click on whichever sub-menu you wish to edit within the list of existing sub-menus
  3. For assistance with configuring your sub-menu, please refer to Setup the Main menu above.  All of the options presented are available for all sub-menus

Configure your voicemail

Every extension you purchase includes voicemail.  By default, voicemail is enabled for each extension with a password of 1234. 

Please refer to our Quick Feature Reference (on the back of the phone installation guide tri-fold document) for information about accessing your voicemail.

Change your voicemail PIN code

It's a good idea to change your PIN code as soon as you install your phones. 

  1. Click on Extensions
  2. Click on whichever extension you wish to edit
  3. Enter your new PIN code in the box next to Voicemail Password
  4. Click Update Extension

Setup your voicemail greetings

Every voicemail box includes the following default greetings:

Unavailable

Your unavailable greeting will be used when you phone rings for a specified period of time without being answered.  As the name implies, this greeting is meant to play when you are away from the phone.

Busy

Your busy greeting will be used whenever you are on the phone and a second call comes through to your extension.  If you choose not to answer the second call, the caller will hear your busy greeting after the default ringing period (configured by your administrator)

Vacation

Your vacation greeting supercedes both 'unvailable' and 'busy' greetings and plays for all incoming calls after the default ringing period (configured by your administrator).  The vacation greeting is intended for holidays and sick days.  Once recorded, it is automatically active for your voicemail box.  You must disable the greeting via the voicemail system in order to restore your unavailable and busy greetings.

Record a new voicemail greeting

  1. From your phone, push the 'voicemail' button
  2. Enter your PIN code (1234 by default)
  3. Press 0 for other options
  4. Follow the prompts to record your busy, unavailable, and/or vacation greeting

Voice Prompts

Voice prompts are recordings the provide callers with information automatically.  A typical example is "Thank you for calling XYZ Company..."

You can record as many voice prompts for your system as you like.  You can then use these voice prompts in your Main menu or any submenu (please see those sections above for definitions of Main menu options and how to add a voice prompt)

  1. Click AutoAnswer --> voice prompts
  2. Type a name for your new voice prompt in the first box next to File Name
  3. Give your new voice prompt a Description (optional)
  4. Type in the Extension where you are currently located
  5. Click Call me!  Fonality Connect calls you at the extension entered.  Follow the prompts played over the phone in order to record your voice prompt.

HINT: You can enter any phone number in the Extension box!  Use your cell phone, your home phone, someone else's phone - any number that can be called can be used!

Scheduler

The scheduler function allows you to create "Business Hours" and "After Hours" submenus so that callers reaching you outside your normal business hours will hear a different set of options and different voice prom

If you would like to route callers by schedules, you must create the schedule and then add it to your Main menu or any of your sub-menus.

  1. Click AutoAnswer --> scheduler
  2. Under the 'Add New Schedule' heading, type a Name for your schedule
  3. Type in a Description for your schedule.  Tyically the schedule's Name is less specific than the description, but these two fields can be the same if you wish
  4. Choose from among the following two types:
    1. Weekday - schedules where the hours of operation is the same over a period of days.  This is the most common scheduling type.  Monday - Friday work hours schedules are commonly used.
    2. Calendar - schedules where the hours specified apply only for a specific day or number of days.  These schedules are commonly used for Holidays and infrequent events such as a Company Event.  A typical Calendar schedule looks like this:  December 23 - December 26, 5 pm to 8 am.  This schedule would apply from December 23rd at 5 pm (the end of the work day) until December 26th at 8 am (the start of the work day after Christmas).  During this period of time, many companies play a Holiday greeting and indicate that the office is closed.
  5. The next section changes depending on the schedule Type.  
    1. If you choose Weekday, you will choose a Day Range.  The schedule will apply during the hours specified in the next box during each day in the range. 
    2. If you choose Calendar, you will choose a Start Time and End Time.  The schedule will apply from the hour specified on the first date in the range, and the schedule will end on the hour specified on the last date in the range.
  6. If you chose Weekday, you will see Time Range per Day.  This section is fairly straight-forward.  If you want a Monday - Friday 8 am to 5 pm schedule (a typical work week), then you would choose 8 am in the first section and 5 pm in the next.

Example: 

 Name  Description  Type  Day / Start Time  Time per Day / End Time
 Business Hours  Work Days  Weekday  Monday - Friday  8 am - 5 pm
 Christmas  Holiday  Calendar  12/23 @ 5 pm  12/26 @ 8 am

 

Add your schedule to a menu

  1. Open your Main menu or any sub-menu (AutoAnswer --> edit call menu for Main or AutoAnswer --> submenu for any other menu)
  2. In the bottom left-hand corner under Add New Step, select the number of the step BEFORE where you wish to insert the schedule
  3. Select Go to extension/submenu by schedule from the drop-down list of steps
  4. Click Apply All Changes
  5. Once the page reloads, your step is added.  From the two drop-downs listed, first select thesubmenu or extension where the call should be routed and then select the schedule that you just created (by name)
  6. Click Apply All Changes again

Time Zone

You must configure the time zone for your Fonality Connect service in order to have your schedules function properly.  If your system thinks you're in Pacific Standard Time but you're actually located in Eastern Standard Time, your schedules will function on PST and callers won't reach you during the proper hours!

  1. Click on Options --> settings
  2. Click the + sign next to Time and Country Settings
  3. From the Server Local Time drop-down, please select a city in the proper time zone
  4. Click Apply All Changes

Music-on-Hold

You can upload music files in mp3 format to use as hold music on your Fonality Connect system! 
For more information about Music-on-Hold please review the following article:
http://help.fonality.com/AutoAnswer/Music-on-hold

User Panel

Every member of your organization has access to their own User Panel.  You can login tohttp://cp.fonality.com using the Web Username and Web Password (configured within the Extension configuration page - the same area where you setup your voicemail PIN code).  Web Usernames and Passwords are created automatically when your extensions were provisioned by Fonality.  You will receive a list of these web usernames and passwords with your order.

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