Appendix c: PBX Integration
When connecting your voicemail system to an existing PBX system, there are two situations you may encounter.
1. If your PBX system emits touch-tone signals, see the "Inband Signaling" section below.
Inband Signaling
Your voicemail software is designed to work with a wide variety of PBX systems and configurations. In order for your software to communicate with your particular PBX you will need to enter the appropriate PBX rules in the PBX.TXT file, which is located in the \STPLUS directory. Each PBX system will emit different touch-tone information when your voicemail system answers a call. This touch-tone information will vary depending upon the type of call coming in from the PBX. If you do not know what touch-tone information is being sent by your particular PBX system, you can see the digits received by your voicemail system by opening the Display Activity screen. And, if you have "Log Messages" checked and DTMF checked under Display Options for a given line, the information received by your voicemail software will be stored in the trace log file for the line.
After you have entered the correct PBX rules in the PBX.TXT file, you will need to set up your voicemail software to acknowledge the new PBX integration information. This is done using the PBX integration setting, which is found within the Switch command, which is under the MAINTAIN menu. From within the Switch window click on the Technical Information button. Select on the PBX Integration option, and then select your PBX system type from the drop-down menu
of choices.
Many PBX systems send their information very shortly after the call is answered. To make sure that you are capturing all the information sent, decrease the Off Hook Delay parameter (under MAINTAIN, Switch, Global Technical Info) from 500 to 100 (ms). Also, in each individual line screen (under MAINTAIN, Switch, click on each line, then Technical Information), set the initial pause to 10. You now need to exit your voicemail application and restart it for these changes to take effect. This should allow a large enough "window" of time for your system to receive all the touch-tone digits sent by your PBX.
Once you have the correct information entered into your PBX.TXT file and all your calls are going to the correct destination, you may lower the initial pause until you reach a setting where your system does not capture all of the PBX digits being sent. You should then set the initial pause up to the lowest setting that will allow all of the PBX information to be captured (we suggest that you do not use a setting lower than 1 or 2).
To verify that your system is now capturing all of the PBX information, go into the Display Activity window for each line and make sure that "Log Messages" is checked. Also be sure that DTMF is checked under Display Options for each line. Now call in to your system from various locations. You will be able to go into the \STPLUS\LOG directory and look at the trace log file for each line using the DOS Edit command. Within these log files you should see the specific information that was captured from the PBX.
In the PBX.TXT file you will need to enter the exact information coming from the PBX, and the destination box for incoming calls based upon this information. Be sure to set up the PBX rules in the PBX.TXT file in the following format:
:name of phone system
<inband>
received digits = new digits
Within this format you will want to use variables so that you don't have to enter a different line of code for each extension. For example, if the PBX sends "##00#567#" and you want that call to go to the greeting for box 567, you would most likely want "##00#568#" to go to the greeting for box 568, etc.
The PBX will be sending information based upon extension numbers. Your voice system will only be aware of Mail Box numbers. To complete the above example, you can direct calls to extension 567 to Mail Box 567, and calls to extension 568 to Mail Box 568, etc. by using a line of code similar to the following, which contains variables in place of extension and Mail Box numbers:
##00#abc# = abc
If the Mail Boxes are set to perform a call transfer and you want calls to bypass the transfer, you could enter:
##00#abc# = abc* (where * is set as the transfer bypass digit)
In order for the information passed from the PBX to work correctly with your Mail Boxes, you need to be sure that the initial Access Box for each line has been set up with the correct key information to route calls to each Mail Box. For example, in the above example you would need to have key 567 going to Mail Box 567, and key 568 going to Mail Box 568. You would also need to have * set up as the transfer bypass digit under Per Line Transfer Information, and you need to set the Maximum Digits set to 4 in the Access Box Tweaks (to accept the 3-digit Mail Box number plus the *).
Note: When using this type of inband signaling, you MUST have each extension number the same as the Mail Box number.
If you encounter any difficulties routing calls based upon the rules you have set up in your PBX.TXT file (for example, if the program responds with "that is not a valid entry"), it is possible that the information being sent by the PBX is different than what you have indicated in your PBX.TXT file. To recheck the information being sent by your PBX, perform the same call sequence again and then look at the information captured in the trace log file.
You will most likely want calls coming in from outside trunk lines to go directly to your initial greeting Access Box. To accomplish this you can add a line similar to the following:
##ab### = 10
When going through a PBX you will need this line even if you have Access Box 10 set as your initial greeting. The touch-tone information from the PBX will come down the line as soon as the phone goes off-hook, even before your greeting is played.
If you feel that you have entered the information in the PBX.TXT file correctly, but are still hearing the error message "you have entered an invalid entry", try entering the digits yourself into the initial Access Box. Perhaps a particular Mail Box has not yet been set up, or the key information within the Access Box is not yet defined or is not set up correctly.
The PBX.TXT File
The PBX.TXT file is located in the c:\STPLUS directory and contains information and parameters used by your voicemail software for PBX integration. You will enter the information required by your phone system for your particular application and routing needs.
Here is an example of how your file might look:
:Miscellaneous
:AT&T System 25
<inband>
#AB###=5
#ab#cde#fgi#=fgi
#ab##cde#=cde
#A#B##=20
##99#A#B##=20
#99#A#B#C#=C*
#A#B#C#=C*
#A#B#C##=C*
##99#A#B#C#=C*
##99#A#B#C##=C*
<termtones>
frequency=480,620 @ 10% on=250@ 10% off=250@ 10% reps=4
:TIE
<inband>
***1A=#
***2ABCDEF=DEF*
***3ABCDEF=DEF*
***4ABCDEF=DEF*
***5ABCDEF=DEF*
***6ABC=#
<termtones>
frequency=480,620 @ 10% on=250@ 10% off=250@ 10% reps=4