[asterisk-users] how to realize chief - secretary (or Manager - Assistant) setup with Asterisk?

[Anselm Martin Hoffmeister]

Am Mittwoch, den 10.01.2007, 16:37 +0100 schrieb Michael Hamann:
> Hello,
> 
> we are running a Asterisk (1.2) installation with about 80 snom phones
> (300,320,360).
> 
> Now have the demand for a special manager - assistant setup for a few
> extensions.
> 
> Since Shared Line Appearance is not available in 1.2 I´m wondering how
> to realize this...
> 
> What we need is that the manager can decide whether he wants to get
> calls or not. If not he must have the possibility to redirect all
> incoming calls to his secretary. The secretary itself answers all calls
> and decides if the call is important enough to disturb the manager. If
> so she/he transfers the call to the manager. So the secretary can filter
> the calls for the manager...
> 
> The only way I can imagine so far is via a redirect by AstDB on the
> manager extension. The managers phone has two different lines - the
> official and a secret one only the secretary uses...
> 
> Or are there any other solutions?
> 
> Any hint will be appreciated ...

Hello Michael,

as I see it, the most obvious setup would be

- have SIP accounts, e.g. sip123 for the secretary phone, sip456 and
sip789 for the manager phone.
- the "official"/"public" extension number for the manager might be
"4321", so

exten => 4321,1,Dial(SIP/sip123&SIP/sip456)

would ring both the secretary phone and the manager phone on the
"public" id (which most probably can have a separate ringtone than the
"private" id). You would also want a "private" extension like

exten => 4901,1,Dial(SIP/sip789)

for the secretary to reach the manager. A few thoughts:
- The Callerid setting for both secretary and chief should be "4321", no
matter which line the chief chooses to call out through.
- Do not choose an obvious private number, like 4321 and 4322
- You could even choose a "real long" number, that only is available
from internal phones, and put it to a speed dial button on the secretary
phone

If you want the manager to be able to selectively not be disturbed by
"public number" calls, but only by his secretary, some AstDB logic could
come into the game. This can be highly dynamic, or you just configure a
few extensions by hand to do exactly this:

exten => 770/4321,1,Set(DB(list/4321)=SIP/sip123&SIP/sip456)
exten => 770/4321,2,Playback(feature-donotdisturb-off)
exten => 771/4321,1,Set(DB(list/4321)=SIP/sip123)
exten => 771/4321,2,Playback(feature-donotdisturb-on)
exten => 4321,1,Dial(${DB(list/4321)})

So either the chief or the secretary could activate do-not-disturb by
dialing 771, and deactivate with 770. Just examples; choose those codes
from a range that is not in use as extensions; for my personal setup,
the 2*/3*/4*/5*/6* internal numbering for SIP devices, OOH devices, IAX
devices etc.pp., 8* being applications (like 888 the talking clock), 9*
experimental and 0* PSTN calls (how 80's! :-). A somehow similar
function (divert to VoiceMail delay in seconds can be set from any
phone, between 0 and 60 seconds) is available here as 811x.
Choose whatever suits you best.

Of course one could imagine also that the manager phone number NOT rings
the secretary while the manager is there and ready to take calls - just
edit the 770/771 lines (or add 772 for that function) - in that case,
the secretary could make use of an extension number for him/herself, but
her phone also has several lines, so why not.

HTH&BR
Anselm