How can I enable call screening?

[fred.weston]

My organization has a Cisco IPT system.  I'm trying to determine if it's possible to enable call screening for my extension as I receive a ton of sales calls.  Lately I've been letting all of my calls go to voicemail and then returning anything that's actually relevant, because if I answer the phone there's about a 90% chance it's a telemarketer.

At previous organizations I've worked for, the phone system had an option that could be enabled where the caller was prompted to provide their name and reason for the call which would be played back to the called party, and then they could decide if they wanted to accept the call.  If they do, the call would ring through and be connected, if not the call would be transferred to voicemail.  This is what I'd like to achieve.

We have a business edition system running on an MCS appliance.  CUCM is version 8.6.2.21900-5 and Unity Connection is version 8.6.2ES25.21900-25.  We have a single voice gateway which is a 2921 ISR with a single PRI for inbound/outbound calls.

I've done some Googling on this topic and have found a few articles, however my experience with administering CM/UC is mainly limited to moves/adds/changes, resetting voicemail passwords, and that type of thing so I feel like I'm in a little over my head and am looking to be pointed in the right direction.

If you need any additional information please let me know and I will attempt to provide it.

[Jaime Valencia]

You would need to make sure all your calls hit CUC in first place, there, you can have them dial whatever extension they want to reach, and use the supervised transfer option, you can have the system ask their name, and then it will present you that info, with the option to either take the call, or send them to VM. That's what you could get with what you have.

[fred.weston]

Hi Jaime,

Thank you for your answer.  To make sure I understand you correctly, could I essentially take the DID that is currently pointing at my phone and set up a translation pattern to have inbound calls hit CUC and then do the supervised transfer option at that point?

Would I need to create a new mailbox and/or directory handler in CUC to handle this (i.e. does it need to be separate from my normal mailbox if I want the greeting to be different)?

Thanks!

FW

[Jaime Valencia]

Yes, you would need to change the call routing to have a call handler catch the call, and then do the supervised transfer to your DN with the screening, I was thinking more on a general mode, create a call handler to handle all calls, user will dial the DN, and call screening will ask him the info before calling you to accept/reject the call

[fred.weston]

Thank you for the information, that makes it very clear.

I do have a follow up question...is it possible to enable call screening for "direct" calls (i.e. someone dials a DID and the call handler does a supervised transfer to my DN without requiring the caller to dial an extension)?

At present I have a published DID and I need to be able to maintain that phone number.  Since this call flow will only handle calls intended for me, I would like to have the call ring into the directory handler which will then immediately ask who's calling, instead of needing input from the caller, who will not know my extension).

[Jaime Valencia]

Yes, simply hard code that call flow to happen in CUC.

[fred.weston]

I've created a new call handler in CUC named "Fred's Call Screener" and I've set the transfer rule to do a supervised transfer to my extension and request the calling party's name and ask me if I want to accept the call.

I've assigned this new call handler an extension of 6155 and have also created a new DN for 6155 in CM and set the action to immediately forward calls to voicemail.

When I dial 6155 from my phone, I end up at the call handler, however I hear the standard greeting ("Fred's Call Screener is not available").  How should I configure the call handler to immediately do a supervised transfer instead of asking the caller to leave a message?

Thank you again for your help.

[Jaime Valencia]

Remove the DN, and configure a call routing rule with the attempt transfer to that new CH you configured, on that new CH, set the transfer rules to transfer to your user.

Then, in your user, you would need to configure the transfer rule to do the supervised transfer to your DN.

[fred.weston]

Do I want to create a direct or forwarded routing rule?  Do I need to specify conditions on the new rule?

[UrbanPeasant]

Hi Fred, did you ever get this sorted. I'm having the same problem and have got nowhere following this thread, just confused presently. 

Cheers

Nathan.