I've got a special request from a customer who currently has Inter-Tel PBX systems deployed and has become familiar with their feature described as follows:
When a user calls into the PBX system and is directed to the telephone directory (Directory Handler equivalent) and dials the first few letters of the last name they are trying to reach, if the user dials a name where there are no potential matches, the Inter-Tel system will provide the closest match and provide a way to scroll through the directory using "Previous" and "Next" numbers on the keypad (I believe "*" and "#"). As you know, Unity will simply indicate "No Matches Found, please try a different spelling".
For example: "Smith" and "Snodgrass" are in the directory (Key presses 7 6, but the user dials 7 8). The Inter-Tel system will provide the user with "Snodgrass" as the closest match, and then allow the user to use the * and # keys to scroll through for other potential names. If the user pressed the 6 key (M N O), the user would be presented with "Smith".
For this particular customer, they feel it's extremely important to replicate this feature if possible. If necessary we may look into writing a custom IPIVR application to do this.
So, my question is, is there anyway for Unity to provide a CLOSEST match in the Directory Handler, or perhaps an explicit number of closest matches, even if the dialed digits do not have a POTENTIAL match?
We have Unity v4.0(4).
