Unified Attendant Consoles System
Unified Attendant Consoles System Test Configuration Release 8.5
Introduction
This page provides a reference configuration for Cisco Unified Attendant Consoles within the Cisco Unified Communications deployment. The configuration information is based primarily on testing performed on test beds having Cisco Unified Attendant Consoles configured during Cisco Unified Communications system releases. The intended audience should be able to perform system-level configuration of Cisco Unified Communications components and deployments and be familiar with the Cisco Unified Communications family of products.
TIP: Use Unified Attendant Server (Project Features Tested label) as a keyword to search for related test cases in System Test Results for IP telephony. This topic does not contain detailed step-by-step procedures; for detailed information about installing, configuring, and administering Unified Attendant Consoles, refer to Unified Attendant Consoles documentation.
Design
Cisco Unified Enterprise/Business/Department Attendant Console provides Attendant Console functionality for Unified Communications Manager. This application is specially designed for handling calls and messages. This application enables you to answer calls from predefined set of queues and transfer them to desired extensions. It enables you to perform comprehensive tasks like Call Conference, Call Transfer, Call Parking and Call Retrievals.
Cisco Unified Enterprise/Business/Department Attendant Console includes Server and Client machines. The server acts as the central point of the system and conducts all communications with Unified Communications Manager and clients (Operators).There is no direct communication between the clients (operators) and the Unified Communications Manager or the phones being used.
The Cisco Unified Attendant Console comprises of the following three operator attendant consoles.
- Cisco Unified Department Attendant Console: For enterprises with support for up to two operator clients and up to 150 Cisco Unified IP Phone users per attendant console system.
- Cisco Unified Business Attendant Console: For midmarket businesses with support for up to six operator clients and up to 500 Cisco Unified IP Phone users per attendant console system.
- Cisco Unified Enterprise Attendant Console: For large enterprises with support for 25 operator clients and 100,000 Cisco Unified IP Phone users per attendant console system.
For information on design considerations and guidelines for configuring Attendant Console, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.x Solution Reference Network Design (SRND).
For information on end-to-end RSVP specific deployments and sites where system testing was performed, see Tested Deployments and Site Models for IP telephony
Component Deployment
During Cisco Unified Communications Release system testing, Cisco Unified Enterprise Attendant Console server is deployed in Site A. The server is installed on Microsoft Windows 2008 Server and three clients (Operators) are installed on Microsoft Windows Vista. Unified IP Phone 6900, 8900 and 9900 series were used as operators. The Unified Client Services Framework client such as Unified Personal Communicator was also used as Operators.
Figure 1: Cisco Unified Enterprise Attendant Console server is deployed in Site A
Cisco Unified Business Attendant Console server is deployed in MidMarket site Site B. One Unified Business Attendant Console client (operator) was deployed in central and another in a remote site. Unified IP Phone 6900, 8900 and 9900 series were used as operators. The Client Services Framework clients such as Unified Personal Communicator were also used as Operators.
Figure 2: Unified Business Attendant Console server is deployed in MidMarket site Site B.
The system-wide testing of IP telephony for Cisco Unified Communications System focused on the following Unified Attendant Console component features:
- Auto dial extensions
- Operator holding and retrieving calls
- Call Transfer feature - consult & blind transfer
- Call Park & retrieval
- Auto Answer
- Recall Timer
- Night Service
- Emergency
- Operator Overflow
- Conferences
- Directory Integration
- Adding/Deleting/Editing speed dial
- Playing ring tones when a queued call is waiting to be answered or when a call is timed out
- Secondary sorting feature
- Directory synchronization and LDAP integration
Call Flow Diagram
Example call flow for Unified Attendant Consoles.
